Ruth: Don’t Give Up!

November 10, 2024

When the going gets tough, what do you do? Do you keep trying or do you give up?

We’re in the book of Ruth. We heard about poor Naomi, whose husband died, then both sons died. She’s in a foreign land with her daughters-in-law and it’s a desperate situation. She decides to go home to Judah. She tells her daughters in laws: my life is bitter. Why should you come with me? Go back to your parents. You have a life of promise ahead of you there! Ruth’s responds: NO WAY! I’m sticking with you, going to your country, I’ll follow your God, nothing will separate us! Ruth has a purpose to stick with Naomi and take care of her.

So, Naomi and Ruth come to Judah. They need to eat. Ruth goes out to glean from a field. There was no welfare back then. But they had a way to help the poor: when the workers gathered the harvest, they did not go back for bits and pieces left behind. They let hungry people do that. So, Ruth goes out gleaning. The farmer who owns the field is Boaz. He comes to the field and says to all, “The Lord be with you!” And everyone replies, “The Lord bless you!” He’s a man of God. Boaz takes notice of Ruth. He asks, “Who does she belong to?” The people tell him, she’s that Moabite woman who came home with Naomi, and she’s been working hard all day!

Boaz goes and talks to Ruth. He tells her to stay here and glean. And he makes sure no one gives her a hard time. He tells her to drink from their water jars.

She says to Boaz, ^“May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord. You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant.” She asks him why he is so kind to her, when she is a foreigner? Are sparks flying, remember, this is the book of Ruth, it’s a romance! Boaz tells Ruth he’s impressed by all she has done for her mother-in-law!

Boaz makes sure Ruth is well taken care of that day.

When Ruth gets home, she tells her mother-in-law she was gleaning in Boaz’s field, and he was very kind to her. Naomi gets excited: Boaz! He is a relative! He’s a guardian redeemer! They didn’t have welfare back then. But a rich relative, called a guardian redeemer, was supposed to help poor relatives. Ruth is excited: Boaz is really good to her, and rich!

Ruth is thinking, we connected. We talked for a while. He thought I was wonderful, and I thought he was so kind. I had butterflies. This is Great!  But time passes. and then—nothing. Boaz doesn’t call or text. She’s scratching her head, going, I think I read something into it that wasn’t there. Maybe I came on too strong.

Her purpose was to take care of her Mother-in-law. She thought she could do that by marrying this rich guy, but now she blew it! So often when we’ve got our purpose, we’ve got something God wants us to do, things go well for a while, then you get tired, it’s frustrating, and you feel like giving up. You haven’t made much progress, and success seems a million miles away!

Don’t give up. Because something always seems impossible until it’s done! This is where faith comes in! So often, we give up too soon. We might be close. But it doesn’t feel like we’re getting anywhere, so we give up! In the book of James in the New Testament, chapter 1:2-3, James says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”  You may feel incredibly frustrated! But it’s like you’ve got a faith muscle. It grows when you persevere toward your goal! James 1:12 says, “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.”

Ruth seems to be at a dead end with Boaz. She’s down, depressed. But we know, something always seems impossible until it’s done! Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi doesn’t give up. She has this idea. Naomi is not always wise. This is where the story gets weird. Do you think you can handle some weird? Ok. So, Ruth 3:1 says, “One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, ‘My daughter, I must find a home for you, where you will be well provided for.’” She means, “Ruth, we gotta find you a man!” She says tonight Boaz will be winnowing barley. He’ll throw it in the air to separate the wheat from the chaff. This is when he finds out how much wheat he has and how much money he has made with his harvest. He’ll be in a good mood, and he and the workers will have a party. Naomi tells Ruth to wash (always a good idea), put on perfume, and wear nice clothes. Don’t let Boaz see you until he eats and drinks. Wait until he’s in a good mood. This is the part where it gets weird. Naomi says when he’s asleep (and he’ll lie down because he wants to sleep next to his harvest and keep it safe, it’s worth a lot!) Then when he’s asleep, go uncover his feet and lie down at his feet. Naomi says, “He’ll tell you what to do.” This is crazy weird advice, but Ruth does what Naomi told her.

I wouldn’t tell anyone to do this! What in the world is Naomi doing? What is she advising? Uncover his feet and lie down next to him? I want to be clear this is descriptive, not prescriptive. This is what happened in the Bible. This is not the Bible telling you to do the same thing.

Don’t do this. Naomi advised this, and Ruth did it. Boaz is sleeping. Then something startles him: probably the woman at the foot of his bed! He sees her and says, “Who are you?”

She says, “I’m Ruth! Spread your garment over me since you’re the guardian redeemer of my family.” To spread one’s cloak means to marry someone. So, Ruth is telling Boaz to marry her! Wow! He is a guardian redeemer, which is the rich relative who helps them, but there’s also a law about a man whose brother dies has to marry his widow. So, Ruth wants that, wants him to marry her.

Boaz is very understanding about this woman startling him in the middle of the night and demanding that he marry her! He apparently does like Ruth, he’s willing to marry her, but he says there’s another relative who is more closely related to the family. He says this other man needs to be offered the opportunity to marry Ruth before him. Boaz says he will talk to the man, and if he is willing to act as next of kin, the man will marry her. But if not, Boaz will marry her. This is great news! Boaz sends Ruth home with lots of food.

Next week we’ll talk about the happy ending to Ruth’s story from Ruth chapter 4.

Today we got through another rough part of Ruth’s story. Now things are looking better. It always seems impossible until it’s done.

There’s an Olympic sport called track cycling. The British team went to the Olympics for decades and received few medals. It’s easy to get discouraged; to think, British people don’t have the gene to win cycling medals, and to consider giving up. But a retired British cyclist thought, if we take every element that goes into cycling, and try to improve it by 1%, we could win gold medals! It was not about perfection. It was about making progress, continually improving.

So, the team came up with small ways they could improve aerodynamics. They also had a doctor teach the cyclists about proper handwashing so they wouldn’t come down with an illness during competition. (The team decided not to shake any hands at the Olympics!) The cyclists also brought their own pillows and mattresses to competition, so they would sleep in the same posture every night.

The cyclists on the team and coaches all started looking for ways to improve. The team became a very positive group. As a result of all their 1% improvements, at the 2000 Olympics, team Britain started a winning streak. Today the country that has won the most cycling medals in the Olympics is Britain! They’ve won 100 medals! They didn’t give up. It always seems impossible, until it’s done.

My challenge for you is, if you have a dream, if God gave you a purpose, don’t give up!  Give yourself time, regularly, to work on it. Just make a 1% improvement. Then another. And another. With God all things are possible.

To fulfill her purpose of taking care of her mother-in-law, Ruth had to go through a lot! She left her homeland and family, found a way to provide food for herself and Naomi, and told a man to marry her! Along the way she got discouraged. But it always seems impossible, until it’s done! She and Naomi kept trying, kept working and praying. So have faith, don’t give up! You might be closer than you think to the happy ending God has in store for you! Amen.