No Coincidences with God: Ruth 2

For ever thy word is settled in heaven, O Lord. Psalm 119, verse 89. I'm Stu Everson. Welcome to this special Wednesday in the Word leader podcast, where we prepare and equip our leaders of this special Bible study outreach breakfast every week to teach through the scriptures. 13 Dario locations.

There's a men's group meeting and several of the Locations host the women on Thursday morning. Stay tuned. Be encouraged as we jump into this week's Wednesday in the Word. Isn't it encouraging that there are no coincidences with God. I heard one of my college professors say years ago: Has it ever occurred to you that nothing occurs to God.

There are no chance encounters because God is the God of second chances. Dr. Sam Horn, we're jumping into Ruth. Chapter 2. And I just can't get verse 3 out of my mind where it says, and Ruth.

happened upon the field that belonged to Boaz. This whole ruth. This whole book and study of Ruth, Dr. Horne, has God's handprint, His divine handprint, all over it. Is that a blessing?

Yeah, I mean, you know, when you read these four chapters, all of the big themes. that you and I need to live life. Successfully in a significant way and joyfully are here, right? You know, we always do this preview.

Well, let me just remind us all as we've been looking at this wonderful little book. That God presents in living color to us, the four major life themes are here, right? The things that are true about every single one of us, no matter what's going on, no matter whether we lived in the time of Ruth, in the days of the Judges, when every man did what was right in his own eyes. or we live in our own day. And in Ruth chapter one, we find out That God is sovereign.

There is this amazing divine sovereignty. That we're introduced to immediately. We are comforted that even in the famine, even in all these funerals that we read about right off the bat. Even in this devastation that we are introduced to, God is at work. And so we see the sovereignty of God.

In the chapter we're looking at today, we're going to meet the providence of God. What kind of a God is this sovereign being? Is he kind? Is he good? Is he wise?

You know, you can have all the power. But if you're not good. It's not going to go good for people. If you're not wise, it's going to go to really bad ends. And so we want to know.

What kind of a God is the God who is Orchestrating through his sovereignty all of the events we just read about in chapter one, because we have real questions about it. And Ruth. Has made a lifelong commitment to him.

So we want to know, Ruth, did you make a good decision or a bad decision?

So in chapter two, we find out about this God. We are we are given a up close and personal look. at his providence.

So there is loving providence. In chapter three, there is gracious redemption. And that's an amazing chapter. And as we get into it, I'm sure we're going to just. be encouraged by what Ruth experienced and what you and I experienced on a much greater level.

And then in chapter four, there is this joyful abundance. and that's really what god wants for us jesus said i came to give you life So that you could have that life abundantly, in abundance. And so in Ruth chapter four, we meet. this joyful abundance that God brings to everybody in the story.

So these are four big ideas that aren't just ideas that live in a little book that was written thousands of years ago. They live in our own lives as God writes our own story. Yeah, it's amazing how practical Ruth is. And, you know, it's interesting that we're our women's in the word leader, one of our leaders, Alicia Grimes, a gifted Bible teacher herself. She just kind of felt prodded by the Lord to do Ruth, a study of Ruth, with the women in the Word.

And I thought, well, listen, we just were about to finish 2 Peter. Why can't the men study Ruth?

So we got a lot of men going through the book of Ruth. And I'm telling you, Dr. Horn, there were tears last week as we looked at. The death, the brokenness, the devastation that fell upon this woman, Naomi, where she, you know, her husband makes a bad decision. Elimelech, whose name means friend of God, or God is my king, rather.

Elimelech takes his whole family, his wife and two sons, into a godless A country where God is not their king, Moab, an idolatrous, evil, sensual. They're coveting awful country. And he dies. The two sons die. They widow two women.

Ruth and Orpa, and Naomi's also a widow, and this whole thing, and so. She comes back and wants to change her name to Bitter. And some even conjecture, Dr. Horn, that Naomi just came back to die. She's like, if I'm going to die, I'm going to die in my homeland.

