So we are in Ruth 2:8-13.
This is the first time that Ruth and Boaz meet. He tells her to continue gleaning in his field – that it is a safe place to work for her. Being a foreigner made it dangerous for her to work in the fields because men of ill repute were likely to take advantage of her. Her position was lower than a servant girl. But he was making her at least equal to a servant girl, allowing her to glean with the freedom from harm and allowing her to drink from the water jars when thirsty. He was providing for her needs both of hunger and thirst.
The Lord wants us to come to Him hungry and thirsty for Him, and He fills us up to overflowing with more of Him. If there is only one thing I am known for at the end of my days, I want it to be that I was hungry and thirsty for God and He filled me to overflowing so that others became thirsty for Him too. I’m not sure I am there yet. But He is a great provider to the hungry and weak just as Boaz was for Ruth. Psalm 107:9 says, “for He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.” But looking to Matthew we see that after Jesus came not only are we to hunger and thirst Him we are to provide for the hungry and thirsty just as Boaz did: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in” Matthew 25:35.
But also, we see in a Ruth a humility like that of Jesus. She was lower than a servant girl, but still seeking to do her part. Hebrews 2:9 says, “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death.” She didn’t let her position stop her from working and in doing so she was blessed.
We see Ruth asking “why me?” to Boaz, and he explains that she is known for her love of her mother in law in leaving her family in Moab and coming to live in Judah. Doing this must have been at least as rare then as it is now. He blesses her and says, “May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”
It is a repeat of the promise that God would cover her as He covers His own people. Psalm 91:4 says, “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.”
She thanks him and says he has spoken kindly to her. The word here for kindly is labe meaning heart. It means he spoke with great passion and favor toward her. He was obviously genuine and compassionate toward her, and she acknowledges it. It also implies courage – perhaps it was courageous of Boaz to act in such a way toward her. But nonetheless, she is on his heart.
Oh, sweet friends, you too are on His Heart! He loves you with an everlasting eternal kind of love. Never ending, never failing!
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