{"id":24926,"date":"2023-01-22T22:00:07","date_gmt":"2023-01-23T05:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/ruth-1_14-22-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-01-17T13:49:58","modified_gmt":"2023-01-17T20:49:58","slug":"ruth-2_1-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/ruth-2_1-13\/","title":{"rendered":"What to Look For in a Life Partner"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ruth 2:1-13\u00a0 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today’s passage is\u00a0Ruth\u00a02:1-13.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

Ruth 2:1-13 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, from the clan of Elimelech, a man of standing, whose name was Boaz.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And Ruth the Moabitess 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.”
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So she went out and began to glean in the fields behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “The\u00a0LORD\u00a0be with you!” “The\u00a0LORD\u00a0bless you!” they called back.
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Boaz asked the foreman of his harvesters, “Whose young woman is that?”
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The foreman replied, “She is the Moabitess who came back from Moab with Naomi.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.’ She went into the field and has worked steadily from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.”
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So 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 my servant girls.
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the girls. I have told the men not to touch you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She exclaimed, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me–a foreigner?”
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Boaz 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.
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0May the\u00a0LORD\u00a0repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the\u00a0LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have given me comfort and have spoken kindly to your servant–though I do not have the standing of one of your servant girls.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-13:\u00a0 In today’s passage from\u00a0Ruth\u00a02:1-13, we see from\u00a0Ruth\u00a0and Boaz some outstanding traits that made each of them worth noticing.\u00a0 Guys and girls, when you look for a life partner, don’t just focus on physical appearance or financial standing.\u00a0 Even more, focus on the person’s character because\u00a0it’s the character of the two partners — not their looks or their bank account — that will determine how happy and healthy their relationship will be in the end<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Here are 4 great qualities about\u00a0Ruth\u00a0from today’s passage:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0She was wise and resourceful (v2 – “Let me go to the fields and\u00a0pick\u00a0up the leftover grain…”).\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0According to Leviticus 19:9-10 and\u00a023:22, the poor and foreigners were allowed to go into an Israelite’s field and pick up the\u00a0leftover\u00a0crops that were not harvested the first time.\u00a0\u00a0Ruth\u00a0understood this law and decided to use it to provide for her family.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0She was courageous and took initiative (v3 – “So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters”).\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0It was not the safest job for Ruth, a woman and a foreigner from Moab, to go into a stranger’s field and pick up\u00a0leftovers.\u00a0 As Naomi would say in verse 22, “in someone else’s field you might be harmed”.\u00a0 But\u00a0Ruth\u00a0was willing to take the risk for her family.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0She was humble and not self-entitled (v10 – “…she bowed down with her face to the ground.\u00a0 She asked him, “Why have I found such\u00a0favor\u00a0in your eyes that you notice me, a foreigner?”)<\/strong>.\u00a0 It takes a certain degree of humility to go into a stranger’s field and pick up\u00a0leftovers.\u00a0 To do so was to admit that you were poor and needy.\u00a0 But\u00a0Ruth\u00a0didn’t seem to mind.\u00a0\u00a0Also,\u00a0Ruth\u00a0didn’t expect that others should always notice her and serve her (v10); she didn’t have a victim complex. \u00a0 She was humble and comfortable in her own skin.\u00a0 Contrast that\u00a0to\u00a0people who are obsessed with saving face such that they don’t do what they could to take care of their family. \u00a0(Sometimes “saving face” can get in the way of “saving faith”.)<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0She was a hard worker (v7).\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Notice what Boaz’s foreman said about her: “She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.” (v7)<\/p>\n

