Ruth and Boaz: True Trust and True Love

"If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours. If they don't, they never were."  This famous quote is from Khalil Gibran.

That sounds so romantic, until you are up against the reality of loving someone, wanting someone, but then being open handed with the result. Then it feels like your heart is being ripped out.

What true love looks like

Boaz and Ruth determined that they wanted to be married and start a family according to the Levite law. However Boaz knew there was another man in town who was a closer relative and thus had first rights to Ruth and to the family inheritance. He knew according to the Law, he had to offer Ruth to this other relative. Boaz hoped the relative would not want her. However, he could not be sure.

Boaz could have just taken what he wanted. Ruth was willing and the other relative was unaware. However, Boaz did what was right according to God's Law. Boaz chose to truly trust his God.

How good are you at being open-handed and trusting God when it comes to important people in your life?

Honestly, I am not naturally good at this. I am a control-freak and my default is to manipulate situations to get the result I want or I think is best. This story reminds me that I have no idea of what is at stake in my decisions day to day. The story of Ruth and Boaz demonstrates that being in God's will makes a huge difference.  

Our choices may not seem to have implications for anyone else but ourselves, but that is short-sighted. Decisions made today have implications for our family, our children, our co-workers, neighbors, and others who watch us, way beyond what we can see. I need to take this seriously. If I did, I would pray more fervently, study God's Word more closely, be less impulsive and less controlling. I would trust my instincts less and God more. Because God knows what is best, and the end from the beginning. 

God can be trusted, even with the thing we want the most!

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... And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. 

Read the end of this love story in Ruth 4.