I continue to go through the story of Ruth and
I've made it to chapter number two now
There's 23 verses and my encouragement to you
is there's no way I'm going to cover
These 23 verses in depth in the time that we
have so my encouragement is for you to dig
Deeper at your own pace. There's so much here
So a lot a lot a lot here
Exactly what Peter was talking about in the
passage. We just read
Ruth chapter number two God's words is now
Naomi had a kinsman of her husband a man of
great wealth of the family of
Alimalek whose name was Boaz and
Ruth the Moab I just said to Naomi
Please let me go to the field and glean among
the ears of grain after one in whose sight
I may find favor and she said to her go my
daughter
So she departed and went and gleaned in the
field after the reapers and she happened to
come to the portion of the field
Belonging to Boaz who was of the family of Al
imalek now
Behold Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to
the reapers may the Lord be with you and they
said to him may the Lord bless you
Then Boaz said to his servants who is his
servant who was in charge of the reapers whose
young woman is this?
The servant in charge of the reapers replied
She is the young Moabite woman who returned
with Naomi from the land of Moab and she said
Please let me glean and gather after the re
apers among the sheaves
Thus she came and has remained from them from
the morning until now
She has been sitting in the house for a little
while then Boaz said to Ruth listen carefully
my daughter
Do not go to glean in another field
Furthermore do not go on from this one
But stay here with my maids let your eyes be
on the field which they reap and go after them
indeed
I have commanded the servants not to touch you
when you are thirsty go to the water jars and
drink from what the servants draw
Then she fell on her face bowing to the ground
and said to him
Why have I found favor in your sight that you
should take notice of me since I am a
foreigner?
Boaz replied to her all that you have done for
your mother-in-law after the death of your
husband has been fully
reported to me and now and how you left your
father and your mother and the land of your
birth and
Come to a people that you did not previously
know may the Lord reward your work and your
wages be full from the Lord
The God of Israel under whose wings you have
come to seek refuge
Then she said I have found favor in your sight
my Lord for you have comforted me and indeed
have spoken kindly
To your maidservant though I am not like one
of your maidservants at meal time
Boaz said to her come here that you may eat of
the bread and dip your piece of bread in the
vinegar
So she sat beside the reapers and he served
her roasted grain and she ate and was
satisfied and had some left
When she rose to glean Boaz commanded his
servant saying let her glean even among the
sheaves and do not insult her
Also, you shall purposely pull out for her
some grain from the bundles and leave it that
she may glean and do not rebuke her
So she gleaned in the field until evening
Then she beat out what she had gleaned and it
was about an ifa of barley
She took it up and went into the city and her
mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned
She also took it out and gave Naomi what she
had left after she was satisfied
Her mother-in-law said to her where did you g
lean today and where did you work?
May he who took notice of you be blessed
So she told her mother-in-law with whom she
had worked and said the name of the man with
whom I worked today is Boaz
Now only said to her daughter-in-law may he be
blessed to the Lord who has not withdrawn his
Kindness to the living and to the dead again
Naomi said to her the man is our relative
He is one of our closest relatives then Ruth
the Moabite has said
Furthermore, he said to me you should stay
close to my servants until they have finished
all my harvest
Now only said to Ruth her daughter-in-law
It is good my daughter that you go out with
his maids so that others do not fall upon you
in another field
So she stayed close by the maids of Boaz in
order to glean until the end of the barley
harvest and the wheat harvest
And she lived with her mother-in-law. Let's
pray really father. We love you. Thank you for
this morning
You give it us to come together and worship
you. I pray that we do that this morning
Bless your word to our hearts and minds and
your work your message in spite of the
messenger in Christ's name. Amen
so we've gone through the the first chapter of
this account the story of
Ruth the Moabites and we have seen that God
has brought her and Naomi and
her sister-in-law Orpah through a very dark
and bitter
Providence the the first chapter was focused
on what happened to Naomi and how
She lost her husband
She lost her two sons and and her other
daughter-in-law Orpah had left her that this
hard suffering
That Naomi went through but but Ruth had made
a covenant with Naomi
if you remember last time that that Ruth would
stay with Naomi until the very end until
God separated them by death and
and now in chapter number two though focus is
going to shift from Naomi
To Ruth to how God would work and in Ruth's
life
To bless her to take care of her and Naomi
through
