Take a bath...

OK, It's bible bath time... Let's look at the story of Ruth. Bath time happens in Ruth 3:3.


Here's the context; Naomi tells Ruth it's time to plan for her future. She needs to go find Boaz and get the ball rolling on making him her husband. As verse 3 begins, Naomi gives Ruth a "to-do" list before she can go get on with her life. The first thing she tells her to do is to "take a bath".


That got me thinking... what exactly was she washing off? Sure she had plenty of dirt on her from being out in the field but, like most of us, she had some things from her past she needed to clean up as well.


Think about it... according to the story, Ruth had lost her father-in-law, her brother-in-law, and her own husband. Just two short chapters ago she was a hurting woman saying these words to her mother-in-law, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." The story tells us that when Naomi heard how serious Ruth was about this, she allowed her to come with her. But, as we read we learn that Naomi never stopped considering Ruth's future.


When they get to Bethlehem, Ruth feels compelled to provide for Naomi. She tries to take hold of the situation. She heads out to try to pick up scraps in a field behind the workers so they can eat. Can you imagine what that must have been like for Ruth? She was owning all the pressure of feeding and providing for herself AND Naomi.


Ruth's life was pretty much a mess. But Naomi was still looking forward toward Ruth's future while Ruth was scrambling around trying to survive one day at a time. Then Naomi goes to work to clean up this young girl's life. She says,"My daughter, should I not try to find a home for you, where you will be well provided for?  Is not Boaz, with whose servant girls you have been, a kinsman of ours? Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor." (Ruth 3:1-2)


Naomi pretty much says, "Hey Ruth... seriously, you're a wonderful young woman. I won't be around forever. It's time I help you move on with you life. Boaz is your future. God has provided him for you and he is right around the corner. It's time let God give you a fresh start." Then she says, "Now go take a bath...".


I think many of us are just like Ruth. We've had some rough times in our past. Things have not gone our way. And right now, maybe you are clinging to anything familiar that will allow you to hang on to whatever you had. But, as you do that, you are also clinging on to the pain, the hurt, all the bad memories, and every other fear that you associate with that time of your life. You need to move on. I challenge you today to listen to good old Naomi, and "Take a bath." Let Jesus Christ clean up all the pain or regret from your past and look forward to a Christ centered future. Let him wash off all of the dirt from the work you've been trying to do to provide for yourself and you just accept what God has put in front of you. Your new life is waiting for you.


Isaiah 43:18-19 says, "Forget the former things... I am doing a new thing... I am making a way."


That's God's promise for you. Place your hope in him. Go jump in the tub, clean up, and start fresh...


But seriously, don't take all day in there... your sister needs to blow dry her hair!