Jesus promises us in Matthew 6 that when we trust in God, God
will always give us what we need. We don’t have to worry about whether we’re
going to have food or clothing or shelter, because God makes sure that we get
those things. But don’t think this means that God will just drop turkey dinners
out of the sky or make clothes magically appear in our closets. He can do that
(like when he sent that fish to save Jonah way back in our second story), but
God often provides things like food and clothing and shelter through more
ordinary ways.
Last week, we started the story of Ruth. We heard from Naomi
about how God’s goodness gives us reasons to be joyful. Naomi told us about her
time in Moab and how, when she returned to her home in Israel, her
daughter-in-law Ruth came with her. Well, this week, we’re going to hear about
some of the stuff that happened after they came home.
Things weren’t easy for Ruth and Naomi. They didn’t always
know where they would get their next meal from or how long they could live at
the place they were staying. But that all changed when… Well, I’m getting ahead
of myself. Let’s let Ruth tell us her story herself:
________________________
Ugh… I hate sweat! Don’t get me wrong, I’ll work as hard as
I have to to make sure we’ve got food on the table. I just wish it didn’t have
to be so hot. It would sure make picking up all this grain a whole lot easier.
The name’s Ruth. Yeah, that
Ruth. It’s cool having a book of the Bible named after me and all, but I’m
not really sure I did anything worth naming a book after. I just did what
needed to be done.
I mean, have you heard my mother-in-law’s story? Naomi
sacrificed so much for her family! When that famine hit all those years ago, Naomi
gave up everything and went somewhere totally new so that her family could have
enough food to eat! If that’s not love, I don’t know what is! I still can’t
believe that God blessed me so much by letting me join their family.
And yeah, it was super hard when my husband Mahlon died. I
still miss him lots. But I had learned so much about God from him and Naomi and
their whole family. I just knew that God wanted me to stay with Naomi when she
decided to go back to Israel. Now it was my
turn to leave behind everything I had grown up with, but I trusted that God
would take care of us.
But let me tell you, those first few months in Israel
weren’t easy… We found a place to stay for the time being, but we still had a
much bigger problem ahead of us. Naomi and I were on our own, and Naomi just
wasn’t strong enough anymore to do lots of tough work like picking grain in the
hot sun all day. So that left it up to me to make sure that we had enough to
eat.
There was one problem though. I’m from Moab, and let’s just
say that the Israelites and the Moabites haven’t always been the best of
friends. So yeah, I was pretty scared that I wouldn’t be able to find anywhere in
Israel where someone would let me work.
As far as I could tell, I had only one thing going for me.
See, God gave Israel a ton of laws which told them how He wanted the Israelites
to live. Mahlon had told me lots about it back in Moab, and I remember quizzing
him about some of the weirder laws that God had given. One of these laws was
that farmers weren’t supposed to harvest all of their crops. The Israelites
weren’t supposed to collect grain or vegetables from the outer edges of their
fields, and they weren’t supposed to go back over their fields a second time to
pick up anything they missed (Leviticus 19:9-10 NIrV). This way, anyone who was poor or who was passing through
from another country would have places where they could get food too!
Now at the time, I remember thinking this law was a little
silly. That’s a lot of food that could be wasted right there! But boy was I
glad now that God had put that law in there. ‘Cuz honestly, if the farmers
didn’t leave some of their food behind, I don’t know how me and Naomi would’ve
survived!
So you can probably guess my first job after coming back to
Israel. That’s right, I picked a field and started collecting the leftover
grain that the other women who were gathering had left behind. And honestly,
the whole time I was out there, I was just praying that I wouldn’t get in
trouble. Sure, I had got permission from the supervisor of the field that I
could work there, but some of the other gatherers and supervisors could tell I
wasn’t from Israel and kept giving me dirty looks.
Anyways, I had probably been working an hour or so on that
first day when I saw someone new walking towards the fields. He talked to some
of the women working closest to the edges, and all of them bowed their heads in
respect as he walked by. That could only mean one thing: the owner had just
showed up! It was already hot, but I remembered sweating even more right then.
I was super nervous that this man was going to find me and send me away! I even
started crouching over, hoping the owner wouldn’t see me while I stuffed as
much grain as I possibly could into my bag in case I had to make a run for it!
Turns out I had no reason to worry. The owner was a man
named Boaz, and honestly, I don’t think I could’ve found a better man to work
for. I’d just seen that Boaz was super kind to everyone who worked for him. And
I found out later from Naomi that Boaz was actually related to our family!
Of course, I didn’t know that then. All I could think was
that this guy was gonna throw me in jail for trespassing or something. So when
Boaz called out my name, all I could think was, That’s it! I’m done for! I’m sorry Naomi. I hope you’ll visit me in
jail!
But when I walked over to Boaz, trembling the whole way, I
was shocked to find that he didn’t want me arrested or kicked out of his field
or anything like that. In fact, he told me to stay and pick up whatever grain I
could find. And if I was thirsty, I was welcome to get some water from the jars
nearby.
I was in shock. All I could think to do was bow in thanks… But
between you and me, the bigger reason I bowed was because I didn’t want Boaz to
see the tears in my eyes. As calmly as I could, I asked Boaz, “Why are you
being so kind to me? In fact, why are you even noticing me? I’m from another
country” (Ruth 2:10).
But Boaz only smiled and said, “I’ve been told all about
you. I’ve heard about everything you have done for your mother-in-law since
your husband died. I know that you left your father and mother. I know that you
left your country. You came to live with people you didn’t know before.” Then
he paused for a moment, lifted my chin so I was looking at him, and wiped away
my tears. “May the LORD reward you for what you have done. May the LORD, the
God of Israel, bless you richly. You have come to him to find safety under his
care” (Ruth 2:11-12).
I couldn’t believe it! All I could think about since I had
been in Israel was whether the people would hate me. Whether I would be able to
find a place to work. Whether I would be able to take care of Naomi like she
had cared for me for so many years! And now, I realized that God had sent me to
the perfect field to meet the perfect person who could look out for not just
Naomi but for me too.
Naomi and Mahlon had always told me they trusted that God
would provide for them no matter what. And sometimes, this meant doing really
tough stuff, like leaving their home and going to a new land where God would
take care of them. But it was only after leaving my home, going to Israel, and having no idea where our next meal
was going to come from that I learned this lesson too. That even when we have
no idea how things are going to turn out, God
always knows how He is going to take care of us.
Sure, sometimes God provides through something miraculous.
Sometimes he makes money for food or for homes seem to come out of nowhere. But
more often than not, God provides through more “normal” ways. He gives us jobs
or friends who are there to take care of us when we need it most. But I learned
in Boaz’s field that we can always trust God to provide, no matter how He
chooses to do it.
I still remember how happy Naomi was when I told her about
Boaz! She thanked God for Boaz and his kindness and told me to keep going back
to his field for food. So I did. And after many days of collecting food and receiving
Boaz’s kindness, I began to feel safe with Boaz. Comfortable. And it wasn’t too
long before…
Actually, I’m not sure I want to spoil the surprise. Boaz
loves telling that part of our story. So I’ll leave it up to him to finish off
next week. But until then, know that God has only continued to take care of us.
And believe me, you can trust Him to do the same for you too!
~Brentagious
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