Ruth 2:14 At mealtime Boaz told her, “Come over here and have some bread and dip it in the vinegar sauce.” So she sat beside the harvesters, and he offered her roasted grain. She ate and was satisfied and had some left over.
Ruth 2:15 When she got up to gather grain, Boaz ordered his young men, “Let her even gather grain among the bundles, and don’t shame her.
Ruth 2:16 Pull out some stalks from the bundles for her and leave them for her to gather. Don’t rebuke her.”
Boaz loves Ruth
I read a lot, and a variety of genres, but I don’t usually read romance. Still, it is not hard to see the clues from this narrative that Boaz is being more than helpful to this young woman. The way he expresses his interest in her is delightful. The way he protects her honor is wise.
This is God’s word, and it tells me that our God wants to be part of our lives — even the parts of our lives we tend to keep to ourselves.
Thank you LORD for caring about every area of our lives.
Ruth 2:8 Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Don’t go and gather grain in another field, and don’t leave this one, but stay here close to my female servants.
Ruth 2:9 See which field they are harvesting, and follow them. Haven’t I ordered the young men not to touch you? When you are thirsty, go and drink from the jars the young men have filled.”
Ruth 2:10 She fell face down, bowed to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor with you, so that you notice me, even though I am a foreigner?”
Ruth 2:11 Boaz answered her, “Everything you have done for your mother-in-law since your husband’s death has been fully reported to me: how you left your father and mother and your native land, and how you came to a people you didn’t previously know.
Ruth 2:12 May Yahveh reward you for what you have done, and may you receive a full reward from Yahveh, God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.”
Ruth 2:13 “My lord,” she said, “I have found favor with you, because you have comforted and encouraged your servant, although I am not like one of your female servants.”
God loves people like Ruth, who come under his wings for refuge, and in this case, God showed his love for Ruth by providing Boaz. He came along just at the right time to comfort and encourage her.
already rewarded
This has all the trappings of a sappy love story, but it also highlights some principles about how our choices matter to God. When Boaz prayed for God to reward Ruth, she responded by saying “I have found favor with you.” In other words, Ruth recognized that God had already rewarded her by Boaz’ acts of kindness.
Some of the people around us are how God is rewarding us for our choice to love and serve him. They are not our only reward. There will be a permanent inheritance. But we should take note of the ways God is blessing us today as well.
LORD, thank you for the acts of kindness you show us every day.
Ruth 2:1 Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side. He was a prominent man of noble character from Elimelech’s clan.1 His name was Boaz.
Ruth 2:2 Ruth the Moabitess asked Naomi, “Will you let me go into the fields and gather fallen grain behind someone with whom I find favor?” Naomi answered her, “Go ahead, my daughter.”
Ruth 2:3 So Ruth left and entered the field to gather grain behind the harvesters. She happened to be in the section of the field belonging to Boaz, who was from Elimelech’s clan.
Ruth 2:4 Later, when Boaz arrived from Bethlehem, he said to the harvesters, “Yahveh be with you.” “Yahveh bless you,” they replied.
Ruth 2:5 Boaz asked his servant who was in charge of the harvesters, “Whose young woman is this?”
Ruth 2:6 The servant answered, “She is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the territory of Moab.
Ruth 2:7 She asked, ‘Will you let me gather fallen grain among the bundles behind the harvesters? ‘ She came and has been on her feet since early morning, except that she rested a little in the shelter.”
will you let me …?
Did you notice the politeness and lack of presumption in Ruth’s voice here? She is a foreigner, with no claim that she has the right to go anywhere or do anything. She asks for permission — first from her mother-in-law Naomi, then from Boaz’s servant. Whatever God is going to do in this young woman’s life — she is not going to jump the gun and make it happen.
The Lord has some doors he plans to open for you and me, too. But when we first come to those doors, we should not be surprised if they appear to be sealed-up block walls. Living in triumph with Jesus will often require us to take up the cross of submitting to life as it is, and trusting in God’s deliverance. If Ruth had not submitted first, she would not have known the deliverance that would come later.
“Be subject to every human institution for the Lord’s sake, whether to a king as supreme or to governors as those he commissions to punish wrongdoers and praise those who do good. For God wants you to silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good. Live as free people, not using your freedom as a pretext for evil, but as God’s slaves. Honor all people, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the king.”
(1 Peter 2:13-17 NET)
LORD, give us the courage to submit — so that you can save.
Ruth 1:22 So Naomi came back from the territory of Moab with her daughter-in-law Ruth the Moabitess. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
divine coincidence
Naomi and Ruth’s travel to Bethlehem coincided with the barley harvest. But this was no coincidence. Either Naomi timed their travel so that it would allow them a means to provide for their needs, or God planned their travel so that the story of Ruth would have his desired ending.
The more we meditate on our life’s story, the more occurrences we tend to see of this divine coincidence. He either gives us wisdom to make choices that turn out to be beneficial for us, or he orchestrates those choices from above. These things are not dumb luck, but visible signs of an invisible hand moving the pieces on the board.
