With God, life is not coincidental.
“Let grain from the bundles fall purposely for Ruth.”
Ruth 2:16 NKJV.
My thoughts and comments today ask, “coincidence or providence?”
Life rarely happens as you assume or expect. You may suppose that life will always reward you equitably for your efforts. And that is true to some degree, some of the time. But there are other times that the benefit you receive is not equal to the effort you expended. Occasionally, someone else gets the promotion that you thought would be yours, a reward which your efforts may have deserved. Bewildered, you are left to accept that it’s just not your turn or time for your dream to come true. That’s when you must affirm, “My times are in His hands.” Psalm 31:15 NKJV. Your life in Christ is providential not coincidental.
Read the four brief chapters of Ruth’s story of God’s provision and grace. Everything must have seemed wrong to Ruth when her husband died too young and far too soon. At the death of their husbands, Ruth and another daughter-in law lived with Naomi, their mother-in-law, in Moab. Naomi apparently had little left after the years of famine in Bethlehem, and then the untimely deaths of her husband and two sons while in Moab. What could Naomi do except return to Bethlehem, and Ruth chose to go with her.
Upon their return, what would they do? How would they live? As providence would have it, they returned in the season of harvest, but they had no fields to reap. They prepared themselves to live at the mercy of others’ kindness, but they soon found their needs unexpectedly supplied by God’s providence. As a kindness, widows and foreigners could glean what was leftover in the fields, but only after the reapers had gathered. What she brought home would be the meager result of her efforts. It wouldn’t be much, but it would be better than nothing.
But unknown to Ruth, God had other plans. Soon, she would bring home what God would provide for her through the generosity of Boaz. As the owner of the fields, Boaz ordered his workers to leave, “handfuls of purpose,” for Ruth and Naomi. Little did she know at the time what God had in store for her and Naomi, just as you cannot foresee the grace and blessing that God purposes for you, to give you something extra, even more than you could have earned on your own. Often through the favor of others, God will bless you in the most natural but extraordinary ways.
As God did for Ruth, He will place people in your path to help you have what God wants to give you. That is not random; that is God’s grace and providence. The Bible says, “Ruth found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz.” Ruth 2:3 NIV. She found herself in the field of Boaz – an opportunity neither coincidental nor merely fortuitous, but dictated by the sovereign providence of God. With God, life is never coincidental. Neither Ruth nor Boaz yet knew the significance of this, but God was directing her steps, and his. Her kindness to Naomi was reciprocated in Boaz’ kindness to her. Read Ruth 2:8-12 NIV. Ruth could never have foreseen the role that Boaz would play in her life. The Bible says the “steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.” Psalm 37:23 NKJV.
When you choose to trust and rest in the sovereign plans of an Almighty God, you will receive blessings, “given to you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, [blessings] will be poured into your lap.” Luke 6:38 NIV. Plan for the unforeseen. Boaz instructed the men harvesting his fields, “Let grain from the bundles fall purposely for her.” Ruth 2:16 NKJV. One translation describes the process as, “handfuls of purpose for her.” Ruth no longer gathered mere leftovers from the corners of the field; she gathered what was purposely, providentially, and generously left for her benefit and Naomi’s provision.
Yet there was even more that would bless generations after her; Ruth and Boaz married and would become parents in the lineage of kings, such as including two of the greatest kings of Judah, King David and King Solomon, and ultimately the lineage of the Savior. Whatever your present situation, rest in the sovereign love of a gracious, generous, faithful, and Almighty God and His unimagined grace will be poured out from Heaven with, “handfuls of purpose.”
Today I pray for you to discover that God’s handfuls are ample and abounding.
Christian Communications 2018-11o8
Website and archives: allenrandolph.com