Know our Redeemer

I think a believer's life is more of divine interventions, than coincidences. When Ruth went out to find work, she found Boaz's field, without knowing that Boaz was their kinsman redeemer. However when she returns and tells Naomi about it(Ruth 2:20), she finds out that he is one of the kinsman-redeemer for their family. Here onwards, once these 2 women knew Boaz could help them out from their situation of desperation and distress, they worked towards it.Noami has now found courage to fight the circumstances of her life. No longer distressed, the love and faithfulness her daughter-in-law Ruth has showed towards her, has encouraged her to go on.
Before I share what I learnt from Ruth and Naomi's life today I thought the following piece of information would be helpful in understanding.

The definition of "kinsman" is nearest male blood relative. If anyone from
poverty was unable to redeem his inheritance, it was the duty of the kinsman to
redeem it." The Hebrew word for "kinsman'" is "goel." "Redeemer" is defined as
"one charged with the duty of restoring the rights of another and avenging his
wrongs." The Hebrew word for Redeemer is also "goel."

Here's some lessons I learnt from their life at this point from (Ruth 3)

1. Know your redeemer's work-Ruth and Naomi, got to know their redeemer Boaz little more. " One day Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, "My daughter, should I not try to find a home [a] for you, where you will be well provided for? 2 Is not Boaz, with whose servant girls you have been, a kinsman of ours? Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor"-Ruth 3:1,2. Too many times, we go on about our lives with our own plan, our desires and our work. Little do we want to listen from our Redeemer Lord Jesus, where He is at work. There could be someone right beside you, in need of prayer or a word of encouragement, if we're truly led by our Lord, we'll know what to do and where He is at work and how we're needed there.
2. Go where your redeemer goes-"4 When he lies down, note the place where he is lying..."(Ruth 3:4) I like this verse, where Naomi asks Ruth to NOTE the place. How carefully, they watched their redeemer work and noticed his place. Our life should be one which seeks where our Redeemer Lord Jesus goes. I strongly believe that we've got to be at the right place at the right time and all things will fit correctly and work together for our good. Do we wait to ask our Lord where He would take us, whom we will meet to be a blessing?
3. At the redeemer's mercy-"Then go and uncover his feet and lie down." Ruth 3:4 and also in 8 In the middle of the night something startled the man, and he turned and discovered a woman lying at his feet. (Ruth 3:8). Lying down at someone's feet is, I think, the greatest expression of humility. Leaving oneself, at the mercy of that person. Totally depending on what that person would do for you, be it good or bad. Ruth did that. She humbled herself in such a significant manner. Now these women knew too well, that this was the ONLY kinsman-redeemer who could help them out of their situation and they held onto him. Leaving everything at his mercy. How much of our life do we trust God with? Fully or do we keep part of it in our hold, so we'll have something to work on.
4. Wanted the redeemer to be family- These 2 women badly, real desperately wanted out, of their distressed, bitter life. It could have worked for them, if Ruth continued to work at Boaz's field, gleaning the field. They were only 2 in the family, I guess it would have been enough. They were getting food for their daily living. They would have done OK. However they wanted to live better than before, they wanted the redeemer to be family. It was not enough for them, that Boaz was providing their daily needs, they wanted him to be their family. God loves us and provides for us, daily. Should we stop at that, or would you want to go on ahead and be family, real family with God our Redeemer? Family means, living with God daily, working with God daily, serving God daily, throughout the day in every breath. Not just part of day like we go to work for our boss, but the whole 24 hrs. Being family also means to have your family traits, do what the family does. Jesus did what the Father in heaven did.(John 5:19 ) and here's what Jesus said-John 14:12 (Whole Chapter) I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. "How much family traits do we want to acquire from our God, who gave us authority to be children(John 1), those who believe in Him?
5. Listen to what the redeemer has to say-"He will tell you what to do (Ruth 3:4). A good piece of advice, Naomi gives Ruth. Ruth would have to listen to what Boaz would ask her to do. Isn't that kind of our relation with God, to listen and know what our Redeemer Lord Jesus would like us to do about anything pertaining our life, when we go to Him for help. Well, sometimes we go to Him alright, but we don't listen to what He would have to say to us.
6. After all is done, wait-Then Naomi said, "Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today."(Ruth 3:18). Once Ruth came back to Naomi after she had everything she had been asked to do, Naomi asked her to wait. Naomi knew all too well, that this kinsman-redeemer will not let someone who's come to him for help, without a solution. He would find the best resolution for them.They just had to wait. They trusted everything in Boaz's hand and they waited. This I guess is the most difficult part of a believer's life. After praying hard about a situation and giving it to God, we still would love to sit and worry, not sit and wait to see what God would do about it. How much faith does it show on our part when after praying we doubt again and wonder if God would do something? Boaz is shown as a model of our Lord Jesus our Redeemer. Our Lord Jesus, our Redeemer, will not rest until the matter is settled. God will not settle down until the matter for your need, your concern, your life is settled. We have to wait and find out what God has done for us.He's there working on our behalf, because we've done all and now rest upon His work.Ephesians 6:13:13Therefore put on God's complete armor, that you may be able to resist and stand your ground on the evil day [of danger], and, having done all [the crisis demands], to stand [firmly in your place]."