Ruth's life so Ruth will take that the center
point of
The story going forward, but Naomi will still
be there in a very important way
Now only is going to interpret what's
happening to Ruth and Ruth's life and point
Ruth to the truth of God
And it's really neat to see so the first
chapter Naomi had gone through the suffering
that had happened to her and she kept
her faith intact through
The suffering and in fact that faith that she
had
Was strengthened by that suffering and that
faith that was strengthened will point Ruth
and us to to God's overwhelming
provision for Ruth and
Overwhelming grace and then the rest of the
story from from this chapter on to chapter
number four
And this is going to be the the main thing
that I want us to glean
From this story that the biggest point is that
that God's bitter providence happens to all of
us
there's dark times and trials and
Suffering and so we have this example this
account of these two widow women
In ancient times to show us that that our
suffering
Has a point and that God is doing things on
purpose in our lives
And in the end of even the suffering there
will be a benefit for all of us
A strengthening and a grace that God gives us
through the suffering at the end of all of our
Suffering that the suffering itself is a tool
that God uses to
Sanctify us to grow us to perfect us into the
image of his son Jesus Christ
We've seen that in the book of Job
From the very beginning and all that Job went
through and all the his crazy friends
Tried to teach him and to the end when he is
facing God and he says my mouth is shut
You know, I'm not gonna say anything else. You
are right that the Job's faith
Job's understanding Job's wisdom was grown
through his
Suffering and then Peter from the passage that
Philip just read and in first Peter
Chapter one verse six says it's the exact same
thing in this you greatly rejoice
Even though now for a little while if
necessary you have been distressed by various
trials
So that the proof of your faith being more
precious than gold which is perishable
Even though tested by fire may be found to
result in praise and glory and honor at the
revelation of Jesus Christ
So God has in his his great omnipotence and
his awesome omniscience
Plotted the course of your individual life in
such a way that even the hard things and the
suffering and the pain
Will work out for your good and his glory
This plan is customized for you for who you
are now at this very moment
The God of this universe is upholding every
single atom and every star and every galaxy
and every galactic cluster
By together by the power of his word and the
galaxy that is so far away that humans will
never be able to see it as well
as the the smallest quanta of subatomic
particle that we haven't
Discovered yet and will may never discover and
everything in between
Were created by God and are being managed at
this very moment by his almighty power and at
that same time
He knows you
Individually
Specifically, he knew when you were born and
he knows the time of your death
Psalm 139 once is oh Lord you have searched me
and known me
You know when I sit down and when I rise up
you understand my thought from afar
You scrutinize my path and my lying down and
are intimately acquainted with all my ways
In this world. We're insignificant. There's no
one in here. That's gonna be make a big splash
on the world stage
We're in our job. Sometimes we're cogs in the
machine
Being used by our employer for per profit and
all that jazz
Sometimes we're the weird ones where the
people out in the corner that the edges that
that are strange to
The the rest of of humanity, but God knows you
and he knows you by name
And he has planned your life. You're getting
up and you're sitting down
Your life was not an afterthought
He sent Jesus Christ his son to live and to
die in your place so he could redeem
Specifically you and me we were on his mind
When he was living and when he was dying and
when he was rising again from the grave
So when we're going through the trials
He will always provide for us because the
trials are not an accident. He gives
Through those times and gives provision
through his grace in those dark times
And in fact as we'll see here in the book of
Ruth that those bitter providences those dark
times
are
given by God on purpose and may be the means
the way that he actually does the
Providing for us. So we see that here in the
story of this insignificant
Moabitis
A foreign woman named Ruth and what happened
to her
shows us that all of us can and must see that
God provides even in the bitter
providences
Now the verses one through three show us that
he provides through his way and through his
law verse number one
Nanaomi had a kinsman of her husband a man of
great wealth of the family of a limelight
whose name was Boas and
Ruth the Moabitis said to Naomi
Please let me go to the field and glean among
the ears of grain after one in whose sight I
might find favor and she said to her
Go my daughter
So she departed and went and gleaned in the
field after the reapers and she happened to
come to the portion of the field
Belonging to Boas who was of the family of a
limelight to God's providence over his world
He works in in direct ways and in indirect
