What Can I Do Now?

Active Faith: What Can I Do Now?

Ruth 3

Go ahead and take your Bibles and turn to Ruth, chapter 3, as we continue this series out of the book of Ruth called Everyday God, God's activity in everyday life. A week ago Friday, I had the wonderful privilege of playing golf. Coach Marvel called me and asked me to go. The last time I played was probably over a month ago, early October, because of weather and meetings in my own life. I couldn't make any other opportunities he called.

To be honest with you, the last time I played in October, I really didn't do as well as I thought. What I'm learning with golf is my expectations and my abilities are far apart. In other words, my expectations of my golf game and my abilities seem to be going the opposite direction. So I thought maybe, just maybe the time off would just improve my game. It's a head game, and maybe I'm just overthinking. I thought, "Well, maybe the time would help me." He called me up a week ago Friday, and I said, "Sure."

So I was somewhat excited to go play. Of course, you know what I did. "Dear Heavenly Father, can I have a good golf game today? Amen." I don't stop praying when I play. I learned something that day because I wish I could say yes, with the time off and the prayer, I did great. It was quite the opposite. It was almost as if I had never played golf before. Thank God I was praying because I was ready to give up. "Lord, help me."

Finally, probably toward the last three holes, I actually started hitting the ball. It was great. It was like my first time to play, and I learned a great truth that day that really helped me with this sermon and put it into context. If I want God to answer my prayers, I need to practice. I need to play more, but I really need to get out and practice. So what God taught me there was a valuable lesson between the sovereignty of God and human responsibility.

I've heard somebody say… I think it's a good illustration of how it works when it comes to discovering the will of God for your life because that's exactly what we're doing here in the book of Ruth. We're watching how God, through her daily choices, is leading and guiding her steps. This is a great theological truth: God does not steer parked cars. You have to move. You have to be active in your faith.

As you are doing what you can do now, being faithful in the things you can control, God will guide you in the things you can't control. I can pray all day long about my golf game, but at some point… My wife is helping me out. She gave me for Father's Day these little Wiffle ball golf balls. Have y'all seen those? Yeah, I think I'm going to take them out of the package after that last game and actually use them. "No, I don't need those. I have God. I'm praying. It's going to be okay."

As we study the book of Ruth, we're really learning how Ruth is not sitting around, is she? She is moving forward. She is doing basically what she can do now. She is being faithful in the things she can control. As she is being faithful in the things she can control, guess what is happening? God is guiding her in the things she can't control.

So when we come to chapter three, it's really a continuation of God unfolding the plan for her life. It's a continuation of how God is guiding her steps each way. As she makes choices, as she is being faithful in the things she can control, God is guiding her steps. She is a wonderful, wonderful picture of active faith. True saving faith is active. True saving faith changes your life and is evidenced in your life by the things you do.

So as we come to chapter 3, we continue to watch Ruth and her life, her being faithful and active in her faith. We're watching God do what she can't control, guide her steps. We're not only going to see her active faith in this chapter, but we're going to learn from both the faiths of Naomi and Boaz.

So what we're going to do in this third chapter is I've chosen to kind of expand on one of the points from last week. One of the points (and probably the most important point) that we learn from Ruth is (I've said it over and over already) you have to be faithful in the small things. To put it another way, you must be faithful in the things you can control. As you're being faithful in the things you can control, God will guide you in the things you can't control. We see that. So what I want to do is expand upon that.

I tried to give you examples in both of the last two messages about discovering the will of God. I tried to give you real examples. I want to expand upon that because you still might have left here going, "What can I do?" I'm going to give you some general truths from this passage. You will find everything you need to know as it comes to discovering the will of God is found right there in the Book you have in your lap, the Bible. So what can I do now? What can I actively be doing now as I trust God to guide me in the areas I cannot control?

1. Naomi teaches us that you have to obedient and follow God's Word. Let's pick up the story in verse 1, chapter 3. It says, "Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, 'My daughter, should I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you?'" In other words, "I need to help you find a home, to find a husband." That's what she is saying. "I want you to have a future." In reality, not only does she want to find a future for Ruth, but she will also be finding a future for herself. Naomi is already scheming something here. She says in verse 2:

"'Is not Boaz our relative, with whose young women you were? See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. Wash therefore and anoint yourself, and put on your cloak and go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. But when he lies down, observe the place where he lies. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do.'"

Now the activities of these verses are foreign to us in our Western culture. We look at it, and we think, "Well, here's what is happening. Naomi is arranging a marriage here. That's what it looks like. She is the matchmaker." If you look at further background, what you're going to notice is Naomi is actually taking her cues and initiatives from the very Word of God. Go back to verse 20 of chapter 2, because after Ruth came back to her mother-in-law, she gave her the report that she was in Boaz's field.

Here's how Naomi responded in verse 20: "And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, 'May he [talking about Boaz] be blessed by the LORD, whose kindness…'" She is talking about the Lord here, not Boaz. The Hebrew word is checed. We translate that sometimes steadfast love. "…has not forsaken the living or the dead!' Naomi also said to her, 'The man is also a close relative of ours, one of our [ga'als] redeemers.'"

So what she is doing is she says, "This is one of our kinsman redeemers." So she is beginning to see the hand of God here. What she is referring to when she says, "He is our ga'al. He is our redeemer," is she is referring to two basic cultural practices that are found in the written law of God. In other words, she is very familiar with the Word of God, and she is taking initiatives based upon God's Word. There are two biblical laws she is aware of here that she is appealing to, that she is allowing to guide her steps: the one that is called the kinsman redeemer and the levirate marriage.