Well I've listed the lessons I learnt, above. I know this has been my longest post, but I can't help it. My God is a very talkative God, He loves to talk to His people who are willing to listen to His voice. I hope you are blessed by this post, as much as I have been blessed writing it.Thank you for patiently reading.

Our Redeemer Lives.

What is Fellowship?

Naomi, a woman who was born and brought up with Israelites, and Ruth a Moabite woman, who had not known a God, Who could be personal and take care of His people.These 2 women taught me the meaning of fellowship.

Naomi a woman who had lost all hope of life getting better, was bitter with life."Don't call me Naomi, [ Naomi means pleasant ; also in verse 21. ] " she told them. "Call me Mara, [ Mara means bitter . ] because the Almighty [ Hebrew Shaddai ; also in verse 21 ] has made my life very bitter." Ruth 1:20. Yes Naomi was human alright, she went through trials and like most of us would put the blame on God, she did too even though it was due to their own wrong decision to move to Moab. She didn't want people in her already distressed life, she wanted her daughters-in-law to return to their own homes and start new families(Ruth 1:8). Sometimes, we just want to be left alone when we're in some trial.

Ruth on the other hand, I see as a new believer or just about starting to believe.The only one she knew who could show her God's work was Naomi so she decides to hold on to Naomi for life."16 But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." (Ruth 1:16-17 ). She knew what Naomi thought of her own self, but she also has known, the Naomi who has faith in a Living God and always blessed anybody who came into her life in the Name of the Living God.(See Ruth 1:6, Ruth 1:8, Ruth 2:20)

In spite of what their own situations looked like, the key factor I see in their fellowship is "LOVE". Love is manifested in various actions and behaviour that these 2 women have towards each other in building each other up.
Ruth's love for Naomi and Naomi's love for Ruth. Nobody was preaching to the other, they were just living out their love for each other. Now thats a rare thing between in-laws in our time.

Lesson: Its very easy to love someone who is the same as you, thats what we call, people who click with us.However God has been recently trying to show me to love people who don't know Him or who are trying to find Him, but looking in the wrong places. People who would want to know Him, but have no way of knowing Him unless I can show it to them through my life.
I think, there are believers out there too, who are in situations like mine, to love someone in their life, they don't know, they don't like.I am learning to Love people who don't know my God, sometimes I feel like just sitting and explaining the whole salvation, redemption, confession, belief package to them.But this lesson from the fellowship between Ruth and Naomi has taught me that fellowship is not only about talking about spiritual things, but also living out the Words of our Lord Jesus. Thats what I think is fellowship, so lets live out our Christian Life. There might be a Ruth somewhere in our lives, someone wanting to know our Lord, lets learn from the lesson Ruth and Naomi teach us.

The Door is Always Open

While learning from Ruth's life and her decisions, I find that someone has been playing a very important role, Naomi. I was reminded of her, by one of my readers. Naomi's life shows another aspect of a Believer's walk with God. A life that knows God, yet goes out of God's will and even comes back again to the Lord to find fulfilness.

Background:Naomi left Bethlehem, in Judah with her husband, Elimelech, who had decided to go to Moab while there was famine.They had two sons with them. Naomi's husband Elimelech had originally planned to just sojourn(stay for a while) in Moab but later on we read that they lived there(Ruth 1:2 ) and their sons got married to Moabite women. In about 10 years of living in Moab, all the men in the family died, leaving Naomi, with the 2 daughters in law. Naomi decides to return to Bethlehem after she heard how God came down to help the people.She urges her daughters-in-law to return to Moab and find rest in the home of another husband (Ruth 1:9). Ruth comes with her anyway. Naomi enters Bethlehem, she is disheartened at the way life turned out for her and wants to be called Mara(Ruth 1:20). However God turns everything differently for her as is written in (Ruth 4:14-15)

What I see from Naomi's life

1. Disobedience or walking away from God's plan when life seems trying- Elimelech and Naomi move away from Bethlehem(house of bread) in a time of famine to a land called Moab. A land God did not approve of (Note:you may read my earlier post to find out why). I find this happen so many times in my life, when God wants to know how far am I yielded to His will and purpose for my life. God waits to see, when in trouble do I first run to Him or away from Him. Sometimes I run to Him, sometimes I run away. When I do run away from Him, I find I have missed something important in my life. Naomi's life shows us how going away from God's will, cost dearly. On another thought, would it be difficult for a God who provided Manna in a desert, to provide food in Bethlehem? I think not, yet that was their decision to move away from God's place.
2. Loss- Naomi lost her entire family, and was left with her daughters-in-law, she had nothing to give them. Their source of livelihood was no longer there, no protection was there since there were no males left in the family.Moab did not give them satisfaction in the time of famine, rather stole from them what they already had. That was quite a price to pay(Ruth 1:3-5). She was so distressed, she no longer wants to be called Naomi(meaning pleasantness) she wanted to be called Mara(meaning-Bitter)
3. Returning home-Naomi knew that the only way she could live was to go back to Bethlehem, where God came down and fed His people(Ruth 1:6). She made the right choice of returning to the land of God.
4. She wants to be a blessing- Once in the land of the Lord, we see that initially a woman who was distressed, had given up all hope, who wanted her daughters-in-law to return because she had nothing to give them, is now aspiring to be a blessing to her daughter-in-law. "One day Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, "My daughter, should I not try to find a home for you, where you will be well provided for?(Ruth 3:1)
5. She is blessed-Finally we see that in all this, Naomi herself is blessed. The women said to Naomi: "Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! (Ruth 4:14)

