A Daily Devotion for Wednesday, March 25

Ruth 4:1-17

Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat down there just as the guardian-redeemer he had mentioned came along.

Boaz said, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat down.

Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, “Sit here,” and they did so.

Then he said to the guardian-redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our relative Elimelek. I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line.”

“I will redeem it,” he said.

Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the dead man’s widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property.”

At this, the guardian-redeemer said, “Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it.”

(Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.)

So the guardian-redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it yourself.” And he removed his sandal.

Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon. I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown. Today you are witnesses! ”

Then the elders and all the people at the gate said, “We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. Through the offspring the LORD gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.”

So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.

The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has

given him birth.”

Reading this, and thinking about my work history, I can see how I overlooked God’s providence and His will in my work life. I remember saying that when I made a move from one job to another, I wanted only to make changes for positive reasons. I didn’t plan to ever leave a place simply because of something I was unhappy about. My life followed that path until it didn’t. Looking back on this, I realize how ridiculous this ‘promise’ to myself actually was. God knew my love for inpatient work, and despite my thinking that outpatient would be somehow better, my professional life was spent working in inpatient units. Finally, I was forced to leave a job that I loved, for negative reasons. It was the right thing to do, and I knew it was the right thing. How silly of me to feel I was in charge of all of that! God worked it all out, from beginning to end.

Holy Lord, help me to listen to your voice and to be more aware of your will for me. In the small things as well as the large, I know beyond a doubt that you are in charge. Amen

Becky, transforming