So take your Bibles. Turn over to Leviticus, chapter 25. I want you to see the part of the law she is referring to. She is not just being a matchmaker here. She is not just arranging a marriage here. She is living her life according to the Word of God. She is being obedient to the Word of God. Leviticus, chapter 25, verse 25 is talking about the land here. In both instances, the marriage and the kinsman redeemer… One deals with the land; the other one deals with the family name. Both of them are tied together. In verse 25, here's what the law of God says:

"If your brother becomes poor and sells part of his property, then his nearest redeemer shall come and redeem what his brother has sold. If a man has no one to redeem it and then himself becomes prosperous and finds sufficient means to redeem it, let him calculate the years since he sold it and pay back the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and then return to his property. But if he does not have sufficient means to recover it, then what he sold shall remain in the hand of the buyer until the year of jubilee. In the jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his property."

So God had a design that this piece of property would stay in the family. Maybe there wasn't anybody to redeem it. Eventually at the year of jubilee, it all went back to the original owners. So what we see here is that the redeemer, the ga'al, had an opportunity and a responsibility to redeem the land to keep it into the family. So she is referring to that. When she says, "He is one of our redeemers. He is one of our ga'als," she is referring to Leviticus, chapter 25.

She also has in mind here Deuteronomy, chapter 25. So turn over to the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy, chapter 25… Here we have the levirate marriage. Verse 5 of chapter 25 in Deuteronomy is the same passage you may remember in the Gospels when the Sadducees came up to Jesus and were talking about the resurrection. The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection. So they were talking about this specific law, and they were trying to trap Jesus.

They said, "At the resurrection…" They gave a scenario. "…if this woman had a husband and he died and his brother married her and he died, so he had like seven brothers, whose wife would she be in heaven, in the resurrection?" Of course, they didn't believe in the resurrection. Jesus said, "We're not going to be married in the resurrection. We're going to be like angels." They were referring to this specific law. Verse 5:

"If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband's brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.

And if the man does not wish to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say, 'My husband's brother refuses to perpetuate his brother's name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband's brother to me.' Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him, and if he persists, saying, 'I do not wish to take her,' then his brother's wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face.

And she shall answer and say, 'So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother's house.' And the name of his house shall be called in Israel, 'The house of him who had his sandal pulled off." So he had a responsibility. Not an obligation, but obviously a responsibility. If you don't fulfill that responsibility, you can experience great shame within Israel.

What I want to show you is when we look at Naomi planning out here, she is taking her initiative, she is taking her cues, she is acting upon the Word of God. So she is putting her faith into action by devising a plan. The plan is inside the will of God. The plan is revealed in the Word of God. That's what you need to see here: a woman who understands the Word of God and is moving forward with an active faith. The way you move forward with an active faith is you be obedient to follow God's Word.

So what we have in the first four verses is we find Naomi. When she hears that Ruth is there in the field of Boaz, she is not going to sit by and be passive because faith is not passive. True faith is active. She didn't sit around going, "Whatever shall be, shall be," and call that faith. She knew she needed to be obedient and follow the Word of God.

We as the people of God need to be very careful that we don't let apathy or laziness become a false piety. We sit around and just say, "We're waiting for God." Now we have to wait for God, but in the midst of waiting for God, we need to be obedient and follow his Word. That's what she is doing. So we need to take action. We need to take our initiatives from the Word of God.

What can we do now? Well, as I said a couple of weeks ago, most of what you need to know about God's plan for your life is found right there in the revealed will of God, the Word of God. Be obedient to the Word of God. That's what Naomi is doing. So Naomi teaches us that an act of faith is obedient and follows the Word of God.

2. Ruth teaches us that an act of faith is courageous and trusts God's promises. We'll take up the story in verse 5, chapter 3. After the plan was given to Ruth, it says in verse 5… Here's Ruth's response. I love it because here we see a woman who is humbly submitting not only to Naomi, her mother-in-law, but ultimately she is submitting herself to the Word of God.

Verse 5 says, "And she [Ruth] replied, 'All that you say I will do.'" What a great response. Then she responds in verse 6. "So she went down to the threshing floor and did just as her mother-in-law had commanded her. And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Then she came softly and uncovered his feet and lay down.

At midnight the man was startled and turned over, and behold, a woman lay at his feet. He said, 'Who are you?' And she answered, 'I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your wings…'" Some translations say, "Spread the corner of your garment…" "'…over your servant, for you are a redeemer.'"

So we see this humble submission on the part of Ruth. She is submitting to what Naomi commanded, but ultimately she is submitting to the Word of God. This plan was dangerous for her to follow. It was going to take courage on her part to really move forward. She was going to have to be courageous. It was dangerous for two reasons at least.

First, it was dangerous because she was putting her safety on the line. Here is this young, widowed girl, and she is going down to the threshing floor. They've finished the harvest. They've finished threshing. They're celebrating. They're eating. They're all in good spirits. So she is putting herself in an environment that is most likely hostile to a young, beautiful girl. She put her safety on the line. She was willing to do that, and she was willing to go forth.

Secondly, it was dangerous not only because of her physical safety, but it was also dangerous before her own character, because you know how people are. That's why Scripture says, "Be careful for even the appearance of evil." Perception becomes reality for people, doesn't it? You need to be very, very careful.

She could have said, "I'm not going to go because people will question my motives. People will question my character." She didn't allow that to stop her. She knew God knew her heart, and yes, she was putting herself in danger physically. She was putting herself in danger spiritually. People would question her motives and even question her character, but she did not allow that to stop her.

We see a beautiful picture of a courageous faith. The reason she was able to move forward, the reason she was able to go into the danger zone, so to speak, is because you have this young woman who is trusting the promises of God. So she is courageous. She is going into the danger. She is a model of an active faith.

I want you to see what happens because in verse 9, we have a marriage proposal. Some might say, "Man, she is being forward," but she is following the Word of God. This was the custom of their day. In verse 9, actually he says, "'Who are you?' And she answered, 'I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer.'" Right there. "Spread your wings…" Some of your translations say, "Spread the corner of your garment…"

That's the very same word Boaz uses when he is talking to Ruth in verse 12 of chapter 2. Notice what he says to her. He says, "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 [the same word] you have come to take refuge!" "…under whose garment, the corner of the garment, you have placed your life. You have come to the Lord, and you have found refuge in him. God is your protector." That's what he is saying. The very same word is used here.

