Ruth 1-2 - Part C

Now the undercurrent in this book is the providence of God. The timing was already told us about the beginning of the barley harvest, the place, the fields of Boaz.

You could be in any field, but all of these things are lining up and God is working all things together for good to those that love Him. We know that God works all things for our good and His glory, and today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Pastor Skip concludes his message on Ruth 1 and 2 and shows you what the book of Ruth teaches us about God our provider. Now here's Skip with an invitation for you to join he and Lenya Heitzig on a Holy Land tour next year. Hey our 2024 Israel tour is coming up.

This is Pastor Skip and we still have space on this trip that Lenya and I are hosting. We will be touring Israel from May 1st through May 12th. I hope that you'll join us firsthand to see some incredible sights like the Sea of Galilee.

I'm sure you've always wanted to see that. The Temple Mount in Jerusalem and the Garden Tomb, the place many people believe is where Jesus rose from the dead. The final deadline for registration is December 31st, so there's still time to take action and join Lenya and I for the trip of a lifetime.

Find full Israel information at connectwithskip.com. Now we're going to Ruth 2 as Pastor Skip brings us the conclusion of his message. She says, entreat me not to go back. Don't pastor me to go back.

I'm going with you. So it was a sincere, heartfelt commitment. It's similar to what Elisha will say to Elijah when he says, look, as the Lord lives and as you live, I'm not going to leave you. Same kind of commitment, a sincere commitment.

Not only is it a sincere commitment, it's a spiritual commitment. Where he says, where you go, I will go. Where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people will be my people. Your God will be my God. I am willing to disassociate myself with all of the gods of my people. By the way, do you know the chief God of the Moabites was a God by the name of Chemosh. Chemosh, C-H-E-M-O-S-H. Chemosh was the chief deity worshipped in Moab and he was worshipped by child sacrifice. It would be something the Jews would call detestable even though the Jews got down to that level a couple times in their history.

It was a detestable practice. So this is a conversion. It's a spiritual commitment. Your people will be my people. Your God will be my God.

And then, notice how steadfast this commitment is. Where you die, I will die. In other words, hey mom-in-law, I'm coming with you and I'm not buying a round-trip ticket. It's a one-way ticket. I'm in it for life.

I'm going to go all the way to death with you. So when she saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped and she said, she saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her. This is commitment. She tried to dissuade her daughter-in-law.

Her daughter-in-law said, nope, nope, nope, I'm coming. There's a difference between involvement and commitment. You know, if you think about it, next time you're at the breakfast table and you look down, if you have a glass of milk and you have bacon, two things I rarely have at my breakfast table, but if you have milk and bacon, kind of look at that as a comparison. Milk speaks of involvement, right? The cow is involved, right? But that's about it. He's there and she's milked.

That's involvement. Now, bacon speaks of commitment, right? That pig was in it till death, took it out of its hide.

Sorry for that analogy, but you'll probably never forget it. Now, the two of them went until they came to Bethlehem and it happened when they had come to Bethlehem that all the city was excited because of them and the women said, is this Naomi? So she said to them, do not call me Naomi, call me Mara.

Naomi means pleasant, Mara means bitter. She said, call me bitter, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. She is blaming God for it. She is God conscious, but she's still bitter toward God. She's making steps and she's going to change. She's going to come around and see God's great plan.

Her and her husband made the choice to go to Moab. A lot of bad things happen. They're blaming God for all of it. And it comes to full brunt right here, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi since the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has afflicted me? So Naomi returned and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab, now they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. They want you to know that. The author wants you to know the timing is important.

They're coming late April, beginning of May, that time, right when the beginning of the barley harvest. Now getting into chapter two is a romance. It's where boy meets girl.

And they're going to be husband and wife. And let me just say to you, to us who are married, never forget the moment you met. In fact, when things get a little dicey in your relationship, get alone and just remember the first time you laid eyes on her. And how you went, wow. And how she went, wow. The heart fluttered.

I still remember the night I met my wife and I looked across the room and I went, wow. So they're going to meet and there's going to be wedding bells by the end of the chapter. Now this couple is very, if opposites attract, they're perfect for each other because they are so opposite. He's rich, she's poor. He's Jewish, she's not.

She's a gentile, she's a Moabitess. He's the owner of the field, she's the gleaner in the field. He's single, she's widowed.

They're very, very opposite. But a romance, they're going to overlook those things and they're going to love each other. And you know, somebody once said, the key to a good marriage relationship is to keep your eyes wide open before marriage and keep your eyes wide open before marriage. And half shut after marriage. You know what you're getting into, you look around, and then you just decide, okay, I knew that going in.

I'm just going to just not notice those things right now. And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband, a man of great wealth, of the family of Elimelech. His name was Boaz. And so Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, please let me go to the field and glean heads of grain after him and whose side I may find favor. And she said, go my daughter. Then she left and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers.

And she came to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who's of the family of Elimelech. Now, the gleaning was an ancient means of God taking care of the poor. God is concerned for the poor. And in antiquity, one of God's ways to take care of the poor wasn't a welfare system, but a gleaning system. So you were commanded in Leviticus 23 that when you reap your fields, you go through your fields once, you don't go through them again, you leave some of the fruit on the vine, some of the fruit on the tree, some of the wheat in the stalk.

