Boaz, Met by Chance

8Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Don’t go to glean in another field, and don’t go from here, but stay here close to my maidens. 9Let your eyes be on the field that they reap, and go after them. Haven’t I commanded the young men not to touch you? When you are thirsty, go to the vessels, and drink from that which the young men have drawn.”

10Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your sight, that you should take knowledge of me, since I am a foreigner?” 11Boaz answered her, “I have been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother, and the land of your birth, and have come to a people that you didn’t know before.

12May Yahweh repay your work, and a full reward be given to you from Yahweh, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” 13Then she said, “Let me find favor in your sight, my lord, because you have comforted me, and because you have spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not as one of your servants.” 14At meal time Boaz said to her, “Come here, and eat some bread, and dip your morsel in the vinegar.” She sat beside the reapers, and they passed her parched grain, and she ate, and was satisfied, and left some of it. 15When she had risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and don’t reproach her. 16Also pull out some for her from the bundles, and leave it. Let her glean, and don’t rebuke her.”

People of the world are very interested in chance and luck. They confess that because of a person or an event they happened upon, their lives changed, they revised their plans, and they came to be living the life they live now. Some say it was bad luck that they happened to go to a certain place; others say they were lucky because they happened to go there. Many people look at life through chance and luck like this, and so they work hard to chase good fortune.

Some people meet someone by chance, form a bond and become husband and wife; others suffer all their lives because of someone they met by chance. But all those events and relationships are only things that happen in the world. The chance the world speaks of is a word people use to comfort themselves and make excuses, because they do not know God’s working and do not know the eternal world. Believers and people of the world both live by working hard, but their purposes differ, so their fruit differs, whatever the outcome.

Believers who trust in God’s working know that what happens is not the chance or luck people of the world speak of, but something meant to be. They know that God uses times, places and human relationships to accomplish his purposes, and that is why they work hard to live wisely.

Through the Book of Ruth, the Bible tells believers that the chance or luck people of the world speak of does not exist. It says that Ruth’s marrying a Jewish man, her gaining Naomi as her mother-in-law, her following her mother-in-law to Bethlehem, and now her happening to come to Boaz’s field were all God’s working. For God leads the whole life of every believer who trusts in him.

People of the world, looking at this event of Ruth meeting Boaz, would call her a remarkably lucky woman: as things turned out, she happened to come to Boaz’s field, luckily caught his attention and married him.

But the Bible says that God, who rules over our lives, used Ruth for his work of salvation, and that Boaz was used as the instrument to make Ruth one of God’s people. Only when believers trust in God’s work of redemption does the world come into view for them, and only then can they turn every chance that happens in life into something meant to be.

If you think that the opportunity you now have to hear the Word at Watercourse Church and see God from a different perspective came by chance, and was possible because you yourself decided it, God will no longer work for your spiritual growth. For even if he were to involve himself deeply in the life of someone who says everything is chance and luck, and work in it, that person would surely say in the end that they had been lucky.

Only when you can see God, who is working to establish you as his mature children, can you give thanks that the Word you heard was not something you happened to hear, but a plan God made to use your faith as he used Ruth and Boaz. Chance and luck belong to people of the world. When you see every event and every person as ones God has brought you to meet, and do your best to make them opportunities to share the word of life, God helps that effort bear fruit.

Ruth 2:1

1Naomi had a relative of her husband’s, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz.

Ruth went out to find food to support her mother-in-law Naomi, and happened to come to the field of Boaz, Elimelech’s relative. Just then Boaz happened to come out to the field, and he showed interest in Ruth, asking the workers who this young lady was. The servant answered that she was the Moabite lady who had come back with Naomi out of the country of Moab, and that she had followed the reapers and kept working from the morning until now. After hearing the servant, Boaz kindly told Ruth not to go to another field but to glean here, and when she was thirsty to drink the water the young men had drawn. Up to this point it looks, as the world says, as though Ruth went to Boaz’s field by chance and met Boaz by chance.

But because you know that God’s purpose is to save Israel, you will see God, who led Ruth to Boaz. Yet from the point of view of Ruth, who did not know God’s working well, all of this was chance. For she could see it this way: she went out to find food for her mother-in-law, happened to come to Boaz’s field, and by sheer good luck was able to gather plenty of food.

I know how great the spiritual difference is between the life of someone who sees only what is in front of their eyes and the life of a believer who sees the world with God’s eyes. That is why, in every sermon, I always tell you to look wide, look high and look far. If you always put on the glasses of God’s purpose when you look at the world, the future and your problems, you can solve them far more easily than you think.

If Ruth had seen only what was in front of her, she would have been pleased that she had been really lucky today and gleaned plenty of grain, and glad that she had escaped hunger for now. But God’s heart was to bless the resolve of Naomi, who had come home, and he had to carry on his work of salvation through Ruth. That is why he led Ruth to Boaz, a man in Bethlehem well prepared both in spirit and in body.

