Our Father and our God, we pause before we begin our journey into chapter three, Lord, to ask your blessing on it. Lord, there's so much here, just the historical narrative itself, but all that it points to that we find in Christ. So we pray that you'd open our minds to see that, Lord, that we could have the implanted word tucked down in our hearts. We thank you in Jesus' name, amen. So if you haven't noticed, the book, chapter after chapter, it's almost like watching a play. The scene changes. So chapter one, Elimelech takes his family off to Moab, and they're in the plains of Moab. And we follow that chapter through. We find out things didn't go well there. All the males in the family die. Naomi and her two daughter-in-laws are heading back to Judah. And Orpah turns back at the really almost insistence of Naomi, but Ruth clings to her. And so we have Ruth and Naomi come back to Judah. And then chapter two is the field of Boaz. Almost the whole of the chapter is taking place in the field where Ruth goes to glean. And we looked, last time I saw that it was just by chance. She just happened to find herself in Boaz's field, and we talked about there is no such thing as chance. God invisibly, providentially, is guiding all of this. And eventually, the outcome down the line will be the coming of Messiah, Jesus Christ, who's born in this line. It's really kind of an amazing thing. So here we're in chapter 3, and the scenery is going to shift again. And we're going to be at the threshing floor. And I'll talk about that as we move through. What does that look like? What does that mean? But that's where we're going. So I'm going to do what I've been doing and just read a little section at a time, unpack it in another little section. So let me just read verse 1 to 5. Then Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to her, My daughter, shall I not seek security for you, that it may be well with you? Now Boaz, whose young women you were with, is he not our relative? In fact, He is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. Therefore, wash yourself and anoint yourself, put on your best garment, and go down to the threshing floor. But do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. Then it shall be, when he lies down, that you shall notice the place where he lies, and you shall go in, uncover his feet, and lie down. And he will tell you what you should do.' And she said to her, All that you say to me, I will do." So I put a note, a title, above this section as Naomi's plan. Naomi's got a plan, right? The harvest is over. And we saw in the last verse of chapter two, it said that Ruth, she stayed close by the young women of Boaz to glean until the end of barley harvest and wheat harvest. And she dwelt with her mother-in-law. That would have been roughly two months. of her probably bringing home huge amounts of gleanings every day, because Boaz has set his affection on her, has been gracious to her, is letting her drink from the drawn water, he's letting her eat the meal that the workers eat, and he's taken her somewhat under his wing. She's going to ask for even more, but that's what he's been doing for her, for two months almost, seven weeks, something like that. And you can imagine in that time, the Bible doesn't go into any detail, but I have to imagine Boaz is falling deeply in love with Ruth. And I think Ruth is starting to have some returned feelings. feelings towards Boaz as they talk. And Boaz is a picture of a godly man, right? He's not a perfect man, but he's certainly presented in the Bible as a godly man. And Ruth as a virtuous woman, as we'll see. So this relationship, I think, is growing in these two months. Naomi says that she wants to make sure that Ruth finds security. I want you to find security, she says. That's the same Hebrew root word that you see back when Naomi is trying to send her daughter-in-law back to Moab. And in Ruth 1.9, she said to the daughters, the Lord grant that you may find rest. That's the same root word as we find here translated security, that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband. And of course, Orpah goes back and Ruth continues on. And that's what she's concerned for. Remember now, they're somewhat destitute here. I mean, you don't go glean fields if you have money. And as we move through the story, you get the idea that well, Lomelech must have sold his land, and we'll talk about that a little bit, and they really don't have anything. And so they're gleaning, Ruth going out and gleaning every day to get sustenance, to get food to eat. So she wants her to have that security, that care, that rest that would be provided to her by a husband. One of the problems I have as a student of the Bible, and maybe you struggle with this a little bit too, but one of the struggles I have is that I've only, for the most part, lived in this culture. So here I am living in the year that we're in. I'm living in the culture of America, maybe a subculture of West Virginia. And I tend to project that into the Bible, as if their culture and times were just like here, and they're not. And some of the things we're going to see here, like a kinsman redeemer, that's very much not a part of our culture in the same way it was in that culture. And also in that culture for a young widow, to really not have security. She couldn't just go out and get a job at the local corporation like we do in America. She needed a husband to care for her, to take care of her, to protect her. And that's almost counter-cultural in our culture here. But understand that as you look at this, look at it with the lens of the day it was, in that day, in that culture, what's being conveyed here. And we can understand, I think, a little bit