OPERATION GRACE
Ruth 3:1–18
Introduction
There is a story I ran across some years ago that comes from the days of World War II.
In 1944, the Allied forces launched an ambitious military strategy known as Operation Market Garden. The goal was bold and hopeful. It was a military plan aimed at liberating the Netherlands from the Nazis during the Second World War. It was a bold and complex plan. It was incredibly ambitious, deeply costly, and it took a long time to prepare. Ultimately its implementation involved thousands of people, each playing a specific role at just the right moment.
Sadly, despite all the preparation and sacrifice, the operation failed. It did not achieve its intended objective.
As I read that story, I was struck by the contrast between our human plans and God’s plan.
God has a plan. He has always had a plan.
In its aim, God’s plan is not unlike Operation Market Garden. It too concerns the liberation of people. The Bible uses another word for liberation — it uses the word redemption. God’s plan is the rescue men and women from the bondage of sin and the consequences of guilt, and death.
We might call God’s plan Operation Grace.
Like the Military plan of the Allied forces, His plan is a complex, ambitious, and costly plan. However, it was prepared over thousands of years ago. Its implementation involves countless people, each playing their part at a particular moment in the outworking of God’s purpose. But here is the difference. While Operation Market Garden failed, Operation Grace has succeeded, and it continues to succeed as men and women experience redemption through the costly sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, which stands at the very center of the plan.
The sequence of events found in the Old Testament book of Ruth 3 were all part of God’s Operation Grace. Ruth chapter 3 is just a brief moment and small part of the grand Operation Grace that God was carrying out.
At first reading, the details may feel foreign. The customs seem strange. The scene at the threshing floor may even raise questions for modern readers like you and me. We might wonder why this chapter and the story within is even necessary at all. Yet, Ruth 3 is here for a reason. It shows us that as God carries out His Operation Grace, He uses the active faith of people like you and me.
Understand, God’s plans are destined to succeed. Scripture is clear.
“What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.” — Isaiah 46:11 (NIV)
God doesn’t need us. He is sovereign. And His plans will always succeed. But through His grace He chooses to involve us.
The Bible teaches with clarity that God works in a way that honors human responsibility, willing choices, and faithful action. And so, our part to play in the grand mission is to be faithful. To willingly participate with a confidence that God is at work and He’s inviting us to join Him.
Ruth 3 actually gives us three pictures of active faith. Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz each play their role at just the right moment in God’s unfolding plan.
1. Active Faith Acts in Obedience to God’s Word
As the chapter opens, the initiative belongs to Naomi. Look with me at verse 1.
1 One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, I must find a home[a] for you, where you will be well provided for. 2 Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. 3 Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.” — Ruth 3:1–4 (NIV)
The barley and wheat harvests are coming to an end. Naomi looks at Ruth, a young widow with no security and no future prospects, and she says in effect, “My daughter, it is time to seek rest for you.”
Her concern is not self centered. It is deeply pastoral. She wants Ruth to be provided for. She wants her protected. She wants her settled in a home.
Naomi has a plan, and it is not impulsive. She has done her homework. She knows where Boaz will be, what he will be doing, and when he will be there. She knows how Ruth should prepare herself. Every detail is intentional.
At first glance, this could look like clever matchmaking. But verse 2 gives us the key.
Boaz is described as “a kinsman of ours.”
Naomi is not operating on cultural instinct alone. She is acting on God’s Word.
God’s law made provision for families who were vulnerable. When a man died without an heir, his family name and inheritance were not to disappear. A close relative was to step in as a redeemer. God had also made provision for land that had been lost through poverty to be redeemed by a kinsman.
Naomi understands the law. She understands the circumstances God has arranged. And she brings the two together.
This is the logic of faith.
Ruth is young. Boaz is a godly man. He is a kinsman. He has already shown kindness. And tonight, there is an opportunity.
Naomi does not sit back and say, “If God wants this to happen, He will make it happen.” Instead, she takes initiative based on what God has already revealed in His Word.
This reminds us that faith is not passive.
God’s sovereignty is never an excuse for inaction. In fact, it is the very reason we can act with confidence.
God’s Word functions like standing instructions. His will has already been revealed in Scripture. Our responsibility is to apply those instructions to the circumstances of our lives with wisdom and obedience.
Paul puts it this way:
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is, His good, pleasing and perfect will.” — Romans 12:2 (NIV)
True faith reasons biblically. It asks, “What does God’s Word say, and how does it apply here?”
This applies to every area of life. Marriage. Work. Ministry. Decisions large and small.
God delights to use the thoughtful, obedient initiatives of His people in the outworking of His purposes.
