Bump, Set, Spike!

I love to watch a good volleyball game. The key word here is watch because to be totally honest, I'm athletically pathetic. So watching is the position I take in the game. And the main reason I love to watch volleyball is for the bump, set, spike. It's almost like this process plays in slow motion for me. Someone is getting set up to score with an amazing "how do they do that" spike. But it's not just the person at the front of the net whose responsible for what just went down. No, every person involved in the process rejoices, hugs, high fives, and does that weird jump on each other thing that girl volleyball teams do, because they know that they each had a part in the beatdown that just happened to the other team. This morning I was reading in Ruth. Oh, how I love the book of Ruth. She is just way too awesome for me. And that's why I love to read about her. She loses her husband, she vows to follow her mother-in-law wherever she may go, and she decides to follow BEHIND THE SERVANT GIRLS to gather sheaves. Then Boaz notices her, she wins his heart, they get married and live happily ever after. Oh yeah, she is the woman. But something I didn't notice until today is the part that Naomi played in Ruth's story. In Ruth 1:22, you'll notice that Naomi returned to Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning, accompanied by Ruth. In other words, where they went and when they went were Naomi's decisions. Ruth was simply following her at this point. Then it just so happens that Boaz, one of Naomi's relatives just so happens to have a field where Ruth just so happens to go glean. Now, I'm not trying to read too much in between the lines here. I know that our steps are ordained by God. But don't you agree that Naomi knew what was going on and had a cheeky smile on her face the whole time, and was nudging Ruth in a certain direction? In Ruth 2:2, Ruth decided to glean in the field to which Naomi replies, "Go ahead, my daughter." Now let me pause for a minute and interject a little 21st century insight. To me this sounds a lot like, "Go ahead and get your man, honey." She is calling Ruth her daughter here, which means that she is caring for her as she would her own daughter. And what mother in her right mind does not want to set her daughter up with a great man? Let's continue. Ruth gathers more than enough barley and when she shows Naomi, Naomi says, "Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man that took notice of you!" As if she didn't know! What a sneak! Ruth never told Naomi that a man had taken notice and helped her out before this point. I'm thinking that Naomi knew exactly what was going on here. Ruth begins telling her about Boaz... why, I'm not so sure, because Naomi probably already knew everything she was going to say anyways... and when she does, Naomi says in verse 20, "That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers." Oh, really, Naomi? You just realized this? This wasn't your plan allll alllooonngg?? ;) A guadian-redeemer is also called a kinsman redeemer. A kinsman redeemer avenged deaths, claimed inheritances for poor family members, and married the widow of a dead male relative. Ok, I see exactly what is going on here. Naomi then goes on to tell her to stay in that field because she may be harmed in someone elses. A little manipulative, but do you blame her? She is the matchmaker of all matchmakers. If people didn't want to be married any time soon, I'm sure they stayed far away from Naomi. She's a beast when it comes to this stuff. I'm impressed. Then she proceeds to tell her she needs to find a home for Ruth and instructs her in exactly what she should do to win Boaz's heart. Bump, set, spike, Ruth walks right into her destiny. Yes, Ruth is awesome. If Ruth had left Naomi and the other girl had stayed (we don't even remember her name, do we??), someone else could've had her man instead of her. It was through her faithfulness to Naomi that she was blessed like she was. But I would also like to point out that behind every great Ruth is a great Naomi. That woman was setting Ruth up to walk straight into her destiny, and we have the same opportunity to do that for others. It doesn't matter who bumps, who sets, or who spikes, because God's purposes are going to move forward and we can all rejoice in the fact that someone just stepped into their calling. We are going to set someone up to score a point and someone is going to set us up to score a point. But it's all for the Kingdom of God. Different roles, different giftings, different personalities all working together for a common cause, the cause of Christ. Score!