"..and You Became Mine."

“Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down.” Ruth 3:7.

This small verse exemplifies one of the most beautiful examples of posturing ourselves in humility and complete surrender to God. Ruth has been told by Naomi to go to the threshing floor. It is important to understand what purpose was accomplished on the threshing floor. It was the place where the seeds were separated from the wheat. Symbolically, the center of the threshing floor contained two large flat stones, one resting on the top of the other. They were “fitted and joined” together. The top stone was known as the “female” and the bottom stone the “male”. The “grinding of grain” was a depiction of the act of marriage (Job 31:10). For Ruth to go to the threshing floor and follow Naomi’s instruction was basically Ruth offering herself in marriage – talk about gutsy!

(Now I can relate to this on a small level as I proposed to Bruce 26 years ago. Like Boaz, he didn’t even know what hit him – he simply looked the offer in the face and had to make a decision!)

Ruth secretly moved across the floor in the dark and covered herself with his garment, symbolizing the total surrender of her life to him. She laid it all on the line in total vulnerability and all that was left was the wait.

How many times have we finally gotten to the place of surrender to Christ only to find ourselves waiting for His answer. We sit in anticipation of His response to our situation and pray that it will give us new life into our situation and a bright future. Christ will always respond to our proposal to give our lives and our concerns to Him. ‘…and when I looked at you and saw that you were old enough for love, I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered…I gave you my solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Sovereign LORD, and you became mine.’ Ezekiel 16:8. These were the words spoken by God as Israel represented being His bride.

When we approach God on our own threshing floors we must humbly lay down our own will and agenda, recognize Him as our only hope in the future. We must wait on Him to arise, extend His beautiful hand and receive us into Him in covenant. He will carry and cover us under His wings and we take our place beside Him.

The gutsy move will be worth the surrender!