ways, but he works directly and specifically
and
Intimately in your life for his purposes and
his glory
He reaches down into your personal life and
changes things and works his will out in in
your life
Proverbs 69 the mind of man plans his way, but
the Lord directs his steps
But he also works it in a general way in a
indirect way in our lives
He has set up the world to work in a certain
way
He set up truth to work in a certain way and
he's given his laws of nature and his specific
Laws in in Scripture and when we acknowledge
those laws and the way that that God has
designed the world to work and we submit to it
Things tend to work out better
For us when we live in light of the truth of
what God has done
Outside of the the falleness of this world
remember a couple weeks ago
We've gone through Ephesians and in Ephesians
chapter 5 Paul gave very
controversial instructions from that time and
in our time on how men and women are
Different and are to treat their husbands and
wives respectively
differently and how they're supposed to treat
one another in the marriage relationship and
in God's sovereignty in a very
Specific and and obvious way to anyone with
half a brain. He's made men and women
differently
He made us think differently and act
differently to desire different things
He set those things up on purpose when he
created male and female in his own
Image and in general when we live and align
our lives with those truths before us and and
treat each other and act
According to the principles that God has set
up things go better for us now our rebellious
culture
May teach that this is not a case. What is is
this fence here for I don't know
So let's get rid of it and we'll do what we
want
But the proof is in the pudding we have gone
so far down to the feminist and man-o-sphere
rabbit hole that the feminist and the macho
man-o-sphere are still extremely
unsatisfied and unhappy
All they they think that all we need is the
next revolution
But we never seem to get there because they're
fighting against the way that God has
Created things and they'll never grasp that
happiness that they think they'll find because
they are in rebellion
Against their Creator the one who who set up
all these things in in this first part of our
passage
God it has set up a system in the land of the
Jews in the Hebrew nation
He set up the way that the their world has
worked that is is going to come into play here
and
Be a great blessing for all those who live in
accordance with the way that he set it up
So what we'll get into that but look at the
first verse of chapter one
The author of Ruth is going to introduce a new
character into our story that the man
Boas verse number one now Naomi had a kinsman
of her husband a man of great wealth of the
family of a limilec
Whose name was Boas so right out of the gate
in this chapter before Ruth even knows who
this man is
The the author wants us to know so we'll be
privy to who he is when Ruth happens to
Go into his field that this bo this man Boas
is a relative of a limilec
Naomi's
deceased husband and this man Boas who's the
relative of
Naomi is rich
So the first point I will make about God's
Providing for us in the way that he sets up
the world and the way that he's given us his
law
Is that Boas is a kinsman and we spoke about
Leverite marriage if anyone remembers that the
that if the husband was to die and leave a
widow without a child
That that the husband's close relative would
come and marry his widow and have kids with
her so that his name
Wouldn't be wiped off of the earth and that
the kids would have his
inheritance and that's going to become very
important in the next chapter
But just know that the author of Ruth is
setting up the story and making it clear from
the outside
so we know as readers what's going on as
Ruth and Naomi and Boas live their lives out
in light of those things, but the second thing
is
That that Boas is an extremely wealthy man in
the time
So God provides the four Ruth through that
they're her close relative Boas the second way
that he provides
Through this law that the way that he set
things up is the process of gleaning first
number two
Ruth the mobile is said to know me
Please let me go to the field and glean among
the ears of grain after one and whose site
I may find favor and she said to her go my
daughter
So God gave instructions to his people that
when they have their fields of grain
They would leave the edges unharvested for the
specific fact
Reason that the poor could come and harvest it
and have their their their food nutritional
needs met
it was the the Hebrew welfare system and
To make sure that the people the the poor and
the sojourner specifically
Were fed God set this system up and Boas and
in his his living according to the law that
God set up
Did this he followed this this law and and the
looth and Ruth
Was allowed to come into his fields and just
take the grain that she needed to live
So so her as a widow and Naomi could be
provided for
But there's also an element of specific
provision in in this fact verse three
So she departed and went and cleaned in the
field after the reapers and she happened
To come to the portion of the field belonging
to Boas who was of the family of a limelight
