Dr. Patrick Mead
Series: Everyday God
Discovering the Will of God – Part 2
Ruth 2
Turn to Ruth, chapter 2. We're picking up where we left off last week in discovering the will of God for your life. Many years ago there was a farmer who really wanted to be a preacher. He wanted to be a traveling evangelist. He was just waiting for God to call him to do it, but he wanted to do it. One day after working the farm, he was lying down on the grass on his back looking up into the blue sky and watching the clouds go by, and he saw two clouds in the shape of two different letters, P and C.
For a moment he thought, "Well, there's my sign. God wants me to go and preach Christ." So he sold his farm, went out, and became a traveling evangelist. The only problem is that he couldn't preach and people weren't responding. One day he preached a horrible sermon. His neighbor came up to him after the service and said, "Are you sure those two letters didn't mean 'plant corn'?"
This is one of the areas we struggle with as believers: when it comes to discerning God's plan for our individual lives. We struggle with it. We become frustrated with it sometimes, even confused. As the story relates, and even in my own life, there are times where we become spooky. That's what we're focusing on, and we were talking about discovering the will of God.
Remember, there are different aspects. I taught these last week. I won't go into them too deeply, but we need to understand the different aspects of the will of God. First of all, there's the preceptive will of God. The preceptive will of God is what you find in the Bible. The revealed will of God; the precepts and commands you find in the Word of God. That's what we have here, and what we have to do as believers is obey them. Most of what God wants you to do in your life is found right here. The preceptive will of God.
Then there is the providential will of God, the circumstances that happen in our lives that are beyond our control. Some of them are good, some of them are bad, and some of them are very ugly, but they are a part of the providential will of God. As believers, when we encounter these circumstances, we need to make sure we respond to them in such a way that's in accordance with the preceptive will of God, that we make sure we obey the commandments of God.
Then, of course, there is the third aspect. That's what we're focusing on, and that is God's plan for individuals. This is where we struggle, because it's not clear. God doesn't just give us a clear picture in the Scriptures about what he wants us to do or what he wants us to be in the future, whether we go to this college or marry this person or take this job. It's not clear. This is why we get spooky, trying to figure out God's plan for our individual lives.
We learned two things last week. Really, you can take the book of Ruth at different angles. I like to call it the "gospel of Ruth," because the gospel is in the book of Ruth. The good news is in the book of Ruth. But we're observing it from the standpoint of how God is unfolding his plan for Ruth's life, and I believe Ruth gives us some steps we need to take when it comes to this third aspect of God's will. How do we discover God's plan for our lives?
1. It begins with a proper view of God. What we see with Ruth is a young lady who was willing to leave Moab, willing to leave her people, willing to leave her gods, and cling to the God of Israel, believing and trusting that God would provide for her. She trusted God with all of her heart. She didn't lean on her own understanding like her sister Orpah. Orpah did, and Orpah left. She went back to the greener pastures, so to speak.
She trusted God, acknowledged him. So now God is directing her paths. All this comes because she had a proper view of God. She understood God is a covenant-keeping God. He is always faithful to his covenant, which means he is always faithful to his covenant people. She could trust him without any reservation.
I think sometimes we struggle with trusting God, and we come to a point in our relationship and say, "God, I'll trust you up to this point." That only happens when you don't have a proper view of God. To get to a point where you can trust God without any reservation, you need to understand who he is, that he is a faithful and powerful God. You have to have a proper view of God.
2. You have to be faithful in what you can control. We focus primarily on verse 2. Notice what verse 2 says. "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.'" I love this, because here's this Moabite woman who realizes she doesn't have any control over the future.
By the way, God doesn't tell us the future. God didn't say, "Oh, Ruth, if you will come to Israel and let me become your God and Israel become your people, here's what's going to happen. You're going to get there. You're going to meet a man named Boaz and you're going to marry him. You're going to have children." He did not do that. And guess what? He doesn't do that for you either.
All she knew is that she had to wake up that day. She had a mother-in-law to take care of, and she knew there was a welfare program in Israel. The welfare program was really simple. If you were a landowner, God commanded you to not harvest all your land but leave a portion for those in need, for the widows, for the foreigners, and for the orphans. She knew that, and she knew that for that very day she needed to get up and go and work and glean.
The things she could control are really simple. The things we can control are our character and our conduct. Again, it really comes down to the preceptive will of God. These are the things you can control. I know as a husband God has called me to love my wife as Christ loved the church. That's not an option. That is God's plan for my life.
