Once again this morning we are studying the Old Testament book of Ruth and in our meditations thus far we have come to the beginning of the second chapter and that chapter we said last time is a record of guidance and of working. Here in this portion we see Ruth gleaning in the field of that man who is going to become the very central figure in her life from this point on. Last time we emphasized the person. Such is the role that Boaz plays in this book that you could well be forgiven for calling the book the book of Boaz. But it isn't the book of Boaz, it's the book of Ruth. However, all that is said of Ruth is linked to Boaz. He is the central and crucial figure to all of the events that are now unfolding in this portion of Scripture. The book is all about God's great work through Boaz in providing for the needs of Ruth. And we know that the Scripture is all about Christ and the Christian life is all about the Redeemer. He is the central figure in our lives. And if He's not, we're not Christians. Because the Lord Himself has come to redeem us. But He's come to be our Lord, our Saviour, our Master, our Ruler. He's come to be the one who gives us life more abundant in Him. He's the central figure in our lives. And as we talk about the person of Boaz, we noted quite a number of parallels between him and the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're meant to see that in this book. He is, for example, called the Redeemer, the Kinsman Redeemer. That whole idea of redemption comes into its own in chapter 4. But suffice to say that this description of Him is one that immediately causes us to think of our Redeemer. the one who is near of kin to us, the one who is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, even Christ Himself. The name Boaz is significant because it means strength or ability. And when you think about what Ruth had come from, she had been married to a man who was weak or sickly. That's what his name signified. A position of no strength. But now she comes into a position whereby the man who is to be the head of her life and of her home, his name signifies strength or ability. And Christ is abundantly able to save. We know that by experience. In the Gospel we come from a position of weakness to one of strength and might. When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Boaz came from Bethlehem. There's another parallel with Christ. The Redeemer would be born there many centuries later. We see also that the first place Boaz is seen in the entire book is among his servants as they work in the field. And our Lord is the Lord of the harvest who works with us in the field. He doesn't leave us to work alone. He doesn't leave us to labour without His knowledge or His influence or His input. We don't labour in vain because the Lord is labouring with us. We see another great parallel in chapter 3 in that He's at the threshing floor. He's separating the chaff from the barley. The Lord is seen to be in the threshing floor in Matthew chapter 3. Only this time He is separating the chaff from the wheat. And so there are great parallels between this person and the person of Christ. But we also noted last time a practice. Ruth chapter 2 verse 2 gives us the words of Ruth when she said to Naomi, let me now go to the field. and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace." She has been brought to the house of bread at the beginning of barley harvest, so she is in a place of satisfaction. She has all the blessings of all the other harvests yet to come, just like the believer who has all the blessings of Christ in days that are yet to come when he is converted. But as well as satisfaction, Ruth has been brought to a place of service. She has a desire to work. And her mother-in-law, as well as herself, was depending upon Ruth for the meeting of her needs. And so Ruth went to glean in the fields. We made a very human and practical application of that, where she was willing to actually physically work herself to earn their keep. But there's more than that here. Because every believer certainly is signified here and pictured here in a spiritual way. Because when we're saved by grace, when we come under the wings of the Lord, and that actually is the term that's used of Ruth in chapter 2, verse 12. The Lord God of Israel under whose wings thou art come to trust. That's our position. But we are saved, not just to enjoy being under the Lord's wings, but to be serving Him, to actually be living for Him. Let me now go to the field. That's the attitude of every believer, or should be. There's plenty of work to do for the Lord. Ask yourself the question this morning, what am I doing? What am I doing to extend the kingdom of God? What am I doing to actually make Christ known among men? So service is really important. And while it's true that Ruth had to literally glean for her food in the field and also for Naomi, who was depending on her for her sustenance as well, there is a spiritual application here. You see, the first impulse of the newborn soul is to feed on Christ. There's always something wrong with a little baby that's born and it doesn't want to feed. You know there's a problem there. Those who say they're saved, they've no desire for the Word of God, they've no desire for the house of God, no desire for the fellowship of the people of God. You have to ask the question, are they alive spiritually? Have they actually been born? Born of God, that is, born again. Because the first impulse, I say, of the newborn soul is to feast on Christ, who is the bread of life. Bethlehem means the house of bread. That's where Ruth came to. And there is a hunger and a thirst