SCRIPTURE:

Psalm 103:2-5
2 Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, 5 who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Psalm 103:2-6 (NLT)
2 Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me. 3 He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. 4 He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. 5 He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s! 6 The Lord gives righteousness and justice to all who are treated unfairly.

DEVO:

What exactly is “redemption?” It seems odd that we’ve come this far into Ruth’s story and we’ve yet to properly define the concept her life and story best illustrates. While redemption is defined by Websters in a couple different ways, I want to focus on the Biblical concept of redemption as the framework for how we understand it to work within our own lives. Redemption, according to God’s scriptural narrative, is when God takes something or someone that is used up, broken, discarded, and/or corrupt and restores it back to its original state and purpose. 

Before my late wife, Amanda, was killed she had begun to build up a reputation in our community for her knack for restoring furniture. Her little home business, The Weathered Willow, was growing a strong following on Facebook and we spent many of our weekends at vintage and antique shows selling her reclaimed finds. 

She would snag these otherwise discarded pieces, bring them home, sand them down, fix them up, paint them and turn a great profit by reselling them. Sometimes she found her pieces at garage sales or on Craigslist, and other times she got more creative. I’ll never forget the day she called me at work and asked me to pick up a dresser on the side of the road that someone had left out for the trashman to pick up. As I loaded the piece into the back of the car I remember thinking, “This is a piece of junk! What does she think she’s going to do with this?!”

The moment I expressed my thoughts to her upon arriving at the house, I immediately wanted to retract them. I saw hurt in her eyes as she looked back at me and merely stated, “Davey, give me a little time and trust me. I’ll turn this into something beautiful.”

And she did. She always did. Over and over she would take these pieces that others threw out and she would convert them into treasure -- sometimes restoring them back to their former glory and other times bringing to life an even richer character than it previously possessed. No matter how “far gone” a piece of furniture looked, she saw through it’s scuffs and scratches and pulled out it’s potential. 

This is redemption. When you bring value and purpose back to something that has been put on the shelf and labeled as used-up and damaged. What’s always implied within the concept of redemption is that the redeemer pays a price or makes a sacrifice to restore the item to its original purpose. This is why in colloquial English, we talk about “redeeming a gift card.” When you receive a gift card that means someone paid a price to claim something on your behalf. So you reap the value and benefit from someone else’s purchase. This is exactly what Jesus did for us on the cross. He paid the ultimate price of His life to “buy back” our original purpose He created us for -- a purpose that had been distorted, discarded, and stolen because of sin. The cross and the empty tomb, then, become the double doors that allow us to walk out a redemptive story no matter how marred our situation may seem.

In Ruth’s story, God is weaving a powerful narrative to not just tell us this, but to show us. And how appropriate is it that He does so by introducing us to a societal and familial role given to some known as a Kinsman Redeemer. Simply defined, a Kinsman Redeemer was the “closest male relative who, according to various laws found in the Jewish Book of the Law, had the privilege or responsibility to act for a relative who was in trouble, danger, or need of vindication.” In this case, Boaz was a Kinsman Redeemer for Ruth.

So, unlike her mother-in-law Naomi (now known as Mara), Ruth makes a conscious decision not to be defined by her past but instead anticipates God’s redemptive purposes in her life. Thanks to the prodding of Naomi, Ruth is made aware of the covenantal partnership God has asked his people to participate in. Isn’t it interesting that we can see God’s redemptive promises in someone else’s life and story, but it can be difficult to see it in our own? One of the hallmarks of the covenant Ruth learns of is that God’s people are commanded to take care of the foreigner, orphan and widow. She also knows that not only is Boaz a Kinsman Redeemer, but he seems to be faithful and true to that covenant.

So while Boaz is sleeping after a long day of winnowing wheat, she slips into the threshing floor and does something very strange -- she uncovers Boaz’s “feet” (Ruth 3:7). Scholars debate as to the etymological meaning of this phrase but many believe it actually refers to her uncovering his “circumcision.” While this can initially lead us to believe that something inappropriate is happening, I can assure you most scholars agree that is not the case. What is actually happening is that she is symbolically reminding Boaz of the covenant He made with God. Circumcision was the physical marker of this covenant. God asked the Jewish people to circumcise their boys at 8 days old to demonstrate their identity as sons in God’s people-group. Again, a major part of that identity as laid out in the Book of the Law was that they were to stand in on behalf of the foreigner, orphan and widow. And again, Ruth is all three of these.

