Redemption’s Raiment
Redemption’s Raiment
Ruth 2:10
Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?”
Have you ever looked around a room and noticed everyone else speaking a different language and drinking a different drink and eating different food and singing different songs and no matter how hard you tried to fit in, you couldn’t shake that nagging, permeating impression that you didn’t belong? That is, have you ever been a foreigner?
I’m deeply struck by Ruth’s admission here, friend. She’s doing her absolute best, doing everything she can to help her elderly mother-in-law to make ends meet, rolling up her sleeves and working between the sheaves without a single familiar face beside her, trying to acclimate to a people and a place with deep traditional and historical roots while trying to survive at the same time. And the devil must be whispering in her ear every time she catches a group of servant girls murmuring in her direction, “You don’t belong here—you’ll never fit in—go back to where you came from—coming here was a mistake!” Oh, but Almighty God is whispering a better word over her. She may have sojourned here on the coattails of her mother-in-law, but she came by faith—by choice. She may not feel it quite yet, in fact the very idea is throwing her to the ground in bewilderment, but the LORD of the harvest wants her here. In fact, He had her very name in mind when He sowed these fields in ages past. So, think of it, friend: as Ruth throws herself at Boaz’s feet and says, “I am a foreigner!”, she probably thinks that even after choosing Israel’s God, Israel’s God won’t choose her. She sees herself as a sojourner in the fields of grace—a saint on the margins of this spiritual movement—but God sees her as a native in the Promised Land now! He has adopted her into His royal family and made her a queen among women forevermore.
What a marvel of gospel glory! That we come to God as beggars, on our knees in contrition, yet He lifts us back to our feet again, higher than before, and robes and crowns us in His love.