They were kind of glad to see her, and there's this buzz around town that she's home. And who is this young, Gentile, you know, unclean. A Moabitest woman with her, and it's Ruth. And Ruth makes this statement that. It's just unbelievable.

I mean, I just, I can't get this statement out of my mind. And it's been enshrined in poetry, it's been enshrined in literature, music, there's songs. There's people who read these lyrics. A gentleman in our Wednesday Word this past week said that every wedding that he officiates. He reads the words.

From Ruth chapter 1. Verse 16, where Ruth says, Where you go, I will go. Where you lodge, where you live, I will live. Your people will be my people. Your God will be my God.

And then, where you die, I will die. And I will be buried, which really speaks to a lasting legacy. You know, someone's buried. That indicates kind of like a permanence, and that indicates kind of like a marker. You go to people's graves.

to think about them. Celebrate them. And she says, I want to be buried with you. And so she crossed the Rubicon. Ruth said, There's no turning back.

And those are really, we talked about last week, please folks, download last time's. Podcast on Ruth chapter one. Both we did two podcasts on Chapter one. One was more introductory, the first five to ten verses, and then one was verses 11 through 22. Dr.

Horne. Ruth makes this commitment. But at the end of the chapter, you're thinking, there's no hope. Naomi's like, God's done with me. You know, He's dealt bitterly with me.

This is, you know, I've lost everything. I have this daughter-in-law and. That's about it. But God uses his grace in Ruth's life to Empower, encourage Naomi. And then chapter two turns a corner.

Dr. Horn, there's hope coming now in chapter two. How do you break down? And by way of looking at this week, how do you break down this chapter, these 22 chapters? PowerPack versus Of uh of Ruth, chapter two.

Well, as we, you know. Noted a moment ago, Stu, we're going to talk about divine sovereignty in chapter one, but we're going to talk about gracious providence. in chapter two. and you know the story's about to turn. Because as verse one opens, it opens this way.

Now Naomi had a relative of her husband's. a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz.

So you know we are now being introduced to a third character. you know we had We had Naomi. And we had Ruth, and we had minor characters in the story. We had Elimelech, we had the two sons. we had Orpa, but they're they're out of the picture now.

They're you know, their story's been told and they have played their part in the narrative. And now our attention is focused on these two women As you said, who are coming because of God's sovereignty back to a place. And the last time Naomi was in Bethlehem, she went out full.

Now it's interesting, if you stop and think about it, her assessment of how she left. Because when they actually left, why were they leaving? They were leaving because they were empty. There was no food. It was a famine.

In fact, if you go back to chapter one, there was a famine in the land, and that famine was so fierce and so devastating. That Elimelech loses his faith, he loses his hope in God, turns his back on all that he knows, and he heads off to Moab.

So sometimes, you know, and I know this true in my own life. you know, over time we tend to rewrite our history. And we tend to look at history through the lens of our own experiences and the past. always looks better. If you something about it, generally speaking, when we are in a mess in the present, we look back to the past.

And we remember it differently than it was. And so. In the midst of all of that, here we have these two women, and they're back now in back to the starting point. They're back to Bethlehem. And God moves again.

And what we're going to see again in chapter two. Is this sweet providence of God? This gracious redemption that is coming in chapter three is preceded by sweet providence. Think of how many times. God's sweet providence.

begins to orchestrate. events. that lead people to his gracious redemption. You know, we'll have folks in the Bible study, I'm sure, who if they told their story, if they actually told us how they came to experience the redemption that we have in Jesus, the great kinsman, Redeemer, they would recount things that led them to that place. how they went from hardness, how they went from being sold out to their sin to repentance.

And in that journey, there are sweet providences of God. Hey, you know what? This is what I was doing. I was caught up in my sin. I was destroying my life.

And the house next to me sold and a new family moved in and I got a new neighbor. And as I got to know my neighbor, he was a Christian. There's a sweet providence of God. And so, all of a sudden, here are these sweet providences of God. And so, these providences are described in four.

