Until the matter is settled
Integrity and perseverance. With integrity we hold on to our character. With perseverance, we display our character.
Boaz shows us both of these in our passage today from Ruth chapter 3. It seems Boaz is drawn to Ruth and would like to marry her. However, family lines and duties mean that there are paths that need to be followed.
There is another man who is more closely related to Ruth’s (dead) husband’s family than Boaz. This other man must have the first option of taking over their family land, and also of taking care of Ruth and Naomi. As much as Boaz seems to love Ruth, he must deal with this matter first. He must see if this other man wishes to redeem the land of Naomi’s family and care for Naomi and Ruth. (We’ll see the outcome in the final chapter next week).
But just look at the way Boaz holds on to his integrity and displays his perseverance:
Ruth 3:12-18
Ruth and Boaz at the Threshing Floor (part two)
Although it is true that I am a guardian-redeemer of our family, there is another who is more closely related than I. Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to do his duty as your guardian-redeemer, good; let him redeem you. But if he is not willing, as surely as the Lord lives I will do it. Lie here until morning.”
So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognized; and he said, “No one must know that a woman came to the threshing floor.”
He also said, “Bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out.” When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and placed the bundle on her. Then he[a] went back to town.
When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, “How did it go, my daughter?”
Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her and added, “He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, ‘Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’”
Then Naomi said, “Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today.”
Boaz continues to protect Ruth whilst still doing the right thing. He commits to seeking out the other “guardian-redeemer” first, he commits to protecting Ruth’s reputation, and he commits to looking after her and Naomi by providing more grain for them. And as Naomi says, he then commits to “settling the matter” and will not rest until it is done.
In difficult times like today, it is tempting to take the easy way out. It’s tempting to take a short cut. But in doing this, we may not only lose integrity – we may also lose our perseverance. It is important to hold on to these things as a disciple of Jesus. These things help us to grow in faith. Even though Boaz could have taken a short cut to his relationship with Ruth, instead he trusted God and took the long way around – the right way around.
Take no short cuts.
I remember my Father telling me once that this is why he never sped in his car (at least not when he was older!) He said “If God wanted me to be there earlier, then I’d be there earlier.”
There are no short cuts to integrity or perseverance. They build our character as disciples of Jesus, helping us to trust God and his timing for our life plans.
Prayer
Lord, give me patience to persevere. Give me strength to hold on to integrity. When the path is difficult, keep me focussed on the character of Jesus, who I seek to follow and imitate. Help me to know that you are sovereign and your plans for me are far better than my plans for myself. Amen.