Warriors Arise: June 12, 2021
Ruth 4:1-8 (NKJV) Now Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there; and behold, the close relative of whom Boaz had spoken came by. So Boaz said, “Come aside, friend, sit down here.” So he came aside and sat down. 2 And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down. 3 Then he said to the close relative, “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, sold the piece of land which belonged to our brother Elimelech. 4 And I thought to inform you, saying, ‘Buy it back in the presence of the inhabitants and the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it; but if you will not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know; for there is no one but you to redeem it, and I am next after you.’ ” And he said, “I will redeem it.” 5 Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also buy it from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance.”
When we do not accomplish a task, it isn't generally because we do not know what needs to be done; it is because we don't want to do what is required. Today is your day to do what you know to do. Today is your day to accomplish what is before you. Today is your day to seek out the person or people you need to get matters settled, to move on with what God has given you.
What would have happened if Boaz had drug his feet? I believe Boaz already wanted Ruth as his wife. Maybe he hadn't considered it because he, himself was rejected as a half-breed. We must wonder why Boaz had never married. He had land, servants, and wealth but he had never married. Did he take Ruth under his wing, allowing her to drink water with his servants and have bread when she came to glean because he was already acting as her kinsman redeemer or was he wooing her?
Just as his father saw character beyond someone ethnicity when he took Rahab as his wife, Boaz saw character beyond Ruth's ethnicity. Boaz blessed Ruth in chapter 2.
Ruth 2:11-12 (NKJV) And Boaz answered and said to her, “It has been fully reported to me, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know before. 12 The Lord repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.”
For whatever reason, Boaz waited for Ruth to present herself. But once she did, he took action. After sending Ruth home to Naomi he went and sat at the gate waiting for the rightful kinsmen redeemer. He did not waste time. Ruth had asked him and he was going to do what he could to make sure she was not taken in by another. He acted immediately. If anyone had seen her, he did not want them to get the wrong impression. If word were to get out to the rightful kinsmen redeemer of her outstanding character, Boaz wouldn't be able to step in. If Boaz didn't act quickly, who knows what could have happened. We like to think when we take th time to consider a matter beyond the time to act that things will stay as they are. This just isn't true. Life continues, people get tired of waiting on us to do what they know we are to do, and the enemy brings in confusion. Any number of outcomes can happen when we do not act in the time we are to act.
Boaz didn't waste time. He went to where the matter could be settled and waited for the lead kinsmen redeemer. He didn't bring the man out in front of everyone. He wanted the man to be able to back out graciously. They did not discuss the matter in front of everyone. They declared what would happen once the matter had been settled between the two men. By Boaz ushering the man aside to talk to him, he made it so the man was not influenced by others watching. This was not a counsel for discussion, this was a matter done between two men. The counsel was there to acknowledge the agreement.
Too many times we do not get what we are to have because we want to bring it out before everyone. When we do this the problem arises of everyone else thinking they have a say-so in the matter. It didn't matter how much land Boaz would acquire. The other kinsmen redeemer was focused on the land he would acquire. But when he had to take on another wife and help to provide a heir through Ruth for Naomi's family line then the situation changed. Too many voices from the counsel may have persuaded the man to fulfill his obligation and cast Ruth aside just so he could have the land. Because Boaz took the man aside to talk to him, he could start the conversation.
Ruth 4:6-8 And the close relative said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I ruin my own inheritance. You redeem my right of redemption for yourself, for I cannot redeem it.” 7 Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging, to confirm anything: one man took off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was a confirmation in Israel. 8 Therefore the close relative said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself.”
The man uses "it" referring to the inheritance. He didn't have any desire to restore the family name of Naomi's family. He only wanted the land. No worries. God was at work to bring Boaz and Ruth together.
Ruth 4:8-10 (NKJV ) Therefore the close relative said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself.” So he took off his sandal. 9 And Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's, from the hand of Naomi. 10 Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, I have acquired as my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brethren and from his position at the gate. You are witnesses this day.”
Boaz did buy it but he wanted the elders to know that he was getting a wife and he would honor their custom to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance. Boaz was getting so much more than land. The deal was done and acknowledged. Naomi and Ruth would be taken care of, because Boaz acted on what God set him up to do.
Father, there are so many times I know you have positioned me to act on another's behalf. I have sat back, waited for someone else, and even said I would pray about it, but I didn't. The reason I "didn't know" it was You was because I wasn't listening to You. I wasn't ready to act on their behalf because it was going to cost me my time, resources or reputation. I ask to be forgiven. For each time, I ask to be forgiven. I know there are so many I do not even know because I had turned a deaf ear to Your leading and other times I did not have compassion maybe even judgement of "their kind". But today, I ask for Your forgiveness. I petition You to either give me another chance to represent You as I stand up for them or I ask for You to find them where they are at and lift them up out of the muck I left them. My request is for You to reach them, remove the reproach and restore them in Jesus' name amen.
A Warrior in the Lord’s Army,
Veridee Joy Hand
My hope is for Believers in Jesus Christ to join together each day to pray, to push back the enemy as we release God’s power here on earth against the coronavirus, riots, and lies. The prayers will be listed each day as Warriors Arise. I will put a date with it so we can keep them straight. If you have any questions please feel free to make a comment or private message me. If you would like this to come to your email directly please go to verideehand.com and subscribe.
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