If the story of Ruth was summed up in one line from the Broadway Musical Hamilton, it’d be “I’m willing to wait for it.” For the impatient “God is my genie” Christian (a theology I myself find to have slipped into far too often), Ruth is a hard lesson in patience as we wait for God’s plan for our lives. In the end, God’s shown to be mysterious, but nonetheless both sovereign and intimately caring.
It’s easy to imagine why Naomi wanted to be known as Mara, meaning the Lord has dealt bitterly with me. She’d lost her husband, and so was now a widow with nobody to take care for her. Furthermore, she’d lost all of her sons, both of them having died too. However, even in her suffering the Lord was caring for her. Ruth, one of her daughters-in-law, faithfully stayed by Naomi’s side, and refused to abandon her even when it seemed that the easiest way for God to redeem Ruth’s life would for her to be freed from the burden of her mother-in-law in order to be remarried.
God continually works in one person to bless another. In the example of Ruth, we see somebody laying down their life — their future — in order to bless and encourage another. We as Christians are not only eligible to be recipients of God’s blessing, but can be instruments of his blessing as well.
Ruth’s life with Naomi was hard. She was working long days just to get scraps of food left behind by harvesters. It must have seemed like God had abandoned her. However, God’s plan was already well on its way. Boaz, a wealthy, faithful man made intentional steps to provide for her and show her kindness by instructing his workers in the field to make sure there would be plenty of scraps left for Ruth. Again, we see God using others as instruments of his blessing.
The next event almost seems contrary to the original Hamilton quote, “I’m willing to wait for it,” that we proposed at the beginning. Instead of waiting for Boaz to propose to her, Ruth, as instructed by Naomi, forces his hand by sleeping at the foot of his bed and essentially tells him “I want you to spread your wing over me as my husband.” Boaz resolves to marry her.
What happened to being patient? When is it okay to force God’s hand? I think that what we see here is that their boldness is a testament to their faith. They know God’s power, and are boldly asking that God deliver them from their poverty. As Christians, we can too often pray soft prayers of “May whatever is in your will be done.” While I don’t want to completely shut down that prayer, the people of faith in the Bible continually wrestle with God. They push and scheme and ask again and again to the point of annoyance. God wants us to pursue him relentlessly. He sometimes waits on blessing us to watch us ask harder.
It works on Boaz! Well, almost. He seems almost too perfect, especially when he makes sure to offer Ruth to the man who is rightfully in line to marry her. He for a scary moment says yes, but then realizes that he just agreed to marry a woman and says no. Ruth has finally been brought out of her misery, and Naomi as well, for when Ruth bears a son, Naomi becomes the nurse.
The son that Ruth bore was none other than the grandfather of King David himself. God's plan was not only to save Ruth and Naomi from their current situation, but to use them in his plan to save Israel through David, and the entire world through David’s line in Jesus. God is mysterious in his workings, and often lets us sit in our despair for longer than we’d like to. In the midst of that despair, however, he in his caring continues to bless us and make us a blessing to others if we keep our eyes open to what he’s doing. Furthermore, God’s plan for us is more wonderful than we can imagine. He’s sovereign over everything, and if we have faith in him he promises us that all things will work out for our good.
