I can only imagine what Ruth must have felt when she first encountered Boaz.   His good will was a stark contrast to the harsh realities of her life.

“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 mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” (Ruth 2:11)

Such grace. Such benevolence.

Ruth told her mother-in-law everything that happened.  “The LORD bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.”

Boaz’s kindness was a token of God’s grace.  It was an assurance that there was never a time when they were outside of the perfect will and knowledge of God for their lives.

The story of Ruth is, among other things, a story of God’s providential leading in the lives of His people. Yet, how remarkable that God has chosen to bind up kindness with His providence!

Lord, we thank You for every expression of kindness that we have experienced in your providence. We ask you, in turn,  to clothe us in kindness.  Bind it on us like a necklace.  Give us grace to express kindness to weary pilgrims and thereby bring your name glory.  In Jesus name.