I'm a father, and it's God's plan for my life that I raise my children in the ways of the Lord, that I make sure what they're learning from me… This isn't an option. What they have to learn from my wife and me… This is God's plan for my life. I have to teach them to seek God's kingdom and his righteousness first. I need to make sure they understand that church and Christ Jesus is first place in everything we do. That's God's plan. That's God's plan for you if you're a parent.
We have to be faithful in what we can control. Put it another way, we have to be faithful in those small things. The great question is…What are you doing now? You're so focused on the future, "God, what am I going to do? Where do you want me to work? What do you want me to do?" and he says, "No, what are you doing now? Are you faithful in the small things? Are you faithful in the things you can control?"
What are the things you can control? Well, do you have a consistent walk with the Lord? Are you walking consistently with the Lord daily? God is concerned that you learn how to walk by faith, that you walk with him on a daily basis. He wants you to walk by faith. He's not going to tell you your plans all at once. He'll unfold it. But as you walk with him consistently…
Let me just say this. I do believe many believers who fell in this area, and this is where a lot of people fell, in this area of doing what they're supposed to do now… They forfeit God's best for them. Why? Because they're not faithful to what they need to be doing now. They're not obeying the preceptive will of God. I've seen believers get into marriages they should have never gotten into had they stuck with the Word of God.
What are you doing now? Are you serving God? God has given you a gift. Are you serving him right now where you can in your church? Are you a part of a local church? All of these are very important. Here's the thing. God gives opportunity as we are faithful in the small things, as we're faithful in the things we can control.
3. Be faithful in what you can control so that God will guide you in the things you can't control. You be faithful in the things you can control and trust God to guide you in the things you can't control. We see in verse 2 she gets up. She knows what she needs to do for that day. Then in verse 3 she moves forward. She's going to be faithful in what God has told her to do.
I love verse 3, because verse 3 shows you as she steps out in faith, not knowing the future… Oh, let me tell you, her future was bright. She stepped out in faith. God begins to orchestrate her steps, and we see her trusting in the providence of God. Verse 3: "So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers…"
Now this next statement is a very, very important statement in verse 3 for really understanding what God is doing in the book of Ruth. Listen to what happens. She ends up in the field after the reapers. "…and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz…" Last week we met Boaz in verse 1. He's the new character on the scene, and we're told in verse 1 that this Boaz is a man of God. He is worthy, which means he's wealthy. He has money.
It also speaks of his character, that this Boaz is a man of God. He is a man of faith. He is really God's agent of grace. He is God's heart. God's heart is being revealed through the hands of Boaz. Boaz, in essence, is a reflection of the very character of God. So what happens? She's faithful in the small things, the things she can control, and as she's being faithful in the small things, that phrase says she just happened to show up in the field of Boaz.
This statement is where I got the title for this series, Everyday God. God's activity in everyday life. That we as a church and we as believers would begin to see the providence and sovereignty of God. By the way, you want to be here next week if you can, because I'm going to talk about the providence of God and human choices, how it all works together. Chapter 3 shows us how to do that.
Here's how you would translate this statement from the Hebrew literally: "And her chance chanced upon the allotted portion of the field of Boaz." If we were to paraphrase that for something we could understand today, we would say, "By the stroke of luck, she just happened to be in the field of Boaz."
Now is the writer telling us this happened by chance? Is the writer really trying to tell us this is all about luck? No. In fact, what he's using here is what is called irony. He's trying to point out, "Don't think for a moment that this is chance. Don't think for a moment that this is luck." One scholar said he uses this irony here to scream, "Look! See the hand of God at work here."
God is at work here, and he is moving and guiding her life. As she's trusting in God and putting all her faith in God and trusting him with all of her heart, with all of her soul, with all of her mind, and she's acknowledging him in all of her ways, guess what happens? God makes her path smooth. He is leading and guiding her steps. This is not some miracle that's happening; this is God's activity in our lives every day.
Every one of us has stories of how we see the hand of God daily, don't we? It's not always in miracles. Sometimes the hand of God is for people he brings into your life, maybe for a day, maybe for a season. I heard a story the other day on the radio of a lady who had a flat tire. She was a nurse. A man pulled over and helped her change the tire.
He left, got back on the road. He went just a few miles down the road and he had a heart attack. He pulls over. He's having a heart attack, and guess what? The lady he just changed the tire for, she's driving up and recognizes his car. She's a nurse and saves his life. Was that by luck or chance? No. We would call that the providence of God.
That's what you have to do. When you are faithful in the small things, you have to trust God, and he will bring about his providential will. One of my favorite verses is Proverbs 16:9. "The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps." That's what's happening here. In fact, that's really the undergirding of the book of Ruth: God's hand and activity in our everyday lives as we trust in him.
