Please take a Bible and go to Ruth chapter 2. Ruth chapter 2. We'll be looking at verses 1 through 23. Ruth 2, 1 to 23. 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 is 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. Then Boaz said to Ruth, Now listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping and go after them. Have I not charged the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn. And she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner? But Boaz answered her, All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me. And how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before, The Lord repay you for what you have done and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge. And she said, I have found favor in your eyes, my Lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not one of your servants. And at mealtime, Boaz said to her, Come here and eat some of the bread and dip your morsel in the wine. So she sat beside the reapers and he passed her roasted grain and she ate until she was satisfied and she had some left over. When she rose to glean, Boaz instructed his young men saying, let her glean even among the sheaves. Do not reproach her. And also pull out some of the bundles for her and leave it for her to 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 effa of barley. And she took it up and went into the city. Her mother-in-law saw that she had gleaned or what she had gleaned. She also brought out and gave her what food she had left over after being satisfied. And her mother-in-law said to her, where did you glean today? And where have you worked? Blessed be the man who took notice of you. So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, The man's name with whom I work today is Boaz. And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, May he be blessed by the Lord whose kindness is not forsaken the living or the dead. Naomi also said to her, The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers. And Ruth the Moabite said, Besides, he said to me, You shall keep close to my young men until they have finished all my harvest. And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, 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. Pray with me. Father in heaven, we praise you for this story that teaches us about your good and sovereign purposes. We pray that you would take it and press it deeply within our hearts that we might leave assured that just as your hand was active in past days, so your hand is active in current days. Teach us, Lord, for we need you. In Jesus' name, amen. Have you ever experienced happy providence? I'm sure that you have. Maybe you got a check in the mail that you were not expecting. You found a gift card to go out and eat that you thought you had lost. You had a near miss on the highway. You had someone unexpectedly give you tickets to a Braves game. You bumped into a person that you haven't seen for years. We see happy providences all over the place in our lives. And our text is also full of it. God's providence is stitched into every verse of this chapter. As the Lord weaves the events of Naomi and Ruth's lives for his glory and the good of his people. Naomi lost her husband and her boys. Ruth lost her husband and her homeland. And yet through the storms, even though the storms of life were crashing upon them. God was sitting at the helm of the ship. Directing their way forward. even though they might not have noticed it. Our texts will teach us that God is doing the same thing in our lives. He's sitting in the helm of the ship, directing. He is at work, bringing happy providences. Even when hardship's darkness has descended upon us, blocking our view. To help us understand this, The passage begins by telling us about providence and the ordinary. And Trey and I did not talk as he spoke about that point in relationship to Acts chapter 27. Perhaps that's something for us to consider. Maybe the Lord really does want to press this topic to our souls since it was already referred to previously. We find very quickly that Naomi and Ruth, they're back in Bethlehem. We learned that at the end of chapter one. It was a difficult return. Joyous in one sense because Ruth was converted. She let go of Moab's false faith and owned the true faith. But Naomi's return was difficult. She and Elimelech. and their sons had left Moab 10 years previously to avoid the famine. Upon coming back, Naomi had lost everything dear to her. She was bitter. She was so bitter. She wanted everyone to call her by a new name, Mara, meaning sour. Because that's how Naomi saw her life. She responded to hard providence with hard thoughts of God. Which leads us to ask a question, what is providence? Westminster Shorter Catechism number 11, it's God's preserving and governing of all things, all his creatures and their actions. Heidelberg Catechism number 27, it's God ruling all things so that leaf and blades, rain and droughts, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty, all things come to us, not by chance, but from God's fatherly hand. That's providence. How do we see providence unfolding in our text? It starts through the ordinary events of life, like finding food. The drought had ended in Israel. The Lord extended his mercy to the nation. But how would Naomi and Ruth survive? I mean, there was no public right around the corner. Everyone lived off farming the lands. But these two ladies, they had just returned to the family plots. They had not sown crops. And to do so was untenable for an old woman like Naomi