As Luck Would Have It

When we were last in the book of Ruth, Naomi and her two daughters-in-law had all been widowed.

If you remember, Naomi made the decision to leave Moab and to return to Bethlehem. And initially, both of her daughters-in-law went with her. But Naomi told both of them to return to Moab instead.

And Orpah took Naomi's advice and went back to her homeland. Ruth, however, pledged her loyalty not only to Ruth, but also to God. For some review, let's look at Ruth's words in 116 and 117.

Ruth 1, verse 16 and verse 17 say, But Ruth said, Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go, I will go.

And where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die. And there I will be buried. May the Lord do so to me.

And more also, if anything but death parts me from you. Instead of being grateful for Ruth's devotion, Naomi actually stopped speaking to her. And Naomi and Ruth finished the journey to Bethlehem in silence.

Naomi had turned into such a bitter woman that she asked the Bethlehem citizens to call her by a name that actually means bitter. Look at verses 19 through 22 of chapter 1 because these verses set the scene for what we're going to cover tonight.

Starting in verse 19 of chapter 1, it says, So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them.

And the women said, Is this Naomi? She said to them, Do not call me Naomi. Call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty.

Why call me Naomi when the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me? So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab.

And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest. From a human perspective, Naomi probably has a right to be bitter. At the very least, we can understand why she would be tempted toward bitterness.

Because from her state at the beginning of the book, where she was full, that was when she had a husband and two sons to support her and take care of her. Now she'd been reduced to a state of emptiness with no runaround to help her.

The only one left was her pesky Moabite daughter-in-law, Ruth. And we can tell already that Naomi wasn't too sure whether Ruth was more of an asset or an embarrassment now that she's back in Bethlehem.

After all, the last thing Naomi wanted was one more mouth to feed and one more body to clothe. And that was especially the case when that particular person would be a constant reminder of Naomi's abandoning the Promised Land with her husband years before.

And of course, when she did that, she was hoping for greener fields in Moab. But now, Ruth was a constant reminder of how her sons married foreign women. And we know that those foreign women were outsiders to the covenant.

Naomi had done her best to dissuade Ruth. In fact, she had said, in effect, go back with Orpah and leave me alone in my guilt and bitterness against the Lord. She really pretty much said, this is all the Lord's fault.

His hand has afflicted me and brought misfortune upon me. And so she was really trying to tell her that she had no idea what she was committing herself to. In effect, she was saying that she appreciated all of Ruth's fine words about where she went, Ruth would go, and where Ruth died, she would die.

But she was really saying, why would you bother to go with me? You know, in other words, she was saying, this is a really fine speech, but why would a healthy young woman like you want to spend the rest of your life with a doomed old woman like me?

At least that's what she thought she was at that time. In fact, she thought all along that God was determined to get even with her for her shortcomings. And so you can imagine that Ruth might have been wondering by this time why she wanted to stay with her as well.

But obviously, Ruth had come to know the God of Israel. And so here is when this odd couple returns to Bethlehem. So we have this bitter Jewess and her non-kosher daughter-in-law returning to Bethlehem, and it looked like they had a very bleak future ahead of them.

They would have to depend upon family charity, and they would have to scrounge whatever food they could get. But really, in the midst of all of this darkness at the very end of Ruth chapter 1, there's actually some hope.

Because the last sentence says that they arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. So the narrator actually is hinting there that Naomi is misreading events.

Naomi saw the progression of the chapter as being from fullness to emptiness in her own life. But the movement for the rest of the Jews had been the opposite. They had gone from famine at the beginning of chapter 1 to the promise of food once again, and now actual food again in Bethlehem.

So that was a sign that God's hand of judgment was being lifted from his people. So if that trajectory was possible for Naomi's people, perhaps her own future was not as dark as she imagined it to be.

And even if God's face was turned aside from her as she thought, perhaps he might turn his favor on her one more time. Been kind of hard on Naomi here, but can you identify with Naomi?

After all, she's stuck at the end of chapter 1, and she has no clue what's going to happen in chapters 2 through 4. And when you think about it, Naomi's problem is a lot like the struggle that many of us experience.

In the dark times, we imagine and worry about the worst possible scenario. And in fact, we often conjure up worst-case scenarios to worry about even events that cannot all happen to us.

And it's real easy to persuade ourselves that God has abandoned us and that we have no prospects. But just think about this. How much unnecessary turmoil do we put ourselves through?

Because after all, God doesn't promise to give us grace to deal with all the scenarios we can dream up. He only promises to give us the grace to enable us to make it through whatever he actually brings to us.

