The Lord Be With You (Ruth 2:4-7)

Now behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, “The LORD be with you!” And they answered him, “The LORD bless you!” Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?” So the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered and said, “It is the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. And she said, ‘Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.’ So she came and has continued from morning until now, though she rested a little in the house.”
(Ruth 2:4-7, NKJV)

Boaz was clearly a godly man. The first words we hear from him are, “The LORD be with you!” I imagine this was a common greeting from Boaz.

What if our regular greeting to each other was “The Lord be with you!”? What if our first thought when we woke in the morning was about our Lord? What if our last waking breath each night was a prayer?

What if God really was first and foremost in our hearts and minds?

The Bible tells us we’re to meditate on God’s word “day and night” (Psalm 1:2). We’re to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). We’re to “rejoice always” (Phil. 4:4).

Constancy. Consistency. Steadfastness. Single-mindedness.

Do these words describe your relationship with God? As much as I’d like to say they do mine, I still have too much of “me” in me, certainly not nearly enough of God. But since I’m that work in progress Paul described (Phil. 1:6), I know I can strive each day to keep more and more focused on God. I can strive to let Him increase while I decrease (John 3:30).

That’s my prayer. What about you?