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Day 16: The Redeemer Who Goes Before Us
Scripture:
And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. And he said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you!” And they answered, “The Lord bless you.” 5 Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?”6 And the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, “She is the young Moabite woman, who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. 7 She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers.’ So she came, and she has continued from early morning until now, except for a short rest.”
Ruth 2:4-7
Most of the time, we prefer to be first and not have to wait. Virtually no one wants to wait in a line if they could be first. We’d like all the traffic in front of us to be gone and it all to be behind us. The exception is if there’s a situation in which we see a potential for danger. In that case, we are happy when someone else goes first. It could be that frozen lake that you’re just not quite sure how frozen it is, and are happy when someone else walks out onto the ice first. There’s just that degree of comfort that comes from knowing that someone else has walked the steps before you.
This is where our theme begins to surface again with the Redeemer who sees. You may not know what’s ahead, but Jesus does. And what we see today flows from this, in the Redeemer who goes before you. He steps onto the ice first. He walks into the unknown before you ever get there. He sees what you cannot see, and He prepares what you cannot prepare.
Ruth had a lot of reasons to feel alone. She comes to a foreign country only knowing her mother-in-law. She feels the pressure and responsibility of providing, and doesn’t have many resources or abilities to be able to do it. But she does have one thing that she’s starting to learn. And this one thing is that the Lord has gone before her. As we saw yesterday, she goes out into the field to gather the leftovers. And we learned that this was no accident, for out of all the fields she could’ve ended up in, she lands in the one who will eventually redeem her. As she is working in the field, Boaz just “happens” to show up. Just like yesterday, this is no accident. God has sovereignly arranged Boaz to meet Ruth.
Maybe this is where your story meets hers. You’re stepping into a season you didn’t choose, carrying responsibilities you didn’t ask for, and feeling the weight of doing it with limited strength. But the Redeemer who sees also goes before you. As you will see, Jesus is better than Boaz because He doesn’t just meet you in the field, but arrives long before you do, to prepare it for you.
We see that Boaz is a very polite man. He greets those who are working in the fields with the statement, “May the Lord be with you.” His aim was to encourage them with the reminder that the Lord is present. Ruth would have heard this, but she does not know yet just how true this statement is. For even before Boaz has said it, the Lord is already there and has already arranged her day. Today, the Lord has arranged your very day. We don’t know what it’s going to look like yet, but you can be assured that the Lord has put it together in such a way that is best for you.
Now, Boaz is a very busy man and doesn’t have a lot of time for chitchat. So he is ready to move on when suddenly his eye lands on a strange woman working in the field. Boaz asks about her owner. He wants to know where she came from. After all, he has hired the other young women who were working in the field but he doesn’t recognize Ruth. There’s probably a question in his mind as well about whether or not she is married.
You could be wondering today if anyone sees you. If anyone cares about the burdens that you have on your plate or the pressures that you’re facing. What you will encounter is the Redeemer who not only goes before you, but has turned His eyes to see you at the right time. He doesn’t just notice you accidentally, but He looks for you intentionally.
Don’t mistake Boaz being some kind of womanizer. As we will see later, he is a very godly man who always seeks to do the right thing. Even though he’s not aware at this moment, the Lord is working in his heart to bring an awareness about Ruth. His foreman tells Boaz that that this young woman is a Moabite. He’s probably trying to warn Boaz that it’s not a good idea to get too close to her, because she’s a foreigner. But he also adds that Ruth returned with Naomi, someone who Boaz would know. While the foreman is giving reasons not to get involved with Ruth, we never have to worry about that with Jesus. No matter the reasons that Satan gives not to be involved with us, Jesus has already turned His heart to the weary and the overlooked.
But then the foreman tells Boaz something else. He tells Boaz that Ruth has made a request that is pretty bold. Ruth doesn’t just want to glean the grain that has fallen into the ground, she also wants to gather some of the grain that has been tied up in bundles. This would’ve been a very bold request, almost presumptuous. Ruth then stands and waits all day until her request can be answered. The foreman either lacks the authority to grant her request or doesn’t want to make it, but that doesn’t stop her. When the foreman talks to Boaz, he jokes that she’s been here so long that it’s almost like she’s taking up residence here.
Some of you have had to make some bold requests. You’ve asked for help and prayed, not out of braveness, but out of desperation. We see the confidence of Ruth that is not rooted in herself, but rather and the fact that the Lord has gone before her. This is the same confidence that we can have as we seek His help and believe that He gives us, His weary people, the courage that we don’t naturally have.
Now, at this point we don’t know how Boaz is going to respond. But what we do know is that Ruth has shown herself to be a very courageous woman who is willing to work hard and wait all day if necessary to get help. Ruth has the assurance that the Lord is going before her and will meet her in her need, even before she knows how. It’s based off of this confidence that she can make such bold requests, and off of this confidence that she can work hard knowing the Lord will bless her efforts. What makes Jesus even better than Boaz is that He’s not simply responding to our request, but is preparing the answers in advance.
Today, some of you might be in this very spot. You know what needs to happen, but you don’t know how it’s going to happen. And it’s in these places that the truth of the Lord going before us becomes so essential. If He does not go before us, then nothing we do will ever succeed. We can try as hard as we want, but it won’t work out. But if the Lord goes before us, then no matter the difficulty or the obstacle, the Lord will bring it to pass. It’s critical that you know that today you were never walking into a situation alone. The Lord has already gone ahead of you in it. So whatever you face, He has already been there to prepare what He has planned.
Just think of the great confidence that brings us. Now this doesn’t mean that God will do everything the way we want. But what it does mean is that the Lord will bring His plan to pass for us, and nothing that comes against us will be able to stop it. This doesn’t remove the difficulty, but it does remove the fear that you’re facing it alone. And for the weary heart, that changes everything. Jesus is better because His presence is not reactive; it is proactive.
After all, Jesus is the redeemer who goes before us. He went before us in life, living the perfect life that we could not live. He went before us in death, dying a death to make the necessary satisfaction for our sins so that we could be right with God. And He goes before us in resurrection, rising so that we might live. Jesus will never cease to go before us. In any trial or test, you can be assured that He has walked to the path in front of us to prepare the way.
And this is why Jesus is better than anyone or anything else, because He has gone before us. So this appointment you will have today, this hard conversation, the unknown future, or the fear you face, know that you are not stepping into anything that Jesus says has not already stepped in for you.
And this is where the story meets you today. You may be stepping into something uncertain, a decision, a conversation, a responsibility, a fear. You may feel unprepared, overwhelmed, or unsure of what’s ahead. You may feel like you’re walking into the unknown with trembling hands.
But the Redeemer who sees is the Redeemer who goes before you. Jesus is better because He doesn’t wait for you at the finish line. He walks ahead of you into every moment you fear. He steps into the room before you do. He stands in the future you’re afraid of. He prepares what you cannot prepare. He strengthens what you cannot strengthen. The best news for you today is that you are not walking into anything alone.
The Redeemer who went before Ruth goes before you, fully, faithfully, and without hesitation. Jesus has already been where you are going, and He will meet you there with grace.
Pastor Josh Gerber
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