and virtually impossible for Ruth alone to do. And so verse 2, Ruth said to her mother-in-law, let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor. The primary way Naomi and Ruth were going to make it was through gleaning in the fields. Leviticus 19 commanded some of the harvest was to be left for the poor, sojourners, widows and orphans to pick. Ruth knew this and so she asked Naomi if it was okay for her to go and do so. And Naomi told her, go my daughter. But why didn't Naomi go with her? Sowing and harvesting her own fields was probably too much. But not to pick a little bit of grain from other fields. Perhaps Naomi was depressed. immobilized by her bitter circumstances. Whatever the reason, Ruth went alone. And that was dangerous. She was a young woman going to pick grain in fields where she knew no one. Who would look out for her safety? Who would make sure that the stuff she picked wouldn't be stolen? And what made all of this even more hazardous was the fact that Ruth was a Moabite. Three times in chapter two, we are reminded of her ethnicity. It was a blight against her. It was something that opened her up to discrimination or physical harm. It could have led to her being turned away from a field. or brought into one for sinful purposes. What she was about to do was dangerous. She knew it, but still she went anyway. Verse three, she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech. By some wild fluke she found herself in the field of a man who was the relative of her deceased father-in-law. In the Hebrew it literally reads, by a chanced chance she ended up in this guy's field. What a lucky strike. Or was it? Actually, the writer is telling us the opposites. It is as if he is winking at us. It just so happens, Ruth went to Boaz's field. Proverbs 16, nine says, a man's heart plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps. 1633, the lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord. There is nothing outside God's control. Even ordinary things are a part of his sovereign purposes. Like which field Ruth chose to go into. For Ruth, she woke up that morning and decided, you know what, I think I probably should go and glean in the fields. She was walking around, she freely decided To go to Boaz's property and not to other ones. And in God's happy providence, it just so happens that the one she chose was family land. It's not as if there was a sign there that said, pick this one. What does this teach us? There are no insignificant events in our lives. Everything we do is meaningful. The ordinary day today is meaningful. Like deciding to go to one place and not another. Or washing clothes, taking out the trash, cutting the grass, or eating lunch with a friend. There are no trivial events in life. Because God is at work. through all events in life for our benefits. Do you believe that? If so, you don't have to see the mundane as mundane. Changing diapers, changing flat tires, changing the bedsheets may feel uneventful. But they are not unimportant. They are all a part of the tapestry God is sovereignly stitching. They are valuable details of the story God is telling. Do you know what that means? We can enjoy the seemingly insignificant. Because we know nothing is insignificant with God. He uses everything for His glory and the good of His people. He can even take small things and turn them into big things, such as doing the dishes, fixing toilets, and going grocery shopping. And knowing this can help us face the ordinary and also The uncertain and the difficult. So often we fret over the future. We stress over our struggles. But if God is sovereign over the everyday things of life. Is he not sovereign over everything in life? Maybe what we need to do. Is stop focusing on tomorrow. Stop being consumed with our circumstances. And just be concerned with doing the next right thing today. Wisely planned for the future, of course. But remember, faithfulness now will help us to be content with the trials of tomorrow. Faithfulness now will help us to be content with the trials of tomorrow. Because all our times are in God's hands. And he graciously governs them for the blessing of those who love him. That's what God's providence in the ordinary teaches us. And it leads us to our next point. Providence and godliness. After Ruth found her way onto family land and began gleaning, the owner of the field came to check on things. His name was Boaz. What do we know about this guy? We already said that he was a relative in the line of Elimelech. He's part of the wider family. But Boaz was also a man with a past. Matthew chapter 1 verse 5 tells us, his mother was Rahab. Joshua too, she was the prostitute who helped Hebrew spies escape Jericho. After the fall of the city, she and her family were engrafted into the people of God. And then she married Salmon and they had Boaz. But he would be remembered as the son whose mother used to be a woman of the night. In that way, Boaz had a past. And he was not the only one in the story who had a past. Ruth was a Moabite. In the eyes of many, her ethnicity equaled sketchiness. And yet both were a part of the kingdom of God. And that is what the Lord does, isn't it? He takes people with a past. And he saves them. He adopts them into his family. He knits them into his story of redemption. So then do not think that your non-Christian neighbor, family member, co-worker or friend who have passed, cannot be saved. Do not give up praying for their conversion. Do not stop sharing the gospel with them and inviting them to church. And do not think that