Category: No Chance With God

Ruth 2:20 – “The Lord bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.”

“Naomi’s seeking has been feeble and lacking energy… almost entirely passive… But she has found God to be kind not just to Ruth but to her as well. When she refers to God being kind to ‘the living [and] the dead’ (v. 20), she describes the change that his kindness has already begun to bring about in her own life. Once she was dead (or virtually so); now she lives, because God has had mercy on her, even though her seeking has been so feeble. Boaz, too, is a seeker of sorts, trying to work out the right course of action…with a very complex situation… And finally, God himself is a seeker in this chapter. Behind all the chance events that work for Ruth and Naomi’s good is his hidden providence as his kindness eventually seeks them out in their need and provides for them. Ruth and Naomi make the wonderful, heart-stopping, surprising discovery by the end of the chapter that God has been seeking them!

…[God] rewards seekers, whether they seek resolutely as Ruth did or in perplexity like Boaz or whether, like Naomi, they barely have the energy or desire to seek at all.” [Barry G. Webb, Judges and Ruth: God in Chaos]

Let’s seek Him as we sing – “Jesus Come Be The Center” (Click here) by Upperroom.

– JP

Ruth 2:12 – “May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

“So the relation between taking refuge under God’s wings, on the one hand, and leaving home to care for Naomi, on the other hand, is that being under God’s wings enabled Ruth to forsake human refuge and give herself in love to Naomi. Or another way to say it is that leaving home and loving Naomi are the result and evidence of taking refuge in God. This is why I said in the introduction that one of the aims of this book is to release radical, risk-taking love. It comes from humble confidence in the mighty and merciful wings of God.
So now back to Ruth’s question in verse 10: ‘Why have I found favor?’ The answer is that she has taken refuge under the wings of God and that this has given her the freedom and the desire to leave home and love Naomi. She has not earned mercy from God or Boaz. She is not their employee. They are not paying her wages for her work. On the contrary, she has honored them by admitting her need for their work and by taking refuge in their generosity.” [J. Piper, A Sweet and Bitter Providence]

From the safety of God’s wings, we are emboldened to take great risks to love others. Let’s sing of His great love for us and others with this song – “Your Wings” (Click here) by Lauren Daigle.

– JP

Ruth 2:12 – “…May the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge, reward you fully for what you have done.”

“In his varying use of identification terms…the narrator is illustrating who Ruth was and what she was entering into by faith: a new community and a new life. The narrator begins by clearly identifying Ruth as a Moabite (Ruth 1:4)… after Boaz testifies to her character and faith, she refers to herself as his servant (Ruth 2:10-13). Her Moabite status is mentioned only twice after Ruth 2:22… This transition mirrors Ruth’s changing status: Through her faithfulness to God, she is elevated from her position as a foreigner and outsider to receive a new identity as a ‘daughter,’ ‘servant,’ ‘wife,’ and ‘worthy woman’ (Ruth 3:11)—a member of an Israelite family and the family of God.” [David Witthoff, “What’s in a Name?”]

“…[I]t’s a real declaration of identity… once we’ve been brought into the family, we receive this identity as part of God’s family… I picture people singing this who are free, reminding themselves…to live free. But then I imagine people who are hearing this song and are not feeling free… they feel they’re on the outside, that there’s no place for them… they may feel marginalized or even disenfranchised. And this is a confession that God is for them, that God has made a way for them.” (Ben Fielding)

Let’s continue to be transformed… let’s confess and declare through the song “Who You Say I Am” (Click here) by Bethel Music Worship.

– JP

Ruth 2:3 – So Ruth went out to gather grain behind the harvesters. And as it happened, she found herself working in a field that belonged to Boaz, the relative of her father-in-law, Elimelech.

“The reader becomes blissfully aware that God had been at work in this man, Boaz, just as he had been with Ruth… Could there be a better man for Ruth?
Boaz of all men knew of the plight of strangers in the land… Because his mother Rahab had walked where Ruth was now walking, Boaz intimately understood the pain of being an alien woman in the land of Israel… What a poignant scene we have—Ruth the Moabitess meets the tender-hearted son of a former prostitute who had also been a foreigner in the land. What a beautiful story!
… Here again Boaz points us to Jesus. Could there be a better Savior for us but Jesus? Jesus is the one who left heavenly glory to become a human like us. Jesus understands us… Hebrews 4.14–16 says, ‘…For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.’” [L. Charles Jackson, “God Provides a Redeemer”]

We seldom have perfect clarity… but our God does… let’s cling to Him as we sing “Clarity” (Click here) by For All Seasons.

– JP

Ruth 2:1-3 (ESV) – 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 author’s] deliberate use of the phrase ‘happened upon’ the field of Boaz actually heightens our sense of the sovereign hand of God. God is crafting a masterpiece of redemption. With better dexterity than a Renaissance artist, God has been at work for many years. Indeed, the man Boaz is so beautifully created to be the absolutely perfect man to redeem Ruth that it should amaze us and inspire us.
It is good to reflect on the sovereign artistic hand of God at work here in our story… He not only creates the plot for the narrative, but he sovereignly crafts everything in all of history towards the perfect ending.” [L. Charles Jackson, “God Provides a Redeemer”]

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10)

Our Lord is sovereign, and He loves us… let’s entrust our lives to Him as we sing “Everything” (Click here) by Lauren Daigle.

– JP