Then Boaz said to Ruth, "Listen, my daughter. Don't go and gather grain in another field, and don't leave this one, but stay here close to my female servants. See which field they are harvesting, and follow them. 

Haven't I ordered the young men not to touch you? 

When you are thirsty, go and drink from the jars the young men have filled. 

She fell facedown, bowed to the ground, and said to him, "Why have I found favor with you, so that you notice me, although I am a foreigner?"

Boaz answered her, "Everything you have done for your mother-in-law since your husband's death has been fully reported to me: how you left your father and mother and your native land, and how you came to a people you didn't previously know. 

May the Lord reward you for what you have done, and may you receive a full reward from the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge."

Ruth 2:8-12 CSB

Boaz saw the person. 

His world view was that he and his people were living out God's will in the land. Boaz was doing what he could to be God's wings of refuge for Ruth, a place of safety, a place where she could flourish.

And Ruth was amazed that she would be treated that way. Treated with respect and care, even though she was different, from over "there". 

Boaz had all the power here, and he used it to create an environment of care not just for his people but for the alien, the stranger, the person on the margins.

This is God's love for people worked out in the real world. 

At times I can relate to Ruth, to the workers, to Boaz. What about you?

#bookofRuth

#refuge

#loveinaction