in the heart of every believer, a desire that has been placed there by the Spirit of God. And if it's not there, You have to put a question mark over the experience of that professing believer. But as well as a desire to feed, there's a desire to serve. There is a desire to be of service, to be of use to the Lord in taking the living bread to others. Here we have Ruth, and she's going into the field to glean ears of corn. Not just to provide for herself, but for her mother-in-law. And as we read down through this chapter, we see that she brought that which she had gleaned to her mother-in-law. If you look at verse 18, it tells us, And she took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned, and she brought forth and gave to her. that she had reserved after she was sufficed. So here's Ruth, satisfied herself, but she's also meeting the needs of others. Is that what we're doing? Or are we just happy to just expand ourselves by feasting on Christ without giving out to others? Are you seeking to encourage other people to taste and see that the Lord is good? Now, the guidance that we spoke about last time is seen very clearly in Ruth chapter 2 verse 3. Look at these words. And she went and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers. Many of this very quaint statement. And her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz who was of the kindred of Elimelech. The marginal rendering there in the authorised version is really interesting. Her hap happened to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz. This is guidance. In the chapter you'll see in verse 1 that the Spirit of God mentions Boaz first and foremost. describes him and then refers to the desire of Ruth to go out into the fields and start gleaning. And unconsciously, but most certainly supernaturally, Ruth's steps are directed to the field of Boaz. And so we note carefully regarding this fact that Ruth was guided. She was guided by a great providence. She didn't go to his field because he was a kinsman. She didn't go to that part of the field because there was a notice on the side of it that said this field belongs to Boaz. There was none of that. It's not because he was a close relative. She didn't know at this point about Boaz or who he was. She had no idea whose field it was yet. It just says, her hop was to late. Literally, she just happened to stop in Boaz's field. That's what it means. That's what the Spirit of God is saying here. She just happened to stop in that part of the field that belonged to Boaz. In other words, the guidance was an unconscious thing. But it was very definitely planned by the Lord. The Bible tells us clearly in a number of places, but not least in Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 11, that the Lord actually directs and guides all things. It says of Christ, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." You know, it's really nice to look at the little phrase, all things, in Scripture. All things were made by Him. And without Him was not anything made that was made. And He is Colossians. He is before all things. And then you have Romans 8, 28. And we know that all things work together for good. to them that are called of God, the called according to His purpose. That's a sermon in itself. The all things. But look here. The purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will. In other words, God puts everything together. God has a plan. And from Ruth's point of view, Going into the field of Boaz, it was just something that happened. And that's what the Lord is emphasizing here. It's something that just happened. But we know that it was very definitely planned by the Lord. And friends, there are times when we are very consciously led into a field of service. But there are those other times when we find ourselves placed and guided by circumstances over which we have no control. And in such times, it's only when we're looking back that we can trace the guiding hand of the Lord. Rutherford put it this way, Annie Ross Cousin taking his words and putting them into that great poem, the hand that guided, I'll bless the heart that planned, when throned where glory dwelleth in Emmanuel's land." When we get to heaven, we're going to look back and see, Jesus led me all the way. Every step of every day. We can trace the guiding hand of God a lot of times just by looking back. Now, if we will, at the beginning of our new life in Christ, surrender our all to Him, and at the beginning of each and every day, consciously renew that position under the wings of the Lord, we can rest assured that we're going to be guided by Him, whether in a conscious or unconscious manner. In the case of Ruth, the Lord was guiding His child step by step. See, there is no such thing as chance. for those who put God first and follow Him. I know those stupid people that are in front of you in the line at the store buying about ten of those scratch cards, they don't believe that. They think that there is such a thing as luck or chance. The people who are over there playing those machines and The Sands Place over there in Bethlehem. They think that there's luck and there's chance. And they're hoping that their luck's going to be in when they go in there to the crap tables or whatever other appropriately named place there is in there. But listen, for the believer, there's no such thing as chance. Look at Psalm 37, verse 5. Wonderful words they are. Psalm 37. Verse 5, commit thy way unto the Lord. That's what you should be doing every single day. Don't take a single step or do a single thing without consulting the Lord about it. I don't know what you do, but I don't even buy