Transformation

I occasionally pull a 'Ruth' and glean several pages of a printed sermon from the chapel at school. Dr. Hubler, the principal of our school, is also the pastor of the church that meets there on Sunday mornings. I asked him if I could blog a portion of his sermon.


There is a little book called 'Ruth' nestled between Judges and 1 Samuel in the Old Testament.

Ruth was a Moabite woman who traveled back to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law, Naomi, who had lost not only her husband, but her two sons as well, one of whom was married to Ruth.

In Bethlehem, Ruth found favor in the eyes of a man named Boaz who allowed her to glean from his field. He directed his workers to leave plenty of the grain behind for her to glean. After only one day of gleaning, Ruth has an ephah of barley to her name, which was quite a bit. She showed Naomi her abundance of grain.

And this is where I pick up on Dr. Hubler's sermon verbatim.

"Naomi is surprised....This is a transformational moment for Naomi. We have studied her spiritual crisis. She is a woman who believes that there is a God and that He is the source of blessing, but it is not for her. She says she should be called "Mara" or "bitter" because that describes her life and prospects. Her crisis could bring her to become bitter toward God. In a half-a-bushel or so of barley grain, Naomi finds hope. That is what Ruth brought home, an ephah. Was that the purpose of the young men who left those handfuls of grain on purpose? Was their purpose to renew the hopes of a woman whose faith lacked hope? Was that Boaz's purpose in commanding the men to leave those handfuls? Was it God's purpose in working through Boaz, and through Ruth who gathered them up and brought them home? Half-a-bushel of barley; God's handfuls of purpose."



"Of Boaz, Naomi declares, 'The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen' (2:20). That is cause for hope. He might not be the nearest of kinsmen, but he is near, and is acting the kinsman. But, I left out something, something that Naomi says after Ruth tells that she has worked in Boaz's field, and before she tells Ruth that Boaz is near-kin. Naomi declares, "Blessed be he of the LORD who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead." (2:20) She sees in the happenstance and in the kindness of Boaz the hand of God. God has not ceased to be kind to her. That is a remarkable change. Remember, Ruth had a long day's work, but a day is a day. It could have been a day or two, I suppose, but not very long from the point that these women returned to Bethlehem and the time Ruth goes to work in the field. Now she sees that God had not ceased to be kind to her, but then (upon their return to Bethlehem) she said, "Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the LORD hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing that the LORD hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?" ( Ruth 1:20. 21)"



"Naomi has seen just what we have said, that God's kindness has been expressed through the kindness of Boaz. She praises God. He is the one who remains kind to her and Ruth, who still live, but also to her husband and sons who have died."

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It cost Boaz next to nothing to enable Ruth to gather an ephah of barley that day.
His small deed sown in kindness, reaped a harvest of hope in Naomi, whose life had lost its meaning due to sorrows that had come her way.

Every time we are kind, we are showing the kindness of God.
Every kind word, kind smile, kind deed, reveals the love of God to the Naomi's in our lives.