Sections in verses one through three. uh god's providence place is Ruth. in the place of blessing. I mean, she shows up. And as you said a minute ago.

their chance happened. She chanced upon, that's the idea, her chance happened. And so she's told her mother-in-law, hey, we gotta eat. And I know you've got relatives here, and your relatives have fields. Didn't your husband own a lot of property?

Wasn't he a wealthy man? And I'm sure that his relatives have feels. Can I go to one of those fields to glean? And can I glean after one of your relatives. Because it might be, it might happen that I would find favor in his sight.

And Naomi says, Hey, that's brilliant. That's a great idea. Go, my daughter.

So she sets out in verse three, and she gleans in the field after the reapers. And she happened. In other words, her chance, chance. on the part of the field. belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan.

Of a liminal act.

So here is this. Sweet providence of God. You know, oftentimes the sweet providence of God comes on our own lives. It's true. The necessities that drive us to do very ordinary things.

You know, Ruth and Naomi needed to eat. And they didn't have a system where the government of Bethlehem would take care of you. And if you wanted to eat, you had to figure out how to get grained. And so here is this young Moabitist woman, and she looks at her mother-in-law and she says, What do you think about this? What do you think about this plan?

You have relatives here. who have kept the fields that belong to your clan. What if I went? and gleaned in one of those fields. Here is a humble.

Ordinary everyday plan that is driven out of the necessity to eat. How often does God use things like that? to bring us to the place. where he can do that deep work he wants us to do. I've got to get a job.

you know, I've got to go and get my car repaired. It's the ordinary, everyday things that become the platform for the spectacular redemptive journey that God is weaving in every day, in every one of our lives.

So, I think one of the big lessons in this first section of Ruth, chapter two, is that it is in the ordinary affairs of life that the divine providence of God. Orchestrates a pathway to great joy and to personal redemption. The first part. And pa past Pastor Maya interjects. You know, I I heard a I heard a speaker recently say that He said, you know, so often we.

Feel like we have to go away to a mountain retreat to connect with God. You know, we have to have some supernatural counter or some respite or time away. But he says, the fact is, God is with us and he's working. His supernatural work in the ordinary days of life. And so just the fact that Ruth is like, Hey, we got to eat.

We're poor. We're devastated. We're at the very lowest rung of the societal ladder here as widows. Single women, I'm vulnerable because I have no protector over me. I have no, we're going to get to hear the language of I have no wing of God's protection over me that actually is going to be used by Boaz in this passage in a little bit.

And so, Dr. Horn. Here you have, what does she do? She says, hey, guess what? I'm going to go to work and God.

Just in his providence, he happens upon this field. And she works hard. There's language in there that says she's working from dusk till dawn. She's working her fingers to the bone. She's applying the effort.

And it's kind of neat how. God is so faithful. You know, what is it? Philippians 2:13. He's working in us.

To do according to his will and his good pleasure.

So while we are In our effort. following him, trusting him, leaning on him. Being faithful to him in our daily work. We got to clock in, we got to clock out, we got to do, we got to. We got to pay the man, right?

But in that, some of the greatest miracles happen.

Okay. In that diligence.

So it's almost like you see the Lord. working through Ruth's diligence and then the Lord working through Bo, you know, through Boaz to perfect his perfect plan. And I want to jump back out and let you take us from. Verse four, all the way to the end, because it's kind of there's this dialogue, I believe, with you know, with Ruth, and she her reputation goes out. And, you know, Boaz inquires about her.

So they do a little intel, they do a little gathering of information about her. And he's pretty encouraged. And he, the first words out of his mouth, by the way. When we introduce him, verse 1 introduces him, but then on into verse 4, his very first words recorded in scripture were, the Lord. Yeah, the Lord be with you.

Yeah, and he says that to his workers.

So there's a man who's just openly professing of God in a day of the judges where all kinds of men were doing whatever was right in their own eyes, and there was a lot of backsliding, there's a lot of rebellion, idolatry, and such. Here, you have an upright man. who uh who speaks this way and it didn't just impact You know, on the inside of him, it came out of his mouth. And this is how he spoke to his workers and how he's going to speak to. to Ruth, his future wife as well, right?