you are beyond God's mercy. Do not think your sins are so heinous, the Lord cannot save you. Through Christ's cross, he can, has, and will save people, even those like Boaz and Ruth, like some of us, with a past. As our text continues, though, we learn that Boaz was, in fact, a godly man. Verse 1 called him a worthy man, meaning He was a man of uprightness. Notice in verse four, how he greeted the reapers in his fields. The Lord be with you. And they responded likewise. The Lord bless you. They invoked the covenant name of God. Different from most farm work sites back then and today. Boaz's environment was righteous. It reflected his character. And we see it also in how he related to Ruth. He asked his foreman, verse 5, whose young woman is that? Likely, there was some immediate romantic interest. Just have to kind of read between the lines a little bit and connect the dots in the overall book. But it was not inappropriate. The response was, She is the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. And then Boaz spoke directly to her, not saying, Hey, you over there, come here. Instead, he called her, verse 8, my daughter. He spoke tenderly to her. He didn't demean her, but treated her with respect. And that manifested itself not only in how he talked to her, but what he did for her. He protected her and provided for her. Look at verses eight and nine. Do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping and go after them. Have I not charged the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn. Boaz knew gleaning was dangerous. So out of kindness, he sought to guard and to give to Ruth. He was a godly man. And we are also meant to notice Ruth's righteous behavior. How did she respond to Boaz's benevolence? She esteemed him. Verse 10. She fell on her face before him, humbling herself, saying, Why have I found favor in your eyes that you should take notice of me? In other words, who am I that you would do such things for me? Who am I to receive these blessings? I am no one. On top of that, Ruth was quite honest. She said, I am a foreigner. She understood her impoverished position. Boaz didn't have to be so generous. She was a Moabite. And therefore she was not entitled to this kind of treatment. But her humility and honesty are both parts of the picture of godliness that is being painted in this text. And the picture doesn't stop here. Because Boaz responded to Ruth's humility and honesty by comforting her. Look at verse 11. All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me. And how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. Boaz was basically saying, I've heard about your suffering. I've heard about all your struggles. And how you've acted in the midst of all of that. Boaz was empathizing with her. And in a sense, he was praying for her. Look at verse 12. The Lord repay you for what you have done and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel. Ruth had sacrificed much for Naomi. She had left her people and her culture behind. So Boaz desired the Almighty to use his sovereign power for her good. Under God's wings, Ruth had sought refuge. Under God's wings, Ruth could know God's blessing. In verse 12, she was comforted by his words. But there is an important application here for us regarding godliness that we dare not miss. Are you young? Listen to Samuel Rutherford. Give your youth to Jesus Christ. For it is the most precious offer and acceptable gift you can give to him. Give not your youth to the devil and to your lust and then reserve nothing to Jesus Christ but your old rotten bones. Give your youth to Christ. Are you old? Listen to Octavius Winslow. Let aged Christians Look at the state of their souls and seek a renewed heart that they might finish stronger in godliness than they were in earlier years. No matter who we are, young or old, let us not merely profess God. but seek to resemble him in holiness. Cry out to him for help in doing so. So there is something here for us to learn about godliness. But we also need to be mindful of a connection that's made in this text between godliness and providence. Godliness helped Boaz and Ruth to respond to providence. Boaz had a past. Boaz endured suffering in the famine. Ruth had a past. Ruth endured suffering through loss. But godliness was important in helping them to react rightly to hard providence. And when hard providence hits us, godliness can help. Because godliness does something to the heart. Godliness trains the heart to trust God in troubles. So that the more we grow in godliness, the more we are at peace when things go against us. The more we grow in godliness, the more at peace we are when things go against us. Godliness strengthens us to face providence's mysteries and providence's miseries. It's an important point in this text about the relationship between providence and godliness. Godliness helps us to face providence, whether in the ordinary or in the hard. And godliness will lead us to understand our last point, providence and provision. Verse 14 tells us that it was lunchtime. Boaz told Ruth to come and eat with everyone else. Moabites normally would not have been allowed to do that. And then as they went back to the field, he told his young men to let her glean with everyone else. And he told them to respect her. Boaz was extremely kind and generous. And the haul that Ruth took back home was a ton. She carried back around 40 plus pounds of food. Ruth must have been buff. I mean, can you carry 40 plus pounds for a couple of miles? Ruth had muscles. In verse 18, imagine what Naomi's