The Redemptive Love Affair

Tired.
If I had to choose one word to describe my spirit, most days, I would answer with 'tired.' Not that there isn't liveliness, joy, and hunger in my soul-- there is. What I mean to say is that I fail to rest when it's most necessary. Sometimes that's simply my dealt hand, but sometimes it's pride and stubbornness that drives my work-do ways.

Ruth.
If I could compare myself to any woman in the bible, it would be Ruth. I think her spirit was tired, too. See, she was a Moabite. Which means she served a god that wasn't the Lord. (Chemosh was his name). But in comparison to me, I also served a god that wasn't the God I serve today. That god manifested in many different forms: pride, arrogance, charm, bitterness, unforgiveness-- you name it and it was probably a god of mine.

Ruth seems strong-willed and slightly dogmatic. She was married to Mahlon who died along with his brother, Chilion. The Mosaic law states that when a man dies, his brother is to marry his widowed wife and name their first son after the late husband, (he becomes a Redeemer according to the law). Unfortunately for Ruth, Mahlon's brother was also dead. So Naomi, Ruth's mother-in-law, commanded her to go back to her home to find a husband. But she refused. If you read  in chapter 1, it seems like she almost frightens Naomi with her animosity toward her request. "Do not urge me to leave you or return from following you (so feisty). For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more." If Ruth wasn't yet a follower of the God of Israel, she definitely was now.
The problem was that the land (owned by Naomi now that her husband was dead, too) was desolate. They were poor and didn't have the money to cultivate it, so they had to sell it. Doesn't seem like a big deal to us, at least she had some assets to her name, right? But in that day, it was a big deal to sell the land to the Israelites causing it falling out of the family's name.

Naomi is a genius. She decides to try to sell the land to a close relative so that she could 1. get money and 2. keep the land. Sneaky and maybe slightly manipulative. But not in the least against the law at that time. So she tells Ruth, who I imagine to be a stunning woman, to basically go to Boaz and lure him in with her beauty. Which she does very successfully. Boaz is so very drawn to her the moment he sees her. He is drawn to her physical appearance, but he makes it clear that he is most interested in her for all that she has done for her mother-in-law. He sees this charming, determined young lady and is captivated by her giving spirit. But Boaz knows that he is not the closest kin to Ruth's late husband, meaning he could not fulfill the Mosaic law and marry her unless the man who was the closest kin declined. Boaz tells Ruth he will tend to the matter. My favorite attribute of Boaz is what Naomi says next. She tells Ruth, "Wait, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out, for the man will not rest but will settle the matter today." Boaz didn't drag his feet or make Ruth wait around, instead, he treated the matter more urgently than anything else that day. He knew Ruth's heart was on the line and he wanted to comfort her as soon as possible. Selflessly, he placed Ruth's heart above everything else.

Each time I read the the book of Ruth, I learn something new. What stood out to me this time around is Naomi's persistence and obsession with Ruth finding a husband. Multiple times, she refers to her remarrying as finding rest. "The Lord grant that you may find rest in the house of your husband." Ruth being the independent, hard-working, fend for herself and also care for her widowed mother-in-law self, probably liked the sound of 'rest,' (back to Naomi's crafty tactics). Her spirit was probably tired, like mine. By marrying Boaz, she satisfies her heart with the desires all women have to be loved and cherished. She also finds physical rest as she is no longer poor and gleaning the fields from morning to dusk. And what I think she enjoyed even more, was that she finds spiritual rest. She now has someone to help her learn and grow in being a follower of the one true God. She has a leader who will guide her and direct her to righteousness. Not that women are less christian by being single, but God placed men at the head of the table for a reason. We all know that women can be driven by emotion while men get a clearer head to make decisions. Never is Ruth's father mentioned, not sure if her parents are even alive, but she obviously lacked male authority in her life and desired to have a more meekness and gentleness to her soul.

Rest.
If I had to choose one thing I'm looking most forward to in marriage, most days, I would answer with 'rest.' Not that marriage itself is not hard work, trust me, all my married friends remind me of that frequently. But I do believe marriage will come with a spiritual and emotional rest. Imagining the stewardship a Godly husband will bring feels like a breath of fresh air in my industrious, multi-disciplined life.