Ruth 3:1-4
Then Naomi her mother in law said unto her, My daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee? ²And now is not Boaz of our kindred, with whose maidens thou wast? Behold, he winnoweth barley to night in the threshingfloor.³Wash thyself therefore, and anoint thee, and put thy raiment upon thee, and get thee down to the floor: but make not thyself known unto the man, until he shall have done eating and drinking.⁴And it shall be, when he lieth down, that thou shalt mark the place where he shall lie, and thou shalt go in, and uncover his feet, and lay thee down; and he will tell thee what thou shalt do.
Ruth’s mother-in-law, Naomi, encouraged her to meet Boaz, a distant relative. Despite the setbacks of losing her husband and facing widowhood, Ruth took the initiative to tidy herself up and prepare for the encounter, what I would deem as resetting herself. She refused to let her past slow her down but instead chose to move forward. Resetting involves getting a fresh start, removing things that have slowed you down.
Just like a computer overwhelmed by applications slows down, we too can feel slowed down by a variety of issues. But, what if we could hit the reset button and start anew? Peter reset His life despite the betrayal incident, I could imagine self condemnation yet Jesus redirects Him to start afresh ( John 21:17).
Imagine deleting the files of: bitterness , anger , unforgiveness , resentment , jealousy , past failures etc and restarting with a fresh perspective! Doesn’t scripture say that we should let go of every weight that hinders us …
Isaiah 43:18-19
¹⁸Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.¹⁹Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
Ruth 3:8-11
⁸And it came to pass at midnight, that the man was afraid, and turned himself: and, behold, a woman lay at his feet. ⁹And he said, Who art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth thine handmaid: spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid; for thou art a near kinsman. ¹⁰And he said, Blessed be thou of the LORD, my daughter: for thou hast shewed more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch as thou followedst not young men, whether poor or rich. ¹¹And now, my daughter, fear not; I will do to thee all that thou requirest: for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman.
It is not until Ruth took a step and did something that Boaz guaranteed doing everything for her, everything fell in place. Boaz’s assurance to Ruth is a beautiful picture of God’s faithfulness.
Romans 8:28
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Ruth had Naomi who inspired her to reset, tidied herself up to meet Boaz, she set her up. It was time to get past her husband’s loss, it was time to reset and start afresh..
Like Ruth, we too can surround ourselves with positive influences and support to help us move forward. Ruth too was of great value to Naomi, a grieving elderly widowed woman that lost her two sons.(what a grief this could have been)
It is amazing that two broken people could reset, what about You!
It’s time to let go of the yesterday, hit the reset button and begin your new chapter today.
Prophetic Utterance:
Psalms 27:1
The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
Psalms 27:13-14
¹³I had fainted, unless I had believed
to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
¹⁴Wait on the LORD:
be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.
Guiding Text:
Proverbs 4:23
Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.