A Daily Devotion for Thursday, October 16

Ruth 2:8-12

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. ”

John 4:14

(Jesus said,) “but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

I love just about everything about the book of Ruth. I have never thought of Boaz’ words to Ruth as being related to Jesus’ words about “living water.” It is almost like Boaz is baptizing Ruth, bringing her into the family of the chosen people. He sees in her a special quality, and he honors and loves her. Jesus has brought me into the family of God, as well, and through no good deeds on my part.

Holy Lord, May I be continually thankful for your many blessings. I have such a hard time living fully in your promises. Help me to be at peace, and to look outward, toward blessing others. Amen

Becky, transforming