Well, I do invite you to turn this morning in your Bibles to the book of Ruth that's found on page 263 as we are in chapter 2 as we have started this study in the book of Ruth, and we will look at the whole of chapter 2 this morning, page 263 in the Bibles that are in front of you. Let's give our attention to the wonderful word of the Lord, beginning at verse 1 of Ruth 2. 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. 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. Then 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'm 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. Then 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 bread and dip your morsel in the wine. So she sat beside the reapers and he passed to 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, and do not reproach her, and also pull out some from 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 ephaph of barley. And she took it up and went into the city. Her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also brought out and gave her 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 has not forsaken the living or the dead. Naomi also said to her this 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 by 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. And there we'll end the reading of God's Word. It is really hard to think that God is for us when we are in the midst of what we call dark providences. It is really difficult to think that God is for us. What's difficult about the study of Naomi is that it's somewhat somewhat different than a Job-like figure. I've kind of drawn the comparison a little bit. Job faced many hard things in life, and remember that Job's friends came alongside and said, man, you really have a problem, Job. This is your fault that you're in this mess. And they hurt him with wounds, remember, charging him and trying to read God's providences in ways that we just can't do. Job was a sinner, of course, but this was a far different kind of circumstance with Job. But with Naomi, what's different about the story is we did study the failure. We did study the failure of a family that made a terrible decision together as a family to try to escape God's chastisement upon Israel. And I said last time, chastisement knows no borders. You're not getting away or running away from anything in life. We'll see the consequences of that again today. This is an important point that the famine that God had sent in Ruth chapter 1, as we open it up. Now keep in mind the background of Judges as we read that this morning to understand the spirit of the times, to understand that this was the time when everyone was doing what's right in their own eyes, that the Lord's chastisement was upon Israel. And when you open up that first little section and read there was famine, we have to remember that when God sent these things upon the people, it always had the intention of drawing them back. Very hard times had fallen on them. I think we've seen through the past year and a half, We're not in control much of what happens in this world, are we? And how quickly everything can turn and go south. And we're all confused. Wow, what times we're in? What times we're in? What do you think's happening? Someone's in control of all this. Someone's over your life in control of all this. Well, here we have this Israelite family that the Lord had come after. They had made terrible decisions. And what Israel should have done together at this time, what Elimelech and his family should have done is what the scriptures say all over the place. You sung about it in Psalm 23. Why not trust in the Lord? Why not stop looking to everything else in this life you run to? Why are you looking to everything else that won't deliver you? Will a son who asked his father, heavenly father, for bread, will the father throw down a stone in your famine? And the answer is no. The question then is, would you seek the Lord? Would you turn back to him? And here in the book of Ruth, you know, this just tithing moment we've been studying gets worse, but the beauty today as we move into chapter two is we're starting to see God's master plan unfold through it all. Naomi attempts to interpret God's providence. And she got it wrong. even in this. She viewed the death of her husband and the death of her sons as if God was against her. And that's how she lived, in bitterness. Did you notice at the end of chapter one, it was a big study last time, and looking at the three things, four things she says against the Lord. I mean, it's amazing what the Lord inspires for us, isn't it? How honest they are. She says, it's exceedingly bitter for me, for your sake, that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me. Don't call me Naomi anymore. This is right in the last section at the end of chapter one. Don't call me Naomi. Call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full. Listen to this. She still hasn't seen yet. She still hasn't repented yet. I went away full, and the Lord brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi when the Lord has testified against me, when the Almighty has brought calamity upon me, she says. She's angry, isn't she? She's bitter. In some ways, I totally sympathize. What a loss. What a loss. But what was the Lord doing? Should he have left her there? might there be a bigger plan in the work might the lord unfold something that's