And we bring a lot of our worry upon ourselves. In fact, much of what we worry about turns out to never be part of God's plan for us anyway. Think about what Mike covered a couple of sermons ago when he looked at Matthew 6, verse 27.

And of course, that verse says, Which of you being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? Tonight, we're going to cover the first seven verses of chapter 2.

We already talked about how things look bleak at the end of chapter 1. Now in chapter 2, the bleak situation begins to look much less hopeless. So let's go ahead and read verses 1 through 7.

Starting in chapter 2, verse 1, it says, Now Naomi had a relative of her husband's, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor.

And she said to her, Go, my daughter. So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech.

And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and he said to the reapers, The Lord be with you. And they answered, The Lord bless you. Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reapers, Whose young woman is this?

And the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, She is the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. She said, Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers.

So she came, and she has continued from early morning until now, except for a short rest. We're going to break tonight's passage into only two sections.

And the first section comes in verses 1 through 3. And there we see the providence. So the providence is what we'll look at in the first three verses.

So listen to those three verses one more time. They say, Now Naomi had a relative of her husband's, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz.

And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor. And she said to her, Go, my daughter.

So she set out and went, and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech. The first verse is just one sentence.

And at first it almost seems like a throwaway sentence. But it's important. It gives us the first glimpse into Boaz's character, because it says he's a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz.

And the ESV that I'm using tonight translates the original description as the worthy man, but the words translated to worthy man often are translated as a mighty man of valor.

Do any of your translations have that tonight? Do they say a mighty man of valor instead of a worthy man? Mighty wealth. So mighty wealth there.

So similar idea to that, and great wealth. And some translators have rendered this expression as if it referred to his wealth. But the usage of the word in the book of Judges, as well as here in Ruth, seems to indicate that valor is the preferable rendering.

After all, these were troubled times, and any man might have to fight to protect his crops and herds from the plundering raids of the Bedouin or even the encroachment of the local Canaanites.

The only law at this time was really that might is right and I'm entitled to take from you whatever I can. So it wouldn't be unusual for somebody to have to defend his crops and his other possessions from invading people.

Think about how we saw Gideon hiding from the invaders when we studied Judges a few months ago. The exact nature of Boaz's relationship to Elimelech is not stated here.

Some Jewish writers believe that Boaz was Elimelech's nephew. And it's really not important to know how he was related to Elimelech. The important thing is just to notice that Boaz was related to Elimelech and not Naomi.

Because had he been related to Naomi, he wouldn't have been able later on to perform the duty of a kinsman. But fortunately for Naomi and Ruth, Boaz will turn out to be a person who lives up to his name because Boaz means in him is strength.

In fact, later on when Solomon erects the temple in Jerusalem, here's what 1 Kings 7.21 says. It says, He set up the pillars at the vestibule of the temple.

He set up the pillar on the south and called its name Joshin. And he set up the pillar on the north and called its name Boaz. So in 1 Kings 7.21 actually, it's talking about the two main pillars of the temple complex.

And they were sturdy and strong enough to hold up the temple. Boaz in a sense is one of the pillars of the Israelite community at this point in Bethlehem. Meanwhile, back at their new home, Naomi and Ruth need some food to eat.

And they need it soon. Provision was made in the law of Moses to take care of the poor through a welfare-to-work program. The poor were not simply to depend upon handouts from the state.

Rather, they were allowed to glean in the fields after the harvesters and around the edges, picking up the scraps that were left behind. And farmers actually were required to leave the edges of their field unharvested so that there would be a better possibility for the poor to eke out a living.

Listen to God's words in Leviticus 19, verses 9 and 10. Leviticus 19, 9 and 10 say, When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest, and you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard.

You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner. I am the Lord your God. Then later on, Moses reinforced this principle in Deuteronomy. These verses are Deuteronomy 24, verses 19 through 22.

Moses said, When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back and get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward.

It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. Therefore, I command you to do this. So you can see it's been well established and emphasized more than once in Jewish law that they were to make provision for the poor and the widows especially.

And going back to our text for tonight, look again at verse 2 of chapter 2 in Ruth. It says, And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor.

And she said to her, Go, my daughter. Ruth may have been from Moab, but she definitely knew the Mosaic law. She volunteers to go glean, and she knew what she'd be getting into.

Especially at that time, gleaning was hard work. It was also hot work, and it wasn't necessarily safe work either. Not every landowner would abide by the provisions of the Mosaic law, and it was especially dangerous for a foreign woman who had no connections to protect her or to call on in distress.

