Faith at work: what I noticed in the story of Ruth and Boaz

The second session at Northreach Church Camp moved from David to the story of Ruth and Boaz.

Ian Hussey focused on something I hadn’t spent much time considering before: Boaz’s faith is visible in the way he runs his farm, leads his workers and treats a person with far less power than himself.

Ruth arrives in his field as a widow and a foreigner. She has no land, wealth or social standing, and she depends on being allowed to gather what is left behind after the harvest. Boaz is a wealthy landowner. The imbalance between them could hardly be greater.

What matters is how Boaz chooses to use that position.

A culture of respect and safety

When Boaz enters the field in Ruth 2, he greets his workers with, “The LORD be with you,” and they answer, “The LORD bless you.”

It is only a brief exchange, but it gives a glimpse of the culture around the work. Boaz appears to know his people and to be present among them. His faith isn’t kept separate from the way he leads.

When he learns about Ruth, he makes her safety explicit. He tells her to remain with his female workers and says he has instructed the men not to touch her. Ian described it as a workplace sexual harassment policy from around 3,000 years ago.

The point wasn’t simply that Boaz behaved well himself. He used his authority to set expectations for everyone around him and to make the workplace safer for someone who held less power.

That is a challenging leadership principle. A healthy culture needs to continue when the leader isn’t standing in the room. It is shaped by what leaders notice, what they allow and what they are prepared to address clearly.

Leaving room for someone else

The practice of gleaning sits behind much of Ruth 2. In Deuteronomy 24, landowners are told not to gather every last part of their harvest. What remained was to be left for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow.

There is something practical and dignifying about that arrangement. Ruth isn’t treated as a passive recipient. She can enter a local field, work and take food home for herself and Naomi.

Boaz then goes further than the minimum. He tells his workers to deliberately pull some stalks from their bundles and leave them for Ruth.

In other words, don’t merely let her collect whatever happens to remain. Make sure there is something there for her.

That distinction stayed with me. It is possible to comply with a rule and still give little thought to the person the rule is meant to protect. Boaz chooses intentional generosity.

Ordinary work can be part of God’s work

Boaz is wealthy, but the story doesn’t present his wealth as the problem. His land, influence, relationships and authority all become things God can use to provide for Ruth and Naomi.

The farm isn’t just scenery around a spiritual story. Harvesting barley, managing workers, eating together and leaving grain behind are part of how God’s care becomes visible.

That connects closely with the camp theme of Everyday Faith. We are created in the image of a creative God, and our work gives us opportunities to cultivate, build, organise, protect, provide and care.

For me, this brings the reflection very close to everyday leadership. Do the systems and expectations I help create give people safety and dignity? Do they still work when I am not present? Am I interested only in meeting the minimum requirement, or am I willing to leave some margin that can help another person?

We won’t all own a field, but most of us have something entrusted to us. It may be a team, a business, a classroom, technical knowledge, money, time or simply the ability to make a situation easier for somebody else.

Boaz could not see the full story that would follow his ordinary faithfulness. Ruth would become the great-grandmother of David and part of the family line of Jesus. He simply used what had been placed in his hands to lead well, protect someone vulnerable and be generous.

That feels like a helpful picture of everyday faith: allowing God’s character to shape what we do with the work, influence and opportunities already in front of us.