a pair of shoes without asking the Lord about it. I mean, that's it. That's probably why I get them for half price all the time. Commit thy way unto the Lord. Trust also in Him. and He shall bring it to pass. There's a great verse as well in Proverbs 4 that speaks of the same thing. It's verse 12. When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straightened. You know, it literally means that as you go step by step, the way shall open up before thee. I love that. In the matter of conscious guidance, great preacher, Dr. F.B. Meyer, gave an illustration. He was crossing on a ferry boat from Dublin to Hollyhead one dark night, and he asked the captain of the ship, Captain, how do you find Hollyhead harbour on such a dark, starless night as this? And the captain said, well, do you see those three lights out there on the horizon? And the man looked and, yeah, he could see three lights. He said, well, when those three lights are lined up so that they become one light, he said, I just follow that, keeping the ship in line with that one light, and I safely enter the harbour. The three lights come together as one. And Meyer, using that illustration, compared those three lights To number one, the light of God's Word, the Scriptures. Number two, the inward conviction begotten within the heart by the Holy Spirit, and there's peace in that. And thirdly, the divine arrangement of circumstances in the believer's life. Now, a lot of people don't look for those three. They just go by the circumstances, and that's not good. If Jonah had been going by circumstances, He would have thought he was in the will of God going down to Joppa, but he wasn't. But the circumstances all seemed to come together. Be very careful about that. Don't go, oh well, it all worked out. It all worked out. It must have been the will of God. No, it may have worked out, but was it contrary to the Scripture? Because it was contrary to the light of God's Word. It doesn't matter what you say. Circumstances have to fit in with the Word of God and with the inward conviction and peace that the Spirit of God gives you. That's how you find the will of God. But let's think about this statement. Her hap was to light on a part of the field that belonged to Boaz. Tell me, is there anything in a believer's life that we can say just happens? chance or the world would say fate or luck. In my lifetime, I've heard people say many a time, well, that's just the roll of the dice. Or that's the hand that you've been dealt. Or that's the way the cookie crumbles. I don't know if you've ever heard that, but we used that a lot when I was growing up, at least other people did. But you know that every one of those and other like sayings are a denial of God's sovereignty. They're a denial of His providential dealings. It's not just that's the way it is. That's a thing that's come into our modern parlance. I'm guilty of it myself. It is what it is. What else would it be? It is what it is. Yes, but it is what it is because that's how God has ordered it. We have to understand that and believe that. Now, there's times in my life and yours when that's really hard to deal with. You mean this is of God? You mean this is part of God's providential dealing with me? This is how the Lord has allowed this to work out? Her hat was to light. It just happened to be. that she was in that part of the field belonging to Boaz. Now, obviously, this language of verse 3 is suited by the Holy Spirit to our human understanding. That's why it's written like this. It sounds like a coincidence, doesn't it? Well, she just so happened to be there and it belonged to Boaz. But we are meant, as readers of Scripture, to infer that God was leading Ruth, even though to her it seemed like a chance occurrence. See, God indeed made the paths of Ruth and Boaz to cross because He was working out His sovereign plan. And that causes me to think of another great statement in Psalm 37. It's in verse 23. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and He delighteth in His way. And it's a good thing for us to pray with another, order my steps in thy word. See, God's great providence is a reality. And not only is it a reality, it's a great comfort for the people of God. It's comforting to me as a Christian to know that I'm being guided and led by the Lord. Now, let me just put this caveat in there. You as a believer ought to be seeking every single day to be guided and directed by God. You should be acknowledging Him in prayer and seeking His perfect will. Proverbs 3, verses 5 and 6 are words that I often like to give on a card. For example, to young people who are graduating, you're kind of setting out on life. You're going to start out on a new path. You don't know where it will lead you. Here's what it says. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean that unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths. Do that. Everything that you do, everything you put your hand to, everything you plan to do, acknowledge the Lord in it and He will direct your paths. He will. He will guide you. Psalm 32, verse 8 is the promise of God. I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go. I will guide thee with mine eye. In the margin it is, I will counsel thee, mine eye shall be upon thee. So you're following the Lord's direction. And so the Lord will guide you either consciously or unconsciously. He will order your steps. There's a man in the Old Testament who's a wonderful example of that. He was the servant of Abraham, a man by the name of Eliezer. We read about him in Genesis chapter 24. He was sent on an errand to find a bride for Isaac. Now I know there's a character