So when Ruth volunteered to go out and glean to provide for the two of them, she was making herself vulnerable, not just for her own sake, but for Naomi's too. So Ruth actually was stepping out in faith that somewhere out there was a generous, God-fearing landowner who would make room for the poor.

And faith doesn't simply sit around waiting for provision to drop down from heaven. We're actually called to do what we can, and we're called to trust that God will provide for our needs. So think about that last part again.

It's an important secondary point that we can learn from tonight's text. Faith doesn't simply sit around waiting for provision to drop down from heaven. We're called to do what we can, and as we do, we're called to trust that God will provide for our needs.

But just looking at verse 2, do you find anything unusual about verse 2? Apparently, Naomi had yet to learn the lesson we'd just talked about because instead of doing what she could, Naomi let her daughter-in-law from a foreign country go alone into what could be a dangerous situation.

Naomi was perhaps in her 50s at this point in the story, and especially because she'd just traveled from Moab, she had no obvious disability that made her unable to go out and work.

Especially in this day, two would have been safer than one, and so you might have expected that Naomi would have wanted to accompany Ruth, and if she did, they would have been able to bring back more food, more than likely.

But perhaps her bitterness had caused her to sink into depression and despair. Instead of going out and doing what she could, it looks like that she was going to sit at home and feel sorry for herself.

And if you look at her response to Ruth's request to go glean, she simply said, Go, my daughter. And that does nothing to dispel the impression that she might have actually sunk into despair and depression.

So she's apparently consumed all of her energy and worrying, and she has none left to do anything that might actually help solve her problem. And listen to this quote from a theologian named Ian Duguid.

I've used him a lot in this lesson. Ian Duguid says, Whether or not despair is what drives Naomi's inaction, it is certainly a problem in our own experience.

When we stop believing in God's goodness and give ourselves over to doubt and worry, we easily sink into a despairing inactivity. This can lead to a downward spiral in which our inactivity makes our situation worse and deepens our despair, which in turn makes us feel less inclined than ever to step out into what we believe to be a hostile world.

The key to breaking that cycle is grasping hold of God's covenant commitment to do us good. If we can once look at the cross and grasp the height and depth of the love of God for us in Jesus, then how can we doubt his sincere desire to give us everything necessary for life and godliness?

If we feel the smile of the Father's favor toward us in Christ in spite of our history of sin and failure, then we'll be encouraged to step out again in faith. We will still not know what the future holds, yet if we know that the one who holds the future cares for us, that first step upward on the long road back to obedience becomes possible again.

I thought that last part was especially poignant. He said, we still will not know what the future holds, yet if we know that the one who holds the future cares for us, that first step upward on the long road back to obedience becomes possible again.

So here now we have Ruth, the Moabitess, an outsider to the covenant, who seems to understand something that even Naomi does not.

Without waiting for any prompting, Ruth tells Naomi, let me go to the field and glean. She's appropriately assertive, and at the same time, she's being subordinate and polite to her mother-in-law because she asked her mother-in-law's permission to do that.

She's a stranger, and she naturally looks to Naomi for guidance in matters of local custom, but this hasn't made her passive. Instead, she uses her ability to see the need and try to meet them, and that way she indicates her freedom of thought and decisiveness there.

And Ruth's initiative and assertiveness lead us to verse 3. Verse 3 says, The key phrase of verse 3 is the key phrase of this section.

What do you think the key phrase of verse 3 is? The key phrase actually is, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz.

So there was a God-fearing landowner in Bethlehem who cared for the poor, a man named Boaz who was a relative of Naomi's. So what a coincidence.

Ruth had no obvious reason to pick one field over the next, but she ended up in Boaz's field. And the text tells us, literally, if we translate the Hebrew there, it's as chance chanced.

So they reference chance twice, or as we might say, as luck would have it. And of course, you see, that's what I used as the title for tonight, is as luck would have it.

Only, there really was no such thing as luck driving this chain of events. This was all part of a higher plan. Ruth had nothing less than a divine appointment that brought her to the fields of Boaz.

She had no angelic visions to direct her to the right field or voices from heaven to guide her. But nevertheless, as she trusted in the Lord, he directed her steps unwittingly to exactly the right location.

So Ruth here is a living example of Proverbs 16.9. Proverbs 16.9 is a familiar verse. It says, The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.

And so verse 3 is why this section is headed as the providence. We might have called it as luck would have it, but we really know it's the providence of God that has brought Ruth to Boaz's field.

And to the Orthodox Israelite, there was no such thing as chance, because an Israelite proverb, actually Proverbs 16.33 says, The lot is cast into the lamp, to the lap, I mean, but its every decision is from the Lord.