You see, you have to be faithful in the things you can control so God can guide you in the things you can't control. Ruth didn't have a clue who Boaz was. In fact, Naomi didn't know about him, or was reminded about him, only after Ruth came back from being in the field of Boaz. We see the providence of God, God guiding her and leading her.
We also see the provision of God as well. Of course, we see in verse 4 that this Boaz is a man of faith. He is a man of God. Look at verse 4. "And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. And he said to the reapers, 'The Lord be with you!'" Here's his statement. A man of faith. "God bless you." "Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reapers, 'Whose young woman is this?'"
Chance? Luck? No. It's the hand of God at work, the faithfulness of God at work when he sees a young Moabite woman who is faithful to do what she can do now and faithful to what she can control. As she is faithful and trusting God, God is providing for her. He's providing just the very basic needs.
Look at verse 8. "Then Boaz said to Ruth, 'Now, listen, my daughter…'" Here we see protection. "…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."
In other words, "I'm going to provide for you, but not only am I going to provide for you, I'm going to protect you." Remember, she is a Moabite. She is a foreigner, but she is a Moabite foreigner. We see the precious hand of God controlling and guiding her in the areas she can't control. We see his providence. We see his provision. Then, of course, we see his protection.
All of this came because God's handiwork was taking place with what we would consider behind the scenes. As she was faithful in the things she could control, God guided her in the things she couldn't. That's how God works. If you've been walking with God long enough, you see his hand. Even as new believers… When you come to Christ, I believe God specifically… When you become a new believer, he really opens up your eyes to his handiwork.
I can't tell you as a young believer the people of God he put in my life immediately. One such man who has already gone to be with the Lord… He died at 47. He would have celebrated his fiftieth birthday this year. Marty Ketcham. He put him in my life for a season for about three to five years of intense discipleship. This is the man who influenced me to go into the ministry.
This is also the man that you will see with me, that he had a passion and a love for this time of the year. He loved Christmas. I watched that man hold his baby boy one day and just start weeping over the thought that Jesus Christ was a baby. That's why I love this time of the year, because God put this man in my life and he influenced me.
You can do the same. Last night I was at one of the two Christmas parties I went to, but I got to hear an individual talk about God's providence. "I didn't set out to do these things. I was just faithful in the small things. And you know what? God just gave me these opportunities." That's how it works. Things just unfolded. God didn't give this individual his whole plan.
I can look in my life, and there are so many instances of the providence of God and God guiding me in areas I could not control. The one that comes to my mind probably most of all, where I can say, "Yes, I saw the hand of God on several occasions…" If you in the last two years have been in a night service, if I've told this story, you're going to hear it again. I think I did share it in the night service.
My first church was a country church, and there was a whole neat thing of how God got me out in Athens, Texas. I ended up in Garland, Texas. That was somewhat of my hometown. God allowed me to go and pastor a church called Lyons Road Baptist Church right off I-30 by Lake Ray Hubbard. We moved there. It was nice being close to family and everything.
Now I do remember this. One of the deacons from my church I left said… I told him I was going to my hometown, and he said, "Oh, you know, a prophet is not welcome in his hometown." Little did I know that that was prophetic, because in my second church I experienced a church split. Now let me just say I didn't get into ministry saying, "I can't wait to split my first church." That wasn't the case.
My wife and I early on in our ministry… We realized how naïve we were and still are sometimes. We thought to ourselves, "We will never split a church. We will never let that happen." That was our plan, but it wasn't God's. Within four months of getting to my second church… I followed the man who planted the church. His family was there. In fact, his son-in-law was my music minister. There were just all kinds of problems from the get-go.
I really thought it was me at first. I went home after four months and told my wife, "I think the church is going to split." This was her response: "I think you need to see a counselor." I thought she was right. I thought, "Maybe it's me. Maybe I'm not seeing these things." I really thought it was me. But three months later, God opened my wife's eyes to what was going on. She came to me and said, "You're right. The church is going to split."
We had decided, "We're not going to split a church," so we started looking for another church, somewhat difficult when you've only pastored for about three and a half years in the first place. It was a small country church. Then you get to your second church and you're sending out résumés and you haven't even been there a year. They're not touching me with a ten-foot pole. I got a few phone calls.
In fact, I got a phone call from First Baptist Stuttgart. The first question was, "Man, you haven't been there a year. Why are you leaving?" "Well, the church is going to split." "We've already been through one. We don't want to mess with you." I had another church call me from Arizona. The question was, "Do you have a problem with people working at the casinos?" I was like, "I don't know."