better when we see it that way. So Naomi mentions again this near kinsman. She says in verse 2, Now Boaz, whose young women you were with, is he not our relative? And I'll reread for you in chapter 2 what I read to you in the NIV, which is going back to a different original set of manuscripts, probably more accurate. But it says, the Lord bless him. This is Ruth 2.20. The Lord bless him, Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead. And she added, that man is our close relative. He is one of our kinsmen redeemers. After the service last week, my wife told me, I should have explained to you what a kinsman redeemer was. I said, honey, I'll get to it. That's chapter three. So let me spend a little bit of time on a kinsman redeemer. In the Hebrew, the word is goel, goel. And it's something that I think the culture cultivated a little bit, and probably not you know, verse by verse being shown here, a lot of the commentators that want to explain what a Kinsmen Redeemer is, is like, well, go read the Book of Ruth, because there you're going to see what a Kinsmen Redeemer is. But it is mentioned in the law. So it's mentioned in Leviticus 25, chapter 25, chapter 27. And I don't want to read all of that, but let me read a little slice of chapter 25 of Leviticus, right? And so this is 25, beginning in verse 47. It says, now, if a sojourner or a stranger close to you becomes rich, And one of your brethren who dwells by him becomes poor and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner that is close to you, or to a member of the stranger's family. After he is sold, he may be redeemed again, One of his brothers may redeem him, or his uncle, or his uncle's son may redeem him, or anyone who is near of kin to him in his family may redeem him. Or, if he's able, he may redeem himself. And to explain that even a little bit, I have to go back to another biblical concept that's foreign to our culture, is the year of Jubilee. The lands would return to the original owners in the year of Jubilee, every 50 years. So if you had land, and you became poor, and you wanted to sell your land, you could sell your land. But it would come back to the family in the year of Jubilee. And the same with the example of Leviticus. If I wanted to sell myself as an indentured servant to somebody, I would be freed from that in the year of Jubilee. And the law even prescribes, like, well, the price should be equal to how many years it is until the year of jubilee. What if the year of jubilee is two years from now and I'm buying your field and I get two years harvest if I can harvest out of that field, well the price I'm going to offer you is going to be different than if it was 50 years or 49 years into the year of jubilee. And that's the idea, and that's what's going on in this story. It might be 49 years. We don't know how long it is to the year of Jubilee, but Naomi and her family, Elimelech, had sold the land. But it could be redeemed back, but only by a close kinsman, a kinsman redeemer. That's the biblical concept here. So she's told to go to the threshing floor, because that's where he's at, and in the wisdom and the plotting and planning of Naomi, that's the plan. The threshing floor, what's that? In the Bible, to thresh, when you harvested the grain, you had the sheaves, and you had to break the kernel loose from the plant, from the husk. And they would take this and lay it out in a circular area and have oxen that go in a circle. And they would drag behind them a sort of a board that would also be used in the crushing, that the grain would be loosed from the kernel, from the chaff, from the husk. And then they would take fans, winnowing fans, winnowing forks, as sometimes they're translated. And this would have taken place usually on a hill somewhere. Because in that part of the world, as it gets clear, actually it happens here a lot too, as you get closer and closer to dusk, the winds start to pick up. And they would use these fans, these forks, and they would toss it in the air. And the lighter part of that, which is the husk, or the chaff, would blow away. And what would drop would be the kernel. And it was a lot of work. I mean, for me, I'm so out of shape. If I did three of those, I'd probably be like, oh, I'm done for a while. But they did that for hours to get to the pure kernel. And then they would have these piles of kernel. Remember, this is all taking place, the Book of Ruth, in the time of the judges. And remember that they would have marauders that would wait for them to do all the work, and then they would ride in, like Gideon in the book of Judges, and the Midianites would come in and just take all that hard work and take the colonel and leave him with nothing. So they would sleep around the pile of grain. It's late at night. They're exhausted from winnowing. And they would sleep right there. And that's the picture that you're going to see here as we move through this. Now, Naomi gives a detailed plan. You've got to say, I just jotted down quickly what she told Ruth to do. She tells her to wash and anoint. This is a special occasion. To dress her best. She tells her, one of the commentators wrote, this would have been the long outer robe of ceremony, for this was to be a formal and important visit. She's not just telling her to get dolled up. This is to signify that this is a formal event that's going to take place here. She tells her, don't just rush right up to him. That's my words. She says, wait till his feasting is completed. They're going to have a meal. They'll have a glass of wine, probably, before they tuck in for the night. Wait till all that's done. And then you go, and she specifically says, you're to go and uncover his feet. right, and lay down