Women, of these 4 traits, which one are you needing to develop the most?<\/p>\n

Now let’s look at\u00a02\u00a0great qualities of Boaz from today’s passage:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0He looked out for\u00a0<\/strong>Ruth<\/strong>‘s safety and security.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Boaz did several things to help ensure that\u00a0Ruth\u00a0was in a safe place and well cared for:
\n– Boaz told\u00a0Ruth\u00a0not to go to another field, that she could stay in his field for the duration of the harvest season (v8, 21)
\n– Boaz told\u00a0Ruth\u00a0to keep company with his female staff (v8).\u00a0 In other words, Boaz didn’t just let\u00a0Ruth\u00a0glean leftovers with the poor.\u00a0 He let\u00a0Ruth\u00a0pick the best that his field had to offer (v19).
\n– Boaz told the men not to lay a hand on\u00a0Ruth\u00a0(v9).\u00a0 He instituted the first anti-harassment workplace policy recorded in the Bible.
\n– Boaz told\u00a0Ruth\u00a0that whenever she needed a drink she could get it from the water jars that the men had filled (v9).\u00a0Usually\u00a0it was the women who would draw water for the men (e.g. Genesis 24:10-20), but Boaz showed special grace to\u00a0Ruth.<\/p>\n

Men, one of the ways you can love the woman in your life is to look out for their safety and security and to care for her physical needs.\u00a0 But that’s not all Boaz did.<\/p>\n

2. \u00a0He encouraged her and pointed her to God. \u00a0<\/strong>Some guys crave the attention and praise that come from playing the hero.\u00a0 Not Boaz.\u00a0 When\u00a0Ruth\u00a0asks Boaz why he is being so kind to her, he doesn’t say, “Well, just another day at work for Superman!” \u00a0Instead, Boaz points to the superhero he sees in\u00a0Ruth, how he admires the sacrifices she has made for Naomi (v9). Even more, Boaz pointed\u00a0Ruth, who was new in the faith, to “the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge” (v12) and blesses her.<\/p>\n

Men, don’t just look out for the physical needs of the woman in your life.\u00a0 Even more, like Boaz, let’s do a good job of encouraging the women in our lives and pointing them to their only perfect hero, Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

Finally, notice in this story the sovereignty of God.\u00a0 The first field Ruth arrives at to glean, \u201cas it turned out\u201d (v3), just happens to belong to a man who is part of the same clan as Ruth\u2019s late husband.\u00a0 According to Jewish laws on remarriage, if Ruth were ever to remarry, it would have to be to someone within the same clan as her late husband.\u00a0 As Ruth and Boaz each individually did their best and trusted God with what they had, in ways that they themselves could not control, God was bringing them together.\u00a0 Likewise,\u00a0God is working in ways that you cannot control and cannot see.\u00a0 He is writing a greater story with your life than you can imagine.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I pray that all the women of Thrive Church would have the traits of\u00a0<\/em>Ruth<\/em>\u00a0described\u00a0above,\u00a0and that all the men of Thrive Church would be like Boaz in the ways we’ve talked about today. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today’s passage is\u00a0Ruth\u00a02:1-13.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

Ruth 2:1-13 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, from the clan of Elimelech, a man of standing, whose name was Boaz.
\n2\u00a0\u00a0And Ruth the Moabitess 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.”
\n3\u00a0\u00a0So she went out and began to glean in the fields behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech.<\/p>\n

On verses 1-13:\u00a0 In today’s passage from\u00a0Ruth\u00a02:1-13, we see from\u00a0Ruth\u00a0and Boaz some outstanding traits that made each of them worth noticing.\u00a0 Guys and girls, when you look for a life partner, don’t just focus on physical appearance or financial standing.\u00a0 Even more, focus on the person’s character because\u00a0it’s the character of the two partners — not their looks or their bank account — that will determine how happy and healthy their relationship will be in the end.<\/p>\n

Here are 4 great qualities about\u00a0Ruth\u00a0from today’s passage:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0She was wise and resourceful (v2 – “Let me go to the fields and\u00a0pick\u00a0up the leftover grain…”).\u00a0\u00a0According to Leviticus 19:9-10 and\u00a023:22, the poor and foreigners were allowed to go into an Israelite’s field and pick up the\u00a0leftover\u00a0crops that were not harvested the first time.\u00a0\u00a0Ruth\u00a0understood this law and decided to use it to provide for her family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24928,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24926"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24929,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24926\/revisions\/24929"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}