going to be absolutely wonderful in the course of events and providence and and the book has been teasing us to this end the book is it's one of those books in the old testament that leaves so much for us to fill in and the narrator's a master craftsman as he writes this you'll see this today uh having us to think about how to how to understand this book and understand and interpret things Is it true that the Lord sent her home empty? Well, standing next to her was a little Moabite. What good could she be? Right? What good could she be? Only a mother of Jesus. It's a remarkable story. It's a remarkable story. The author is provoking us to ask questions about God's intentions to us. The author wants us to think about God's intentions to us. some of you have faced a lot of bitter providences in life we call those dark providences some of you are in them right now is God chastising in his wrath and anger so as to leave you there or is he as Hebrews says treating his children as sons and daughters loving you through it well this is the question that we have to look at a little bit today as we study this story it should encourage you because in the midst of all of this darkness in the midst of all of this pain in the midst of all this bitter providence comes three great surprises in this text today and they are big surprises they are meant to make us say wow what how did she miss this how do we miss these these glorious workings of God and the and this is a great surprising moment of three of them. You'll notice here the surprising placement that happens today and the surprising provision that happens today and then the surprising provider that is shown to you. So notice that today, the surprising placement, provision, and provider. Naomi has entered the land. This was a very successful family, a Limelech's family. We looked at that. Aristocrat, they were of that kind of person. They were very well known. You see it when Naomi walks back in. Everyone couldn't believe that Naomi's back. They were dirt poor now. They have nothing. She has to walk into town, into Bethlehem, the house of bread. The Lord's visited Bethlehem again with bread. She has to walk back in with no food, no husband, no children, and only a little Moabitess. Well, this is where it gets interesting today. What the text does now, what the scriptures do now here, is unfold for us the direct and exact opposite actions through Ruth. The results are shocking. So this is meant to be studied in comparison. That's how the scriptures often work. And that's what we have here. It's meant to be studied as a giant corrective to the actions of Israel who weren't trusting the Lord. All now through a little Moabitess, which is really pretty remarkable because what a shaming moment for Israel if a Moabitess could do everything better. So here we are in the beginning, 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. You have to stop and say, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait, wait, wait. That's the exact opposite of what Elimelech and Naomi did in their hardship. They went to Moab, a field in Moab. I think that was singular. There's a singular field is being played off of here. They went to a field of Moab. They went to the fields of Moab, whatever it was. Now they've come back, and Ruth is saying, let me go into Israel's field. Remember, there was that little teasing statement at the very end of chapter one, and they came back at, remember, Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. There was a, in God's providence, there was a provision in the law for the poor that at the time of the barley harvest, the poor would be provided for. Lo and behold, we're right at that time. Leviticus 19 said, when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and the stranger. I am the Lord your God. You look at the greed of our society today and you just say, wow, that would really, that would, this is amazing. Now they had to go work and get it. But there was a provision for the poor. God provided for the poor. Ruth says, I'll go. Let me go to that field. And maybe, maybe I will find favor from somebody who will help us, Naomi. And I will, I will go into that field, and I will trust, is the emphasis. Ruth had already said in the last chapter, I'm going to go to your land and to your God, and he will be my God. There is already faith, even though it's of a mustard seed. There is already faith here. It's remarkable. I will go. He will be my God, she said. That is a pretty neat profession of faith from a Moabite. Your God will be my God. So the imagery here is, is that against all odds? Think about all the difficulties of a Moabite who was really cursed in the land. Says, I will go and maybe someone will find favor against all opposition. Who knows? I mean, Boaz recognizes here the dangers that could happen to her. Men will go after her. She believes. And she trusts and the Lord care for her and Naomi. Naomi and Ruth have nothing at this point. They have no food. They have no place to go, really. They have nothing. They've lost everything. She's given everything away. They don't even know how they're going to survive without husbands. How many of you are worried about money in the future? It's what we do. Check our accounts every day. How do they look? How do we do today? We live in that fear. They have nothing. Nothing. So Naomi gives permission. Go. Go, my daughter. Go