What’s remarkable about this is that Ruth chose to not only cling to God’s promises for her life, but also to remind Boaz of his role to bring them about. I believe that in our difficult circumstances, God is inviting us to not just hold on to His promises, but to remind Him of His responsibility to bring them about. Is this because God has forgotten His promises? That somehow in the midst of his busy schedule and all the people He has to attend to, you fell off of his radar? Absolutely not! He doesn’t want us to “remind Him” of His promises because He needs reminding, but because we need to be reminded. Reminding Him of his promises, saying them out loud, serves to reinforce the truth in our own heart and mind. I like to call this “preaching to my own heart.” There is a powerful awakening and quickening of my soul when I do this.

When Ruth does this, Boaz responds. He vows to see to it that she is redeemed. But there is one thing standing in his way. He is not the closest Kinsman Redeemer in Ruth’s life. There is another . . . And this is very much the truth of our lives as well. There is a prince of this world that seems at times to be lingering closer to us than God’s presence. His name is Satan. And he will always over-promise and under-deliver on your life. Although what he flashes in front of us promises to help us feel better about ourselves or our circumstances, none of it can fully and finally satisfy like Jesus can. 

True to form, Ruth’s closest Kinsman Redeemer doesn’t want to “tarnish his own name” by claiming her so he forfeits his right -- leaving Ruth once again rejected and discarded. And were it not for Boaz she would have remained that way, ostracized from this community, doomed to live out her existence purposeless and aimless . . . but Boaz steps in and pays the price needed to purchase her redemption. He brings her into the belonging her heart has always yearned for.

Isn’t this our story? The enemy leads us and lures us in with his entanglements. He gets us to believe false narratives about ourselves and about our circumstances. And when we need something to assuage the pain and restore us, he leaves us out to dry . . . 

. . . but Jesus. 

Scripture tells us that Boaz not only redeemed Ruth, but he fell in love with her, and that love birthed a son. The Hebrew word for son sounds like the Hebrew word for built up. What the enemy meant to destroy Ruth’s life, God took, redeemed it, and built it back up. Their son would have a son, who would himself have a son who would be named David. You guessed it. Ruth became the great-grandmother to the greatest king and leader the nation of Israel would ever know -- until another King and Leader would be born from the same lineage. One who could fully and finally redeem and restore us. His name is Jesus. 

But whatever happened to Orpah? We mentioned a few days ago that we would circle back around to her. The Jewish rabbinical tradition known as the Midrash tells us that Orpah went back to Moab where she would eventually have 4 great-grandsons of her own. All four of them were giants. Can you guess the name of the most well-known of the four? 

Goliath. The Philistine Champion who would antagonize God’s people and eventually be defeated by the young shepherd boy, David.

So the book of Ruth is a story of three responses to tragedy and three trajectories ensuing from those responses. Orpah turned her back on God and what she produced was a lineage of ever-increasing animosity toward God’s people. Naomi grew bitter toward God and was unable to produce anything from there on out. But Ruth befriended God. She clung to Him and His promises and produced a legacy that would usher in the Savior of the world. 

What does Ruth’s name mean in Hebrew? Friend. If I can encourage you today, no matter what, cling to The Lord as your Friend. Hold on to Him as your ever-present help in this time of trouble and before you know it your redemption story will find you.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND JOURNALING:

1. In what ways have you begun to see redemption in your story? Where has God restored you?

2. Where do you hope to see redemption in your life? Talk to God about what you long to see done in your story. 

3. What has been your response when it comes to tragedy: turning away from God, growing bitter towards God or befriending God? What would it look like to befriend God right now in the midst of your pain?

PRAYER:

Lord, thank You for bringing healing to the broken places of our lives. Thank You for restoring us to the value and purpose You originally intended for us. I pray that my response to You in every circumstance would be just like Ruth’s. No matter how difficult life may seem, I pray that I would lean into Your perfect plan for my life. Help me to see You as who You truly are: not only a Good Father, but a Faithful Friend.