You go through it once and you leave. And they left up to, in most cases, 25% of the crop in the field. And that was so the fatherless, the widow, the poor of the land, the stranger of the land could come in and take it, could pick it. So it wasn't like we'll collect it and give it to you so there's no labor involved. No, you have to work for it. So there's dignity in the work, right? You're giving a man or a woman their dignity because they have to go in and get it.

It's not just a handout. But if you're a rich landowner, you leave some of it so they can come in and pick it later. So that's the gleaning of the field. So she's out gleaning in the fields in Bethlehem. Now behold, Boaz from Bethlehem said to the reapers, this is his workers now, the Lord be with you. And they answered him, the Lord bless you. Can I just say, this is not a work crew I have ever come across in my own experience.

If you go to a construction site today or tomorrow and listen to the language of the construction site or a place where there's farming like this, you're probably not going to hear this conversation. But immediately we are struck with the personality of Boaz. There is a largess about his personality. He seems to be very generous and big-hearted. And he's a spiritual man. The Lord, the Lord, the Lord. He's going to make notice of that with her.

Make note of that with her. I heard about your conversion to the Lord. He's a spiritual man. He's a godly man. Girls, look for a godly husband. Look for a man who loves Jesus more than he will love you. Who will honor him and have a fidelity in spiritual things above all else. You say, well, that's important, but not that important. What's really important, he has a good income and he's handsome. We may differ a little bit, you know, in our belief system and our worldview.

Okay. That's called missionary dating. And I've heard a lot of girls say, well, or guys say, yeah, you know, they're not really walking with the Lord, but I can influence them. Missionary dating leads to a missionary marriage. You'll find yourself married to an unbeliever or a believer in name only, a nominal believer, and you have kids.

And it's going to be very difficult to unravel that, to agree on the future education of that child, the future spiritual upbringing of that child. So look for a spiritual man, somebody who's like Jesus to you. That didn't mean he has to have long hair and a robe and his staff and sandals, but he is Christ-like. He is spiritual. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 6, don't be unequally yoked together with an unbeliever. Don't be mismated with an unbeliever. And so here's a godly man, a spiritual man, and something to make a notice of. Did you notice in verse two, I didn't even, I just saw the word, but go back to verse two. Here's Ruth, the Moabite, has said to Naomi, please let me go to the field and glean heads of grain. Now that's hard work. Hey mother-in-law, can I please go sweat it out today in the fields?

Please. Verse seven, she said, please let me glean, this is to Boaz, and gather after the reapers. Notice how polite she is. I just wanted to point that out. He's spiritual and he has a large personality, a large heart, a generous heart, but she too is very, very sweet to her mother-in-law, to Boaz, saying please.

Moms, dads, if your teenage son or daughter came to you and said mom and dad, please, can I clean up my room and then clean up the rest of the house? You might need therapy for a month or two. It's not something you'd expect. But this gal is sweet and polite and says please. Now think about what she has gone through. She has lost her father-in-law She has lost her husband. She has made a long journey. She's in a very foreign place to her. And she seems to be untainted, not weathered, not beaten down by the hard, harsh circumstances of life. She has every reason to be bitter too, but she's not.

Please, please. Compare this gal to another gal you'll meet later on in John chapter 4, a woman at the well of Samaria who's very terse and curt and cynical toward Jesus. You know, she's been married to five husbands. She's living with a guy who's not her husband. And Jesus has a conversation with her and she answers back in this flippant, you know, back of the hand kind of a way. She is very bitter.

Life has beaten her down, but not this one. So it doesn't have to. All that to say it doesn't have to. Attitude is, in my opinion, what makes a woman attractive. Okay, she might have looks, but looks for any man or any woman are temporary. Am I right about that? Can I get an amen to that? I don't look like I used to look. I'm aware of that. People change physically. That's why Proverbs 31 says, beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. A woman who has a sweet attitude and personality is attractive and that attraction stays over the long haul.

So enough of that. Boaz said to the servant, verse 5, who is in charge of the reapers, whose young woman is this? The servant who was in charge of the reapers answered and said, it is the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. And she said, please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheep. So she came and has continued from morning until now. She rested a little in the house. Then Boaz said to Ruth, you will listen, my daughter, will you not?

Do not go to glean in another field. Though she could. The law said she could go into any field she wants. That's the law of Leviticus.

But he says, no need to go into any other field. Nor go from here, but stay close to my young women. Let your eyes be in the field which they reap and go after them. Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn. I love this. It's the first anti-sexual harassment law in history.

And it's by Boaz. I've already instructed the young men lay off. Don't make a pass at her. Just let her do her thing and reap. She fell on her face, bowed down to the ground and said to him, why have I found favor in your eyes that you should take notice of me since I am a foreigner? And Boaz answered and said to her, it has been fully reported to me that all you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth and have come to a people whom you did not know before.

