Promises You Can Trust

by: Michael Wilcock

Boaz is not the only one who has had his wits about him. Naomi has been putting hers to work as well. Ruth’s story, plus what she already knows about Boaz, and now this generous gift of barley, all add up to a fair certainty that what she has been hoping for is going to happen. Boaz will make it happen. So once more, for the moment, her watchword is patience.

Boaz is generous, he is shrewd; and now we are given to understand that he’s reliable too. When he makes a promise, he keeps it.

Again, he is a picture of Jesus, and we for our part should keep our promises not chiefly because Boaz does but because Jesus does, and we are to reflect his character. Think how the whole story speaks of him and all that he has said he will do for his people. If we grow impatient, we must remind ourselves of three things, as Naomi and Ruth did. One: he has promised. Two: he is the sort of person who keeps his word. Three: he gives us good things here and now, just to be going on with.

So what, in your own relationship with the Lord, might your “six measures of barley” be!