Stepping Into God's Provision

The story of Ruth and Naomi is a fabulous story of redemption. We began the story last week by watching Naomi lose everything, her home, her husband, and her two sons. Her situation went from bad to worse. But we also saw her “set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah” (Ruth 1:7).  The name Judah literally means praise. She was going back to the place of blessing. Last week we looked at three action steps Naomi took to get from a really bad place to a place of praise and blessing.

Naomi and Ruth’s transformation from a bad place to a blessed place, didn’t just happen because they their luck changed. Their redemption from destitution to harvest wasn’t just a lucky guess. They set out on the road, they put themselves in a place to be blessed by God. Over and over we are seeing that principle being played out in the lives of the characters in the Bible. If you want to be blessed, you have to put yourself in a place of blessing.

This week, we are going to look at chapter 2 of Ruth. And in this chapter, we are introduced to another vital character in our novel. His name is Boaz. He is a wealthy landowner in Judah, and we discover that he is a distant relative of Naomi’s. In fact, in this story, he is referred to as a kinsman-redeemer. We will look at what that title means next week, but this week, he is just Boaz, a wealthy man who owns a wheat field.

Remember that at this time, Naomi and Ruth are living back in Bethlehem. They arrived back from Moab just as the harvest season was beginning. They have no money nor any way to make any money. Naomi is an old widow lady and Ruth is a foreigner. They are just trying to survive. And what we are going to discover today is that they do more than just survive. Because Ruth is able to step into God’ provision, Ruth and Naomi move from poverty to extreme blessings. And in doing so, she provides a tremendous example for us.

I wonder how many of us would like to take a permanent step into God’s provision? To be in that place where He leads you, guides you, blesses you, protects you, and dare I say it, even prospers you. Do you want to be in that place? Like last week’s story on how Naomi gave us three action steps to take to move from bad to better. This week, we will be looking on as Ruth models three action steps of how to experience God’s provision in your life.