She just happened to come to this rich man Bo
as's field who was a close
family member just happened to be a family
member of
Boas and I like the way that the King James
version puts it in her
Hap was to light on a part of the field
belonging on the Boas
I just love the way that that sounds the
author knows and we know that there was no Hap
About it that God brought her through his prov
idence
He set up the system that that they live their
lives in and he directed her steps
specifically
To Boas is field so that that one day
She wouldn't have to glean at anyone else's
field
She would glean and eventually be wed to this
man as we'll get into spoiler alert
Limelex relative and all this was done on
purpose
All this was done to provide for Ruth and for
Naomi and all of us until this time
This is a great illustration of God's
sovereignty in our life and the responsibility
of man
God set this up Boas followed God's law and
allowed Ruth to glean and they're working
together
All to support the purpose and plan of the
Almighty God
He provides for his own in many ways
But one of the ways that he provides for us
and how he sets up the world and how he set up
his word and his
Law for us to live under so we need to
remember that and live
Accordingly and don't look at the way that he
tells us to live as a thing to work against
But remember he's using those things to
provide for his people. That's what Ruth
Found out she happened to glean very well at
Boas his field as we'll see in one second
And that's the second point is that God
provides for his people through others where
the passage is
Verses 4 the 18 but we'll just read verses 4
through 12 now
Behold Boas came from Bethlehem and said to
the Reapers may the Lord be with you and they
said to him may the Lord bless you
That was the Hebrew way of saying what's up
then Boas said to his servant who was in
charge of the Reapers
Whose young woman is this the servant in
charge the Reapers replied
She is the young Moabite woman who returned
with no me from the land of Moab and she said
Please let me glean and gather after the Re
apers among the sheaves
Thus she came and has remained from the
morning until now she has been sitting in the
house for a little while
Then Boas said to Ruth listen carefully my
daughter do not go to glean in another field
Furthermore do not go on from this one, but
stay here with my maids let your eyes be on
the field
Which they reap and go after them indeed. I
have commanded the servants not to touch you
when you are thirsty
Go to the water jars and drink from what the
servants draw
Then she fell on her face bowing to the ground
and said to him
Why have I found favor in your sight that you
should take notice of me since I am a
foreigner
Boas replied to her all that you had done for
your mother-in-law after the death of your
husband has been fully reported to me
And how you left your father and your mother
and the land of your birth and came to the
people that you did not previously know
May the Lord reward your work and your wages
be full from the Lord the God of Israel under
whose wings you have come to seek
Refuge as we continue the story in this next
part
I just want you to to remember that just like
in the the first chapter when they were going
through all this pain and suffering we
Get to to be in the outside
So in the second chapter when Ruth is
experiencing all this favor in this grace
We are on the outside as well
And but but she had to walk through the day by
day of the suffering and she is coming to this
grace and just like
What is going on all this? I don't need I don
't deserve all this
I don't understand what's happening. We see
the full picture. She's living it out
So so remember that we get to read the whole
story
But but she's experiencing it firsthand and
the reason that's important to remember
It's because there will be times or have been
times where all of us have had to live through
step by step day by day the suffering and also
day by day of the grace and we're here the
story is
Specifically here for us to remember as we're
going through that the end of that
I I know I repeated that three times as I
preached in Ruth three times. I think that's
super super
important so Boas comes to see how his crops
are being taken care of he's managing his
fields and remember they had just come through
a
Famine there it's been a while since they've
had a good harvest
And so he is just coming to see that the
blessing of God and how the famine is over and
to see what's going on with this field
And then he sees this strange woman that he's
never seen before so so he asks his manager
who she was and and
He told him that she was Ruth the foreigner
who came back with Naomi remember when Naomi
came back
It was the the talk of the town
Now this could go two ways Boas would still be
in his rights if he followed God's law to the
T
All he had to do was leave the edge of the
field
Unharvested so she could come and eat and he
was fulfilling all of his duty before the law
or
He could choose grace and he chose option to
grace he he doesn't just
Allow her to glean he tells her hey stay in my
fields don't go to another one stay with my
women
I've told my men to leave you alone and to
actually offer you protection
