Caught Up in God's Plan, Ruth 4

On Memorial Day Weekend in 1973, a country rock group called Mason Proffit performed at the Ozark Mountain Folk Fair in Eureka Springs Arkansas. When they arrived in Eureka Springs, the band members were so taken with the beauty of the area that each of them bought a piece of land nearby. Then, shortly after the festival, the group disbanded. One of the band members, John Michael Talbot, became a Christian a year or so later. He joined a Franciscan community in Indiana after he’d been a Christian for a few years, and, in seeking to live out his vow of poverty, tried to sell the land he’d bought in Arkansas. But no one wanted to buy it. He was stuck, it seemed, with this land he’d bought on a whim several years before, when it looked like he was at the beginning of a successful career in music.

But God had plans for that land. In the early 80's, Talbot and several others moved to Arkansas to establish Little Portion Hermitage; today about 40 people live at the hermitage, and there are also Little Portion cell groups all over the country. They have a mission in Latin America, and hundreds of people travel to Eureka Springs for spiritual retreats. God has used that piece of land that John Michael Talbot bought on a whim in 1973. But Talbot himself had no idea of that when he bought it, and for some time afterwards it was a burden to him. When we’re in the middle of things, we often have no idea what God is doing or what He has in mind.

The book of Ruth revolves around three major characters: Naomi, Ruth and Boaz. When we first encounter Naomi, she is full of bitterness and believes God is her enemy. Her life is a mess; she’s lost her husband and two sons, is living in a foreign country, and has been reduced to poverty. Ruth, the Moabite, is determined to stay with Naomi, her mother-in-law, and travels with her to Bethlehem. She’s committed to Naomi, as she says when Naomi urges her to go back home: “Don’t force me to leave you; don’t make me go home. Where you go, I go; and where you live, I’ll live. Your people are my people, your God is my god” (The Message). Ruth is committed to Naomi, but she is also a widow, living in a society where widows are in a very precarious position. Boaz is a respected member of his society and is financially successful, but unlike many other men of his time, he’s also compassionate and committed to following God’s Word. And, over the course of the book, God brings these three people together, apart from any planning on their part, and does things that none of them could have envisioned even in their wildest dreams.

God meets their immediate needs, of course. That’s the thing they’ve been praying and hoping for. At the end of chapter three, Naomi and Ruth have decided to leave the situation in God’s hands. They’ve done all they can do, and now they need to rest in Him. And, in chapter four we see the end result. Boaz very promptly follows up, just as he promised. The Old Testament law made provision for people in Naomi’s situation. The land that belonged to her husband Elimelech needs to be redeemed by a close relative, to prevent it from being sold to another tribe; and the person who redeems the land also inherits Ruth. Children born to her will be considered descendants of Elimelech, to keep his line from dying out, and they will inherit the property that is being redeemed. The redeemer only gets temporary possession of the land. He’s preserving the community, not enriching himself. That’s why the other close relative declines. Marrying Ruth will complicate things for his own descendants. So Boaz agrees to buy the property and to marry Ruth.

In the course of one day, Naomi and Ruth are delivered from poverty. For a long time, everything in Naomi’s life had been going wrong. Things went on like this for so long that she lost hope that things would ever be different. Life was like that for Joseph. His brothers had sold him into slavery in Egypt, then he had been falsely accused and thrown into prison. At one point it looked like he might get out. He had interpreted dreams for two other prisoners and knew that one of them was getting out of prison soon. Joseph said to him: “But remember me when it is well with you; please do me the kindness to make mention of me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this place. For in fact I was stolen out of the land of the Hebrews and here also I have done nothing that they should have put me into the dungeon” (Genesis 40:14-15). But the man got out of prison and forgot about Joseph. Everything went wrong in Joseph’s life. But then, one day he woke up in prison, just like any other day during the years he’d spent there, and by the end of the day he was out of prison and was the prime minister of Egypt. On the day that Boaz buys Elimelech’s property, Naomi and Ruth’s life is changed. God has come to their rescue; He’s provided a home for Ruth, and a new family for Naomi. So, the first thing that happens is that God comes to their rescue and provides for their immediate needs.

But that’s not the only thing that’s happening here. God also uses them, apart from their knowledge, to bring about a change in their society. This story takes place during the period of the Judges, a time when the spiritual life of the nation is in chaos. Here’s the reason that’s given repeatedly in the book of Judges: “In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes” (Judges 21:25). There was a general lack of consistent leadership during this period. That’s the importance of the genealogy at the end of Ruth. Boaz and Ruth become the great-grandparents of King David, the king who over and over again is described as a man after God’s own heart. Through them, God is going to raise up a leader for His people. God is at work, not only rescuing Naomi and Ruth, but providing for the needs of His people.

But even that isn’t the full story. I usually skip over the genealogies when I’m doing my regular Bible reading, because there’s not much in a list of names that I can apply to my life. But these genealogies are significant. God doesn’t carry on His work of redemption in the world through general principles. He uses people. The names on these lists are the names of people who went about their daily lives seeking to be faithful and found themselves caught up in something they could never have imagined for themselves. These long lists of names that we find in various parts of Scripture remind us that God uses real people to fulfill His purposes in the world. Listen to these words from the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew’s gospel: “An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers” (Matthew 1:1-2). You can read the stories of these people in the book of Genesis. But then, a little later in the list, “and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David” (vv. 5-6). And it keeps going all the way to Jesus.

