I’ve been blogging my way through the bible book of Ruth.

In chapter 3 of Ruth’s story, mother-in-law, Naomi, gives Ruth an idea. 

Thing is: This pair of women have faced grief, uncertainty and have lost their place in society. They don’t quite fit in.

So, Naomi tells Ruth to pursue their family redeemer, Boaz. He could give them a home, a future and a place to belong within community. Here’s what happens:

“One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, I must find a home for you, where you will be well provided for. Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.””

Ruth 3: 1 – 4, NIV.

What a plan! Get dressed, visit him in the night and see how the story unfolds!

I think if the book of Ruth tells us anything it is this: We cannot redeem ourselves. 

Each of us needs a redeemer. 

Even Ruth, who did what was right by God and acted nobly and justly – even she needed redemption. Redemption that she could not earn by her own good-doing. 

For Ruth and Naomi, their redemption keys were in the hands of a man named Boaz. 

The story reads that Boaz was keen to redeem Ruth. He simply needed to check with another family redeemer, first. In the meantime, Boaz gives Ruth and Naomi six measures of barley and his promise that he will resolve the matter of their redemption as quickly as possible.

The bible says:

Then Naomi said, “Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today.”

Ruth 3: 18, NIV.

Won’t Jesus extend his mercy and kindness to us in the same way?

Boaz was the family redeemer for Ruth and Naomi, but Jesus is our redeemer, our saviour, the one who puts things right for us, when we cannot do so ourselves.

Isn’t He quick to extend His kindness towards us?

I was reading my bible this morning and in the gospel of Mark there is a story about another man on the outskirts of society.

Just as Ruth and Naomi did not have a proper place in society after being widowed, this man in Mark’s gospel has leprosy and so he would have been lonely, ostracized and thought of as unclean.

Here’s how his story goes:

A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

Jesus was indignant.He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.

Mark 1: 40 – 42, NIV.

This man begged Jesus and said the words: “If you are willing.”

It’s like a question, isn’t it. Are you willing Jesus… I am begging you.

This man is in no doubt that Jesus can heal, but I detect his doubt regarding the nature of God. 

The story said Jesus was indignant, which means to be annoyed at unfair treatment.

Perhaps Jesus was frustrated at this man’s uncertainty, regarding the good nature of God.

Of course God wants to heal.

Of course God wants to save.

Of course God wants to turn our situations around.

So often, I forget this: That God is on my side.

He wants me to be fully free, fully healed, fully redeemed.

He wants in on every situation I got going on, because He loves me and he is very, very willing to step in the gap for me. 

Time and time again, He is willing to step in the gap for us.

The thing that I am not so good at is waiting on Him, with expectation that He will come through.

Naomi did not doubt that Boaz would work their situation out for good.

Their redeemer was on a mission without haste and I can imagine they were very excited about that as they ate their 6 helpings of barley with big, fat smiles across their delighted faces.

It’s like waiting for Christmas, when you know you are finally going to get those shoes you’ve been asking your Mum for. There’s an expectation, an anticipation and an excitement about the night before.

And I have to be honest with you: I don’t think I ever doubted that my parents would leave amazing presents underneath the tree on Christmas morning. But, so often I forget to believe that God will come through in my situations. 

So often I forget my own need for a saviour, a redeemer.

As a Christ-follower, aren’t I supposed to be marked by that need for a healer?

He leads us to places and people and situations that we cannot possibly face without Him. Without His guidance, His presence and His love for us.

And we can gladly expect Him to show up in those crazy places.

What I am trying to get out on the page this evening is: Don’t forget to wait for Him with eager anticipation. 

Don’t lose yourself in busyness, fuelled by a desire for control and certainty.

Slow yourself right down, because it is not up to you to get yourself out or through the place in which you find yourself in.

Thank God that it is not up to you.

If you are like me you might have a mindset of: I got myself here so I have to get myself out of it. If I am honest, I pour blame on myself for things that aren’t even my fault.

Regardless of whose hands created the mess that you are in I can promise you: God is willing to redeem it.

God is very willing to redeem it, without haste.

And if you are like me, you may just need to let your heart believe that truth, before you move any further.

Before you do anything else, it is O.K to just sit in the place of: “God I want to believe you can turn this around for me but my heart is broken and I’m struggling to believe”

The man with leprosy may have doubted God’s willingness, but do you think that doubt stuck around, once Jesus’ healed him?

I don’t think so!

It was important that the man with leprosy knew Jesus was willing. That’s why Jesus said “I am willing,” before He proclaimed the man’s healing.

So often, in the bible, Jesus healed broken hearts before, or at the same time, as healing physical illness. 

That’s because He loves us and wants us to be fully healed. Inside out.

He’s not led you this far to let you down. He’s led you this far and He wants to keep walking with you through the next breakthrough.

It is so easy for us to get lost in all that we can do. Our culture celebrates control. 

When I was pregnant with my first child, I consumed so much content regarding things that I could do to prepare for birth. 

The reality is: There is only so much you can do to prepare for this life-changing event! 

I could not control when my baby came into this world. (I very much tried to with pineapple-eating, curry-consuming, birth-ball-bouncing…)

I got so lost in my attempts to control that I don’t really remember hearing Jesus’ voice. 

Yet, with my subsequent birth, I let God in. 

During my second birth, I had a moment in the delivery room where I felt lost, out of control and scared about what might happen. 

All of the books, YouTube videos and birth classes had told me to stand up as much as possible, be upright for birth. Yet my circumstances meant I could not be upright. I was confined to my bed, sitting with lots of carefully placed wires that I couldn’t move.

It was a moment I will never forget… 

Instead of rushing to try to do something, I simply sat on my hospital bed, in the dark night and I spoke to God. 

It was something like: “I don’t know if this is going to go the way I want it to. I don’t really know what is happening! I am anxious and scared, God.”

It was a simple moment of surrender. A Ruth moment in which I was just waiting on my redeemer. I didn’t know which way it would pan out.

And in that moment God spoke to me: “It is going to be O.K.”

Those words healed something in me in a way that no “perfect” birth plan could have done.

It was going to be O.K, even if I let go of control. Even if I couldn’t do… anything.

He could redeem. 

And, wow, let me tell you: He did redeem. Not only did He heal my heart, in that sweet hospital-bed moment, He also helped me have a successful VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean.) A healthy baby boy.

What I learnt then, and what I need to re-learn right now, is this:

At some point, you have to let Jesus walk you through the unknown.

At some point, you have to let go of the busyness, the plan or the self-righteousness.

At some point, faith looks like you slowing down in the middle of chaos, just waiting on your redeemer.

Of course, I don’t know where this finds you today. I do know that He is willing to turn that situation around when you need Him to.

I do know that you can trust Him.

Maybe you and I need to have a threshing floor moment where we just lay it all out before God. Our uncertainty, our fears and our attempts to control and fix.

Maybe this is the week in which you will see God do what you cannot. Let it be like the night before Christmas: A time in which you running around and stressing transforms into you hoping and getting excited about what He is going to bring for you.

Thinking of you and praying for you guys.