Well, this is interesting because if you think about Boaz, his mother was a woman named Rahap. And we met Rahab back in the days of Judges. Uh, right at the beginning, when Joshua brought the people over to, you know, over the river, and of course, you know, they take down Jericho. And he's his ancestress was a woman named Rahab.

So immediately, so in Matthew 2, the term mother is actually like the word father. It's oftentimes used to describe a close ancestor, a grandmother, or somebody in that line. And so here is Boaz, descendant from a pagan idolatress. with a bad moral record who's been transformed. And now he's in Bethlehem.

And so in verses 4 through 13. We, you know, Ruth has come to his field. In verses 4 and 13, we have this providential kindness. That is now exhibited, and you said it as Boaz shows up, he's kind to his workers. May the Lord bless you.

It's interesting that he comes from Bethlehem.

So this field is outside of Bethlehem. This is a very significant little detail that we often miss. Because what the author is doing, Ruth doesn't know. Ruth has no idea what is going to happen in a field just like the one she's in centuries later when an archangel is going to show up with an army of angels. And they're going to talk to shepherds about one of her descendants who was born.

And wrapped in swaddling cloth and lying in a manger not too far from that field.

So all of a sudden, you see the immense sovereign hand of God moving in Providence. What looked to Ruth like happenstance. In fact, it's described that way. Ruth chanced. per chance chanced her happenstance happened to lead her to this field.

Well, what looked like happenstance was divine providence. Because now she's in a field. Very similar to the field where her future ancestor, who is going to be the great kingsman redeemer. Is going to be born. And so there is this immensity here.

And the point I would want to make to anybody studying Ruth is. Your providence is never your providence. What seems to be this happenstance in your life?

Sometimes people say, you know, man, I can't believe I had great luck today. I just this it was so it was just so I was so lucky I just happened to be at the right place at the right time.

Well, from your perspective, you may think you just happen to be at the right place at the right time, but the sovereign God of heaven that we met in chapter one has been graciously and kindly orchestrating. His providence to work in your life. Ruth comes to the field. And she's gleaning and Boaz comes to the field.

So now we got two key players that are going to happen in chapter two in the same place at the same time. And Boaz says to his young man, whose young woman is this?

Now, let me just give you my personal opinion. He knew the answer to that question. The whole city. was aware that Ruth had come back. the whole city knew that she had broad.

one of her daughter-in-laws with her. And so it's not just that Boaz is out in the dark. He is wanting the reader to know that the author of the book is wanting the reader to know that Boaz recognizes. There is something unique. About this woman, that this woman.

is going to become the focus of his attention.

Well, when you stop and think about. the the larger theological implications way down the road. The Great Kingsman Redeemer. Jesus Christ. Those who we are.

He knows exactly who we are. When he he asks us, Who are you? Who is this person? He's not asking because he doesn't know. He's asking because he wants us to know.

That he knows and that's what's going on here And they say to him, she's the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. And she came and asked us to let her glean among the reapers. And she has gleaned and continued here from the early morning until now, except for. a short rest. And the next thing you know, Boaz is having an interchange with Ruth.

He said, listen, my daughter. Don't go to another field. Don't leave this one. But keep close to my young women. Let your eye be on the field.

and go after them. I have charged the young man not to touch you. And when you're thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from the water the young men have drawn. And so she falls on her face and bows to the ground and says. And this is the incredible point, right?

Why? Have I found favor? in your eye. that you should notice me since I am a foreigner. You know If you really want the truth.

Stu, unless you and I are Jewish. We need to fall on our face. And we need to bow down before Jesus and we need to ask him, why did you notice me? Why did you find favor? Over me.

Because I don't deserve it. I'm not in the line. of any of those promises.

So how did I end up?

Next to the dirt. bowing down with bruise. asking about this immense favor. That I found from the Lord. And Boas answered and said, All you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told.

But what had she done? What had Ruth done? You know, what worthy thing had she done? And the answer is. You left your father and your mother.

You left your native land. You came to a nation that you did not know. In other words, Ruth, a worthy thing that you did. was that you turned your back on your people. You turned your back on your gods.