She is saying to Boaz, "Boaz, you are God's heart. God is using you to provide for me. God is my refuge, and you are the agent of grace God is using to bless my life, to protect my life. So we see a young woman here who says, "Listen. I understand the reason I can be courageous, the reason I can move forward is because I know I've taken refuge in God. He will protect me. He will take care of me."

Ruth trusted. She trusted the Lord to be her strength. She trusted the Lord to be her rock. She trusted God to be her strong tower, to be her safety. So she was moving forward. She didn't know what the future held. She didn't know what was before her. She knew it could be dangerous. She knew it could physically cause danger to her life. It could ruin her reputation. She knew when she started from Moab and she made the God of Israel her God, he was her refuge and her protection.

In our adventure in faith, there are going to be times when you have to move forward, and all you have are the promises of God. Of course, that's all you need, but that's all you have. I know it's true in my own life. Too many of us will not move forward because God does not show us what is going to happen in the future. Some of us are paralyzed. God is all about faith. If you want to please God, you have to please him with faith.

There are going to be times where you're not going to know what the future holds. Most of your life… God is not always going to give you a preview. Most of the time (if not all the time) he is just going to say, "Step out in faith, and you'll see what happens. You trust me with the things you can't control. You be courageous. Move forward. Just because you can't see how things are going to work out…"

I've had situations in my life where God did kind of give me an inclination to how things were going to work out, and they weren't going to work out well. They didn't work out well. Guess what? God said, "Boom! I still want you to go." Just because it's not going to work out doesn't mean it's not the will of God. Sometimes God allows us to go through suffering. All you have and all you need are the promises of God. So you commit your way to the Lord, and you act in faith.

On our prayer list, there is a couple we've been praying for, Brandon and Breanne Doyle. It's Darlene Lagrone's grandson and Brother Jim's nephew. Brandon and Breanne met in seminary at Gordon Conwell. They knew they were going to the mission field. So they made plans to go overseas and to work with Arabs, but God closed that door because of health.

Then they got reassigned to the North American Mission Board, and they were going to a refugee camp in New York City. So that was their plan, and it still is their plan. It's interesting because I got to hear just the many obstacles this young couple faced over the last year, trying to get to the place where God wanted them to serve.

They got their assignment, and so they started preparing. "We're going to move to New York City. We're going to live in this refugee camp." They were going to take their daughter, Abigail, there. In the midst of preparation, the unexpected happened, and they got pregnant again. Some of you have been praying for them on the prayer list.

About after six weeks, Breanne was sent home for total bed rest for five weeks. Then she went to the hospital and was in bed rest for another four weeks. Unbelievable. Their baby girl, of course, was premature. She was due November 11, born by C-section August 22, weighing two pounds, eight ounces. Now remember they still have this plan. "We're going to New York City. We're going to be moving."

All of this is happening in their life. The baby remained in the hospital 12 weeks. Then after that, she was followed up by three weeks of outpatient treatment, going in, I think, three days a week. Then last Sunday, at First Baptist Little Rock, they did the baby dedication. Her name is Ruth. They call her Ruthie. Isn't that great?

I think, "What a great story." This couple really demonstrates what it means to be courageous. All of these obstacles they were facing and had been facing and still are facing are unbelievable. Many people would have said, "No way. I'm not going." On December 6, Brandon and his dad left. They went off to New York City, driving all the furniture up so they can set up the apartment.

Now I think sometime this weekend, they're flying back to Little Rock. Then Brandon and Breanne and Ruth are going to drive up there because Ruth can't fly. Abigail is staying back with the grandparents. Then eventually the grandparents are coming up with Abigail, and they're all going to be, Lord willing, in New York City for Christmas. Why would they do that? To top it all off, they're going to one of the most dangerous areas in New York City. Why? Because they're trusting God's promises. They are courageous. That's what it means.

There are times when God gives you a word, and if God gives you a word, you go forward. You just trust that God is going to take care of you. There is an element of courageous, there is an element of where we need to have courage and know, "If God gave me a word and God gave me a promise, I need to keep moving." We need to be like Ruth. When Ruth heard the command and the plan, she said, "I'll do whatever you say." We need to be like the young Virgin Mary who when Gabriel came to her and gave her the plan, she said, "Let it be according to your word."

So many times we're like Gideon. Gideon gets a direct word from God, and a direct word from God wasn't enough. He said, "God, let me put out the fleece because I don't believe you." He puts out the fleece.

"How is that?"

"I still don't believe you. I'll put it out again."

"How's that?"

"I still don't believe you."

Even when he was moving forward, God knew how fickle this man was in his faith. He had to hear how the enemy had a dream. Gideon is not a picture of a strong faith. Gideon is a picture of a weak faith, a man who had no courage and a man who did not trust God. God still used him, amen?

Don't be like Zacharias when Gabriel shows up to him in the temple and says, "Listen. You're going to have a son, and he is going to prepare the way for the Lord." Do you know what he said? "Can you give me a sign?" "Sure. You're not going to say a word for a whole year." Elizabeth, his wife, was so happy. "Praise God."

All right, what can we do now? Here's the thing. We need to be courageous. We learn from Ruth you need to expect great things from God, and you need to attempt great things for him.

3. Boaz teaches us to be gracious and reflect the character of God. He is a picture of Christ. He is a foreshadow, a type of Christ in the Old Testament. All you see in his behavior are Christ-like attributes. So he says in verse 10, "And he said, 'May you be blessed by the LORD, my daughter. You have made this last kindness greater than the first in that you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich.'"

He is recognizing, "You are a godly woman. Here's this young, single woman, and you could have been chasing young men. You could have been chasing all kinds of guys, but you haven't. You have been faithful to the Lord. Your character is evident. You are worthy." He recognizes the very hand of God.

