Ruth and the fourth man of Hindustan

The fourth wise man of Hindustan can no longer hold his peace. "The book of Ruth," he says, "is obviously about the blessings of the Kingdom available to those who will only have the courage to pursue them!" "From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force" (Matthew 11:12).

Take the daughters of Zelophehad again (Numbers 27). Their family in the tribe of Manasseh would have died up like a dead branch, and their names removed from the book of the living, if they had not taken the initiative and had the courage to go to Moses' tent and fight for their rights in God's Kingdom. God does not rebuke their forcefulness but tells Moses they have a good point, and he grants their request.

Take the Canaanite woman who cried out to Jesus for her daughter (Matthew 15:21-28). She would not have attained her desire if she had not pursued and hung in there with Jesus when He seemed to be giving her the brush and even to be insulting her.

The exchange between the Lord and the Canaanite lady makes me wince. She cries out; He ignores. The embarrassed disciples try to remove her; she does not budge. She kneels now; Jesus finally acknowledges her presence but says He has come for Israel. She persists, "Lord, help me"; Jesus replies that it's not right to give the children's food to their dogs. She counters that even dogs eat the crumbs under the children's table. As in the case of the daughters of Zelophehad, the Lord decides the Canaanite woman has a good point, and He grants her request.

In the book of Ruth, when Naomi and Ruth see that Boaz, though a kind man, has taken no decisive steps toward helping them to regain their inheritance, they take the initiative and make a bold move. Ruth will show up in Boaz's bed tonight and pretty much propose marriage. The gambit works and the startled Boaz accepts the proposal, after certain necessary preliminaries are taken care of.

As Paul Miller says in my favorite book on prayer, A Praying Life, "All of Jesus' teaching on prayer in the Gospels can be summarized with one word: ask."

To read Andrée Seu's series on the book of Ruth, click here.

To hear commentaries by Andrée Seu, click here.