God wasn't doing anything. I had every intention to get out, every intention to go before it blew up, but you know what? After 14 months there, the church blew up. It split. And let me tell you, when it split, it split. This side stayed; this side left. It split on a Sunday morning. The night before, I had a feeling something was going to happen that day, because we were having a business meeting that night. I really thought it was going to happen then, but it didn't.
That Saturday night… There have only been a few times where God said, "I want you to change the message," so I changed the message. The reason I changed the message is that I was going to preach on unity. It probably wouldn't have gone over really well. When you realize what happened after the service… What happened is I did an invitation. A whole group of people came and prayed on the altar.
They went back and sat down, and I said, "God bless you. Have a great Sunday. See you tonight." A gentleman stood up from this side and said, "Hold it, hold it, hold it! This is the darkest day in the life of Lyons Road Baptist Church." He got up behind the pulpit and started reading resignations. Nine people, staff members, resigned.
Now I know what they thought. The church is going to rise up and say, "Get rid of the pastor." It didn't happen. One of my deacons, who was for me, got up and basically said, "You know what? We have all tied his hands. We told him he had to work with this staff." When he said that, one of the son-in-laws (two of the son-in-laws of the former pastor were there) stood up and started yelling at him, and he started yelling at me.
My wife was sitting next to me and he was yelling at her. I said, "You need to get out of here." She said, "I'm not leaving." I said, "You need to get out of here, because if you don't, I'm going to end up hitting him, and that won't be good for my case. You need to go." I'm serious. If somebody is attacking your wife, you want to protect her.
So that happened. For four months after that, my family went through some of the most painful times in our lives. I mean it was painful. I wouldn't wish anybody to go through it. I look back and it was one of the best times in my spiritual life. But here's what happened. Two weeks after that, I started praying, "God…" That's one of those days where you're like, "Do I need to be in ministry? Do I really want to do this?" I spent two weeks praying, "God, do I stay?"
He gave me the affirmation that "You need to stay in the ministry." When that happened, when I had that affirmation, here's what we did. My wife and I copied 200 résumés and sent them out all the way to Alaska. That's a lot of résumés, isn't it? Yeah, you can count the money. We sent them out. "God, we believe you called us to ministry. Wherever you want us to go." Guess what? You'd think out of 200 you'd get several phone calls. I didn't get any phone calls. None.
July 14, 2002, Sunday morning, God told me… Actually during the week he said, "I want you to preach the sermon you were supposed to preach the day the church split. First Peter, chapter 5. I want you to preach it." I got up and told the church, "This was the passage of Scripture I was going to preach that Sunday but God told me not to. So today I'm going to preach it."
I preached it, about how leadership and laity need to submit to one another and get along. I shared my heart. I went home that Sunday. That very day… I told Christy at lunch, "You know what? We're not getting any phone calls. God is not opening up any doors. I'm just going to go tell the church next Sunday that I'm their pastor. We're going to stick it out." It wasn't looking really good. At some point they weren't going to be able to pay the pastor.
I just said, "I'm going to be faithful. I'm going to do what God has told me to do right here. I'm going to get up and tell them I'm their pastor." Well, on that very same day in that service were two people, a husband and a wife from Purcell, Oklahoma. He was on the search committee from First Baptist Purcell, one of the 200 churches that received my résumé. They happened to be in town in Garland that particular weekend because the husband's mother was in a nursing home.
So they're there on Saturday night going, "Well, where do we want to go to church?" His wife remembered, "Don't you have a résumé from somebody in Garland?" Yeah. So they looked up the name, found the name, found my church. I remember them so vividly, because when this side is empty and the visitors are sitting on that side…"Hey, there are two visitors." I had to start telling them, "Guys, y'all can get over there. Spread out."
I remember them being there, and I remember them walking out. I was like, "Man, I didn't get their names. I didn't get anything. They didn't fill out anything." I hate that. So if you're here today, would you fill out something? That was the same day I went home and told my wife, "I'm going to be their pastor."
Well, that Monday, July 15, the chairman of this committee called. He called my wife first, and then she called and said, "Hey, you need to be expecting a call." Here's what the phone call said. "Somebody from our committee was in that church service yesterday, and as soon as he got out of the church, he called us and said, 'I found the man.'"
"Really? Why? Why does he say I'm the man?"
"Because of the message you preached."
Chance? No. I remember going through the interview process, the easiest interview process I've ever been through. I was so waiting for them… "Go ahead, ask me about the church split. Go ahead." They never asked. I said, "Hey guys, do you know our church split?"
