Trusting God's Timing: A Journey of Redemption

Ruth follows the advice. Boaz is startled, but she respectfully reveals not only who she is, but also her intentions. Boaz is not, I don't think, punch drunk or anything. It he's ate and drank. I think that he's literally most likely just sitting back, hands behind his neck, taking a nap, starting to go to sleep, or possibly just looking at the sky, thanking God for the harvest. And then all of a sudden, he feels something at his feet. And he realizes what's going on. And she makes the petition. would you take me under your wing? This is a metaphor not only for protection but also covenant love. [00:18:50]

By asking this thing, she's saying, "Will you take me under your spiritual wing? Will you put me into I want to be your wife? This is you're my redeemer." Ezekiel 16 and 8 and also verse 9, we see this terminology used again by God. When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness. I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, and you became mine. [00:19:52]

Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil. It's a beautiful thing. We we he he's telling them that I cleaned you up. I saw you. A few verses before that, he talks about I I saw you when you were polluted in your own blood and I said to you, live. I brought life into you. And then not only that, I I brought you close. I passed by you again and I I saw you and I wanted to love you and I covered your nakedness. [00:20:31]

How does he cover our nakedness? By his blood. He washes away the blood of our blood, sweat, and tears of the world. But he covers us with his garments. See, I love this. Oh, he covers us with his robe. Boaz covers her. First though, we see this appeal to the kinsman redeemer. And if you can go to that slide for Levid Leviticus, sister, it's Leviticus 25:25. If your brother becomes poor and sells part of his property, then his nearest redeemer or goal shall come and redeem what his brother has sold. [00:21:17]

It's interesting that in the book of Ruth we see the words for redemption which is gula and redeem which is gal and redeemer goel appear over 20 times in this book. It's a message that is trying to get across to us that no matter how far you've gone and no matter if you feel like you're not of the right stock because you're a Moabitis, you weren't born into this thing. You're not 20th century or not 20th century, 20th generation apostolic. You you may be first or second generation apostolic Pentecostal today, but guess what? You have a redeemer that calls you by name and you can go to them and say, "Take me in." [00:22:40]

He commends Ruth for not only her loyalty, but her virtue. And Ruth's reputation shows what she is. That she is virtuous and loyal. That she isn't running around with any Moabitete men. She's not seeking out the rich or the poor. She's not going around camp, if you know what I mean. She is true. She's faithful. A lot of the times the world gets this all mixed up. They wonder why on earth we can't get it right. Why can't I get a good, you know, possible wife or possible husband? Why can't I, you know, I just don't have any luck in the dating game? [00:24:00]

And it's like, well, how are you dating? What is your reputation? I'm sorry to say, but where you go speaks of who you are, and who you linger with can also tell of who you are as well. You're not going to find a biblical spouse in the club, okay? You're not going to find a Christian. Now, you might find one that calls herself Christian, but you're not going to find a Proverbs 31 woman on the local dance floor or whatever. You have to sometimes be patient and wait. Sometimes you have to get yourself in check and allow yourself to be known as a decent person before God sends you a decent person. [00:24:55]

Too many times men and women they jump into relationships and honestly if you would go down to the root cause it's not love it's lust. it turns into, well, we couldn't keep our hands off of each other, so we thought we should tie the knot. We thought we should make this thing legal because otherwise we're going to mess up. And what happens most of the time, one winds up cheating in some way or another, whether through vile ways, as you know what I'm hinting at with technology, co-workers, whatever. [00:26:07]

There's the unequally yolked aspect to where the one person knows the truth, the other person knows nothing of it, and now it's trying to drag them into it. And it pushes them further away because you want them, you know, it's we want an instant Christian. And it's like, was an insta for you? How long did he have to work on you? Like now I'm talking postmarriage. Like it's probably not going to happen overnight. Hopefully it happens. But there's the chance that if you do it for the wrong reason that if it's lust and not love that I'm sorry honey, you're not Ruth and he's not Boaz. [00:26:44]

You may be in a situation like Ruth was before to where everything seems to die around you. But I don't want to leave it at that. That's why we look at this book. We look at this advice. We take it. If you're in a marriage that you struggle with, love them and love them in Christ. But most of all, love Christ. Because if if you truly love Christ, it's like, what is he saying? If you love Christ, your love is going to show to them. [00:27:42]

They put the decision before you. I'm sorry, honey. It's me or church. Yeah. You choose Christ because ultimately you love Christ. I've heard so many stories of battered and abused women that sadly their husband was an old drunk and would not allow them to attend and they would have to sneak out and then they would get made up for it when they got home. But I've also heard the stories that it happened a few times and then an angel showed up and told the husband what it was about and then the husband quit the abuse and sometimes started going to church. [00:28:23]

I can just give you the dating tips. They're good dating tips. You have to admit it. how I found Ruth. So he blessed or he said, "Blessed be thou of the Lord, my daughter." Goes through all this. You have shown more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning. And as much as thou followest not young men, whether poor or rich. And this gives us an insight on who Boaz is. Boaz, I think, liked her. I think Boaz had an eye for her. And I kind of wonder just how old the nearer kinsman was. [00:30:06]

He is willing to redeem her. He acts with integrity and love. He provides covering, protection, and provision. Who does that sound like? You know, I'm not going to give you a bad name, hun. I'm not gonna Nope. Nope. And actually, have you used up that 10 pounds I gave you the other day? Here, take some more. Bring me your veil. Like, Christ is our ultimate redeemer. He covers us spiritually and he redeems us from our past. That's something that we sometimes forget about. [00:33:11]