that wrote a book about that and kind of made it like that was a template for all relationships. And I want to tell you, that's a load of nonsense. It's Buncombe. Because the Lord leads people in different ways. There is no template for meeting your life's partner. What you do is you pray, you seek the Lord, and you follow His direction and His leading. In this case, Abraham sent his servant, not to just get any woman at all for Isaac, but the one that God wanted. That's always important. And when he was going about that errand, he prayed. He asked the Lord, Genesis 24, verse 12, O Lord God of my master Abraham, I pray Thee, send me good speed this day and show kindness unto my master Abraham. Show me. Show me what the will of God is. And he prayed later on something similar. But then down there in verse 27, after the Lord had shown His will in the matter, it says, and He said, Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who have not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth. I being in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master's brethren." And it's a wonderful thing to be able to look back on your life and say, I being in the way, the Lord led me. I was directed. I was guided by God. Now, one writer observed of Ruth, No wonder, having begun by laying aside all self-confidence and self-pleasing, she was guided by an invisible hand. There were many fields and many owners of property in the plains of Bethlehem. Her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging to Boaz. To all appearances it was merely a chance But there are no mere chance happenings in the lives of those who belong to the Lord. And there are many who can testify to that. There's a lovely commentary in the book of Ruth that I've got a lot of benefit and blessing from by Philip Morrow. And he gave a personal testimony on this particular verse. Her hap happened to light on that part of the field. Here's what he said. The writer of these pages can never forget one evening in the springtime, in brackets, about the time of barley harvest, when his hap happened to be passing a building in New York City, where an insignificant prayer meeting was being held. And at just the moment when the few people gathered there, people of no influence, social standing or other worldly advantages, happened, to be singing a hymn. The weak and unattractive sound of that song served to draw him into what was perhaps the last place in the world where he would have planned to go, and that on an evening when he had started out with the fixed intention of going to a theatrical performance in New York City. The merest chance it was to all appearances But there is even to this day no natural explanation for the strange fact that such a weak thread of sound, a mere cobweb for strength, should have drawn him into a place from which all his natural inclinations and acquired habits would have barred him. But God's way is to use the weak things of this world in the accomplishing of His purposes. And so it was that on so trivial an incident hinged His own conversion to God, which in turn led on to the conversion of His family, and then to that of yet others, and also led on to innumerable things which His imagination in its wildest flights could never have contemplated. Oh, the providence of God. It's such a great thing. A friend of mine who served the Lord for many years, John Todd, was a confirmed drunkard. You talk about a man who hates alcohol. It about took his life. One night, by his own admission in the city of Belfast, He was lying on the ground in his own vomit and someone from the nearby Sands Soldiers Home came and with another person lifted him and brought him into the Sands Soldiers Home where there was a gathering for men. It's a rescue mission. There was a gathering for men that was A regular meeting where they sang hymns and where they preached the gospel. And John said he was there, not because he meant to be there, not because he set out to be there. But as he sat there, the Lord sobered him up. And he began to hear words whereby he would find eternal life. And that night John taught, pass from death unto life through believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. And to see him now, he's one of the cleanest guys I've ever met. To imagine that fellow with an unkempt beard, matted, wearing filthy, stinking clothing with his own vomit in it because of drink. He'd gotten to the point where he even began to melt down shoe polish to drink it because of the alcoholic content within it. God saved that man. Made a tremendous job of it too. And I have an old cassette at home, if it still would work on some kind of a machine. From Drunkard to Gospel Preacher by John Todd. Her hap was to light on a part of the field that belonged to Boaz. Folks, there are no chance occurrences. There are no mistakes. There are no slices of luck. And one of the great themes that we could use to summarize the book of Ruth would be God has a plan. God has a plan. But from a great providence, I want to speak about my second and last point, which is that Ruth was guided to a gracious provision. Look at verses 8 and 9. Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens. Let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them. Have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? And when thou art athirst," look at this, go unto the vessels and drink of that which the young men have drawn. Now, as we read on down the chapter, we find from verse 14 down to verse 16 that Boaz provides for her. He said, at mealtime, come hither, eat of the bread, dip thy morsel in the vinegar. It says, she sat beside the reapers and he reached her parched corn. Oh, that was special corn. And she did eat and was sufficed. and left, and then Boaz gave a command in verse 15 to the young men, let her glean among the sheaves, reproach her not, and let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them, that she may glean them and rebuke her not." Look at how she's being provided for. Now Ruth expected to find favor. She said that in verse 2. Let me now go to the field and glean the ears of corn after him, in whose sight I shall find grace or favour." But she received far more perhaps than she might have reasonably expected. First off, she was probably informed by Naomi about the merciful provision that the God of Israel had made for the poor, the fatherless and the stranger. We referenced Leviticus 19 and Deuteronomy 24, where the Lord commanded His people, when you're reaping in the field, leave some sheaves there. Leave some sheaves there for the stranger and for the fatherless and for the widows. When you're gleaning in the vineyards, don't take all the grapes off of the bushes. Leave some grapes there for the stranger, the fatherless and the widows. So she knew that. She knew that she could avail herself of the privilege of gleaning after the reapers and at the corners of the fields. That was hers by virtue of the precept of God in His law. But this was a privilege that the law afforded her by grace. And we're going to flesh that out in another message. People think about the law as being the very antithesis of grace. It's not. The law in itself is a gracious thing because it shows us our need of Christ and leads us to Him. But it's important to see that Ruth not only availed herself of the natural privilege bestowed on the poor and the strangers and the widows of the land, gleaning in the fields, but notice how she experienced the very personal, gracious treatment of Boaz himself. See, this is what touched her heart. This is what caused her to bow to the earth in grateful adoration, that Boaz himself should actually, to use her words, take knowledge of her. Look at verse 10. Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes? that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, saying, I am a stranger." Why would you even look in my direction? Why would you take knowledge of me? It was a matter of wonder to her. It was a thing of wonder to Ruth. Then she went on to refer to His kind and gracious words, having moved her inwardly. Look at verse 13. Then she said, Let me find favour in thy sight, my Lord, for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine handmaidens. In the margin it is, thou hast spoken friendly, thou hast spoken to the heart. You've touched my heart. That's what she said. You've touched my heart. And friends, in the Gospel, we can think of the Lord's gracious provision toward us, can't we? Oh, there's great blessing for the believer. Ephesians 1, verse 3 refers to it this way, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. But more than that, Our God has taken a personal interest in us. The Lord has spoken to our hearts, hasn't he? Thy sins be forgiven thee. And I can tell you this morning, the words of verse 10 belong in the mouth of every true redeemed child of God. Why? Why have I found grace in thine eyes? It's a good question, isn't it? Why should He love me so? Why should my Saviour to Calvary go? Why should He love me so? Or as another hymn writer put it, why was I made to hear thy voice and enter while there's room, when thousands make a wretched choice, they'd rather starve than come, t'was the same grace that spread the feast, that sweetly forced me in else I had still refused to taste and perished in my sin. Why? Do you ever think about that? Here I am in a family, all the rest of them are ungodly, they have no time for the things of the Lord and the Lord has saved me. Do you ever think about that? Why? Here I am on a street, nobody in the street hardly goes to church and if they do go, they go to the apostasy. But here I am, saved by grace, going to a gospel preaching church. Why? Why? Well, there's only one answer. Because He chose to. Because the Lord had mercy on me. You see, we're so undeserving, but we're also ill-deserving. What I mean by that is, when you say somebody's undeserving, it means that what they receive, they don't deserve. And that's true of us. We've received grace upon grace. We don't deserve it. But it's worse than that because we're also ill-deserving. Not only do we not deserve God's mercy, we actually do deserve hell. We do deserve wrath. We do deserve to be lost for all eternity. That's what we deserve. We are ill-deserving. And why would the Lord have grace to bestow upon us? The former slave trader, John Newton, was the one who wrote those words out of his own experience. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found was blind. But now I see. Like Ruth, we were strangers to God, Gentiles, strangers from the covenants of promise. But as Ephesians chapter 2 reminds us, though at that time we were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world, but now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. And verse 19 of that same chapter says, Now therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners. That's Ruth, isn't it? She was a stranger. She was a foreigner. Ruth the Moabiteess. You're no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. Oh, the grace of God. Oh, the love that sought me. Precious blood that bought me. Oh, the grace that brought me to the fold. Wondrous grace that brought me to the fold. May each of us rejoice in that grace today for Jesus' sake. Amen.