Day 5: "God's Hand in Our Shrewdness"

Although Ruth and Boaz are ready to be married, there is still business to be done. There was a man in line ahead of Boaz to receive the land belonging to Naomi's dead husband, and also Ruth and Naomi themselves. Because of this, Boaz had to take care of some legal issues first. Before this study, I had always thought of the word shrewd in a negative way. However, Boaz is shrewd in a positive way. He takes business seriously (maybe because it has to do with his girl! :) ) Without sinning or being dishonest, Boaz approaches the "competition" and explains that although he would get the land, he would also have to deal with two widows, one of them quite elderly. Boaz didn't waste time. He took care of business as soon as possible and efficiently. He was shrewd--astute! And yet, he did not sin and instead proved himself to "be the man!" And personally, I must say. When guys are willing to fight for us in a holy way, we girls are more than impressed.