I have not only let you glean but I'm gonna
provide water for you
Which was a big deal at the town time he over
flows with grace towards her more than she
could ever as expect as we see from her
Reaction now she has experienced. She's she's
gone to the point to where she expects pain
she expects bad things to happen
She's not used to grace and goodness at this
point and maybe you've experienced similar
things
But you've also experienced that grace and I
can tell you if you are here that that yes
You have and then if you're a believer this is
a perfect great clear illustration of the
gospel what Boas was doing for her
even more than that
That that God has added to the top of just
justifying us through Christ
He has given us so much grace that's poured
over and
Abundant in our lives and so many times that
we take the things that he gives gives us over
Watch over what we deserve and we take it for
granted and and it's impossible for us to be
aware of all the grace that he is
Has given us but one of the things that he
does give us is how he provides and allows his
grace to be in our lives
This is this provision and grace from others
We are all here in church or most of us are
here today in church and we're all members of
One another that we're all given the privilege
and the grace to be able to take care of
One another we pray for one another we feed
each other on
Wednesdays and after our Lord's supper we weep
with one another we rejoice with one another
If I was in need
I know several of you that I could call and
you'd be there for me and if if you're in need
I hope you know that you can call on me and
that is a great privilege brothers and sisters
. We are a
Provision of God's grace to one another and in
his great providence
He is is directly and indirectly brought us
all to Podunk Central Louisiana
to this church through all kinds of different
ways and means and pain and happiness and joy
all
To be a part of this church so that we can be
like Boaz to Ruth
To each other Boaz was so good to this poor
widow
But she fell on her face and thanked him in in
verse 10
Why have I found favor in your sight that you
should take notice of me since I am a
foreigner
Thought to the humble Ruth there was no reason
in her mind that that she could fathom
Why he would even notice her much less poor
all this goodness and grace on her
So he replied in verse 11 all that you have
done for your mother-in-law
After the death of your husband has been fully
reported to me
And how you left your father and your mother
in the land of your birth and came to a people
that you did not previously know
May the Lord reward your work and your wages
be full from the Lord the God of Israel under
those wings
You have come to seek refuge all that dark and
bitter providence that she's been through and
now she is seeing
the blessing of God from that Boaz saw the
goodness that he was giving to Ruth as
God giving grace and mercy and goodness and
feeding his daughter Ruth
God was showing Ruth goodness and grace
through Boaz's hand through the blessings of
Boaz
Boaz was able to bless Ruth
And Boaz was the tool or the hand on the tool
of wealth given to him by God
And this is a big thing in the New Testament
Paul teaches this over and over again Ephes
ians 4 32 be kind
Once to another tenderhearted forgiving one
another as Christ the Lord has forgiven you we
were forgiven
So we forgive one another second Corinthians 1
Paul says blessed be the God and father of our
Lord Jesus Christ the father of
Mercies and God of all comfort who comforts us
in all our inflection so that we will be able
to comfort those who are in any
Affliction with the comfort with which we
ourselves are comforted by God
God comforts us for the express purpose that
we're able to take that comfort and give it to
one another
We are conduits like Boaz was to Ruth of it of
God's grace
We are conduits of God's comfort to one
another and and the rest of this section
He just pours more he didn't just stop there
He keeps giving her more and more grace verse
14 come here
But you may eat the bread and dip your piece
of bread in the vinegar
So she sat beside the reapers and he served
her roasted grain and she ate and was
satisfied
It had some left and that some left would
later feed Naomi as well
She rose to glean Boaz commanded his servant
saying let her glean even among the sheaves
and do not insult her
Also, you shall purposely pull out for her
some grain from the bundles and leave it that
she may glean and do not
Rebuke her she ends up going home full her
stomach satisfied and her arms full of barley
sometimes God uses us to provide for other
like Ruth to Naomi and
Sometime God uses others to provide for us
like Boaz for Ruth and all these things
He has set these things up on purpose to to
provide his people with
Provision he's worked this all out on purpose
for that reason praise God for his provision
through the hands of others
And then last Ruth returns home to Naomi and
Naomi gives us the last way that he shows
That we can trust God to provide all the needs
that we have
But by trusting his his his in his direction
verses 19 through 23 her mother-in-law
Then said to her where did you glean today and
where did you work?
