It
amazes me how often younger generations discount the knowledge and experience
of those older than them (I did it too).
There is a common theme amongst younger generations that their elders
(whether it’s by a few years or several decades) are completely out of touch;
that they (the elders) don’t understand because things have changed, blah blah
blah. Granted technology changes all the
time, the numerical year changes, styles of clothing may appear to be different,
but I can almost guarantee you that the fads of today are repeats of
yesterday. The old school game that
worked back in the day, still pretty much works today as long as you update the
slang. But human nature remains the
same. We could avoid head and heart ache
if we would just listen more, me included.
Yesterday
Naomi laid out a game plan that was pretty much fail proof and because Ruth
listened she got a positive reaction from Boaz.
Did she manipulate him? I don’t
believe she did at all, she simply let him “find her” by positioning herself
according to the customs and culture of that time period. Let’s moonwalk back to New Beginnings Pt. 3 (http://dailyflicker.blogspot.com/2014/08/new-beginnings-pt-3-naomi-whats-in-name.html) which talks
about Naomi’s husband, Elimelech’s untimely death and the premature death of her
sons, one of which was Ruth’s husband.
Those deaths resulted in both women being widows, childless and destitute
and though their experiences were similar, Naomi chose to be bitter while Ruth
chose to be better. You can have one or
the other, not both. The irony is that
Naomi served the living Invisible God and Ruth worshipped a false god which she
could see. Did Ruth’s god have power
over the one true God? No, Naomi chose
to put her light out and give up on God, because she felt she was being
punished, so she moved in and settled on Bitter Street assuming nothing else
would change for her. Ruth on the other
hand was optimistic and somehow found the courage to look for new beginnings
which may have been in part one of the reasons she was so driven to leave
Moab. Ruth’s obedience, humility and
selflessness are what really got her the results she and Naomi were looking for
but those results also reignited something in Naomi slowly removing the
bitterness with better-ness. For the first
time in months Naomi worshipped the Invisible God that Ruth had voluntarily begun
to worship.
Tania
not Tanya Nugget: Naomi was bitter,
angry at God as many of us have been, but God still blesses her? Why is that?
Does God bless people that are disrespectful and selfish? Is he a pushover who can be punked out of
doing things for us like a genie in a bottle?
If you don’t listen to anything else I say, please listen to this. God is sovereign, merciful and compassionate,
he knew Naomi’s heart and the ultimate outcome.
He knows all and is everywhere all at the same time. He knows our thoughts before we think them;
see’s our heart (intentions, motive). So
before you think you can “manip” God, you might want to go have several stadium
seats cause you’ll get punked long before you even have the sense enough to
come up with a scheme to try to punk him.
Don’t believe me? Ask the Pharaoh
who found himself belly up in the Red Sea for defying God; King Saul was
rejected by God for his disobedience, impatience and arrogance; King David’s
household was cursed for his disobedience; King Nebuchadnezzar literally lost
his mind and lived as a wild animal for several years for his arrogance towards
God; the prophet Jonah thought he could disobey and run from God and found
himself in the belly of a whale; Lucifer aka Satan aka the Devil was thrown
out, evicted from heaven along with a third of the angels because of his pride
and intent to overthrow heaven. Now if
he will “get a king together” or high ranking angel imagine what he will do to
us? I’m Just Sayin’.
Please
also consider this, the level of trust Ruth had in Naomi is almost kind of
scary. To some it may seem like she was
naive times ten or that she was a little “special”. Well we know she isn’t “special” because she:
· Makes a
conscious decision to leave her biological family life, culture and country to
accompany Naomi on an unknown adventure;
· She contemplates
her work options and decides on what will be the most profitable even though it
is only seasonal. There is no time to
create a business plan, seek funding (loan, capital investor, credit) for her
dream because they need to eat today;
· She “discovers” a
place to harvest that she believes will be in her best interest;
· She starts her
business in the black – no start-up cost everything she collected would be
profit!!! Who goes into business and has
a profit on the first day?
· Though Naomi
gave her the “old school game” Ruth had to put on her best swag, use the
perfect voice, pitch, say just the right words and be convincing enough for
Boaz to hear her swagger.
I
wouldn’t call her naïve just yet.
But
the question still lingers, why would she go along with absolutely everything
Naomi suggests? What does she have to
lose? Well, OK, maybe her dignity,
respect, reputation. But she’s in a
foreign country, no one knows her, she could completely reinvent herself
without missing a beat. Here’s the
conversation I imagine could have happened after the excitement wore off.
“OMIG
(oh my invisible God), what was I thinking.
I let Naomi talk me into getting all dressed up to lay down at Boaz’
feet. But he’s older than me and may not
even be able to have children. I guess
that wouldn’t be the end of the world since I didn’t have any children with Mahlon
and I was still able to make him happy. I
don’t know if I’m ready to be a wife. I
don’t know if I want to give up my plans to open my dress shop with the money
I’ve been saving from harvesting. He
seems nice enough and he has more than enough to take care of me and
Naomi. Even though he is older he’s
kind of cute and his voice sends chills up my spine. I thought I was gonna pass out from the way
he looked at me when we first met and this morning, OMIG, my heart was beating
so loud I wonder if he could hear it. I
know I turned red but he couldn’t see me because the sun wasn’t up. What am I saying? I have never felt this way about anyone, not
even Mahlon. I need to get a hold of
myself. Ruth, stop this foolishness,
this is just a business transaction to help preserve the family line. He may not even go to town with all of the
work he still has to do. I won’t get my
hopes up, I’ll just keep going.”
Meanwhile
Boaz got up feeling more alive and rejuvenated than he had in a long time. He took a
bath, shaved, put on his best scented oils, his business
robes, sandals and headed for the public square. He rode his best horse to the town square where he intended to wait for his relative (we’ll
call him Idoncare). During his ride he reflected about how guarded he had lived his life because the women of Bethlehem were only interested in his money and he had been burned one too many times, but this was different. He knew he was in love with Ruth and she was his soul mate sent from heaven by Jehovah-Jireh. When Idoncare showed up Boaz invited him to have a seat so they could discuss
some business. As
was their custom, Boaz called for ten of the town’s elders so they could witness
the business at hand. Boaz proceeded to
tell the counsel that Elimelech’s wife, Naomi, was ready to sell the family’s
property but he wanted Idoncare to have the first option since he was the first
family redeemer in line with Boaz being next in line. Idoncare agreed to buy it immediately, but
there was one more twist. He would also
get Ruth the Moabite and widow of their dead relative (Mahlon) which meant
meeting the redeemer responsibility of having children with Ruth to maintain
the family line. Idoncare said “I don’t
think so, because if I do, I’ll jeopardize my own family’s inheritance. You marry her!”
I'm out of time, but meet me back here tomorrow for the rest of the story.
In
His New Excellence,
Tania
Not Tanya
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