So what he does is he knows he has a responsibility according to the Word of God. Again, you have Naomi doing what she is supposed to do according to the Word of God. You have Ruth doing what she is supposed to do according to the Word of God. You have Boaz doing what he is supposed to do according to the Word of God.

In verse 11, it says, "'And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you ask, for all my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy woman. And now it is true that I am a redeemer. Yet there is a redeemer nearer than I.'" In other words, he knew he had an obligation to the Scriptures. He did not want to compromise the Word of God, because Boaz knew that once you compromise the Word of God, it will not turn out well for you.

His whole life is governed by the law of God. His whole life is governed by the Word of God. He understood, "Yes, I am the redeemer, but I also know there is one who is closer to me." So what happens is the next morning, Boaz sends off Ruth. He sends her off with a large amount of barley again.

Here's what I want to point out. We're going to reflect upon a little bit more as we get closer to Christmas on Boaz, but Boaz is a picture of Christ. What you see is a man reflecting the very nature and character of our God, our Christ. You see a man who is gracious. You see a man who is generous. You see a man who is unselfish. You see a man who is always looking out for the interest of others. That's Jesus, right?

You say, "Well, what do I need to do now?" You need to be gracious and reflect the character of God. When you follow the Word of God, you express the character of God in your attitude and your actions. When you follow the Word of God, you express because the very character of God is found in here. You express the character of God in your acts and your attitudes. So you need to be obedient. You need to be courageous. You need to be gracious.

4. Naomi and Ruth teach us that you need to be patient. Wait for God's timing. So Ruth goes back. We'll pick up the story in verse 16. She goes back. She is talking to her mother-in-law. It says, "And when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, 'How did you fare, my daughter?' Then she told her all that the man had done for her, saying, 'These six measures of barley he gave to me, for he said to me, "You must not go back empty-handed…"'"

I find it very interesting because if you remember, when Naomi went back to Bethlehem, she said, "Don't call me pleasant. Don't call me Naomi. Call me Mara, bitter because I left here full, but now I'm empty." Guess what? She is being filled up again. I want to say again that brokenness is the pathway to blessings. She is being blessed. She is being filled up. You don't want to come back empty-handed to your mother-in-law.

"She replied…" This is important because this is the whole point I want to make. "'Wait, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out, for the man will not rest but will settle the matter today.'" Trusting God to guide you in the things you can't control means you will have to learn patience, and you will have to learn waiting on God's timing. One moment of patience can keep you from disaster, and one moment of impatience can ruin your life.

God's guidance can be slow, and then…boom…it can be so quick that you can't stay up with it. That's how it works. You keep pressing along. You keep being obedient. You keep being gracious. You keep being courageous and moving forth with an active faith. You wait, and you wait for God's hand, and you wait for God's timing. Then as you're waiting and you're being patient and being obedient and being faithful, what happens? Well, you just so happen to end up in the field of Boaz.

One of these days, I'm convinced I'm going to get up here and tell you I'm good at my golf game. Somebody is laughing back here. My wife is telling everybody, "Hey, he's not that good," and she's right. I'm not. I pay the guys I play with. "Don't really tell them. Don't tell them how bad I am, please?" I know through a lot of prayer and doing my part…

Do you want to know God's plan for your life? It takes a lot of prayer, but it takes you doing your part. You be obedient, you be courageous, you be gracious, you be patient, and you move forward with an active faith. You don't have to know all the details. You trust God with what you can't control. You expect great things from God, and you attempt great things for him. That's true of you as an individual, and that ought to be true of us as a church, believing God has a great plan for us as a church.

If you're here this morning, God's greatest plan for any individual, for any life is that you be saved from your sins. God desires to have a relationship with you. Life begins with God. It ends with God. If you're here this morning and you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, if you've never trusted in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, I'm here to tell you you're not saved until you do. You need Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

The Bible says we're all sinners. We need a Savior, and Jesus is the Savior. He is the only way to heaven. That's why people are so offended this time of the year that we would actually put Christ in Christmas, because he is the only way. Some of you here today need to trust Christ for the very first time. God is leading some of you to this place to be your church home. You come forward. You be a part of this family. God wants you here today. If you need prayer today, we want to pray with you.

Father, we thank you for this time. As we have this time of invitation, we just pray that people would respond in faith. In Jesus' name, amen.

Discovering the Will of God – Part 2: Sermons from the Book of Ruth

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.

Discovering the Will of God-Part 1: Sermons from the Book of Ruth

Dr. Patrick Mead

Series: Ruth

Discovering the Will of God – Part 1

Ruth 1:16-17; Jonah 1:14-16; Ruth 2:1-2, 7

Go ahead and take your copy of God's Word and turn to Ruth, chapter 2, as we continue our series called Everyday God. What we're doing is as we study the book of Ruth we're observing God's activity in everyday life. Let me go ahead and give you a heads-up. I don't plan on finishing this outline this morning, so you have to come back next week. Okay? And you don't have to bring it back, because… Some of you will. You can fill it out, but I'll probably expand upon this.

As I typed this sermon out last week, I realized I had enough material for at least an hour-long sermon. I know you probably think I preach an hour already. I really don't. I get close to it, and I had double that amount so I knew we would be in trouble this morning. So I don't plan on finishing this, and I want to expand upon this study. Also, just a reminder I put a little devotional for you on the back, and it ties into what we are doing here in this study this morning from Ruth, chapter 2.

The late George Truett, who was the pastor at First Dallas before Dr. Criswell became pastor… Dr. Criswell followed him and was there for 50 years. George Truett made this statement: To know the will of God is the greatest challenge. To do the will of God is the greatest achievement. As believers in Jesus Christ, those of us who are followers of Christ, our motto should be, "The will of God: nothing more, nothing less, nothing else." You've probably heard that before.