LORD, thank you for your invisible hand, orchestrating the divine coincidences of our lives.
Ruth 1:19 The two of them traveled until they came to Bethlehem. When they entered Bethlehem, the whole town was excited about their arrival and the local women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”
Ruth 1:20 “Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara,” she answered, “because the Almighty has made me very bitter.
Ruth 1:21 I went away full, but Yahveh has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has opposed me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?”
Can this be Naomi?
With all her losses in Moab, Naomi did pick up something there, and brought it back with her to Judah. She brought an attitude with her. She had grown pessimistic and disheartened. Given what she had experienced, it is understandable that she would become bitter.
Yet, if she had only known what was in store for her back in Bethlehem, it would have changed her demeaner.
The name “Naomi” is related to the Hebrew na’im (נעים) — meaning nice or pleasant. “Mara” means bitter. There was another woman who stayed in Bethlehem for a while whose name is related to “Mara.” Her name was Mary. She also had a lot of sorrow and pain in her life, but what a life that was!
Perhaps you are reading this today, and you relate more to “Mara” than to “Naomi.” I encourage you to focus your mind on the hope of what God can do, rather than fixating on past failures and losses.
LORD, make me a hopeful Naomi instead of a bitter Mara.
Ruth 1:15 Naomi said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. Follow your sister-in-law.”
Ruth 1:16 But Ruth replied: Don’t plead with me to abandon you or to return and not follow you, because wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.
Ruth 1:17 Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May Yahveh punish me, and do so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.
Ruth 1:18 When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped talking to her.
would we welcome Ruth?
Ruth had gotten to know her mother-in-law, Naomi, and Naomi’s God as well. She would not follow her sister back to the Moabite community with its pagan religion and culture. She was determined to attach herself to Naomi, her people, and her God. That is commitment, and all over the planet such people are doing the same thing Ruth did.
We Christians should be applauding that kind of courage and commitment, but often we let our own fears and prejudices get in the way. We should be welcoming foreigners to live as guests in our communities, but we often do everything but that.
Would we be at the borders of Israel welcoming Ruth, or trying to keep her out?
LORD, give us the courage to welcome foreigners into our communities, and the courage to share our faith with them.
Ruth 1:6 She and her daughters-in-law set out to return from the country of Moab, because she had heard in Moab that Yahveh1 had paid attention to his people’s need by providing them food.
Ruth 1:7 She left the place where she had been living, accompanied by her two daughters-in-law, and traveled along the road leading back to the land of Judah.
Ruth 1:8 Naomi said to them, “Each of you go back to your mother’s home. May Yahveh show kindness to you as you have shown to the dead and to me.
Ruth 1:9 May Yahveh grant each of you rest in the house of a new husband.” She kissed them, and they wept loudly.
Ruth 1:10 They said to her, “We plan on returning with you to your people.”
Ruth 1:11 But Naomi replied, “Return home, my daughters. Why do you want to go with me? Am I able to have any more sons who could become your husbands?
Ruth 1:12 Return home, my daughters. Go on, because I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me to have a husband tonight and to bear sons,
Ruth 1:13 would you be willing to wait for them to grow up? Would you restrain yourselves from remarrying? No, my daughters, it is much too bitter for you to share, because Yahveh’s hand has turned against me.”
Ruth 1:14 Again they wept loudly, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
beyond ordinary wisdom
Naomi was only thinking of the future and welfare of her daughters-in-law when she asked them to stop travelling with her and go back home to their own people. She knew they needed to get connected to new families so that they could live and flourish.
Orpah cared about Naomi, and respected her wishes. She didn’t make her decision out of selfishness or greed. She just wanted to do the right thing. We should not look down on that. She was demonstrating ordinary wisdom.
But Ruth was blessed with an insight that went beyond ordinary wisdom. She cared about Naomi too, and her love for that woman led her to risk her own future to go with her to the foreign land of Israel. Naomi was coming home, but Ruth was going to Israel as a foreign immigrant. Naomi was destitute, but Ruth was making the choice to become worse than that.
What leads a person to make such a choice? She was leaving everything she knew. She was stepping out in faith — and demonstrating faithful love.
LORD, give us the wisdom of Ruth — to see beyond ordinary wisdom.
Ruth 1:1 It happened in the days of the judges, there was a famine in the land. A man left Bethlehem in Judah with his wife and two sons to stay in the territory of Moab for a while.
Ruth 1:2 The man’s name was Elimelech, and his wife’s name was Naomi. The names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They came to the fields of Moab and settled there.
Ruth 1:3 Naomi’s husband Elimelech died, and she was left with her two sons.
Ruth 1:4 Her sons took Moabite women as their wives: one was named Orpah and the second was named Ruth. After they lived in Moab about ten years,
Ruth 1:5 both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two children and without her husband.
lost everything?
Upon returning to Delco North Carolina from a vacation/ministry trip last year, I discovered that one of the families in our community had been ravaged by COVID-19, losing several family members in a short time. How dreadful it is to suddenly lose so many loved ones.