We call him redeemer because he redeems us now. But really, we need to remember the redeemer part when the devil's trying to speak, you're a moabitete. Nuh-uh. You've been redeemed. Verse 16, we see Naomi's encouragement to wait. And when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, "Who art thou, my daughter?" And she told her all that the man had done to her. And she said, "These six measures of barley gave hee me, for he said to me, go not empty into thy mother-in-law." [00:34:00]

Then said she, this is Naomi speaking, "Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall." And I love this word because it is so true. For the man will not be in rest until he is finished the thing this day. It's like he knows you like him. You know he likes you. you know that he's going to do his best to redeem you. He's not going to give this a week. He's a man. And us men, we get impatient about stuff. [00:35:00]

Encouragement is found in this to trust the process of God's timing. Even when you know like we sing with even when it doesn't feel like it, he's working. Even if you don't see it, he's working. He never stops working. It's the truth. But we become impatient. Boaz is doing a lot. Boaz, we're going to talk about it next week and you're going to find out like some weird some weird ritualism. Taking his shoe off, trying to hand it to a guy. Like there's just odd stuff in the conclusion of this story. [00:37:07]

But he's up to something. God is up to something in your life. if you will allow him. I don't know what the situation would have looked like if Boaz would have been a lover struck teenager just knocking on Boaz's door. Have you talked to him yet? Honey, give me time. Like, hey, have you talked to him? Or God forbid, let me talk to him. That's what we do. All right, let me not throw us under the bus. That's what Abraham did. That's what I really think Jacob kind of did. [00:38:51]

We see that their dad lives longer than the mom that says, "Your dad's dying. You need to hurry up and steal the I mean, you need to hurry up and get this blessing." He's on his deathbed and then she croakkes roundabout to the tree frog. I just love how you do things. She croaks, he lives, but the family's never the same. And I just wonder what would have happened if maybe things would have went a little different. If maybe the will of God was, you know, that if they would have just waited it out, you know, maybe God could have done something. [00:39:37]

In fact, we see revelation doesn't come until you learn to wait. Ruth doesn't get redeemed until after she waits. Abraham, when he's finally to that testing there, his heart is ready to be given the command, hey, I need you to sacrifice your son. And by the way, he's your only son. Like like, yeah, you have that guy, but he's not the chosen one. This one's the one you were praying for. This is the one you've been waiting for. [00:40:42]

This is him. Are you willing to lay him on the table? Are you willing to kill him? And then he gives him a few days walking. I think I feel like it's at least two or three days of walking distance to think about it. And during this time, Abraham is literally undoing every mistake. When I didn't trust him before, this time I'm trusting him. But what if now I got to get the whatifs out of my mind. This is God. He spoke to me. He talked to me. He has a purpose for me. I have to just believe that he's going to work. [00:41:25]

Ruth waits. Ruth holds on. Be patient in your life. Be patient in your looking for love. Wait on the Lord. Pray. God can put the person in your life that he wants to. He did it for me. got saved in October. Sister Smith started attending in November. You know, she laid down at the end of my feed, I think around December 31st. I'm just kidding. But like I'm just saying like God can do crazy God things. [00:42:43]

If things seem a little wishy-washy, things just don't seem like they should. I'm still for the prayer and fasting. I'm still for the seeking God. And if everything's going great, guess what? I'm still for the prayer and fasting. And I'm still for the whole seeking God that it stays that way. Because at the end of the day, Boaz, at the end of the day, God, okay, he's on your side. Boaz will show up for Ruth. Spoiler. Boaz will marry Ruth. Spoiler. But she has to wait and allow God to move. [00:44:00]

God redeems what is broken. As I come to a close, Ruth and Naomi's losses are met with God's provision and love. Like, think about it. Naomi didn't have to be blessed. He could have just blessed Ruth. And if you have a little extra, give some to your mom-in-law, you know, like he did. But he goes above and beyond. He turns the bitterness to sweetness. Bitter seasons can become beautiful when they're entrusted to God. God uses practical steps in our journey of faith. [00:44:47]

God's sovereignty doesn't eliminate our responsibility. Naomi's advice shows the blend of wisdom and faith. I think you have good odds. Ruth, let's spruce your hair. Ruth 3 is a turning point from widowhood and uncertainty to hope and redemption. And it leads beautifully into the next chapter, the final redemption. So, I have a faith step challenge for you. I don't know if you did the whole journal thing, and I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand if you did. [00:45:35]

This week, identify one area where you need to take a bold step of faith and pray for courage to act on it. Doesn't mean you're going to. Okay, let's get that straight. It it may just be a prayer, a prayerful moment. And you may hear a wait. You may hear a not yet. You may feel just a it's not now. But it goes the opposite as well. But you won't know unless you pray. What is an area in your life that you need to work on? [00:46:26]

God, I keep feeling like I should pray with the waiter or waitress when I go here. I feel like there's a burden, but I'm just I just can't get myself to do it. Help me. Or God, I need to talk to this coworker. Would you help me? Or God, I need to make the decision on this situation. Would you help me? That's the faith challenge. Identify an area and don't just jump into it. Just don't make a bold move and don't just take any answer as the answer of God because at the end of the day, the devil can speak too. [00:51:22]

A lot of times we forget that. You know, there's been a lot of people that have heard the big choice of go. Yeah, I think the step is you need to go somewhere else. And it's like, yeah, I don't think that was God. You're the only one who could do that. and you're leaving. I just don't know. But you'll know that the still small voice of the Lord. That's your faith challenge this week. Go forth, make disciples, spread the good news, and remember this love story. It's just as much for Naomi as it is for Ruth. [00:52:00]