Unfortunately, when it comes to the will of God, at times we Christians can be frustrated and confused. The reason for this frustration, the reason for this confusion, is our lack of understanding concerning this term, "the will of God." For us to really, truly discover the will of God for our lives, we need to understand the different aspects of the will of God.

1. The preceptive will of God. The Bible is full of commands. It's full of precepts that we as God's people are commanded to obey, and we are to obey these commands. We are to obey these precepts. In fact, most of the will of God for your lives is already revealed in the revealed will of God, and it's revealed in the Scriptures.

That's why Paul says, when he says in 2 Timothy, all Scripture is God-breathed and is profitable. It's all you need for salvation. It's all you need to live the Christian life. You find the preceptive will of God in the Word of God, and so to do that you need to understand the Word of God. Let me give you an example.

I know because I am married it is the will of God for me to love my wife as Christ loved the church. That's the preceptive will of God. I know because I am a father and I have children, three daughters, it's my responsibility, it's God's will, that I teach my children in the ways of the Lord. I know from the Scriptures God calls me to be an imitator of Christ. He calls me to be thankful in all circumstances. He calls me to rejoice always. He calls me to pray without ceasing. That is the will of God for my life. That's the will of God for your life, and it's right there in the Bible.

It's the will of God that I walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. It's the will of God that I live a life pleasing to God, walking in a manner worthy of him, that I bear fruit, that I grow in the knowledge of God, that I walk in the power of Holy Spirit, that I give thanks to God who has redeemed me from my sinful condition.

Those are what we consider the preceptive will of God. It's right there in the Bible, and the list goes on and on. You have the preceptive will of God, what you have spelled out for you in the Scriptures. It's not an option how I treat my wife. God says, "Here's my plan for you. You love her as Christ loved the church."

2. The providential will of God. Basically, this speaks of the circumstances we experience that are outside of our control. Much of what we are seeing with Ruth, she's experiencing the providential will of God, and we're going to see that unfold, especially as we go into the second part of this message next week about how God is guiding her steps.

There are things that happen in our lives. Some things are good. Some things are bad. Some things are ugly. They happen. They're outside of our control. God allows us to experience some things. We call that the providential will of God, and our responsibility as believers is to make sure when we find ourselves in a circumstance, no matter what it may be, that we respond in a way that's in accordance with what we just talked about, the preceptive will of God.

For instance, you find yourself in a situation that's outside of your control and somebody has wronged you, but you know, "How am I to respond to them in this circumstance? Well, I have to forgive them as Christ has forgiven me." So we have the preceptive will of God, we have the providential will of God, and here's the third part. Here's where I want to focus on today, because here's where we get really confused, where we really get frustrated, and that is what we consider…

3. God's plan for individuals. Here's where we struggle. I especially think of our young people who are college students. The questions like, "Where am I going to go to college? What job do I take? Is this job the will of God for my life? Where does God want me to serve? Where does God want me to go to church? What church should I go to?" Those are questions, but they're all ultimately a part of what we would consider God's plan for our lives.

I believe this wholeheartedly, that God has a plan for our individual lives, but here's where we really struggle. We kind of get messed up in our thinking. And I say we. I've done it. We know God has a plan for our individual lives. Right? But for some odd reason we think God is hiding it from us. We think, "Well, I have to seek the will of God. God has that plan around here somewhere. Let me find it. Where are you hiding it, God?"

We treat God like a game show host, and God is saying, "I have a plan for you. Is it behind door number one, door number two, or door number three?" as if God is hiding it from us. Do you ever feel like that? We say, "I have to find God's will in this situation. I have to seek God's will in this situation," as if God is messing with us, he's sitting back going, "Ha ha! They can't find their plan." We do that, don't we?

God doesn't do that. Nevertheless, we struggle, and here's why. Unlike the preceptive will of God and the providential will of God, which are clear in the Word of God and in our circumstances, when it comes to God's plan for our lives, where we work, where we go to school, what mate we marry, it's not clear.

Really, the reason it's not clear is really simple. God doesn't tell us his plan for our lives. He doesn't say, "Okay, now that you're a believer, let me just write it all out. Here's everything…" He does not give us insight into the future as it relates to the individual plan for our lives, and that's what we want.

How many of us want it? "Come on, God. Can't you just write it on the wall? Can't you just spell everything that's going to happen to me in my life? Why are you doing this, God? Why don't you put it in a book for me? Why don't you put it into a proposal?" Here is why. God says, "I want you to walk by faith and not by sight."

Do you know what? If God were to give us the plan, the proposal, some of us might go, "No, thank you. I don't like that plan." When I became a believer, even before I surrendered to ministry, just think when I surrendered to ministry if God said, "Okay, here's your plan. Here's everything that's going to happen to you in your life. Here's how I'm going to use you."

If I would've read that plan, there are some things that have happened to me that I would've said, "No, thank you." When I surrendered to ministry, that whole idea about being a pastor was the one thing I told God I was not going to be. "God, I'll do anything. Send me to the ends of the earth, but don't let me be a pastor. No, thank you, God." He didn't tell me I was going to be a pastor, not all at once. He wants us to walk by faith and not by sight.

Can you imagine Joseph, the story in Genesis? He gave him dreams and visions. He really didn't fully understand it, but he says, "Hey, Joseph. Here's the total plan for your life. You're going to be in the palace in Egypt."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but here's how you're going to get there."

"No, thank you."

Here's why we struggle with this whole concept of really knowing God's plan, because God does not say, "Here it all is. I'm going to lay your life out before you." He makes us walk daily with him, and he makes us walk by faith and not by sight. That's why we struggle. Not only do we struggle in this area; we become spooky. I've been spooky in my life. Let me give you a few examples. Maybe even I'll share one of my own.

I'll never forget a lady. She had some extra money. She felt like the Lord wanted her to give it to a ministry in her church, but she didn't know which ministry God was guiding her to. So here's how she discovered the will of God in this matter. She had her closed Bible just like this, and she said, "Lord, would you guide me to the ministry you want to give this money to?" She opened up her eyes, and then she opened up the Bible.