If you have the wisdom to see Ruth’s coming into Boaz’s field in two ways, as the blessing God gave to Naomi, who had returned to the Father’s arms, and as his work of salvation, you can judge rightly a world that turns so fast, and you will not be swept away by its currents.

Do you see now that for a believer there is no such thing as chance? When you face some problem and solve it, it is true that you worked hard to solve it. But the one who gave you the life, the material means and the circumstances to be able to solve it and to spend time working at it is God. For if God had not protected you with circumstances, life and material means, you could not have worked however much you wanted to, and even your work would have been of no use. You must make a habit of giving thanks for small things, because God sorts you into those who know grace and those who do not, depending on whether or not you forget this as you look at your own life. For God lifts up those who do not forget his grace.

God led the poor widows Naomi and Ruth to Boaz, a rich man, because to restore those women’s standing he needed Boaz, who had a kind character, wealth and ability. In this way God always uses people who are prepared. That is why you are being taught God’s word, so that you can become an instrument God uses, and taught to build a noble character and live a good life.

If you have wealth, talent, ability and faith, God will use them to begin the work of saving souls. Boaz, who had much but had always lived humbly, had the spiritual eyes to recognize Ruth, whom God had chosen. If Boaz had had no spiritual wisdom, he would have seen Ruth only as a poor Moabite woman who had come into his field to glean. And if Boaz had been hard-hearted and had shown Ruth no favor, God would have cast aside a spiritually wicked Boaz and led Ruth to the field of someone else with a good heart.

You must always keep your spiritual eyes open, have spiritual discernment and keep the Word at the center. Only then, when God grants a meeting disguised as chance, can you seize that opportunity and act according to God’s will.

In Genesis 18, Abraham happened to see three men standing by the oaks of Mamre. He ran at once, bowed himself to the earth, and begged his lord, if he had found favor in his sight, not to go away from his servant. Then Abraham hurriedly told Sarah to make cakes and to cook a fat, good animal, and he entertained the three men lavishly.

Did Abraham really recognize that the three men passing by were angels? From their conversation we can see that Abraham had spiritual wisdom. And if he did not recognize them but welcomed them because the Word says to show hospitality to strangers, that too would be a wise act that turned chance into an opportunity for blessing, because he had worked to obey God’s word.

The angel, having finished the meal, did not even ask his wife’s name but said at once, “Where is Sarah, your wife?” calling Sarah by name directly. Abraham was not startled even though his wife was called by name, so it seems Abraham knew they were angels. Having met the angels, Abraham received the blessing of the birth of Isaac, and also the grace of rescuing his nephew Lot from death.

God will have given you, too, many opportunities, as he did Abraham, and he will give you many more. If God sends someone to help your faith and your life, and you are too hard-hearted to welcome them, or you look only at their shabby appearance and treat them carelessly with contempt, you may miss an opportunity for blessing. So you must always act with this in mind: how does God want me to judge and decide at this moment, and what wisdom does he want me to learn? As you handle everything wisely in this way, God will see that your judgments and decisions are good, and he will bless you.

Abraham served the angels with the fattest and best calf. Giving to God in this way means that you must sincerely give the most honest and most cherished of what you have. That does not mean you should iron your money before you give it. You must know the Word and act in faith, because when you give an offering to God, giving because a pastor pressures you and giving of your own accord bring different measures of grace from God.

When I pray in intercession for you, God sometimes asks me whether I really think this person loves him. Then, because I earnestly want you to be blessed, I tell him that you are trying to offer him faithful faith, time and material things. We are doing our best to live well in the world. We pray to God for success, and we pray that we will not fail as long as we live in the world.

Sadly, though, we begrudge what we give to God. I say this because I see that taking time to read the Word and pray, to worship and to give offerings are always pushed back for personal reasons. God gives you workplaces and material means so that your families and children can grow up healthy and wise, and he answers all your prayers, yet your hearts are always hard when it comes to thanks, and even when you give something small you calculate and waver. You say you cannot give time now because you are busy, and that you know you should give the tithe but the amount is too large, so you will think about it some more. When your prayer for great wealth is answered, it is only natural that the tithe grows too, yet you want only to receive and hesitate to give.

What you have gained in the world is like pearls, and the tithe works like the thread that strings those pearls. Loose pearls, one by one, can be lost, and however many you have, you cannot wear them around your neck and show them off. But strung on a thread, they become a valuable pearl necklace. If you do not know the grace of God, who rescued us from death, you will not devote yourself however much wealth you have, and the more your wealth grows, the less you will be able to carry out God’s work.

If you begrudge giving back to God what God has given you, you will not be able to ask the Father for help when trouble comes. If you really are believers who will go to God on the last day, you must have time to pray to God, who has kept you in this harsh world, you must work hard for the saving of souls, and you must know how to devote to him what you have received.