And you joined your mother-in-law to come to the land of the true God of Israel. And then he says in verse 12: the Lord rewards you for what you have done. and a full reward be given to you by the LORD the God of Israel. Under whose wings you have come to take refuge. This is an immense statement, right?

You brought it up. The imagery that God constantly told Israel: I will bear you up on my wings. Jesus looked at Capernaum and Israelites there. He said, I would have loved to have sheltered you with my wings, but you refused. Here is this woman who has come to Israel.

The sheikh refuge and salvation from Israel's God.

So there is this incredible providential placement that we see. In verses 4 through 13. And then there is this extravagant generosity in verses 14 through 17, right?

So what happens? Uh At mealtime, Boaz goes back and says, Hey, come here, eat bread, dip your morsel in the wine. This is an honored invitation.

So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed to her roasted grain. I mean Can you imagine what must have been going on in the conversations? around the table. Who is this Moabite, this woman? And why is Boaz honoring her this way.

She's doing way more than just giving her. permission to reap. He's giving her way more than just some water and some food to eat. She's at the honored table. She's at the place of honor.

She's in the seat of the guest of honor. And Boaz himself is feeding her. Sure. You know, I've often Thought about the Lord's table when you look at this. You know, we are invited to sit.

at the most amazing table ever spread in the history of the universe. And we aren't just sort of invited in to get leftovers. seated at the table. And the Son of God himself is feeding us his own bread. His own body, his own wine, the blood that he spilled for us.

So here is this beautiful picture. That is Is happening and so in verse 14, she ate. until she was satisfied. And she had Some left over. You know, this is the whole idea.

That we started out with, we know God is sovereign in chapter one, but we don't know what kind of sovereign God he is. We know that his people were hungry. We know that they went to a place because he hadn't provided for them. We know that there were funerals.

So we know that this sovereign God is at work, but we don't know if he's a good God or a bad God. We get to chapter two and all of those questions are answered. Here is this foreigner who has no right. To be in Israel, but she's here and she eats until she is satisfied and she has left over. And then when she rose up, Boas instructed his young men, saying, Let her glean and do not reproach her.

And he pulled out. bundles for her. And she gleaned in the field until the evening. And she went home. And when she showed up, she had so much rain.

Her mother-in-law said, How in the world did you get all that grain? It's humanly impossible for somebody to pick that amount of grain in a day. It's like you went out with a little basket and you came back with a semi truck. And how did you do that? And so that's the next section.

But let me let you jump in because I've been talking for a bit, and I don't want this to turn into a one-voice episode. Oh, you've got, listen, you've got me and everyone listening enjoying this. That's Dr. Sam Horn, who's a pastor, author, a broadcaster, radio speaker, and he's been the head of many a Bible college and university. He's taught all kinds of classes.

And he's taught this guy right here. He's been a great friend and mentor and teacher to me, Dr. Horn. Just these verses, you know, 22 power pack verses showing God's work. And ultimately, it's not just.

Okay, you know, a girl meets guy, and happily ever after. We see. The imprint of the gospel. We see the redemptive thread, that scarlet thread of redemption woven throughout this tapestry of Ruth and the picture of the kinsman Redeemer, which is the law of the Leverite, which comes from Leviticus chapter 19, verse 9 and 10. It's referred to in Deuteronomy and other parts of Scripture.

This is an actual incidence of this, this isn't the hypothetical one. That the Pharisees tried to trip up Jesus with, remember on the, it may have been the Sadducees, because they didn't even believe in the resurrection. They tried to trip Jesus up with this hypothetical man, a man dies, another man marries his wife, he dies, another man marries her, he dies, whose wife is she in the resurrection, all that stuff. This is an actual instance, and we see it lived out, but we also see it. As a prefiguring of what Jesus Christ does for us.

And that's going to get the imagery of the Kins and Redeemer in chapter three and four, particularly, is going to get thicker. We're going to go there even more. But Dr. Horne, getting there and just talking about. God in his In his divine providences, how you and I are even on the phone recording this today.