"Oh yeah, we know your church split. Do you know ours split?"
"No. Have you heard anything bad about our church?"
"No."
"Have you gotten any phone calls?"
"No."
It was, again, God guiding us in those areas we could not control. I tried to control it. What I found very interesting is that the moment I said, "I'm going to be faithful in what I can control," God opened up the door. See, we have to be faithful in the things we can control so God can guide us in the things we can't control.
4. When you are faithful in the things you can't control, you experience the favor of God on your life and in your life. I want to show you something. Watch this. This is so awesome. Remember in verse 2 she said, "I'm going to go out into the fields so that I might find favor"? You go to verse 10, and notice what happens. "Why have I found favor in your eyes…?" Look at verse 13: "I have found favor in your eyes…" "I'm looking for favor. Now that I found it, why have I found favor? I have found favor."
Here's the key thing to understand. Why was she experiencing the favor of God? Verse 10 says, "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 am a foreigner?'" "I can't believe that you are just blessing me this way. You're giving me provision. You're giving me protection. Why are you doing this?"
Verse 11: "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.'" "You've been faithful. I've heard about it. Most of all, the Lord has seen it." He said, "The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord…"
"Everything you see happening," says Boaz, "is from the hand of God, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge. You have trusted in God. You placed your faith in God, and you've been faithful in the things you could control. You have been faithful in the small things, and as you walked faithfully with God, God has seen your faithfulness and God has honored your faithfulness, and now the favor of God is upon you.
It's all God. It's God who just happened to have you show up in the field of Boaz. It's God who has provided this food." Not only has he provided her basic needs, but he has blessed her. There are abundant blessings. Really quickly, verses 14-18. It's all about God abundantly blessing her. She was satisfied. Not only was she satisfied with her basic needs, but she had leftovers.
When she goes home to Naomi, Naomi had her needs met. Not only was she satisfied with her basic needs, but she had leftovers. See, that's what happens. When you're faithful, God begins to shower his favor upon you, and that's what we see happening. Most importantly, we see eternal blessings. Look at verse 19:
"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 worked today is Boaz.' And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, 'May he be blessed by the Lord…'"
Some of your translations make it sound like Boaz is the one who's kind, but it's the Lord whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead. The Hebrew word there is checed. It's referring not only to the Lord's kindness but his steadfast love. It's God's faithfulness, God's steadfast love for his people, that has brought this all about. All of this is by the hand of God.
More importantly, she says, "This man Boaz? He's a redeemer. He's a ga'al." We'll learn more about that. In the grand of scheme of things, as we're seeing God's plans for Ruth… By the way, Boaz is a part of God's plan for Ruth. But in the bigger grand scheme of things, Boaz and Ruth are participants in God's plan of redemption, because Boaz becomes a type of our Kinsman Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
I want you to listen to this statement: Faithfulness is the key that opens the doors of opportunity. You want to discover God's will for your life? Have a proper view of God that enables you to trust him with all of your heart. Be faithful in the things you can control and watch God guide you in the things you can't control. As you walk faithfully, you will experience the favor of God upon your life.
Do you know what I've found in my life? God always does more than what I could ever think or imagine. Always. To know the will of God is the greatest challenge; to do the will of God is the greatest achievement. If you're here today, know that the book of Ruth has a grander scheme, and that is the scheme of God's plan of redemption.
I know it's God's will for you to be saved. God desires for you to be saved from your sin. Each one of us has fallen short of the glory of God, and we need a savior. That Savior is Jesus Christ. It is God's will for you to repent of your sins and to place your faith in Jesus Christ. That's where God's plan begins on the individual level. It begins with you saying, "Yes, I will trust Christ."
Are you here this morning? Do you need to trust Christ? Maybe you're here this morning and you just see the providence of God leading you to become a part of our church family. You know Jesus Christ and you know you need to serve him. God's hand is leading you here today. In a moment we're going to have a time of invitation. That's a time that you can respond to what God has spoken to you. Let's pray.
Father, we thank you for this truth about knowing your will and your plan for our lives. It really comes down to just being faithful, because faithfulness is the key that opens the doors of opportunity. God, remind us of that as your children. For that person who's here today, that man, that woman, that child who doesn't know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, God, you led them here today.
Sure, they made a choice, but they're here because you have a plan. You wanted them to hear the good news today. I pray that they will step forward and say yes to Jesus today. For that person who knows God has called them to be a part of our church family, let them move forward and say, "Yes, we want to be a part of First Southern." Have your way, God. Have your way. In Jesus' name, amen.
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