Ruth was a Moabite woman, but because she had the resolve of “If I perish, I perish,” she was able to return to Bethlehem. She was already penniless, but she did not look for a stroke of luck; she only longed earnestly to become one of God’s people. I hope you will understand the heart of God, who saw Ruth’s faith and led her to Boaz’s field. God led Ruth, who had shown him her faith, to a place where she could get food so that she would not suffer, and, as if answering her good decision, he made her an ancestor of faith.

Ruth 2:2

2Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Let me now go to the field, and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I find favor.” She said to her, “Go, my daughter.”

Ruth had come all the way to Israel to care for her mother-in-law with all her heart, but now that she had to go out among the people of Israel to glean, she would have needed courage most of all. She was afraid, but because she was full of love for God she could go out into the world. In the same way, only when believers who trust in God are full of faith can they boldly go out into the world to save souls.

Because she was determined to serve her mother-in-law even if she was hated and persecuted, she could go out. And because she believed God would protect her, she could be bold. In the same way, you must have the faith that resolves to serve God and the faith that trusts God to protect you.

Ruth 2:11

11Boaz answered her, “I have been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother, and the land of your birth, and have come to a people that you didn’t know before.

Everything I have told you so far is contained in these words Boaz spoke to Ruth. Ruth’s husband, her fence of protection in the world, had died, but she served her mother-in-law devotedly. In the same way, the moment we receive Jesus, Satan, who until then had stood in the husband’s place, will become like that dead husband.

But the Holy Spirit is with us. So we need not fear the world; all we need to do is serve God the Father devotedly. Ruth followed her mother-in-law, left Moab, where her country and her parents were, and came to Israel. That is like believers following Christ, leaving the world they were born into and transferring their citizenship to the kingdom of God. Just as Boaz helped Ruth without conditions because he knew the goodness of this woman who had been widowed, the Holy Spirit blesses the resolve of believers and becomes a safe fence around them.

Ruth 2:12

12May Yahweh repay your work, and a full reward be given to you from Yahweh, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

The two who met by chance became husband and wife. If, when her husband died, Ruth had stayed in Moab, saying she no longer had any duty to support her mother-in-law, or had abandoned God and not come to Israel, saying she would serve the god of Moab, she would not have received such a blessing. Seeing this, we who have received God must strive to make good choices and decisions. It may seem that no one knows about our good resolve, but God is watching it with interest like this, and so it leads to a reward.

To Ruth, who was doing her best to draw nearer to God, God brought Boaz, a man who had everything. Boaz was wealthy in the world and stood upright spiritually too, so he was someone Ruth from Moab could never have met. But when God works, a Moabite woman easily meets someone like Boaz, whom she could never otherwise meet, and God makes him her protector.

Do you see how easy life becomes when you entrust your life to God? The world says that those born with opportunity, good fortune and chance on their side succeed, but the Bible says that those who have shown God their faith enjoy peace. Like Ruth, lay aside your own righteousness and be faithful to God with all your heart, strength, ability and faith. God will see that faithfulness and work in his own way.

When Ruth strove to live with God, remarkably, Boaz, who had many possessions, gave Ruth what was his without holding back. When believers live a life of faith directed toward Christ, God grants them the blessing of long life, material blessing and eternal life, and fills them with everything. God never abandons believers who do their best to live by Christ’s words, and never puts them to shame. Ruth knew that God is all-knowing and all-powerful, so she did not calculate. Her mother-in-law had no power at all, but Ruth was so grateful for the love that had let her come to know God that she resolved to sacrifice herself.

Do you have a faith like Ruth’s that loves God unconditionally? If you look at the Lord’s cross, where he was stripped naked and exposed in humiliation before the world, and still calculate in order to gain the world, you would be a person with an evil heart. You must be ready to sacrifice for God without calculating. If you prepare such a faith, a remarkable work will take place, just as in verse 14 Ruth ate bread with Boaz and ate parched grain until she was satisfied, and left some of it. A cursed Moabite woman like Ruth, a poor woman who had lost her husband at that, received a blessing beyond imagination.

If you only truly believe God and live by the Word, you will never regret it, and you will not live a life of shame. Some people waver over whether to do something or not. They worry about what will happen if they live by God’s word no matter what and then lose out. They reason that they are rational people after all, so they will judge and decide well by what they know and entrust only the necessary parts to God. Such faith is a weak faith that stumbles easily. You are not one of God’s people just because you come to church and sit there. Only when you live out a life of faith for God, as Ruth did, do you become a child of God who can take refuge under his wings.

Psalms 81:10

10I am Yahweh, your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

God says that out of his one-way love he will bless his children. God, who has promised to pour out his grace, will surely work. But opening your mouth wide is the work you must do. To receive and enjoy all of God’s grace, you must be diligent and honest, and have a large vessel of faith that gives thanks and obeys.

Just as Ruth became an ancestor of Jesus through Boaz, whom she met by chance, all of us have received new life through Christ, whom we heard of and met by chance. May you, too, receive blessing in spirit and in body as Ruth did, and like Boaz be used as God’s instrument to become precious ancestors of faith.