I mean, I'm looking out at a bunch of ice and things that have altered a lot of people's schedules. You know, that some of our Wednesday work groups haven't been able to meet in person because of the crazy weather.

Some people have had, are driving in different kinds of vehicles. They've altered travel plans. There's sickness, but God has a way in the case of Ruth. He took her away. And brought her back.

God brought her back. She thought, I'm done. This is it. I'm history. I'm toast.

No one's going to care. But the one who cared. The one who became a follower of God, the one who became devout toward the true God was the one who, the last one you'd ever suspect. And so here you have this Moabitized, this Gentile young lady. who pledges her allegiance to to Naomi and Naomi's God.

Following, and then she says, I'm going to go out and work. I'm going to go, I'm going to go be the breadwinner. Literally, she goes out to the fields and happens in God's providence to the field of one who could really. Be that kinsman, Redeemer. And so, Dr.

Horne, this chapter, just kind of, you just go through it. I guess if you're teaching through it, which many of our folks are in our men's and women's groups of Wednesday of the Word, and pastors that listen to this that want a little hermeneutical and exegetical guidance, as you're teaching through it, these 22 or so verses in chapter 2. You know, just you go through the narrative, you go through the exchange, you've got first Ruth going out, and then you've got. Introduce actor or star number two, Boaz, coming out, and then you have him talking to her and addressing her. You have her eating with him, like you just described, and then you have a powerful blessing from him to her and a statement of provision, a statement of protection, a statement of honoring God and protecting those who are weak and who are poorer than us.

And then you have Naomi's reaction. She went from. Bitterness. To joy. To joy and to blessing.

And she's sure she is for the first time in the whole book. Praising God. openly and blessing God as opposed to being upset and being bitter.

Well, let me wrap it up this way.

So in verses one through three, I would talk about providential leading. In verses three, I'm sorry, four through 13, I would talk about providential protection. In verses 14. Through 17, I would talk about providential provision. And then in verses 18 through 23.

which is what we're looking at now, there is providential recognition. Because now Naomi is recognizing something. She doesn't quite know yet everything. But she is starting to recognize something about God. She's starting to recognize something about her life.

She's starting to recognize something about the circumstances that are going on. And what she's recognizing is this. the god she thought had been hard on her was actually a God who was blessing her. And so when you start looking at verse 18, we can kind of bring this toward the end. Uh so she comes home.

And She sees all of this wealth that she brings, and she says, Whose field did you glean in today? And then, before she even knows the answer, she says, Blessed be the man who took notice of you, whoever's field. You were in, and provided you with all this, may the Lord bless him. She has no idea how that blessing is going to come back on her head.

So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and she said, This is the first time Naomi knows anything other than this abundant blessing. She says, The man. With whom I work today is Boaz. And Naomi says to her daughter-in-law, May he be blessed by the Lord whose kindness Has not forsaken the living or the dead.

Now remember. Elimelech was a worthy man. He was like the clan leader. And when he left back in chapter one, it created a scandal. And and You know, Naomi's worried because I'm coming back to the clan.

There's not going to be a good reception, it's not going to go well. And now she finds out that there is this worthy man. And he knows who they are, and he has been kind. He did not forsake the living or the dead. And then He says to Ruth, Well, let me explain why I'm so excited.

Let me tell you what's been why this is so moving to me. This man is a close relative of ours. And he's one of our redeemers. Ruth, when you went out this morning, I had no idea where you were going to go. I just knew you were going to go to the fields of our clan.

And you just happen to go to the one field. of the one man who's one of our two Redeemers. And Ruth the Moabite said, well, he said to me, you shall keep close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest. In other words, Uh Ruse says to Naomi, I have an ongoing invitation to go back. Great.

He said, come every day until my workers finish the harvest. And I only said to Ruth. Her daughter-in-law, it is good. It is good that you do this. It's like, duh, it is good that you go out with his young women, lest in another field you be assaulted.

So she kept close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvest, and she lived with her mother-in-law.