May he who took notice of you be blessed
So she told her mother-in-law with whom she
had worked and said the name of the man with
whom I work today is Boaz
Naomi said to her daughter-in-law may he be
blessed of the Lord who has not withdrawn his
kindness to the living and to the dead again
Naomi said to her the man is our relative. He
is one of our closest
relatives and
Then Naomi tells her to continue to go back to
her
To Boaz so Naomi saw Ruth come in with this
giant load of of barley and then Boaz allowed
her to glean it
And then also had his men beat it out
So it would be completely processed and her
basket would be full of ready-to-go ready to
eat a
Barley it says here was an Eiffel and Eiffel
is about a five gallon
bucket of the stuff and is more than the Naomi
or Ruth could ever imagine that I get from one
day of
Gleaning the edges of a field and so Naomi
sees this and she asked a Ruth with excitement
Where did you clean today? Where did you work?
May he who took notice of you to be blessed?
I mean here here how she's saying it and Ruth
explains well, it was this man named Boaz
And then Naomi she understands what was going
on and in the beginning of a passage
We were told that that Ruth just happened to
come to Boaz's field
But but Naomi knows that this is from the hand
of God himself. Look what she says in verse 20
May he be blessed of the Lord who has not
withdrawn his kindness to the living and to
the dead
And again Naomi said to her the man is our
relative. He's one of our closest relatives
Naomi recognizes two things from this this hap
this happenstance that that happened to Ruth
first
she notices that it's from the loving kindness
of
Yahweh and if you look back at verse 20
You see may he be blessed of the Lord the word
Lord there is in all caps
And you may know this but when when the Bible
says Lord in all caps
But the word behind Lord is the word Yahweh
that the covenant name of God Yahweh
And and the translators do this and the
respect for the the holy name
But but if you don't know that that's what
they're doing you can miss
That they're talking about Yahweh's
Name so Naomi is using a God's proper
Covenantal name the name that he gave to Moses
when when when he sent Moses to rescue the
Hebrew people from Egypt
And and so she's saying may Boaz be blessed of
Yahweh
Who has not withdrawn his kindness to the
living and to?
the dead
So to her and to her husband's
Inheritance Yahweh's kindness is a major theme
in the Old Testament that the word here for
kindness is the Hebrew word has said
Okay
Over half the times the word has said or
kindness or loyalty is used in the Old
Testament is used in the book of Psalms
So Psalms is the book of hymns and praises to
God of the the Hebrew and the we sing
And so one of the major things that that the
Yahweh wanted to be praised for was his
kindness his loving
Kindness and our Psalm today in verse 6 said
surely
Goodness and loving kindness will follow me
all the days of my life
Surely goodness and has said will follow me
all the days of my life very important concept
and word in the Old Testament
So she praised him. He was Yahweh. He's kept
keeping his word is his covenant with his
people and
On top of that he's showing all this has said
this loving kindness to them
The second thing she notices is that Boaz wasn
't just any relative
He was a kinsman redeemer the ASB says here in
verse 20 that the man is our relative
He is one of our closest relatives, which is
kind of a weird way
It sounds like it's repeating with it. The ESV
Uses the right word for our closest relatives.
It says the man is a close relative of ours
one of our
Redeemers remember the last time when Naomi
was trying to convince Ruth and Orpah to go
back to Moab because there was no hope for
them
In Bethlehem and in Israel
She told them like look what am I going to
have more sons and you have to wait for them
to grow up to for them to be able
To be your husbands and and bring up
inheritance and children that there's no that
's impossible
There's no way for me to do that. You need to
go back to your home
Well, she was talking about this concept of k
insman redemption this leverite marriage that
that her other sons would be responsible to
marry
The widows of their dead brothers
Well in her mind there was no way there was no
hope for this foreign
Obitis woman Ruth to go back as a widow in
Hebrew with nothing and be able to find a kins
man redeemer to fulfill
This law this this thing that was set up in
Israel and in the time
But what do you know?