there at his feet. I am told that when you had these piles of grain, that they would sleep probably on a mat, head towards the grain pile, feet out, almost like spokes on a wheel, which makes sense because you could see if somebody was coming, a robber, some type of thief. And so you get the picture where she's just uncovering his feet, and she's going to lay down right there at his feet. Now, a lot of commentators over the years have struggled with this, because it sounds so forward on the part of this young, virtuous woman to do this. And I'm going to read you one person's point of view, Matthew Poole. And I'm going to later read you another point of view that kind of takes it in a different direction. I do think there's some risk here, and I want to talk about that in a minute. But Matthew Poole writes, four things he sees here as maybe possibly troublesome. First, he says, it seems to be against modesty that she would do this, that she would go and uncover his feet and lay there at his feet. Secondly, he says it's against honesty, because it was injurious to another person. We're going to find out that Elimelech actually has a closer kinsman than Boaz. And he would have had first rights at this. But Ruth's not told to go to him. She's told to go to Boaz. And this is all by God's providential hand, obviously. But he says that's a problem. Thirdly, he says, it's against prudence. It could have proved to be the occasion of sin, he says. But then again, she's a virtuous woman and he's a noble man, so probably not that big of a problem. And then he says that Naomi's plan seems to have arisen from a distrust of God's providence to bring about what she desired in the ordinary way. Why didn't she just wait and pray about it and see what would take place if God would stir Boaz to come and say, I want to redeem you? Right? So that's just the thoughts of a commentator. Naomi might have been thinking, this is an old Islamic proverb that goes, trust in the Lord, but tie up your camel. And we kind of think that too. It's like, you know, I know, I believe God's providentially controlling all things, but you know what? I think I have a part to play in this and God's directing me and I trust the Lord, but I lock my door. I'm sure God could keep all the thieves out of my house, but I'm going to take precautions just because that's wise. It's just wise. I think the cover of our bulletin today talked about walking in wisdom. I do want you to see, before we move on, that Ruth trusts Naomi outright. She says, all that you say I will do. And I look at that and I think, well, Ruth doesn't know the customs of this country. She doesn't know the culture. And she knows that Naomi does. And she trusts her. To Ruth, maybe it made perfect sense to her. Maybe she thought, this makes no sense to me. Lay at his feet? And he'll know what to do? OK, I have no idea what this is talking about. I don't know. But she does trust Naomi outright. So Ruth's, the first that we saw, Naomi's plan, now Ruth's proposal. And that is what she's doing. She is proposing marriage, basically, in doing this. So this is verse six to nine. So she went down to the threshing floor and did according to all that her mother-in-law instructed her. And after Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was cheerful, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. And she came softly, uncovered his feet, and lay down. Now it happened at midnight that the man was startled and turned himself, and there a woman was lying at his feet. And he said, who are you? So she answered, I am Ruth, your maidservant. Take your maidservant under your wing, for you are a close relative. She's saying, redeem us and marry me. It's really what she's saying there. So he's eating, he's drunk, he has a cheerful heart. I don't think he's inebriated or anything like that. I think he's cheerful because it's been a long harvest season, and he's just worked a hard day. They had a good meal. And he's there looking at the fruit of his labor. It's been a good year. They have a good harvest. So he's satisfied. He's well pleased. It's the end of the heap. That's where he took his spot, is at the end of the heap. And you get a picture, maybe, of a little bit of privacy, because he's at the other end of the heap it mentions. And she uncovered his feet. Now, I told you, I gave you Matthew Poole's take on this. Let me read you the thoughts of Dallas Seminary faculty in what they call the Bible knowledge commentary. It's written. Some commentators suggest that what Ruth did presented an opportunity for immorality, but nothing in the passage supports this. Her mother-in-law had complete confidence in the integrity of the kinsman-redeemer. Boaz could be trusted to act responsibly, and Ruth was recognized by everyone as a woman of noble character. The uncovering of the feet was a ceremonial act that was completely proper. Probably the scene took place in the dark so that Boaz had the opportunity to reject the proposal without the whole town knowing about it. He wasn't pressured into it. This wasn't done out in the public. He could have easily said, no, my daughter. No. There's another, though, that you can go to, but no, that person's not me. So she took a little bit of risk here. David Guzik and his commentator said, in that day, this was understood to be the role of a servant. to lay at their master's feet and be ready for any command of the master. So when Naomi told Ruth to lie down at Boaz's feet, she told her to come to him in a totally humble, submissive way. And I think you get that picture. And picture it this way, you know, the spoke of the wheel, the feet sticking out away from the grain, and she's probably laying perpendicular at his feet, is