Naomi knew that pain. She had gone to Moab because of loss, and all she experienced there was more loss.
But back up the truck a minute. That’s not completely right. In her sorrow, Naomi might have felt like she had lost everything, but she still had Orpah and Ruth. Ruth would make the decision to travel with her “back” to Israel. Her loyalty to Naomi and love for her would be one of the major ways God reveals himself in this book.
LORD, thank you for the kindness and love you show to those who feel like they have lost everything.
1 Timothy 6:20 Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding irreverent and empty speech and contradictions from what is falsely called knowledge.
1 Timothy 6:21 By professing it, some people have missed the faith. Favor be with you all.
what is falsely called knowledge
The knowledge Paul referred to here was probably philosophical Gnosticism — the word in Greek text being γνώσεως. However, there are many types of assumed knowledge today which will derail a person’s pursuit of faith in Christ. If one does not take pains to learn the truth of the Bible, what is falsely called knowledge will destroy any loose threads of belief or religious sentiment.
That knowledge may come from the classroom, but it also may come from the video screen, the radio, or books in all their various forms. Just about the only thing which ties modern media together is its ability to cause doubt and mistrust. That feeds into the devil’s purpose for knowledge. He wants us to know everything about everything — except the gospel.
That is why missions leader Paul instructs his missionary Timothy to guard what had been entrusted to him. Timothy had to censor his own education, staying away from “irreverent and empty speech and contradictions from what is falsely called knowledge.” If he did not do so, those words would no doubt leak into his own cistern, and pollute it. Then he would be leading others away from the faith.
LORD, give us the wisdom to learn everything we need to know, without losing the most important thing: faith in the gospel.
1 Timothy 6:17 Direct those who are rich in the present age not to be arrogant or to set their hope on the uncertainty of wealth, but on God, who richly provides us with all things to enjoy.
1 Timothy 6:18 They are to do good, to be rich in good achievements,1 to be generous and willing to share,
1 Timothy 6:19 storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of what is truly life.
a word to the “masters”
Paul’s shift from addressing slaves to addressing “those who are rich in this present age” is deliberate and pastoral. He has just instructed Timothy on how to guide believers at the lowest end of the social structure—slaves who were to honor their masters, especially believing masters, as brothers in Christ. Now he turns to the other end of the spectrum: the wealthy masters themselves. The gospel speaks to both groups, but it speaks differently because their temptations differ.
Those who were rich in Ephesus lived with a constant temptation toward arrogance. Wealth in the ancient world, as in the modern one, often created a sense of superiority, security, and self‑sufficiency. Paul warns Timothy that the rich will be tempted to “set their hope on the uncertainty of riches.” Wealth feels solid, but it is fragile. It can vanish through disaster, theft, political upheaval, or simple economic change. It is uncertain by nature.
Instead of trusting in their wealth, the rich were to trust in God, who “richly provides us with everything to enjoy.” And instead of using their wealth to elevate themselves, they were to use it to bless others. Their generosity would become a form of spiritual investment—“storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future.” Paul is not inventing a new idea here. He is echoing the teaching of Jesus.
Jesus had already taught his disciples not to waste their lives accumulating earthly treasure:
“Do not waste your time setting aside valuables for yourselves here on the land, where moth and rust destroy them, and where thieves break in and steal them.” “But invest your valuables in the coming kingdom from the sky, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”
The wealthy in Ephesus understood investment. They knew how to plan for the future, how to allocate resources, how to secure long‑term gain. Paul simply redirects that instinct. The future that matters is not the next decade but the next age. The investment that matters is not in property or goods but in people. The return that matters is not earthly profit but eternal reward.
And where were the needy people the rich were called to invest in? Many of them were right in their own households. Some were the very slaves Paul had just addressed—men and women who served them daily, who lived under their authority, and who were now their brothers and sisters in Christ. The gospel did not erase the social structure overnight, but it transformed the relationships within it. Masters were to see their servants not as tools but as people to love, serve, and support. Their wealth was not a private possession but a trust from God to be used for the good of others.
This teaching remains deeply relevant. Wealth always carries the temptation to self‑reliance and self‑investment. It whispers that security lies in accumulation, that significance lies in possession, that the future can be controlled by careful planning. But the gospel calls believers to a different kind of wealth management—one that measures value not by what is kept but by what is given.
The needy are still all around. Some are in our homes, workplaces, neighborhoods, and congregations. Some are those who serve us quietly. Some are those whose needs are invisible unless we choose to see them. The call is the same: invest in people, not possessions. Use what God has entrusted to build up others. Store up treasure in the only place where treasure lasts.
The prayer that rises from this reflection is simple and searching:
LORD, teach us to store up treasures for ourselves by investing in the needy all around us. Make us generous, attentive, and willing to use what you have given for the good of others. Let our wealth—whatever its size—become a tool for love, a testimony to your grace, and an investment in the kingdom that cannot fade.
Devotions 