So This this Ending in Ruth chapter two introduces us to a period of about a month or more. Where every day Ruth goes to the field, every day Ruth gleams every day Ruth. experiences the protection and the kindness and the generosity. a Boaz. you know sometimes we we we think she shut up the field on day one and on day two She's getting married.

This is a period of time. She does the entire harvest. In Boaz's field. And All we know by the time we get to the end of chapter two is the sovereign God that we met in chapter one that we had questions about. We have no more questions.

He has been revealed as a good and wise and gracious and abundant God. And he has a sense of humor. We're going to find out in chapter three that he brings. This little Moabitis woman to the exact right field, and Naomi is stunned.

Now Naomi goes into full matchmaker mode. And so, you know, when you get to chapter three, Naomi's going to start orchestrating events now.

Now, this is a good man. You know, we don't want to lose this guy. And so all of a sudden, you're going to see human activity in Naomi. Springing out of a heart of hope and joy that you haven't seen before.

So it isn't just Ruth that's being blessed, it's God transforming Naomi. When we experience the providence of God, it always changes us, always changes us. Amen. And I love that verse in Psalms where my mom has this whole chapter memorize. where it says, you know, weeping may Endure through the night, but uh, joy comes in the morning, and so there's a sense of.

The sun is risen in Bethlehem. And God is moving, and God has turned this bitterness into blessing, and He's working. And, you know, it's interesting. Um All of the things going on here, Dr. Horn, and it's easy to chase rabbits, but man, it's hard not to when they're good rabbits.

Let's call them sanctified rabbits because you have the idea of young ladies. Look for a godly man whose first words out of his mouth are the Lord.

Okay, you know, look for a man who loves God, a man who lives God, a man who loves Jesus more than he loves you. Look for a man who is Committed to Christ and committed to being a protector. That's huge. And so we see a great model. Both these people are single, you know, and we know Ruth was widowed, but she was still a young woman.

We know that he calls her a daughter in verse four.

So she's obviously younger than him, and he's an elder to her. But Dr. Horne, so that's that's one very important sidebar, you know, the idea of connecting. And, you know, missionary dating is, you know, I heard a pastor say, and I linked him in the leader notes that I send out to our leaders: missionary dating only leads to a missionary marriage. And you're spending the rest of your life, you know, trying to, you know, get this person to God.

Well, let's get it right out of the gate and let's marry someone that's going to push us closer to God. Let's not, let's just settle for the first one to come along and God and his province brought them together.

So that's the one thing. But then the other thing, all of these, the ideas of effort and work and trusting God, but walking and living your life with God. And then this idea of God with his circumstances. Mm-hmm. Ordering, God is ordering things.

He's making all things beautiful in his time. And this will be seen in chapter three and chapter four. But Dr. Horne, I can't help but think about, you know. Decades ago.

A tall, strapping young man from Air App, Virginia. walks in the snack shop at Bob Jones University. And A sweet redhead from Southern California. says hey Hey big tall fella. Can I borrow a nickel to buy a Sunday?

He said, Well, I'll do it if you'll go on a date with me. And so that was my dad, Mr. Everson, and my mom before. I was even born. And you know what?

You think about it.

Well, what if he had other plans? Or what if? You know, what if he went to a different school? What if she. You know, you know, what if when Pearl Harbor happened, one of the bombs cratered her house and took her out?

You know, God just orchestrated their life up to that moment for them to meet, and they just happened in the snack shop, but God was in control the whole time. You think it my entire day yesterday. Was hinged around meeting with a pastor, Dr. Horn. And let me tell you something.

I wouldn't have met with this pastor. Is a pastor I really needed to spend some time with. And after we met, we just smiled. We said, This was a very important meeting with all that God was doing. And so, but here's what happened: it wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for a canceled.

if it wasn't for a canceled lunch appointment that he had at the last minute.

Furthermore, we would have only had thirty minutes together. But they canceled his whole school. He was part of a Christian school as well. because of of a last-minute snow. And so we had, instead of having 20, 30 minutes, we had two hours together.

And then I l I left there. And if I hadn't run out of hot water for my tea, I never would have walked into A coffee shop. To get more hot water, and I never would have seen two guys that I've been praying for. the brother of one of those guys for months and asking God to connect us. And there they were right when I walked in.

