Lesson One • Rooted
Devotion #3: I Will Take Care of It
Patrick Bicknell
A little bit ago, my friend was telling me about a rough situation their family was having. His parents had found themselves in a tough financial situation when something unexpected came up. In the midst of this struggle, while tensions were high, his brother spoke up and said, “I will take care of it.” My friend said it was so amazing to see his brother not even hesitate and do what he needed to do to serve his parents and help them out.
This is the theme we are looking at as we study Ruth chapter 2. It is the idea that in a Christ-centered family, service to one another should be something we all strive for with nothing in return expected. At the beginning of Ruth chapter 2, we see that Ruth, on her own initiative, goes out into the fields and begins to glean and harvest the leftover crops that the farmers had left. In Leviticus 19:9-10, God commands the farmers to leave the crops that they did not collect for the poor people in their town so that they could gather what is left and feed themselves. What Ruth was doing was not just a job she decided to pick up, but she was doing what needed to be done to serve her family so that they could eat.
Her response to Boaz recognizing this is so incredible. Boaz tells her to stay in his field, get the crops she needs, and that he was going to provide for her. Ruth 2:10 gives her response, “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?’” Ruth was not expecting any reward in return for her service. She simply was loving her mother-in-law and wanting to help provide in any way that she could.
This type of service and action displayed by Ruth to her family is one that we should all strive for. The basis of this type of self-sacrifice for family comes from what Christ did for us. He was our sacrifice. He emptied Himself and took our place. We now need to go and do likewise. We need to display that love to the world and one of the most important ways to show that is within our families. Are you serving your family the way Ruth did?