into the fields. So verse 3, she set out and she went and gleaned in the field after the reapers and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz. I think the narrator was laughing when he wrote that. She happened to come. Does anything just happen to happen in this life? Does anyone believe that stupidity? Didn't just happen. This is the way the writer is is having us think. As the scriptures say, I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps. Man plots his ways, but the Lord directs the steps. Ruth comes to the Lord's field and she's trusting. In fact, this was really dangerous. No direction, no way of knowing the future, no money, no way of knowing. For all of you young people who are worried about your future and what you're going to do, no way of knowing. She happens to come to a particular field. Now, I haven't opened up whose field this is yet. I'm going to wait for that. You know whose it is, but let's just wait for a minute. The words of the man stand out in verse 8. Look carefully. Do not go 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. What a shaming moment for Israel. Do you see the story yet? This is exactly what Elimelech and Naomi didn't do. When everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes, the besetting sin of Israel was they looked to everyone else for deliverance. They looked to everyone else. They looked for all the answers elsewhere, not just for the nations, other pagan nations, to defend them against opposition, but other nations to feed them. And they took matters into their own hands to do what? To find food. And in their hearts, they went to the fields of Moab. There's a big reason Proverbs says, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not in your own understanding, acknowledge him in all your ways, and he will direct your paths. She did. I love that the Lord shows us a good way in the midst of all the failures that we see in Scripture. She trusted the Lord. And what happens? He directs her steps. She happens to come to the field of this man named Boaz. And the whole thing is a scene of grace. It's a whole scene of God drawing this young Moabite and leading her and guiding her. It's beautiful. It pictures exactly what it means to come to the fields of the Lord. What is the will of God? What's the will of God for life? Oh, we know that in terms of the revealed will, but the sort of mysterious things that we're supposed to seek out and try to find of what we're supposed to do and how we're supposed to go and where we're supposed to be and what we're supposed to do in life, often we can't see the road ahead of us. We don't know exactly what the turn will be. We don't know exactly how or where he will lead. The story of the book, however, is presented to us as a picture, when I say, of people doing what's right in their own eyes. Ruth is presented as the opposite way of a person going after the Lord's will. Naomi's God told, remember, Naomi told her to turn back to her gods. Did she listen? I couldn't help but think, is this, I wonder if this was on Jesus' mind. When he was preaching in the Gospels, and he said in Matthew 13, the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. There's a play here on field that the author is working with. Keep your eyes on my field. Keep your eyes on my field. Hasn't that been the problem of the church. We worry about everything. We worry about the future. We worry about our provision. We worry where we're going to go. We worry how we're going to be cared for. We worry about who we're going to marry. We worry about everything. Listen to me. Much of the agony that we experience in life is exactly what we have brought on ourselves. It is that we have not, in many of our choices, lived by faith. Most of our worry and fret is because we've tried to take the hardships and the burdens of life on us and carry it ourselves in our own wisdom. Not trusting the Lord to direct the steps. Even though that's his promise that he'll do that for us. It's not always easy to trust the Lord. Oh, I know. I'm not grandstanding up here. It's one of the most difficult things to do, isn't it? Trust in the Lord with all your heart. But think about it. If Naomi and Israel viewed the Lord so intimately involved in their lives that when they made a bad decision, his heavy hand chastised them for wrongdoing, how much more when they trust in the Lord and seek his face will his hand of help and grace and mercy be upon them? He is intimately involved with his people. She happened to come to a certain field. Come on. I want to tell all the young people wandering aimlessly through life, struggling with the will of God, to all of you who fear, the lord will be your keeper did you hear me the lord will be your keeper he'll preserve your going out and your coming in forever keep your eyes on his field keep your eyes on him listen to him anytime people are living and doing what's right in their own eyes they're not in his field, his kingdom, his church. You always see it. When people are living in their own way, the last field they come to is the church. They stay away from it out of their life as far as they can. A lot of people in life suffer hardship because they're doing what's right in their own eyes. What is that like today? It's similar to running somewhere to escape all the hardship of your life. It could be to a bottle. It could be to anything. And