Boaz and Ruth and Naomi become part of the great work God is doing in bringing a redeemer into the world. They become part of the central story of Scripture. We understand that great leaders like Moses and Joseph and King David are part of this story. They stand out because of their great abilities as leaders of God’s people (as well as because of their faithfulness in following Him). But Ruth and Naomi and Boaz seem to be fairly ordinary people. They’re not leaders in the nation. None of them are prophets. They’re just ordinary people, going about their daily lives, seeking to be faithful. And they end up being part of the story of God’s redemption.

How does all this come about? How do these ordinary people, going about the business of their lives, come to be included in such great things? They’re not aspiring to greatness. They don’t have grandiose plans. They’re not great visionaries, out to change the world. They’re like the Psalmist in Psalm 131: “O Lord, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me” (v. 1). They’re not seeking to make a name for themselves. They’re simply people who are seeking to be faithful in a growing relationship with the living God. The end of the psalm directs attention away from ourselves and onto God: “O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore” (v. 3). The psalmist doesn’t have grandiose plans for himself; his trust and his focus are on God. Ruth and Boaz and Naomi are like that, and they find God doing things beyond their wildest imaginations. A life of faithfulness in what God calls us to do has consequences far beyond anything we’re able to see.

Two things stand out especially about these people. First, they’re seeking to be faithful to God. Even though Naomi is bitter at the beginning of the story and believes God is her enemy, at the first evidence of God’s sovereign care she bursts out “God hasn’t quite walked out on us after all! He still loves us, in bad times as well as good!” (The Message). Boaz greets his workers with the words “The Lord be with you” (2:4). He’s blessing his workers. No doubt there were people who used this greeting just as a formality, but everything we see about Boaz suggests more than this. He cares about the spiritual welfare of his employees. He also blesses Ruth: “May the Lord reward you for your deeds, and may you have a full reward from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge” (2:12). These aren’t just people who are going about their duty because it’s the right thing to do. They’re not grim moralists or legalists. They’re people who are seeking to be faithful to God’s Word in the context of a growing relationship with Him. These are people who are seeking to walk with God.

The second thing that stands out about these people is that they live out their faithfulness to God in the context of community. Their relationship with God involves more than just having a strong devotional life. He’s called them to be part His people. That’s why Boaz follows so carefully the correct procedures for redeeming Elimelech’s property. In marrying Ruth, he’s seeking to bring children into Elimelech’s family, rather than his own. He’s not enriching himself. He’s acting for the good of the community (which the other kinsman-redeemer, for one reason or another, wasn’t willing to do). And the greatest things that are happening have to do, not with them individually, but with what God is doing for His people through them.

One of the devotional books I've enjoyed is a book of daily readings from the writings of Frederick Buechner. Buechner is a Presbyterian minister, but he’s mainly known for his writing. Here’s part of the reading for January 1: “I discovered that if you really keep your eye peeled to it and your ears open, if you really pay attention to it, even such a limited and limiting life as the one I was living... opened up onto extraordinary vistas. Taking your children to school and kissing your wife goodbye. Eating lunch with a friend. Trying to do a decent day’s work. Hearing the rain patter against the window. There is no event so commonplace but that God is present within it, always hiddenly, always leaving you room to recognize him or not to recognize him.... If I were called upon to state in a few words the essence of everything I was trying to say both as a novelist and as a preacher, it would be something like this: Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace” (Listening to Your Life, p. 2). Ruth, Naomi and Boaz are three people who find their ordinary lives opening up “onto extraordinary vistas.”

Communion is one of those mysteries that involve us in far more than we understand. Jesus said, “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them” (John 6:54-56). As we come to the Table of the Lord in faith, we’re entering into this great work of redemption that God has been carrying on since the Fall (the work that Boaz and Ruth and Naomi were part of). We’re taking part in something that opens up “onto extraordinary vistas.” In doing this, we experience God’s presence and blessing in our lives. Here’s what one author says about communion: “When the elements of bread and wine are taken in faith, the transforming and nourishing power of Christ for the salvation and the healing of the person is made available” (Robert Webber, Ancient-Future Faith, p. 111).

But this isn’t the end. Having been refocused in God’s presence by taking part in corporate worship, we go out into the world again, as people who belong to Jesus Christ, as people who have been made part of something much bigger than anything we can imagine. But most of the time it doesn’t feel that way. What God calls us to do is cultivate a life of faithful obedience to His Word in the daily reality of our lives, knowing that He is continuing His work in ways we’re not aware of. We’re usually in too much of a hurry to see outward results. We don’t have to make grandiose plans about all the things we’re going to accomplish. Most of us are not in a position to change the world (and most people who are in that position don’t change it for the better anyway). But the thing we can see clearly in the book of Ruth is this: a life of faithfulness in what God calls us to do has consequences far beyond anything we’re able to see. May God enable us to cultivate lives of attentive obedience to His will, trusting in His sovereign power to accomplish His purposes.