Transition: Naomi shows us faith that thinks, plans, and acts. Ruth now shows us faith that humbly asks.
2. Active Faith Seeks Refuge According to God’s Word
The story continues in verse 5 as Ruth’s responds to Naomi. Her response is simple and profound.
5 “I will do whatever you say,” Ruth answered. 6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do. 7 When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. 8 In the middle of the night something startled the man; he turned—and there was a woman lying at his feet!” — Ruth 3:5–8 (NIV)
She submits humbly, and she follows through completely.
As we read the scene at the threshing floor, two things need to be said clearly.
First, Boaz was not drunk. The text says he was “in good spirits.” He had eaten. The harvest had been good. He was rejoicing in God’s provision. Scripture does not condemn joy.
Second, there is no hint of immorality here. Boaz is described as upright. Ruth is called a woman of noble character. God’s good gift of intimacy is always protected by His design, and nothing in this passage violates that.
The moment itself is deeply symbolic and rooted in God’s Word.
Ruth uncovers Boaz’s feet and lies down. In the night, Boaz awakens and asks her a question. He asks, , “Who are you?”
And in verse 9, Ruth answers with humility — and makes a request of Boaz. She says,
9 …“I am your servant Ruth,” she said. “Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a guardian-redeemer of our family.” — Ruth 3:9 (NIV)
Now, don’t get distracted by this part of the story. This isn’t a romantic advance, but rather — a request for his care and protection.
The word for garment here is the same word translated “wings” (as used in Ruth 2:12).
Ruth has already taken refuge under the wings of the Lord. Now she asks for refuge through the means God has provided.
So, in this story, Boaz becomes a picture of Christ (the promised redeemer).
Just as Ruth could not protect herself, neither can we. Salvation begins with a humble request for protection from the Redeemer God has provided.
To become a Christian is to say, “I cannot save myself. I need Your covering. I need Your redemption.”
And living as a Christian is no different.
Every day we face dangers we cannot overcome alone. The pull of sin. The pressure of the world. The schemes of the enemy.
Active faith continually asks Christ for protection. It is an expression of dependence, not weakness.
Transition: Naomi planned. Ruth asked. Now Boaz acts.
3. Active Faith Lives Out the Responsibilities of God’s Word
Look with me at verse 11. Here, Boaz responds with kindness, clarity, and commitment.
He blesses Ruth in the name of the Lord. He recognizes that God is at work. And then he explains that there is a complication. There is a nearer redeemer.
Yet Boaz does not withdraw. He accepts responsibility.
10 “The Lord bless you, my daughter,” he replied. “This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. 11 And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character. 12 Although it is true that I am a guardian-redeemer of our family, there is another who is more closely related than I. 13 Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to do his duty as your guardian-redeemer, good; let him redeem you. But if he is not willing, as surely as the Lord lives I will do it. Lie here until morning.”
14 So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognized; and he said, “No one must know that a woman came to the threshing floor.”
15 He also said, “Bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out.” When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and placed the bundle on her. Then he[a]went back to town. 16 When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, “How did it go, my daughter?” Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her 17 and added, “He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, ‘Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’”
18 Then Naomi said, “Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today.” — Ruth 3:10-18 (NIV)
He commits himself to act promptly and righteously. He sends Ruth home with generous provision, tangible evidence of his intent.
Once again, Boaz points us to Christ.
Jesus accepted responsibility on the basis of God’s Word. Even from the cross, He fulfilled the law’s demands. He bore our sin. He took our condemnation. He provided redemption at immeasurable cost.
Boaz also gives us a pattern to follow.
Active faith accepts responsibility.
Parents toward children. Children toward parents. Husbands and wives toward one another. Believers toward one another. And believers toward the world.
We are responsible to love, serve, encourage, speak truth, and live in a way that makes the gospel visible and compelling.
Conclusion
What stands out in Ruth 3 is that Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz all act with unselfish, generous, costly kindness.
Naomi acts for Ruth’s good.
Ruth acts for Naomi’s sake and her husband’s name.
Boaz acts for both of them.
Each points us beyond themselves to Jesus Christ.
The greatest act of unselfish, generous, costly kindness was the cross.
Operation Grace reached its decisive moment there. And it continues today as God uses the active faith of His people to bring redemption, hope, and restoration to the world.
May we be people who think biblically, ask humbly, and act faithfully as God continues His great work of grace.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for Your perfect plan of grace. Thank You that You are sovereign and faithful, and that You invite us to participate in what You are doing. Teach us to trust Your Word, to act with courage and humility, and to reflect the kindness of our Redeemer in every relationship and responsibility You place before us. We place our lives under the covering of Jesus, our Redeemer and our refuge. Use us for Your glory and the good of others. We pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.