i've been having disturbing dreams, stressful dreams, lately. last night was wonderful, therefore, because it not only offered a break from the disturbingness, but spoke to me. i'll cut to the chase, though there's more to it than this (including a very bizarre diet vanilla coke episode):
as part of an audition for a job (!!!), i had three seconds to prepare a devotional for teens . . . on the subject of true love. so i started in: today we're going to talk about a story most girls are excited to find in the Bible . . . a love story. but before we get going on the story of ruth, let's pray. Father, i know we're just doing this for auditions, but i pray that You would illuminate Your word and that we could learn from this passage. let my words flow from Your heart. amen.
i began telling the story of ruth - more from her perspective than naomi's - all the while wondering what my point was going to be. i paused to decide whether i should go into the whole bit about "even if i took a husband tonight, would you wait for my son to be of age?" . . . it involved explaining some of the customs of the time, and might get lengthy. i went over it briefly. when i got to the end, i reflected back. we so often remember ruth for her boldness - for uncovering boaz's feet and basically throwing herself at him . . . but i didn't want to talk about that. ruth's true love didn't begin with boaz. it began with naomi and with God, when she vowed to stay close to them.
it's dangerous to read about people's lives - in or out of Scripture - and think 'if i just do what she did, i'll get the same result.' in this case, 'if i'm a devoted friend, and promise to follow God, i'll find my boaz!' God doesn't operate that way. ruth didn't make her decisions based on the best strategy for getting a man. quite the opposite. naomi made it clear that she had no sons to offer, and israel wasn't the ideal place to snag a husband - at least, not for a moabitess. most jewish men wouldn't touch her, because she wasn't one of them! ruth had no expectations of marriage or kids - she came for naomi, because she truly loved her; and she came for God. that's important.
how many of us have made decisions based on guys? how to dress in the morning, or which path to walk around the school, or which stories to tell when he's around? ruth didn't work on that: she focussed on loving and caring for naomi. she wasn't looking for a date qwhen she started gleaning in boaz's fields, either. she was doing her best to provide for her family. and she found so much more than grain.
i'm not saying that caring about marriage or thinking about guys is silly or evil, but don't tell yourself that you won't have true love 'til your boaz comes along. that's a lie: ruth had true love with naomi and she had it with God - potentially at the expense of romance. remember, though, this isn't a formula: God is not a means to an end, and neither is love. besides, as i said, there are no guarantees. you can be a ruth for the rest of your life and never find your boaz. what's certain is this: boaz-types never settle for less than a ruth. and vice-versa.
God's never spoken to me in a dream before . . . i thought that was pretty cool. maybe someone else needed to hear this, too?
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