Go get your ____ (Ruth 3)

Is there anything that gets people shouting as much as the “Claim It!” theology?

You know what I’m talking about – the message that your blessing, your breakthrough, your victory is right there in front of you. The only thing that stands between you and it are the magic words: “claim it”. Reach out and claim it, and the blessing is yours!

It’s a popular one because it’s a comforting one. It’s also one some of us tend to brush off. You can’t just demand things from God. And it certainly isn’t true that you’ll get everything you ask Him for.

But there’s a little bit of truth mixed into this crowd-pleaser, and it is on display in Ruth 3.

Go get it, go get it

Ruth has settled into her new life with her mother-in-law. She’s feeding the two of them with grain she gathers at Boaz’s field. She’s healing from the death of her first husband. Naomi is healing from the death of her two sons and her husband.

You can tell Naomi is feeling more like herself because not one verse is wasted before Naomi says the words that just about every mother will say to her child at some point in her life: “we need to get you a husband” (verse 1).

But unlike some other mothers, Naomi actually has a plan. She breaks it down for Ruth: get pretty, head to Boaz’s field tonight, wait till he’s alone and dozing off, and lie down beside him.

Uh, Naomi? This sounds a bit seductive, or at the very least, forward. But Ruth doesn’t argue, she does it. And if this were a modern day Hollywood rom-com, maybe Ruth and Boaz would sleep together, but this is ancient Israel, so naturally, Ruth proposes to him.

Actually, Ruth asks him to be her guardian redeemer, essentially a request to honor the duty that a widow’s relatives had in those days to marry her and thus take care of her.

I wonder how Ruth felt making that request, seemingly out of the blue, on a random night in a field. Was she nervous? Afraid of rejection?

Whatever her fears, they were short lived. Boaz immediately begins praising God, and promises to fulfill his duty to her.

And just like that, Ruth is on her way to getting her blessing. All because she reached out and claimed it.

Or is it because she stepped out in faith? It’s one thing to make a rash declaration, expecting God to do exactly what you want Him to.

It’s another to make a plan. Take a step. Try something, and ask God to bless it if it’s His will. Maybe it won’t work out the way you expect it.

Or maybe God will bless you in a way you couldn’t have even dreamed of asking.

“My ways are higher than your ways – and they’re the best ways.”

I think one of the beautiful thoughts behind the sometimes misguided “Claim It” theology is that God is big enough to do anything.

Sometimes we avoid asking God for things, avoid praying about things, or avoid hoping for things because we forget that not only can God do anything, He is our Father, and like any good Father, He wants to give us really amazing gifts.

So while we avoid cocky presumption, let’s also avoid pessimistic assumptions.

God cares about the desires of our hearts, whether they be for a job, a partner, victory over sin, mental health, financial stability, whatever! We can bring it all to Him. We can trust that He is big enough to answer our prayers.

And then we can take a faithful step – tightly holding God’s hand! – and wait to see what He will do next.

What do you think? How did you see Ruth’s bold move in this chapter?