The man whose field that Ruth just happened to
glean on
Happened to be a relative and not any relative
A man who was close enough in of a relative to
be
a kinsman redeemer
So Naomi is catching what Yahweh is throwing
She's starting to see how this is all working
out Ruth may not understand yet
But Naomi is kind of telling us that she's
getting it. She's seeing the the fuller
picture
And again brothers and sisters. We can't
always see
What Yahweh is throwing we can't always see
how he's working things out
In our lives and sometimes it's hard for us
It's it's difficult for us to see how God is
going to use whatever's happening in our life
for his glory
In our good Ruth thinks that she just had a
good day in the field
I mean look got five gallons of of processed
barley here
But but Naomi is putting the pieces together
and she's pointing Ruth in the right direction
that that last verse in verse 22
It's good my daughter that you go out with his
maid so that others do not fall upon you in
the another field
He's saying hey, yeah, you keep going there,
but she knows what's happened
And she realizes all the favor that that no
Ruth is finding and boa has his eyes that he's
a kinsman redeemer
And all this is coming together and Naomi is
pointing Ruth and us to the the provision of
God in her life and our lives
When we see what God is doing here
When we see what God is doing in our lives
We should immediately
Remember and think of God's has said his
loving kindness for us
Just like he showed to Ruth and Naomi and
eventually to boas and their children
All the blessings that we have are our God's
blessing to us out of his abundant stores of
grace
And mercy. Ruth is just a story of this wid
owed moabitis this foreign woman
Who came into israel and who god showed his
overwhelming
provision and grace to
That she was dragged through the ringer
Can you imagine losing your husband and your
brother-in-law and your father-in-law in a
very short period of time and being destitute?
But now being brought through the the amazing
story of God's grace and his providential care
in in her life
And you know what? We're sitting here
today
Surrounded by that same abundant
Amazing grace that same provision all the
blessings that he's given us no matter
What ringer we have been through or are going
to go through next week? We have no idea
Yeah, sometimes we don't want to know but we
do know that every single time we go through
that bitter
Providence that God will be there before in
the middle of and afterwards and we can trust
That he has a plan and he's working it out and
it will be for our good
And we can see that because this story
teaches us about a kinsman redeemer which we
'll see in in chapter three
And we also have a kinsman redeemer in christ
Who gave his ultimate gift of grace to us?
By giving us his life and having the bride of
the church he
Uh, they're I debated on whether to do this or
not
You know, I am a baptist, but I'm a reformed
Baptist. I don't usually have three points in
a poem
Uh, but this time I will have three points and
a poem is a great poet in the 17th century
named George Herbert
And he loved the lord. He's he's great,
especially if you can read the the older
language
But he wrote this poem and it is perfectly
fitting for this passage
And the idea of christ being our kinsman rede
emer and our grace
He said love bade me welcome yet my soul drew
back guilty of dust and sin
But quick i'd love observing me grow slack
from my first entrance in drew near to me
sweetly questioning if I lacked anything
A guest I answered were they to be here love
said you shall be he
I the unkind ungrateful I my dear I cannot
look on thee
Love took my hand and smiling did reply who
made the eyes, but I
Truth lord, but I have marred them let my
shame go where it does deserve
And know you not says love who bore the blame
my dear then I I will serve
You must sit down says love and taste my meat.
So I did sit and eat
Let's pray heavenly father
You're amazing grace to us is certainly
exactly what it says amazing
We deserve none of it and look at this this
this widow here that you've helped and that
you provided for
And how you work that out and your sovereignty
is an absolutely amazing thing
And I pray that we would understand that and
and apply that in our lives when we live our
christian lives
Bless us lord bless the rest of the book of r
uth in our lives and give us all safety as we
travel home in this week
Buy your grace and for your glory in christ's
name. Amen