Fortunately for the children's ministry, she happened to land on the gospel where Jesus says, "Let the children alone. Don't hinder them from coming to me." That was a sure sign God wanted her to give to the children's ministry. I'm sure her pastor, after hearing that, wanted her to land on 1 Timothy, chapter 5, where it says, "Honor the elders with double honor, especially those…"

We get spooky. I know of a lady who married later in life, around 43 years old, didn't have any children, and she and her husband were at a missions conference at their church. She really felt God was calling her to the mission field, so she started praying about this. The next day at work one of her coworkers just happened to leave a vacation brochure on her desk.

It was for the Marshall Islands. She thought, "Well, maybe God wants me to go to the Marshall Islands." She goes home, and on the news there's a report coming out of the Marshall Islands. So what does she think? "God must be leading me to the Marshall Islands." Is that how God does it?

Or the young high school student who was walking with Jesus and wanted to do the will of God in his dating. So he concocted a plan. He had a long list of the girls he wanted to ask out, and his plan in discovering the will of God was if he called them and the phone was busy that meant it wasn't God's will for him to ask that girl out. If he called and she wasn't home and the phone just rang, that meant he could ask her out, but he has to wait. Of course, if he called and she answered, that meant it was the will of God for him to ask her out.

Do you see? We get spooky like that. I wish I could say that has never happened to me, but it has. I look back, and you learn from those instances. I'll never forget. It was 2006. I was pastoring in Oklahoma, and one of my mentors, Dr. David Allen, who's now the dean of theology at Southwestern, at the time was pastoring MacArthur Blvd Baptist Church. He was stepping down so he could devote his full time to his new position at Southwestern.

One of my friends came up to me, because he knew Dr. Allen, and he knew I was good friends with him. He said, "Man, you ought to put your name at that church." It's a really good church, has a great history. It's in Irving. From their parking lot you can see the Dallas Cowboy training. It's in Valley Ranch. That was a sign from God. Looking back, now that they're playing, I'm glad it didn't happen, but…

I went home and told Christy, and she says, "No, we'll pray about it." Here's what we did. We said, "Okay." What was happening was within a couple of weeks Dr. Allen was going to come and do a Bible conference for us there in Oklahoma, and she said, "Okay, if he comes and if he says something about it, then we'll do that." That was our criteria. If this happened, then we'll move forward. We'd put in our name at this church.

So we get to the last day of the Bible conference, and we go to dinner with him before it starts. He says, "Hey, I want to ask you something. Would you prayerfully consider letting me submit your name. I'm going to submit yours and somebody else's to MacArthur Blvd Baptist Church."

I thought for a moment, "Oh, this is off. God is all over this." You say, "Well, how did it turn out?" Well, I'm here, right? It got really spooky after that, because I was pretty sure God was moving and leading us there. It got really weird. We got really weird. Everything we saw with MacArthur, all of a sudden, "Man, that's a sign. It's coming."

I'll never forget. I did a graveside for somebody who lived in Irving, and they were being buried in Purcell, Oklahoma. I was doing the graveside, and they gave me something from the funeral. She was a member of MacArthur Blvd Baptist Church. "That's a sign. I'm going to be the pastor there."

We were coming home from vacation, and somewhere in Louisiana there's a MacArthur Road. We thought, "There's another sign." It's pretty spooky, right? Really spooky. We learned a good lesson. Don't go by that stuff. How do we do that? How do we move beyond just being frustrated and struggling and even becoming spooky in trying to understand God's plan for our lives?

Our study here in the book of Ruth really brings us to this second chapter as we look at Ruth and as she is faithfully walking with God. We're going to see it unfold. We're going to see how an everyday God reveals his plan to us as individuals. In fact, what Ruth does is she is a perfect example of what it means to understand and to know and to do the will of God, how to move from that doorway of devastation to dream again.

There are several principles. I'm going to call these steps. We can't get into them all. To be honest with you, I have a lot of personal spooky stories I want to share with you throughout this. Hopefully, you can learn from my spookiness of what not to do. Here's the first thing. If you want to know and discover the will of God for your life…

First, you must have a proper view of God. Go back to verses 16 and 17 of chapter 1, because there we have Ruth's profession of faith. Here's what she says. "But Ruth said, 'Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.'"

The name she uses there is Elohim. "Your Elohim will be my Elohim," but notice what she does in verse 17. "Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried." Then she doesn't say Elohim here. "May the Lord [Yahweh] do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you." I imagine some Hebrew scholar is going to say, "Preacher, you're making too much out of this."

I think there's something very, very significant in the fact that you have a young Moabite girl who is not just saying, "Yes, Elohim, God," but she is declaring Yahweh, which was the name for the covenant-keeping God. What I have found is now you have a Gentile who's making a declaration she has placed her faith in Yahweh, the God of Israel.

As I studied this, I found something very significant. I want you to turn over to Jonah, chapter 1. As I studied the use of a Gentile using the name Yahweh, I believe whenever you see the name Yahweh and it's used in context of people, they are people who have a relationship with God. In Jonah, chapter 1, of course, you have Jonah running from God because God told him to go to Nineveh. "Go to Nineveh and pronounce judgment," but he runs from God because Jonah…

Really, Jonah is not just about a disobedient prophet, but it's about the people of Israel failing to do their mission. They were to be a light to the Gentile nations. He didn't want to go to Nineveh. He didn't like the people of Nineveh, and he knew God was gracious and compassionate and if they repented God would relent in the judgment.

So what does he do? He gets on a boat going to Tarshish. He's on a boat with a bunch of Gentile sailors, and he's underneath, down below. The storm comes, and these pagans are frightened for their lives. They're wondering, "What's going on here?" Of course, Jonah says, "Well, I'm a Hebrew, and my God is Yahweh, the Lord."

