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PROVIDENCE, CHOICES, AND FAMILY LIFE (4)
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7
Ruth 3:1-5

Ephesians 5:1-11

 

“Proving what is acceptable

unto the Lord.”

 

PROVIDENCE, CHOICES, AND FAMILY LIFE (4)
 
Naomi’s instructions to Ruth were based on the ordinances of God, but it would also be needful to consider the law of the land and the accepted practice among God’s people at that time. The workings of providence do not exclude the use of means. However, the means used by those who trust God must be godly and lawful, and commonly accepted. Eliezer, when sent to look for a wife for Isaac in Genesis 24, went to a well; and so did Jacob, and there Rachel was pointed out to him in Genesis 29. In the case of Ruth, she was sent to the threshing floor.
 
“…Behold, he winnoweth barley tonight in the threshingfloor” (Ruth 3:2). Just as in the case of Eliezer and Jacob where providence would work together with human initiative and action, the actions were not novel or uncommon acts, but accepted and normal actions. Wells were mostly communal and, as such, good meeting points. Water is vital to sustain life, and so wells would be sources for daily sustenance and visited by all. Hence, it was a communal and social place where strangers would easily find help and direction. In the case of Ruth, Naomi sent her to a public and social gathering.
 
Providence had led Ruth to the field of Boaz, a God-fearing man, and a man who had shown great compassion and care to Ruth. He even warned the young men not to touch her. Naomi sent her to the threshing floor with the prospect of marriage, knowing that Boaz was “our kindred.” Just as a well was a communal place, so would the threshing floor be in the days of Ruth. The act of winnowing required an open and raised place where winds could blow the chaff as the grains fell. (This is in contrast with Gideon who threshed wheat by the winepress to hide from the Midianites who had invaded the land at harvest time.) According to Ruth 2:17, Ruth had probably visited the threshing floor, and there “beat out what she had gleaned.” The threshing floor would therefore have been an open place outside the city since Ruth, after threshing and winnowing what she had gleaned, “took it up, and went into the city” (Ruth 2:18).
 
THOUGHT: Those who follow God’s leading will use lawful means.

PRAYER: Help me, Father, to resist sinful and wilful ways in life.

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