when you do that, what's the last thing? Is the priority when we move on? The Lord's field. God is showcasing his mercy to Ruth, wanting you to see it. You know, think of the situation where Naomi goes, loses the husband, And her sons, Mary, unbelievers. Now, I know Ruth's going to be the most remarkable redemption story here. That's not guaranteed in every circumstance. In fact, that's not the rule. You know, a pastor said to me years ago when he was preaching, not to me, he said to the congregation, but it always stuck with me. He was preaching on young people, wrestling with who to marry. And of course, this missionary dating thing has been around for a long time. It always stuck with me what he said. He said, you need to think very carefully about who you marry. He said, those who have made the awful mistake of marrying somebody not committed to the Lord, and then he says somebody who may not even be a believer have become traitors to God's covenant. And I remember freezing right there. I needed to hear that as a young man because I tried it. I tried it. I put a ring on another gal's finger who was not following the Lord. Good thing she dumped me. It's one of the biggest decisions of life. And you can ruin your life quickly this way. Make a lot of hardship on yourself. And everyone knows this. I don't even have to make the case for this. Everyone here knows this. But we play with it. are we doing our own wills they were pursuing life on their own terms and all the hardship came down on them thankfully marry well young people marry well will you hear me look at the surprising placement now as god shows us and showcases this surprising moment of this Moabitess as she trusted him. Hope in the Lord, you waiting saints, and he will well provide. It's a surprising provision that now comes out. Notice this. Naomi had a relative of her husband's, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. She happened to arrive in this man's field. The first thing that's highlighted is the character of this man. He's a remarkable man. Verse 4, he came from Bethlehem. He said to the reapers, the Lord be with you. They answered, the Lord bless you. This is a good man. This is a gracious man. This is a compassionate landowner. Is a marriage about to happen here? See the teasing? Couldn't be. Boaz notices Ruth. It's told to him that this Moabite woman had really been something in trusting the Lord and coming back and leaving everything and came to the land of Israel and how she cared for her mother-in-law. Listen, my daughter, don't go in any other field. Stay close to my young woman. Let your eyes be on the field in which they reap. Have I not charged the young men not to touch you? Whoa, a surprising provision of protection. This is tough for fathers, you know, when you let those little girls go. I'm letting mine drive to trust the Lord, don't you? And that's a little thing. I know, the older parents are saying, that's a little thing. There's a lot more we have to trust with. She comes into this field of this good man, happened to, who's of such righteous character and rewards her immediately. Look at verse 10. She said to him, why have I found grace in your eyes? That you should take notice of me, a foreigner. Notice a little weak, alone Moabite in the Lord's field, as opposed to the field of Moab, is totally protected under his sheltering care. He who dwells under the shelter of the Most High will abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust, for he will deliver me. He will protect me. But then comes the emphasis on what got Elimelech and Naomi in trouble to begin with. Come, verse 14. Listen, isn't this great? Eat my bread. Eat my bread. Dip your piece of bread in the vinegar. And he gave her a seat among the reapers, not the gleaners. The reapers, this poor outcast foreign woman, ate to the full, even having leftovers, drank freely from the vessels of water. have a seat at my table, dip your bread here, be full. Verse 15, and when she rose up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. Let the grain from the bundles fall purposely for her. Leave it that she may glean, and do not rebuke her. So she gleaned in the field until evening, and beat out what she had gleaned, and it was an ephaph of barley. Without her knowing it, behind the scenes, Boaz is ordering everything. You take home an ephaph of barley. That is like taking home a half of year's wages then. Oh, but wait, running to the fields of Moab seems so much better, doesn't it? This is like the parable the prodigal. Eating the pods which the pigs ate, thinking that leaving his father's house was better. All because he was dissatisfied with his father. Unbelievable. A good father. A father who loved him. A father who cared for him. A father who gave him everything. But he wanted the inheritance. That's all that mattered. Give me the inheritance and I'm out of here. Give me my money and I'm out of the church. That's what people live like. So he went and tested it. And he lived in a riotous living. And one day he awoke as he's eating the pods that pigs ate in the pigsty. What am I doing here? I'm going back to my father. And the father comes running when he sees his son. There was a robe around him. He wasn't angry with him. He was bawling. Put a ring on his finger, and he fed him. Israel. Oh, Israel. This good God brought you out of a bad field. It's called Egypt. Delivered