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Shamelessly....

         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.”

        “I will do whatever you say,” Ruth answered. So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do. (Ruth 3:1-6)

 

             Naomi is in full matchmaker mode at this point, and what she advises Ruth to do. From what some experts have said, “uncover his feet” has little to do with his feet. She was to uncover him then lay down next to him without touching him, as if she were entitled as his wife. It was a brazen move, and I’m not sure that he might not have been within his rights to have her stoned.

            We can’t say that there was no financial consideration in the proposed relationship. She may have been fond of him by this point, but she and Naomi were both looking for a place to live where they would be safe and cared for. But Naomi and Ruth didn’t just stop by the bank and ask for the name of the richest person in town. Neither did they merely look for the person who topped the list of guys expected to take responsibility for them. They had determined that he was a good candidate.

            And so we return to the parallel. Whether we’ve done a thorough search or simply stumbled on God as a good candidate, are we willing to dress in our best “clothes,” put on “perfume,” and shamelessly fling ourselves at Him? And while both He and we know that part of our purpose is to find someone to meet our needs, are we willing to enter into a relationship in addition to getting those needs met – and even to think of the relationship as more important than the needs?

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