It’s out of my hands!

Application

• Sometimes we do not realize that ministry to people often occurs based upon exactly what the LORD already has led us to bring with us: Maybe something we are wearing; maybe our time and ability; maybe transportation with the vehicle. Be open and available to do “ministry on the fly”!
• While Boaz could not promise Ruth the exact outcome of that day’s legal matter, he still gives grace through the barley as his commitment to the task.
• So, Ruth is supposed to “just sit there, and do absolutely nothing? That is correct—when it comes to being redeemed, someone else must do it for us. There quite literally is nothing a person can do for himself!
• Conclusion: Anytime “It’s out of my hands,” someone else must handle the work and the responsibility. If I interject myself into that situation, I mess it up—the failure belongs to me alone! What part of “It’s out of my hands!” do we not understand?

Bible Text

(14) So she lay at his feet until morning and rose before one could recognize another; and he said, “Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.” (15) Again he said, “Give me the cloak that is on you and hold it.” So she held it, and he measured six measures of barley and laid it on her. Then she went into the city. (16) When she came to her mother-in-law, she said, “How did it go, my daughter?” And she told her all that the man had done for her. (17) She said, “These six measures of barley he gave to me, for he said, ‘Do not go to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’” (18) Then she said, “Wait, my daughter, until you know how the matter turns out; for the man will not rest until he has settled it today.”

-Ruth 3:14-18 (NASB)