the picture. And wouldn't that be startling? And you wake up, and there's some lady at your feet. I mean, that happens to me, but it's my wife. But he wasn't expecting that. I get a chuckle out of that. Who is that? Who are you? It's Ruth, your maidservant. She asks him to take her under his wing. That's beautiful. Earlier in chapter two, if you remember, Boaz says to Ruth, and this is chapter two, verse 12. Boaz says to Ruth, the Lord repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge. I think it's a beautiful picture. Here she's come under the wing of Yahweh, and now under that supreme authority, she says, but I also want to come under your wing as husband, as head, head of the family. And that's the picture the New Testament paints of the structure of a Christian family, right? Christ is head over all. He's the head of the husband, the husband, the head of the wife, but Christ reigning over the entire family. It's the same picture you have in the Old Testament. It's been turned on its head in our culture and in my lifetime, sadly, but that's the biblical model for marriage and a family. Holman, a commentator, Terry writes, here we see a woman proposing to a man. a young person proposing to an older, a field worker proposing to a field owner, an alien proposing to a native, a poor person making the demand of a rich man. And she doesn't demand it in that way, but she's requesting it, isn't she? And so there's a lot of things here that just don't seem to add up. And yet, doesn't God do that all the time? Where we look at it in our human wisdom, we think, well, this will never work out. And God's like, no, this is my actual divine plan for this family and to bring about the coming of Messiah. It's kind of an amazing thing. So under the wing of the Lord, but also under the headship of her husband. That word that's translated in my Bible to wing is translated in some of your Bibles as garment. And in the original language, that word actually means like the extremities. So on a bird, the extremity of a bird would be the wings. So poetically, a lot of times, it's translated wings. And that's exactly what it's supposed to mean. But the tassels on the extremities of the robe that the Bible speaks of, that's the same word. It could be a garment. The NIV, for instance, he says, who are you? And she says, I am your servant, Ruth. And she says to Boaz, spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a kinsman redeemer. And that's the picture you get of God when he is teaching Israel. what He did in taking them in and covenanting with them. And I want to read this to you because it's the exact same language, same word. And this is in Ezekiel, Old Testament prophet Ezekiel chapter 16 and verse 8. And this is God doing the talking here. When I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed, your time was the time of love. So I spread my wing over you. Some translators are going to say I spread my garment. I think the authorized might even say my skirt, which means his robe. says, indeed your time was the time of love, so I spread my wing over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I swore in an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you and you became mine, says the Lord God. That is a picture of God taking us in in Jesus Christ, and it's a picture of what's happening on the human level with Ruth saying, Cover me with your wing. Spread your garment over me. Be my husband. Be my protector. Be my provider, is what she's saying to Boaz. I jotted down some thoughts, and I'll share them with you, and this is a little bit of a rabbit trail. So stick with me. But I think Ruth did take some risks here. And we don't know the end from the beginning like the Lord does. We don't know where things are going. God gives us light under our path to take the next step. And in faith, we take the next step. And if we mess up, we try to back up and pray a little bit and take another step. That's how we live life. So Ruth doesn't know the end of the story. God does, but Ruth does not. So there's some risk here. And I thought there's a risk that she could have been misunderstood. And I'm thinking, did she think that? How bold of a move that would be. And I'm sure the relationship was flourishing because she'd been with him for two months. But what if Boaz was mad? What if he was like, what are you doing? No. Somebody's going to see you here. She took that risk. She took a risk of tarnishing her reputation if somebody had misjudged what she was doing. People do that all the time, don't they? You ever had that happen to you? Somebody misjudged what your motive was or what you were up to? So she took that risk. And she took the risk of being outright rejected. When I climbed that lifeguard chair, And the moon was full and asked my wife to marry me. She was up there too. And she could have said no. Love is taking a risk, right? And I found this quote, and I want to read it to you. And this is by C.S. Lewis in his book, The Four Loves. But C.S. Lewis said, to love it all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully around with hobbies and little luxuries. Avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket. or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken. It will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside of heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers of love, is hell. And that's true. I remember one of the themes, I've talked through Ecclesiastes a couple times, and one of the themes of Ecclesiastes is you're going to love people and it's going to hurt you. Love anyway. Love them anyway. I mean, look at the father's love. He sends his son, his son's misunderstood, he's rejected, he's beaten, he's