Part 23

---The series on Ruth began in Part 10---
“I will give you treasures of darkness and hidden riches of the Secret Place, that you may know that I, the Lord, Who calls you by your name, am the God of Israel.”  Isaiah 45:3

“Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, ‘The Lord be with you!’ ‘The Lord bless you!’ they called back.  Boaz asked the foreman of his harvesters, ‘Whose young woman is that?’”  Ruth 2:4,5

He noticed her.  She caught his eye immediately… 

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“So Boaz said to Ruth, ‘My daughter, listen to me.  Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here.  Stay here with my servant girls.  Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the girls.  I have told the men not to touch you.’”  Ruth 2:8-9a

The instruction, the invitation, is clear:  “Listen to me.  Don’t go anywhere else.  Stay with me in my field.  Stay here with the others who have also come to harvest in my field.  Watch what they are doing.  Follow them as they follow my lead.  I have told anyone who might cause you harm to stay away from you and not to touch you.”  

In the Secret Place, He beckons us:  “Listen, don’t go, stay, stay here, harvest in my field, watch, follow, and I won’t let the enemy touch you.”

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“’And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.’”  Ruth 2:9b

He is so thoughtful.  “Whenever you are thirsty…”  He doesn’t care if it is in the middle of the work or during the rest.  Whenever, anytime.

In the Secret Place, He beckons us:  “Come to the laver.  Come to the well of living water.  It’s free!  And you can have it any time you want it!”

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“At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground.  She exclaimed, ‘Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me?’…Boaz replied, ‘I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and your mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before.”  Ruth 2:10-11

“Why have I found such favor? How is it that You even notice me?  Who am I?”

In the Secret Place, He beckons us:  “Oh, I’ve heard about you.  You love with a love that is beyond yourself, and you left your comfort zone and everything you had in this world to come here to Me.  All I have asked is for you to seek Me.  Love with My love.  Don’t look back at what you have left behind.  Stay here with Me.”  

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“’May the Lord repay you for what you have done.  May you be richly rewarded (may your wages be paid in full) by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.’”  Ruth 2:12

“You will receive riches beyond imagine.  You have sought to come under the shelter of the Almighty.”

In the Secret Place, He beckons us:  “He who dwells (stays) in the shelter (the Secret Place) of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust’…He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart (buckler)…If you make the Most High your dwelling—even the Lord, who is my refuge—then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent…’Because he loves me,’ says the Lord, ‘I will rescue (deliver) him; I will protect (set him high above his enemies), for he acknowledges (knows and understands) My name…’”  Psalm 91

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“‘May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,’ she said.  ‘You have given me comfort and have spoken kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servant girls.’”  Ruth 2:13

Ruth was considered to be “lower than a servant”, yet she found herself with the favor of “the boss”. 

In the Secret Place, He beckons us:  “I don’t care what you’ve done with your life before now.  You think you are ‘lower than a servant’, yet ‘I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business.  Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.’  (John 15:15)  I love you.  You are my favored one.  You are the apple of My eye.  I would do anything for you—I died for you so that you can spend eternity in undefined glory of riches you cannot imagine.  And I would do it all over again, just for you.  I don’t regret the pain, the suffering, the anguish, the humility, the cruelness of My death because it tore the veil away just so  you can come into the Secret Place and live with Me and our Father forever…..

I can’t wait to see you there!”