So once again, the lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord. So if the Lord even determines how the dice fall, the narrator is really saying something that's strange here.

How come the narrator talks about chance, chancing her to be there? Well, perhaps he's looking at the event through Ruth's eyes, because as someone who's only recently transferred her allegiance to the God of Israel, she may well have retained some pagan perspectives concerning fate and the future.

But really, the wording is probably better interpreted as a deliberate rhetorical device there on the part of the narrator, because by attributing Ruth's good fortune to chance, he forces the reader to set up and take notice and to ask questions concerning the significance about everything that's transpiring.

So the statement that Ruth happened to arrive at Boaz's field has a purpose, and its purpose is to undermine the purely rational explanations for human experiences and to refine the reader's understanding of providence.

In reality, the narrator is screaming for us to see the hand of God at work here, even though on the surface that hand may not be visible. After all, that same hand that had sent the famine and had later provided food is the hand that had brought Naomi and Ruth to Bethlehem precisely at the beginning of the harvest, and now God's hand has guided Ruth to the portion of the field belonging specifically to Boaz.

So Ruth's chance arrival, and chance is in quotes there, at the field of Boaz is providential on two accounts. First, Boaz was a gracious man in whose eyes Ruth would later find favor.

We'll see that when we get to verse 10. Second, he was from the same clan as Ruth's deceased father-in-law, Elimelech, and for the divine agenda to be fulfilled, both elements had to be present, and both elements were.

So both elements didn't just happen to occur. They were actually controlled by God. So we've seen the providence at work. Now as we come to the second section of the lesson, we see the persistence.

So the persistence is what we'll see in verses 4 through 7, and that persistence really is Ruth's persistence. Look at verses 4 through 7 again.

They say, So she came, and she has continued from early morning until now, except for a short rest.

So try to picture the scene as Boaz arrives here. The field would have been thick with waving barley, and the reapers are cutting their way into it with their sickles, and they're grasping the ears of barley until their arms are full.

And behind them, the women gather up armfuls and bind them into sheaves. And still further in the rear, you'll find the widow and the stranger, who according to the Hebrew law, have the right to glean after the reapers.

And the overseer is visibly urging on the reapers and granting or refusing permission and admission to the gleaners. So it's at this time that Boaz comes back to check on how things are going, and our first impression of Boaz is favorable.

He's gracious and cordial, showing through his greeting of the reapers that he is a man of keen spiritual sensitivity. And he also appears to be conscious of the fact that all blessing comes from the Lord, because he declares his desire for God's blessing to be experienced by the reapers as well.

And he greets them in the name of the Lord. We can easily overlook the significance of the first words from Boaz. Remember, though, when all of this took place.

Ruth 1.1 told us that these events happened at a time when the judges ruled. And remember how Judges 21.25 summed up the period of the judges. Judges 21.25 said, In those days there was no king in Israel.

Well, everyone did what was right in his own eyes. So during these days of great apostasy, Boaz greets his workmen with, The Lord be with you.

And he uses the Hebrew covenantal name for God. And that would have been rare in those days. There weren't a lot of people turning to God at that time. But how did the workmen answer Boaz's greeting?

Yeah, they reflected it right back. They said, Well, the Lord bless you. So Boaz now discreetly turns to the chief reaper or overseer, And he asks about Ruth. Literally, he says, To whom does this young woman belong?

And he's not specifically asking about the identity of Ruth's husband, But he's curious about her family tree. And Boaz's question tells us something else about him.

He asks only about Ruth. And that question implies that Boaz knew everybody else. So despite his wealth and social standing, He took the time to get to know everyone enough That he knew when somebody different was there.

And Boaz receives an interesting response to his question. The overseer is implying that Ruth, Being poor and not from Israel, Is hardly worth noticing. And he does that by not referring to her by name.

In a single sentence, The overseer shows us a great deal about himself. He's conscious of social rank, And he's conscious of national pride, And where everybody stands, Or should stand, As he sees it in the pecking order.

And the difference between Boaz and the chief reaper Should be as an example for us, too. Because we should be more like Boaz, And less like the overseer.

And think about that from today's perspective. Because do we welcome outsiders like Ruth, The non-kosher people who don't naturally fit in With our community the way that Boaz did.

If you think about it, Many rich men in Bethlehem Would have looked over the laborers harvesting their fields, And would have been unable to point out the single foreigner, And identified her as somebody new.

And when we have visitors in church, Is it easy for us to scan the rows of the people in church, And completely miss all of the roofs that are sitting out there, That need somebody to notice them.