So they elect, "We're going to throw him off," but I want you to hear what these pagans… Remember these are Gentiles. Here's what they actually pray to God in chapter 1, verse 14. Who's calling out here? It's not Jonah, not the Hebrew here. It is the Gentiles, the pagans. It says, "Therefore they [the sailors] called out to the Lord, 'O Lord [Yahweh]…'" They're not using Elohim here or Adonai. They're using Yahweh.

"'O [Yahweh], let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O [Yahweh], have done as it pleased you.' So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging," and I want you to hear what these men do. See what they do.

"Then the men feared the Lord [Yahweh] exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord [Yahweh] and made vows." Don't be surprised if when we get to heaven you see the sailors who were on the boat with Jonah, because the language they're using is covenant language. Can you believe that? God in Jonah's disobedience leads pagans to faith in Christ.

Do you see? We go back to Ruth. That's why I say this is a profession of faith here in chapter 1. What Ruth is doing is she's saying, "Yahweh is my God. He is the covenant-keeping God," and so she places her faith in God, the God of Israel. I want you to think about the decision she made, because by placing her faith in the God of Israel…

If you remember from last week, Orpah, her sister-in-law, went where the grass was greener. She turned her back on God. She says, "I'll go back to my people. I'm going to go back to my gods," but not Ruth. Here's what Ruth did, and I want you to see what a sacrifice she made, because earthly speaking, humanly speaking, on paper she left her security.

As a widow she left her home. She left Moab. She left her people. She left her many gods, and all she did is say, "Listen. I'm leaving all that security alone. I'm leaving that earthly security, I'm placing my faith in Yahweh, the covenant-keeping God, and I'm going to enjoy his eternal security."

How could she make a decision like that? I'll tell you. She had a proper view of God, that the God of Israel is a faithful God. He keeps his covenant. He's always faithful to his people. Therefore, she was willing to give up earthly security for eternal security. She was a true disciple. She denied herself, and she followed the God of Israel. She followed Yahweh.

You will never discover God's will for your life if you haven't come to a place as a believer to where you're trusting God without any reservation. The only way you can do that is to have a proper view of God. You can't say, "Well, listen, God. I'm going to trust you up to this point, but after this point I'm taking things into my own hands."

No. The Bible says, "Do you want to know the will of God? Do you want him to make your paths straight? Do you want to see him guide you in your life? Here's what you have to do. Trust him with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." That's what Ruth did. She trusted him.

When you have a proper view of God, you realize God will never ever drop the ball on you, he who did not spare his own Son. Look what he did to save you. He is a faithful God. He is for you. He's not against you. He's always with you, and he will always provide what you need when you need it if you continue to trust in him. Here's what James, chapter 1, verse 5, says.

"If any one of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously without partiality, and he will give it. But let him ask in faith with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave on the sea, tossed about by the wind. For that person should not expect he will receive anything from the Lord because that person is a double-minded man. That person is unstable in all he does." You say, "Well, I'm trying to understand the will of God for my life." It begins with a proper view of God that causes you and leads you to trust him without any reservation.

Secondly, you have to be faithful in the things you can control. As we come to chapter 2, here's what's going to happen in our story. Naomi is actually moving back to the background. Ruth comes to the forefront. She becomes one of the main characters, and in verse 1 we are introduced to another main character, a very important character.

It says in verse 1, chapter 2, "Now Naomi had a relative of her husband's, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz." We're going to learn more about him in subsequent stories, but let me just say this for this study. What is Boaz? He is an agent of God's grace. I want you to think about this, because I'll expand upon it next week.

Think about all the people God has put into your life, and do you know what you need to see them as? Agents of God's grace. That's what Boaz is. Do you know what? Ruth doesn't know this yet, because she hasn't met Boaz, but Boaz is a part of God's plan for her life. She doesn't know it. Why? Because she does not see into the future, and nor do you.

Here's the one thing she does know. She knows, "I have to be faithful in the things I can control."
She knows, "It's a new day. I have to get up. I have to work. I have to provide. I have to go and provide not only food for myself, but I have to provide for my mother-in-law." So we see that happening.

Look at verse 2. It 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.' And she said to her, 'Go, my daughter.'" The author wants us to make sure we realize and remember. Don't forget this for one moment. This Ruth is a Moabite. Sure, she's a foreigner but not just any foreigner. She is a Moabite, which means Ruth probably didn't expect to be accepted by the people of Bethlehem. Why? She's a Moabite.

Do you know what? She didn't let that stop her. She got up, and she asked for permission. She says, "Let me go out and glean from the fields. Let me go glean." What she's talking about here is in the Mosaic law God set up a welfare system. In that welfare system he commanded the landowners, "When you harvest, you leave the corners of the land for the people, the orphans, the widows, the foreigners. You leave it for them so they can have food, so we can take care of them." So they would go out and glean.

Do you want to know the difference between an American welfare system and God's welfare system? In God's you actually have to work. They had to go out and work for it. Do you want to eat? You can't sit around. You can't go stand in line at a government… You have to go and work and glean. That's what she did.

What we learn from verse 2 are two things she can control, two things you can control. You can't control the future. You can, but you can't. What you can control which will influence your future will be two things: character and conduct. Those are the two things we see with Ruth. Look at verse 2 again. In my translation it says, "Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain…" but in the Hebrew it's actually a polite request.

Some of your translations say, "Please let me go." Do you know what that reveals? It reveals a woman who was polite. She was respectful. The very fact that she was respectful to her elders, to her mother-in-law… She was taking care of her mother-in-law. She didn't want her mother-in-law to have to go out and work. Listen. You know she's a godly woman if she's doing that for her mother-in-law. Amen? She is taking care of her mother-in-law. We see a politeness. We see it in her character.

