72 of 365 - I will Redeem It

Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the dead man’s widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property.” At this, the guardian-redeemer said, “Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it.” Ruth 4:5-6

Boaz acknowledges that he is a guardian-redeemer for Ruth’s family, but notes that there is one that is more closely related who must be notified and given the opportunity to redeem first.
 
Boaz goes immediately to the place of business…the town gate. He sits, waiting for his competition for Ruth. He motions the man to come over and presents the facts about the land of Elimelek to be redeemed.
“I will redeem it,” the man says.

But Boaz had a bit of information he was holding back. With redeeming the land comes Ruth, who Boaz points out is a Moabite. Not only does the man have to take this Moabite woman, but he will also have to share his inheritance. 

The man is more concerned with the impact on his own estate than with helping his relatives. He declines.
But that’s okay. As we have seen from the beginning, God has a better plan. Boaz is free to be the guardian redeemer. Free to marry Ruth.

The man (not even named in the book of Ruth) did not have the vision to see what was available to him. Little did he know that he had a chance at becoming an intimate part of God’s bigger redemption story, but turned it down for the treasures he currently esteemed more highly.

How often we cling to things that keep us from having even more of what God has in store for us.
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Challenge: Pray that you will not miss out on bigger things of God by holding on to what you think you want and need to make you happy. Think about how you can continually be open to God’s bigger plans instead of clinging to your lesser plans.