Today, I read through the book of Ruth. Spoiler alert: Boaz and Ruth were King David's great-grandparents. I wonder how much he was affected by their commitment to God and their integrity.
Ruth's choice in chapter 1 is a reminder of Joshua at the end of the book of Joshua. Like him, she chooses God no matter what choice the nation she is from has made. She is faithful to God, and to Naomi, and God rewards her by giving her a husband, and a family of her own.
Boaz is a godly man. When we first meet him, he is blessing his workers and treating them well. For the kindness she has shown to Naomi, he treats Ruth well, better than she or Naomi could have expected, but still he is surprised and pleased when she puts herself in his way, to get him to notice her. He is surprised because he is older, and she didn't chase after younger men, and you can tell he's pleased because he does something about it immediately.
Both Ruth and Boaz were blessed as they went about their daily routine, being faithful in the small, seemingly insignificant tasks. I think, also, that each other's character was one of the things that attracted them to each other. If I want to marry a godly woman one day, I better be certain I'm a godly man. Character doesn't spring into being, it develops over time, growing slowly, like a tree. A Chinese proverb says something like: "The best time to plan a tree is 20 years ago. The next best time is today." There are things that are part of my character that are more than 20 years in the making, and others I wish had been, but I can't go back and change the past. All I can do is choose to plant those seeds of character now. I think a lot of times we realize that we should have built character, then shrug and say, "Oh well, I guess it's too late." It's never too late to start building character, to start walking with God, to start living life as it's supposed to be.
God give me the wisdom to plant the seeds of the character that You want in my life now, and nurture the growth of others that have already been planted. Amen.
It's my desire to be the godly man that Psalm 1:1-3 talks about: "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. / But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. / He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers."
No comments:
Post a Comment