Wash thyself therefore, and anoint thee, and put thy raiment upon thee, and get thee down to the

threshing-floor, but make not thyself known unto the man, until he shall have done eating and

drinking. And it shall be, when he lieth down, that thou shalt mark the place where he shall lie, and

thou shalt go in, and uncover his feet, and lay thee down; and he will tell thee what thou shalt do.

And she said unto her, All that thou sayest I will do. (Ruth 3:3-5 ASV)

These instructions are peculiar to us – and no doubt unexpected. In short, Naomi is instructing Ruth to

go find Boaz at the threshing floor, wait till he is asleep, lie down at his feet, and wait on Boaz to give her

further instructions. These are peculiar to us because we don’t have any experience with the laws and

customs of the ancient Israelites – and probably also peculiar to Ruth, a foreigner not familiar with the

Jewish laws and customs to which Naomi was making an appeal.

When I read this passage, my thinking is drawn to the last part of verse 5: All that thou sayest I will do.

Even though the instructions were a bit unexpected and confusing, Ruth trusted Naomi enough to

follow. That level of trust is based on their relationship, the genuine concern that Ruth understood

Namoi had for her. As the remainder of this little book unfolds, we see the results of Ruth’s decision to

act on the instructions she had, even though she didn’t have all the details.

What do you do when you have the instruction, but you don’t know how it’s all going to work out?

One of the ways we find peace in our walk of faith is to follow God even when we don’t have all the

answers. This is not an invitation to be reckless or to follow every little fad; there is a proper time for

counting the cost (Luke 14:25-33) before we launch out in a new direction. But the cost counting must

be balanced against the fear of what we don’t know – a fear that paralyzes us and leads us to bury our

talents in the ground (Matthew 25:14-30).

We are called to walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). How is the Lord leading you, and are you

waiting for some answers that would make you more comfortable? What is that instruction that you

think must surely be for someone else? How limited is your experience of His abundant life because you

aren’t willing to answer the call until you have all the answers?

By Jesse Smith