Lessons I learnt:

1. No matter how tough situation in life gets, there is no other refuge as wonderful as our Lord -Psalm 46:1 (Whole Chapter) "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. "
2. When we turn around from our disobedience, our running away from the Lord and return to our Lord, He is ready and waiting for us to accept us-"All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away."John 6:37. Also like we read in the story of the prodigal son.
3. All so far, children walking in the will of God, always are a blessing to others and in return are themselves blessed. The blessings God bestows upon children who are willing and obedient to His call, fills them and overflows as blessings into the lives of people.
4. God always waits for His children to return to Him, and has prepared a way out of our distress.As in Naomi's case, God had kept a kinsman-redeemer, Boaz for her when she returned. God has kept, our Redeemer, Lord Jesus, ready and waiting for us to return to our Lord that He may redeem us from our poverty, distress, loss, debt and everything else.

Though Naomi thought all was lost and gone, there was something Ruth found in her, she found a tiny seed of faith in God somewhere in the midst of Naomi's distress. In a brief moment, Naomi thought the Lord had done all that harm to her, but I think they were all because of disobedience and continually staying out of God's will. In Deuteronomy 30:19 God says "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: " The choice to stay with the Lord or go away from Him at any situation in life, always remains with us.

I learnt from Naomi's life, how these choices can affect our life. We cannot blame God for our wrong choices. He is willing to let us know which way we should go, if only , we would wait and listen. God has a plan of blessing for us, a plan of redemption from any situation, our redemption is in Lord Jesus our Redeemer. The Door is always open, are we willing to return and go back to our Lord, to meet our Redeemer Lord Jesus?

Where You lead me-I will go

Ruth has been such a wonderful example of faith. As I had mentioned earlier a summary of all that happened to Ruth just for following the Living God.

The book of Ruth brings out a beautiful picture of a Christian walk....its for those who say to the Lord "Where You lead me-I will go" and are willing to stick by that word. Ruth is a tremendous example of such a person. There was something about Ruth that caused a stir in the village. I am sure it was the fact that she's from the Moabite community and she doesn't know God neither did she know the people of this land, but yet she has come with her mother-in-law committed to her, in life or in death.Above all, she wanted Naomi's God to be her God.

As I see from Ruth's life, things started happening in her life when she took the decision of following Naomi's God(Ruth 1:16). Ruth after reaching Bethlehem, does not sit and relax, but goes out to glean (pick up the lefovers from the harvesters). I wonder, if I was in a strange neighbourhood, a different country, a different people, would I dare to go out like Ruth did, at the mercy of the people there. I don't think so. This shows how completely yielded she was to her decision of sticking with Naomi. At this point she doesn't even know whether the people will like her or not, will someone allow her in their fields or not, will she get food for them(Naomi and her) this day or not, will she earn anything or not.There were too many things that were not in her hands at this point in her life, yet she goes on, out, to accept the decision she took, out to boldly go where no Moabite had gone before.

1. Actions were noted and praised-People around us will see, be it believers or unbelievers. A totally surrendered life to God is always noticeable, always causes a stir and becomes a talk of the town but all were in her favour. A field man says about Ruth "6 The foreman replied, "She is the Moabitess who came back from Moab with Naomi. 7 She said, 'Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.' She went into the field and has worked steadily from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter". As Boaz tells Ruth what he had heard from others ""11 Boaz replied, "I've been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. 12 May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge." (Ruth 2:11-12)
2. Unmerited favour comes along-God starts putting people in favor of you, people you might have never met before.As Ruth says to Boaz "10 At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She exclaimed, "Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?" "(Ruth 2:10). Ruth had done nothing to find favor in Boaz's eyes, she was not a regular worker there but she found favor.
3. Protection and Provision-" Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the girls. I have told the men not to touch you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled"(Ruth 2:9). Boaz offered her the protection and provisions for food during her work time.

Lesson:When we take a stand to follow our Living Lord, in life or in death, and our life takes a 180 degree turn from what is familiar, what is known, what is natural, what was usual towards something that is unfamiliar, unknown,unnatural, unusual. A life that solely depends on the nudgings of the Holy Spirit, the voice of God, it turns into a life of blessing, a life which gives joy to others around you and brings blessings upon you.

Not only was Ruth blessed in her work, we later on see as I had written earlier that she becomes a blessing to all of us, in this, that she's the great great great great grand mom of our Lord Jesus. Can you see the impact a life of total surrender can make.