We can do the same thing in our neighborhoods, too. We can cast an eye over our neighborhood, And our community, And completely overlook the outcasts and strangers, And the poor and the needy.

So it's really a challenge for us, To be consciously looking for those who are on their own. So do we have eyes to see the poor and the needy In our own neighborhood, And the neglected in our own church, Or do they remain invisible to us?

And as we get ready for the next engage event in a few weeks, Keep that thought in the back of your mind. Because chances are, We will have people here that definitely need our help, And could benefit from the help that we can do.

And of course, They'll benefit from knowing God, Most of all. Look though at what the overseer says in verse 7. Even though he seems to view Ruth as rather insignificant, She still caught his attention, Because the overseer tells Boaz, She said, Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers.

So she came, And she has continued from early morning until now, Except for a short rest. So Ruth, Even though he refused to call her by name, Had made an impression on him, And he'd been watching her.

He even noticed when she went and took a brief rest. So, With statements like these, He betrayed the mixed emotions that were inside him. And the young overseer's description of the way in which Ruth approached him, As well as her conduct in the field, Actually helps our understanding of Ruth, And our appreciation of Ruth.

Because she said, Please let me glean, And she phrased it delicately, But she phrased it in a way that she anticipated an affirmative response. She was gracious and positive in her attitude.

She'd suffered a lot, But she wasn't depressed. Think about what she'd been through the past several weeks, And the setbacks she'd been through had not left her in despair. She might have been beaten down by the sheer weight of her trials, But she still had confidence in herself, And she still had confidence in the Lord, Under whose wings she had taken refuge.

And on account of her love for her mother-in-law, She was determined to persevere. So we see Ruth's persistence then, In both how she asked for permission to glean, And also in how she approached the work of gleaning.

She started early, She worked diligently, And when she was tired, She rested. Even though evidently she was secure enough, And confident in the Lord enough, Not to allow her anxieties to goad her into unwarranted activity.

No evidence here suggested the fear of impoverishment, Drove her to the border of panic. She worked hard, But when she felt the need, She relaxed. And we all, At one time or another, Experience trials and setbacks in life.

How we overcome the circumstances of life is dependent upon two things. The way we think about ourselves, And our confidence in the Lord. So Ruth actually illustrates for us the personal dynamics, That will help us rise up from our own experiences, And persevere.

She also shows us how God graciously works behind the scenes, To accomplish his purpose for us. We may not be aware of God's involvement at the time, But his guidance for his people, And his direction of our footsteps, Are just as sure as his guidance of Ruth's footsteps, To the portion of the field that belonged to Boaz.

So we can trust him to work in us, As well as in our circumstances. We know that the temptation is real for us, To doubt God's good provision for our needs, And to look to ourselves or to others to provide for us, And that can easily cast us into despair and bitterness, Like what Naomi had done.

But when we find ourselves scraping the bottom of life's barrel, And we turn our backs on the bread of life that will not satisfy, Then we've lost focus on the only thing that will really help us.

Naomi and Ruth certainly needed physical food, That's true. But their greatest need was a heavenly redeemer To rescue them from the wrath of God, Because of their sin. The cost for Naomi and Ruth to have their deepest need supplied Was for Jesus to taste death in their place, And the cost for us to have our deepest need met for our salvation Was for Jesus to be made sin for us, So that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

And out of his covenant faithfulness, God willingly paid the price for Ruth and Naomi, And he willingly paid the price for all believers, Including us. So as we come to an end tonight, Consider this question from Ian Duguid.

Is your heart constantly ignited by the glorious grace and covenant faithfulness of this God? Once again, here's that question one more time. Is your heart constantly ignited by the glorious grace and covenant faithfulness of this God?

He goes on to say, That last sentence is powerfully challenging and also reassuring at the same time.

It says, If we fix our eyes on the glorious grace of God, And his costly answer for our deepest need, Then we will not so quickly doubt that he will meet all of our other needs.

The lesson title may have been, As luck would have it, But we know that no luck was involved. As Psalm 16.9 put it, The heart of man plans his way, But the Lord establishes his steps.

Let's close in prayer. Father, we thank you for the reminder of your providence and your faithfulness to us, Even when it may not be apparent to us that that's actually going on.

When we face times of difficulty, Help us remember this lesson, And help us be more confident that you really are working behind the scenes, And that you really are directing our footsteps.

Continue to be with us as we go through the rest of the week. We pray your continued blessing on the Vacation Bible School. We thank you for all the workers and volunteers.

And just bless that activity that people may know to glorify you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.