you from bondage, and you wanted to go back. And then your whole way, you didn't trust him. He rained down bread on your doorsteps. You didn't trust him. And then you got bitter to him at Marah. You complained against him. And you said, this God's no good to us. You didn't provide for us. What? They say that Augustine's most famous line, right? We're restless until we find rest in you. We've heard that a million times. How about this one? We are bitter people until we're satisfied in the Lord. Look at his care. Look at this gracious landowner through Boaz, protection, provision. What could she have imagined that would have been better than this? And that ends on my last brief point here of the surprising provider. Notice it. She gleaned in the field until evening. She beat out what she gleaned. It was an ephaph of barley. She took it and went up to the city. Her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She 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? Where have you worked? Blessed is this man who took notice of you. The man's name is Boaz. All of a sudden, bitter Naomi is revived. In one minute, her bitterness is gone. After all that pain. Did you see verse 20? Blessed is the Lord. That doesn't sound like the woman of the first chapter, does it? Blessed is the Lord who's not forsaken his kindness, notice, to the living and the dead. God's not against my husband for taking him. God's not against me. He loves us. I see it now. Oh, what do you see? What changed Naomi from bitterness to praise was an understanding. She thought in her failure of the Lord so badly and in the sins that they, her family had made, it proved that the Lord was against her. This is a big moment in this book. That the Lord was out to get her. You read Judges 2 today. Why do you think God kept sending judges? Was he out to get them? Was he not pleased with them? Well, if they're going to go worship other gods, who would be? This is the Lord. But in the darkest moment of providence, this is what we do to the Lord. We don't listen to what he's saying to us. God was not attacking her. God loved her and God loved Israel. He made a covenant with them. And as the plan begins to unfold, this is the most glorious story. He's one of our kinsmen redeemers. She is in deep thought over the mysteries of providence. Here's what she's thinking, what if, what if a Limelech's kin marries Ruth? I'm redeemed. In Old Testament law, a kinsman redeemer was obligated to buy back his relatives if they fell into debt or slavery, or if a close relative lost and died, he would marry the widow and raise up a child from the brother who had died. Naomi's like, he's won. What does Naomi say? Stay in that field. Don't go to any other field. You don't go anywhere. It's good, my daughter, that you go out with these young women. Yeah, of course. That the people do not meet you in any other field. So, in other words, you stay where there is a place of hope. Don't go to the fields of Moab. Don't ever return anywhere else. You stay right there. And that's the big picture today, beloved. Look at the story of our lives. We run from him. We test him. We doubt him. We've taken matters into our own hands. And what does he do? He takes the poor. When we have squandered everything. He takes the broken. Takes the outcasts. Takes the nobodies. Takes the foreigners. And he gives you the best place at his table. He fills you with living water. He gives you his son. He gives you Jesus. What do you lack? What do you lack? A kinsman, a redeemer, are you kidding? We know this story. Somebody bought us back with a price. He shed his blood and died for us and bought us back to bring us to the table, to give us food and happiness and joy and comfort all because of his chesed, there's words all over this book, his covenant loyalty, his loving kindness to a bitter people and showcased before us our two parents of the Lord Jesus Christ, if you will. Jesus calls us to himself. Trust me. I love you. I've done everything necessary to save you and buy you back. When you pray to your father, he's going to care for you because of what I've earned for you. He's going to provide for you. He's going to shelter you. Why are you living in fear and fret? Come to me, says Jesus today. I'll give you the rest you're looking for. Remain with me. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field which a man found and hid and for joy over it, he goes and sells everything that he has and he buys that field. That's a field worth staying in. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, You are good to us beyond comparison. We don't even fathom the depths of your kindness and goodness when we are such rebels. Is there anyone here today who still wants to live in another field? What foolish choice. Thank you for your grace and mercy in bringing us home. Thank you for filling us with every good thing. But most of all, thank you for redeeming our lives through the blood of your Son. a good Savior, a kind Savior, one who intends good to us. We offer you our praise today and ask that you would receive it, for we know we're not righteous in and of ourselves. May, O Lord, by your grace and mercy, we learn to trust you in all aspects of our lives. Thank you for saving us by grace. Give us faith in every circumstance to know that the Lord will guide our steps. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.