And so I got my hot water and my tea replenished. And so I've just sitting there thinking: now, how many more of these? Divine appointments. And, you know, and then, you know, most of Jesus' miracles and supernatural things, it says he had to pass through Samaria.

Well, that's the Samaritan woman, John chapter 4. How many more times?

Well, she just took a hold of the hem of his garment, right? Remember the lady plagued with this awful blood disease? He was on his way to a far more important meeting that was on the schedule. You know, this, you know, this wealthy man to heal, you know, his child. And This woman On the way interrupts, and it's one of the most powerful miracle stories in the Gospels on the way.

So, Dr. Horn, who knows this happened with Ruth, this happened with Naomi, this happens with Boaz, and everyone impacted them. And think about, we have a Savior. Born in Bethlehem because of the events in Bethlehem centuries before. any of uh of the Nativity happened.

Well, and that's the point, right? I mean, in this same field that Ruth is in, wouldn't it be cool if that was the exact field? We don't know, but you know, we know it was one of those fields.

So it's interesting. Providential leading. providential protection providential provision I'm sorry, providential leading, providential provision, providential protection, and then providential satisfaction. You know, that's the chapter. And then here's the final thing.

You know, when you've come back to a 30,000 A foot view, like we're doing with the book of Ruth, and you see it through the gospel lens of a New Testament fulfillment. Here's the thing. You see sovereignty and human responsibility working hand in hand. You know, God is orchestrating things. God is going to do the redeeming.

God is moving behind the scenes in ways Ruth has no ability to comprehend, but Ruth is doing. what she's supposed to be doing. She's taking initiative. She's responding. She's reporting.

She continues to go back. Day after day for the entire barley season. It's not like. The book of Ruth presents a divine sovereignty with humans that are just passive. And divine sovereignty.

never implies The sort of benching of human responsibility. There is always human participation, human responsibility. And As a theologian, I don't know quite how to match those two things. I don't always know how to understand those two things, but I see it everywhere I look. everywhere you look in scripture.

God's sovereignty is at work controlling the events and determining the outcomes. But human responsibility is always engaged as the means by which all of that happens. And so, beautiful reminder of our salvation. And as we get into chapter three next week, and we see not just the sovereignty of God and the providence of God, but now the redemption of God, that's going to be awesome. I can't wait.

Amen. Yes, sir. Dr. Orton, pray us out here before you do. I just can't help but echo kind of what you just referenced, and that is.

This is all a setup. You know, we have. On on a Direct level, God setting things up supernaturally, providentially, sovereignly for Ruth to be redeemed by a kinsman. To really save her family and Naomi and provide for them. On a on a longer Really, uh longer gameplay.

He God is setting up. And continuing the seed Of the woman, which would crush the head of the serpent, Genesis 3:15. And bringing together his redemptive plan. And isn't it neat? Dr.

Horne, everyone listening to this, everywhere you're going today as you travel and everywhere I go, no matter whether it's storming or whether it's sunny. God is Working out his redemptive plan through us. It's all a setup to point people to the Redeemer. And Ruth would be in that bloodline of Christ, and we are washed by the blood of Christ because of all this.

So God's work is in the ordinary things of life. Look for God to do extraordinary things to make much of Jesus Christ, who was born. to redeem us and to bring us to God. Yeah. expect great things from God, which is why we can attempt.

Great things from God.

So let me pray and we'll wrap up. Lord, thank you for our time. I pray that as this podcast goes out, it will be a blessing to the leaders of the groups. We pray for the hundreds and hundreds of people who will be studying Ruth chapter 2 this next week. And we pray that it would be a blessing.

May your providential work in the world around us. Remind us of your sovereignty, but may it lead us to your generosity. May it lead us to the gracious redemption. you have provided in this kinsman redeemer that was a descendant of ruth and beleaz and who is our savior jesus christ in whose name we pray Thank you, Dr. Horne, and thank you for joining us for this Wednesday in the Word podcast.

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