hung on a cross. And yet from the cross he says, forgive them father, they know not what they do. He expresses love even from the cross after being rejected and scorned. So yeah, we need to take the risk of love. As a matter of fact, if you want to read a really good book, and I didn't know what the book was about, but another C.S. Lewis book, it's a real short little teeny thing, it's called A Grief Observed. And when his wife died, he said it was the only thing that kept him from going mad when he woke up at midnight and couldn't sleep, and he would pen down his thoughts of what it was like to go through that grief of losing his wife to death. It's a really good read, actually. So back to our story, out of the rabbit trail. Boaz's pledge, right? So we have Naomi's plan and Ruth's proposal and now Boaz's pledge of verse 10 to 13. Then he said, blessed are you of the Lord, my daughter, for you have shown more kindness at the end than at the beginning, and that you did not go after young men, whether poor or rich. And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you request, for all the people of my town know that you are a virtuous woman. Now it is true that I am a close relative. However, there is a relative closer than I. Stay this night, and in the morning it shall be that if he will perform the duty of a close relative for you, good, let him do so, let him do it. But if he does not want to perform the duty for you, then I will perform the duty for you. As the Lord lives, lie down until morning. I don't know if his heart was in that when he said, if this other relative would do it for you, good. You're gonna see when we get to the last chapter that he's a very coy, wise businessman. He's gonna be very wise in his approach to this other relative. So I'll hold that for chapter four. But here we see the picture of our kinsman redeemer. She comes humbly to his feet and he says, all you've asked for I will do for you. And I have to go at least a little bit down a trail of how this is a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus is a near relative. Hebrews tries to labor that point in Hebrews 2.10 and following it says, for it was fitting for him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he who sanctifies, that's our Lord Jesus Christ, for both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified, that's Christians, are all of one, for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare your name to my brethren in the midst of the assembly. I will sing praise to you. And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, here am I and the children whom God has given me." He's our outer brother in the family of God. He's the Lord God Almighty. He's the risen Savior. He's the second person of the Trinity. But he's also revealed to us as our brother. Jesus is our loving companion. Ephesians 5.30 says, For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." We're flesh of his flesh and bones of his bones, right? For this reason, it goes on, for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. Now this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. It's the Church, the Bride of Christ, flesh of flesh and bone of bone, and the language is that of a marital relationship. We've come humbly to His feet, and He's received us in, and covers us with His garment, the garment of His pure righteousness. Jesus receives all who come to Him in humility, on His terms. He turns none away that come on His terms. In John 6.37 it says, All that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out. He receives all that come to Him on His terms, which requires humility, repentance, and faith. John 1.12 says, but as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name. And Jesus, in our saving relationship with Him, pledges to provide for us everything we need for this life, everything we need for the life hereafter. Joseph Excel writes in his commentary, and when we come to ask His mercy and lay ourselves at His feet in humble dedication to Him, The Savior takes all of our concerns into his own hands and himself promises to provide for every need. That's what Paul writes to the Philippian church, 419, and my God shall supply all your need according to the riches and glory by Christ Jesus. So Boaz, as the story moves on, is going to purchase back or redeem their lost inheritance. And that's what the Lord Jesus does for us in his dying and being raised from the dead. and our redemption. He's restored the inheritance that our four parents, Adam and Eve, lost, right? He purchased us. We're redeemed for a price. 1 Peter 1.18, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish. and without spot. So the rest of the chapter, Boaz provides, and we're gonna see that Naomi counsels. Verse 14, so she lay at his feet until morning, and she arose before one could recognize another. And then he said, do not let it be known that the woman came to the threshing floor. Also he said, bring the shawl that is on you and hold it. And when she held it, he measured six ephahs of barley and laid it on her. Then she went into the city. So when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, is that you, my daughter? Then she told her all that the man had done for her. And she said, these six ephahs of barley he gave me, for he said to me, do not go empty-handed to your mother-in-law. Then she said, sit still, my daughter, until you know how the matter will turn out, for the man will not rest until he has concluded the matter this day. There's a little bit of drama there. It sets the stage for chapter four. So staying above reproach, the New Testament teaches us that in several places. It's one of the requirements of leadership in the