Big Idea: When you turn away from something that is not good, you will find the blessing of God in another place.
Scripture: Ruth 2:1-14 Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz.
And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.”
Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.
Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “The Lord be with you!”
“The Lord bless you!” they answered.
Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?”
The overseer replied, “She is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.’ She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.”
So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”
At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”
Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. 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.”
“May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servants.”
At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.” When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over.
Devotion: Growing up, I had a curfew. And when you are in high school and your friends don’t have a curfew, it’s a big deal. It was annoying that I always had to leave early while my friends were continuing to hang out. I understood that my parents weren’t trying to crush my social life or impact my friendships. Rather, they were trying to help me make good decisions about where I went and who I hung out with.
Oftentimes, we see turning from something that is not good (or in this case, being prevented from entering into something that was not good) as simply that- no longer partaking in something not good. We see that we won’t be stuck in a bad relationship, won’t overindulge in food, or won’t succumb to numbing the tough days with a different vice. Which are all good things. But what we often fail to see is the blessings that are actually on the other side of it.
When you turn away from something bad, it does not stop there. Instead, when you turn away from something bad, you will find the blessing of God in another place. For Ruth and Naomi, they turned away from Moab and headed to Bethlehem. The famine was over, and they decided to leave the sin-filled nation of Moab. But they likely didn’t understand the blessing that was on the other side of that. “It just so happened” that the field that Ruth gleaned in belonged to a guardian-redeemer of the family. And then a love story unfolds between Ruth and Boaz where every need (and then some) that Ruth and Naomi could have was provided for. There was blessing for them when they turned away from something that was not good.
As for me and my curfew? There was blessing in that as well. Not only did I steer clear of parties and less than desirable decisions, but I had the blessing of more time with my family. I was able to see and experience the love that my parents had for me by putting protections in place. I didn’t always understand it then, but I see the blessings of it now.
Are there areas of your life where you have turned away from something that is not good and then experienced the blessing of God? Perhaps some time has passed, and you haven’t even correlated the two. But take some time to look at the blessings in your life. If you hadn’t made the decision to turn away from something bad, would the blessings look the same? Our God is not empty-handed; He is full of blessing. And when we surrender our lives to His will, turning away from things that aren’t good, we will see and experience the blessings of God all around.
Reflect:
- What are some the blessings from God in your life that are the most obvious to you right now? What are some that are less obvious? Take some time to thank God for His provision.