The Lord repay your work and a full reward be given to you by the Lord God of Israel under whose wings you have come for refuge. And she said, let me find favor in your sight my Lord for you have comforted me and have spoken kindly to your maidservant though I am not like one of your maidservants. So he had heard of her conversion.

He had heard of her commitment to her mother-in-law. Your people will be my people. Your God will be my God. Now Boaz said to her verse 14 of mealtime, come here and eat of the bread.

Dip your piece of bread into the vinegar. So she sat beside the reapers and passed the parched grain to her and she ate and was satisfied and kept some back. And when she arose up to glean Boaz commanded his young men saying let her glean even among the sheaves and do not reproach her. Let her take whatever she wants, whatever she finds.

Also, get this, also let some grain from the bundles that you guys are carrying you reapers, let some of that fall purposely for her. Leave it that she may glean do not rebuke her. So she gleaned out on the field until evening and beat out what she had gleaned. Again this is very hard labor and it was about an ephah of barley.

It's about a half a month's wage. She took it up, went into the city and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. So she brought out and gave to her what she had kept back after she had been satisfied. And her mother-in-law said to her, where have you gleaned today?

Where did you work? Blessed be the one who took notice of you. Because it was, you know, she brought in a lot of, you know, two weeks worth of food. So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said the man with whom I work today is Boaz. And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, praise God, blessed be he of the Lord who has not forsaken his kindness to the living and the dead. And Naomi said to her, the man is a relative of ours, kinsman, one of our near kinsmen. Then Ruth the Moabitess said, well he also said to me, you shall stay close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest. And Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, it is good my daughter that you go out with his young women and that people do not meet you in any other field.

Now here's what I like about Naomi. Ruth was married to her son at one time. Her son died. Now she meets Boaz.

Ruth meets Boaz. Mom puts it all together, goes kinsman, possible redemption here, possible marriage here. She figures it all out. I'll go into that law next week in Israel a little bit, that law of redemption. But she sort of sees this and she's going to be a matchmaker in this. It's like, this is good. This is the Lord. Just follow that guy and do what he says. Now what I like about Naomi is she doesn't fold her arms and say, oh well whoever this guy is, he couldn't be the husband to you that my son was.

He couldn't hold a candle to Malon or Chilean. None of that. She's blessing this idea. She's releasing into a future possibility, which is one of the best gifts any parent can give to a child. I always ask children, what do your parents think of your relationship? And if they say, oh great, then that's good.

If they say, they think he's an idiot. Well okay, either he is an idiot and they're really smart or he's not an idiot and you're just going to have to live with your parents not liking it. But know this, there's going to be problems in the future.

You have to be aware of this. If you're going to enter into this relationship, if they don't like him, you're going to have problems. Or if they say, oh yeah, they love him so much they've already planned the wedding, that's also problematic. Best thing you can do is just release the bride and groom to each other.

Let them work it out. So she is releasing her daughter-in-law, even though her daughter-in-law had been previously married to her own son. And then verse 23, we close this chapter where we end tonight. So she stayed close by the young women of Boaz to glean until the end of the barley harvest and wheat harvest and she dwelt with her mother-in-law. Now the undercurrent in this book is the providence of God. The timing was already told us about. Beginning of the barley harvest. The place, the fields of Boaz.

She could have been in any field, but all of these things are lining up and God is working all things together for good to those that love him. And by the end of the book, we're going to have the genealogy of David already formed and mentioned. And that's going to be the beginning. And that brings us forward, that launches us forward to the coming of the Messiah, the Son of David, Jesus Christ later on. I had more to say about that, but time's up, we'll finish the book of Ruth in our study through the Bible.

As we approach the end of the year, here's a special resource package we have developed to say thanks for your support. Over four decades of ministry, Pastor Skip has been able to invite some excellent speakers to fill his pulpit. We want you to hear some of these memorable messages from teachers such as Josh McDowell. God said, I want you to be able to in the 21st century and open your scriptures and have a confidence, thus saith the Lord, it has not been lost. Also a part of this pulpit package, Dr. David Jeremiah. Jesus Christ shines in the world today by his reflection in the lives of his followers.

Nobody's going to see Jesus if they don't see Jesus in us. If you can make an end of your donation of $100 or more to support this program, you will receive this pulpit package of 10 excellent messages on CD or by download. You will want to hear what Joel Rosenberg said about remarkable conversions in the Middle East. That's the kind of door that when you pray, Lord, I'd love to go build a friendship in the name of Jesus with a king and with a Muslim president.

Apparently God says yes to some of these prayers. The pulpit package containing 10 different speakers giving full length messages. To request your copy, go to connectwithskip.com or by calling 1-800-922-1888. That is connectwithskip.com or call 1-800-922-1888. Did you know that you can now connect with Pastor Skip and this ministry via text messaging? Simply text connect to 74759 to join the group. When you do, you'll receive a free digital booklet called, Are We Living in the Last Days? Get a glimpse into the last days and how you can be ready for them. So text connect to 74759 today. We hope you'll join us again tomorrow for Skip's message on Ruth 3 and 4 and discover what is so spectacular about a miracle. ... of the cross and cast all burdens on his word. Make a connection, a connection. Connect with Skip Hyten is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.