Waiting on the Lord

Our text is from Ruth 3:16-18 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." Whoever named this book, Ruth, has led us astray. Ruth may have most of the action, but it is Naomi who gets the last word in each chapter. That seems to make her the more significant character. The first chapter ends with Naomi returning to Bethlehem with the lament, "Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty" (20, 21). We sense how deep her grief is, since Ruth, her daughter-in-law, who has come home with her, is most likely standing with her. Where else would Ruth be? To be fair, from Naomi's perspective, this is how her story might end. Empty. Chapter two ends with Ruth still living with her mother-in-law. But there is some good news. They have found a supply of barley and wheat, if only for this season. This includes a safe place for Ruth to glean the grain. Not quit as empty. However, the longer future still feels quite tenuous. What will happen when their supply of food runs out? Emptiness loomed there. As the third chapter ends, we detect that things have changed for this pair of widows. "Wait," says Naomi. This is a word filled with hope and expectation. It hints at the words of the psalmist, "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord" (27:14). She had sent her daughter-in-law to Boaz' harvest party in the hopes of securing a husband for Ruth. On her return, Ruth tells her mother-in-law everything that had happened in the night. She ends with, "[Boaz] gave me these six measures of barley (about 50lbs), saying, 'Don't go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.'" Naomi understood Boaz' implication. If he is allowed to act as the kinsman-redeemer, Naomi would be included in the redemption. Her reproach as a widow without children might be taken away. She would be empty no more. "Wait," she says to Ruth. But she is waiting eagerly too. Regarding this other kinsman-redeemer, Boaz could have said, "He has not come forward; he has had enough time; I've already made a significant investment in these two widows, I'm cashing in." Many would have done this. But not Boaz. He follows the wisdom of Proverbs, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight" (3:5,6). Boaz is waiting on God to lead the way. What we see acted out in these four chapters is reflected on in Psalm 1, "Blessed is the one…whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers" (1-3). This story illustrates what it looks like to wait on the Lord, inviting us to do the same. Go now with God's blessing: May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.