Ruth 2: Why have I found grace in thy sight?

Ruth 2:10 Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thy sight, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?

She fell down. She bowed before him whose name is Strength (Boaz).

Ruth will be this man's bride. We already have the whole story. We know how it ends. But right now, this man has bestowed unexpected kindness on her behalf. She is not of his people. She is a stranger on his turf. Less than a stranger, she is from Moab: marked by the LORD.

Deuteronomy 23:3 An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into the assembly of the LORD; even to the tenth generation shall none belonging to them enter into the assembly of the LORD for ever:
23:4 because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee.

It was her love for her mother-in-law Naomi that brought Ruth to Bethlehem. And it was her love that moved her to glean the fields after the reapers to provide food.

Ruth was not about Ruth. Ruth wasn't looking for her blessing. Ruth was about Naomi's well being. She cared for Naomi, even to the point of her own loss. Ruth emptied herself. She is about to be blessed. She isn't looking for it.


Why have I found grace in thy sight?

How many times have I asked that question to Him whose name is Strength? Yet grace is extended to me. And it is extended to you. Like Ruth, we come into His presence as strangers. Less than strangers, we are marked. Worse than the Moabites who desired to curse God's people, we came as rebels and enemies of God Almighty Himself.

Yet grace is extended.

And when we say yes to God, we feel that we are so smart for making the right choice.

Later we may come to realize who actually did the choosing. And then, how can you not ask:

Why have I found grace in thy sight?

And again, as saved; yet a failure by human standards, how much less by God's standards?

Why have I found grace in thy sight?