We also see the fact when she says, "Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor," Ruth understood she was dependent upon the favor of the landowner. She says, "Let me go, and maybe possibly a landowner will have mercy, a landowner will have grace upon me." She did not feel entitled one bit. She didn't say, "Hey, I deserve this." No, she said, "If I could just find favor…" That's a woman who has character. She's humble. She's lowly. She's polite, respectful to her elders.

Not only that, she was a hard worker. Listen to what they were saying about her. Go to verse 7, because Boaz shows up and he asks about her. In verse 7 this is what the servants were saying about this Ruth. "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." She was a hard worker.

Ruth didn't know her future. She couldn't, but she knew what she needed to do now. Do you want to know what God's plan for you…? Do you want to discover his will? Do you want to know what college to go to? He may not tell you today, but listen to this. What are you doing now? Be faithful.

You could reword this. Be faithful in what you can control. Or put it this way. Be faithful in the small things. God is not going to tell you your plan. He's going to unfold it as you walk with him daily. So you need to do what you need to do now. You say, "Well, what do I need to do now?" If you are a believer, you need to know the preceptive will of God, and I can guarantee you God wants you to walk with him humbly every day.

He wants you to have a consistent walk with him. He wants you to spend time in the Word of God every day. He wants you to pray. He wants you to worship. He wants you to be a part of a local church. He wants you to make disciples right now. He wants you to use your spiritual gift. He has given you spiritual gifts. He has given you the Holy Spirit. That's what he wants you to do now. He wants you to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. He wants you to bear fruit. He wants you to grow in the knowledge of God. He wants you to pursue holiness.

Yeah, I know that doesn't help you in terms of, "Where I work or what church I serve in or where I should go, pastor," but what it does do is it begins to open up doors for you. Listen. God is going to look at you and say, "What are you doing now? What are you doing in the present?" I have young people coming to me, "Pastor, it's about time. What does he want me to do?" I always say, "What are you doing now?"

Back in 1998, finishing up my undergraduate, going to go into my master's, I thought, "Well, I'm ready to pastor a church. Okay. Here's what I'm going to do. It's the first of the last semester of my undergraduate. I'm going to start sending out my résumés to churches around the Dallas-Fort Worth area so I can still go to school and finish up my master's."

I started doing that, and do you know what I thought? "In a matter of weeks, I'm going to be a pastor," and I waited and I waited. While I waited, do you know what I did? Nothing. I did my school work and stuff like that, but I wasn't really serving the Lord. I waited and did nothing. Then I had some opportunities that came, but, "No, I can't do that. I'm going to be a pastor." I turned them down.

Then one of my pastor friends came up to me and said, "Hey, I have an opportunity here. It's at a local hospital in Dallas, and what they need is for somebody on Sunday mornings to go and…" This is no joke. "…teach the Bible study in the psychiatric ward." Do you know what I told him? "Hey, no, I can't do it. God has called me to be a pastor."

"Well, what are you doing now?"

"Nothing."

"Don't you think you ought to be faithful in what you can control? Don't you think you ought to be faithful in the small things?"

Yes, God used that to convict me, and so what did I do? I went to teach a Bible study at the psychiatric ward. In hindsight, that's all about God. You go to teach a Bible study in a psychiatric ward, and don't tell me that won't prepare you to be a pastor, because this is what we are. We're a hospital.

Do you know what I started doing? I started preparing sermons, and sometimes I'd have four around a table. Sometimes I would only have one, but that's what God told me to do. You have to be faithful with what you can do now. Here I am dreaming of what he's going to do in the future, and I wasn't doing anything in the present.

Do you want to learn something from Ruth? Listen. Ruth didn't have a clue. She doesn't have a clue, and we do. We see her story unfolding. Really, it all comes down to this, and it gets better next week. You have to be here for next week. It's really this simple. Are you walking with God right now? Are you consistently walking with him? Are you seeking him in prayer and Bible study? Are you being faithful in what you need to do right now in the present?

God is not going to say, "Here's my whole plan for your life." He's just not going to do it, so I want to encourage you today as you try to understand this will-of-God thing for your life. Don't become spooky. I want to ask you this: Are you faithful in the small things? Are you walking consistently with the Lord? Are you allowing Christ to work in you and through you and around you? God will give you opportunities only as you are being faithful in the small things.

Be faithful. What are you doing? I know for some here today the first step of discovering the will of God begins with a personal relationship with Jesus. That was the first step of discovering God's plan for my life. That's his plan for everyone. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that those who believe in him shall not perish."

It's God's desire if you're here today and you don't know Christ that you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. It all starts right there, but it doesn't stop. For some of you, you need to start, and you need to trust Christ Jesus. You need to trust in his death, burial, and resurrection and trust him as your Lord and Savior. He will come and live in your life. I'm here to tell you he'll give you life and give it to you more abundantly.

God has a plan for you, and ultimately, that plan is to save you from your sins. He has a plan for your individual life. He does. He's not going to tell it to you all at once, but what you need to do is be faithful. For some that means you need to be a part of a local church. Listen. You have to be a part of a local church. The Bible says that. To be involved and using your gifts and serving the Lord is part of being faithful.

That doesn't stop. I've found nothing in the Bible that says, "Oh, when you get to this age, you don't do anything." I realize some people can only pray, but you continue to pray, because I have a lot of people say, "I can't do this. I can't do that." I understand that, but here's what they say. "I can pray." Do you know what? If you can pray, you can be involved in the most important ministry of the church. Be faithful in what you can do now. Let's pray.

If you're here this morning, and you do not know Christ Jesus as your Lord and Savior, it's God's plan that you trust him. It's God's plan that you know him in a personal relationship. In a moment after this prayer we're going to have a time of invitation. Will you trust Jesus Christ today? For some of you that means you become a part of this fellowship, you become a part of our church through membership.

Father, we just pray that you have your way this morning. We thank you for your Word. We thank you that you have a plan for us. God, help us to be faithful in the things we can control. In Jesus' name, amen.