reaction was when Ruth plopped down all those groceries. It was enough to feed them for weeks. Upon picking up her jaw that had hit the floor, Naomi said, verse 19, where did you glean today? And where have you worked? Her reaction revealed her utter amazement at what had been provided. It was almost too good to be true. Typically, a widow would glean enough for a couple of days, not a couple of weeks. Then Naomi also responded by offering up a blessing. Blessed be the man who took notice of you. She was overjoyed by the provision. And it only gets better because with one word, her outlook on life was about to change. What was that word? Boaz. Ruth answered, no, Amy. Answered, no, no, Amy. Now the man's name with whom I work today is Boaz. And Naomi erupted in praise. Verse 20, May he be blessed by the Lord whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead. She brought blessing to the Lord for Boaz and she acknowledged God's steadfast love towards her. What a change in this woman. The Hebrew word that's used there for kindness means steadfast love. Naomi realized in that moment that God had not given up on her. He had not forgotten her. In some sense, Naomi saw the hand of God to provide. And for more than just food, but also for a kinsman redeemer. In the weeks ahead, we'll talk about the concept of kinsmen redeemer. But for now, Boaz was someone in Elimelech's clan who could pay the price necessary to guarantee deliverance from poverty. Who could ensure family land would stay in the family. And who could provide an heir. Boaz could marry Ruth. He could take her as his wife. And they could have a child. And the Lemon Lake line would continue. Naomi saw God's provision of a redeemer. So she told Ruth to do exactly as Boaz said, stay in that field. Don't go anywhere. And as we will read in the next chapter, she will begin to play the parts of matchmaker meddler. Moms, have you ever tried to do that? It doesn't work too well. But despite all of that, Naomi began to see God's providence to provide, though the final result of providence was still very unclear. Could be that is exactly where you are this evening. You perceive a bit of God's hand at work, but the full outcome is fuzzy. You don't completely know how that medical treatment, job, relationship or ministry opportunity will work out. There's uncertainty. Or maybe you don't see God's provision in providence at all. Because everything seems dark and hard. What do you do? It's easy to despair, lose hope, get discouraged and give up. What do you do when there is difficulty and uncertainty in providence? You direct yourself to how God has already provided in providence. how he already provided a Redeemer. You focus on Christ, who is the one that acquired our redemption by paying the price for our redemption. Quoting the Puritan George Swinnick, in Christ, there was infinite grace for our infinite guilt. There was infinite mercy for our infinite misery. Reflecting on the work of Christ to redeem us will help us take off Providence's mask to see the smiling face of God. Reflecting on the work of Christ to redeem us will help us take off hard Providence's mask to see the smiling face of God. Because in Jesus Christ, We perceive God's heart and that gives us confidence that he who previously helped us in Jesus will help us today and tomorrow. He who did not spare his own son, how will he not also with him give us all things? that we need for life and godliness today and tomorrow. Remembering the provision of Christ will supply confidence and strength to face hard providences. And then to see those hard providences in a different light. Because hard providences are always intended to bring us closer to Christ. Which means that as we draw near to Christ, as we go through hard providences, they become happy providences. Because they bring us closer to Jesus. We may face hard providences in this life, we will. But they are turned to happy providences. Because they bring us closer to the Lord Jesus. May the Lord help us to have that kind of perspective. It's the perspective that we're being taught through the lives of people like Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz. It's the kind of perspective that reminds us that God is sovereign and that he loves us. And that love has been proven in Jesus Christ. And therefore we can trust him. No matter the providences we encounter day by day. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Blessed Father, we praise you for the Lord Jesus Christ, who reminds us of your love, who teaches us that you are the sovereign God. And so therefore, we pray that you would help us to remember that there are no insignificant events in life, even the ordinary. Help us to do the ordinary with great joy and thanksgiving, knowing that they are meaningful. May we seek to do it for your glory and for the good of those around us. But Father, would you help us then to also pursue godliness in providence in the day to day? May we be mindful that godliness does something to the heart. It trains us. It trains us to trust you when things are difficult. And then, Lord, teach us. Teach us that you provide in the midst of providence. You provide what we need to face it. Father, when we forget that, may we be mindful that you provided us your son. How will you not also with him give us all things that we need? Help us to see that all providences for the believer will become happy providences because they draw us closer to Christ. Help us to have that perspective, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.