Godspot is a monthly thought for reflection and prayer brought to us by Transform Work Ambassador Andy Smith taken from his monthly recordings with UCB radio.

You can choose to read it below or listen to the recording below if you prefer. 
 

Boaz

I’m Andy Smith, Ambassador for Transform Work.

I love the characters in the Bible. They add authenticity and make the accounts very real.

One particular person we know little about is Boaz. He appears in the book of Ruth as a kinsman redeemer – the person who restores the fortunes of Ruth’s mother-in-law and marries Ruth, despite Ruth being from Moab, so she was not even a Jew.

If you dig around, you will find that Boaz’s father was Salmon, which sounds funny to us today, but probably carried little to no humorous connotations then. However, Boaz’s mother was Rahab the prostitute – so not only she not a Jew but also from an unfavourable occupation. Given how cruel children can be when they find out something salacious about someone, I can imagine this was a burden Boaz probably carried through his early years.

But Boaz became a success so did not allow whatever did happen to define him. He was also able to see beyond cultural barriers and was happy to marry Ruth even when a closer relative would not.

Maybe issues in your past are unpalatable, but we have a choice to allow them to define us or develop us to see qualities in people others overlook.