church. To even have a good reputation with those outside of the church, those that are non-Christians, we're to stay above reproach, above even the appearance of sin. And so she leaves as probably the sun's just starting to come up. They can't really recognize each other. And I don't know who Boaz is talking to when he says, let it not be known that a woman has come to the threshing floor. Could be one of the servants. It's really unclear in the text. But he wants to protect her reputation is the idea. He's a noble guy. He wants to leave her reputation completely untarnished. So Boaz sends her home full. And it's no accident that when Ruth is explaining to Naomi all this barley harvest that she's bringing with her, she says that Boaz said to me, do not go empty handed to your mother-in-law. It's the same Hebrew root as Ruth 121, when Naomi said, I went out full and the Lord has brought me home empty. I went out full and the Lord brought me home empty. And Boaz, as the Kinsmen Redeemer says, you go tell Naomi she'll be empty no longer. He's going to redeem and fill where her emptiness and void once was. There's a hymn we sing, Great is Thy Faithfulness, and one of the stanzas says, Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth, Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide, Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside." She had bright hope for tomorrow. One way or the other, she was going to be redeemed. That was his pledge. If the other won't do it, I will. And he really makes a pledge before the Lord in doing that. She has hope for tomorrow, and she has strength for today. He gives her all that grain to take to Naomi. Joseph Excel in his commentary actually quotes an old Puritan scene. And he says, as Boaz, so much more our God never sends home true suitors empty. He giveth and he giveth liberally. He giveth grace, he giveth more grace. Every Sabbath and sermon or sacrament Christ cries to us as Boaz did to Ruth, bring hither thy veil that I may fill it. That's a good quote. I agree with that. So the wisdom of Naomi, she says, sit still, my daughter, until you know how the matter will turn out. And I just love the way this is phrased. For the man will not rest until he's concluded the matter this day. Oh, she knows Boaz has feelings for Ruth. And for Ruth to say, you know what? Maybe you wouldn't approach me because I'm so much younger than you, but I'm asking you to cover me with your wing. You don't think as soon as the sun was bright enough for Boaz to hit the path, he didn't go out to take care of business. That's what Noam is saying. He's going to take care of this right away. We'll know very shortly what's going on. The wisdom I see here though, that the Lord was showing me, is that there's a time for action. Boaz is not going to rest until the matter is taken care of, right? He's the guy of action now. Earlier on, Naomi thought that Ruth had to take action. She tells her exactly what to do and prescribes how to take care of herself, what to wear, where to put herself at his feet. And she took action. There was a time to take action. And it always reminds me of the story in Exodus, of Moses, by God's hand, leading the Israelites out of captivity. And in the book of Exodus, he gets to the Red Sea, and this is what it says in the Bible. Exodus 14, 15, the Lord said to Moses, why do you cry to me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. In other words, God's like, I already told you what to do. Moses is there going, yeah, but there's a Red Sea in front of me. God's like, strike it with your staff and get moving. Why are you crying out to me? It's time for action. It's not time for you to be consulting me. Get moving. I already told you what to do. And there's a time, and I like the way it's phrased here, to sit still and wait. And that's what Naomi tells Ruth. Sit still, my daughter, and just wait. Your time of action is over. It's time to wait on the Lord. Lamentations 3.25. The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Psalm 37.7, rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Wisdom comes in discerning between those two. And at least that's been my life experience thus far. And I think growing in wisdom comes with a little bit of getting better at this, of knowing when to jump up and do something and when to say, you know what? Let's just pray about this and see what God does. Let's do that. And that's not an easy thing to discern. Sometimes it's good to take counsel with good godly friends. I like to take counsel with my wife. You know, what do you think we should do here? And sometimes it's like, let's just wait and see what God does with this. Ecclesiastes 3.1, I think, fits here, right? To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven. It's a time to not rest till I conclude the matter. Or is it time to sit still and wait? And we ask the Lord for wisdom. James says if we ask God for wisdom, he'll give it to us. He'll give it to us. So that's a good thing to ask God for, right? So I'll end with that little nugget that God was showing me in the text. Our Father and our God, we thank you for your truth. Thank you for this Old Testament historical narrative. What a wonderful story it is. But we thank you for what it foreshadows, our Kinsman Redeemer, our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that you take what we've studied today and just, Lord, let it just grow within us, Lord, that we would have even greater adoration and appreciation for who you are, for who our Lord Jesus Christ is. And I thank you for that. In Jesus' name, amen. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Go in the peace of Christ Jesus to a world that desperately needs to hear the gospel.