Sermon 5: God’s Watchcare Over His Children
Series: Ruth
Chuck Sligh
July 14, 2019
BLURB: Ruth 2 tells us that Ruth “happened” upon the field of a prominent man named Boaz. This changed the course of Ruth's and Naomi’s life forever! Was this simple coincidence or chance? This sermon teaches us about God’s watchcare for His children through His providence, provision and promotion.
NOTE: A PowerPoint presentation is available for this sermon by request at chucksligh@hotmail.com. Please mention the title of the sermon and the Bible text to help me find the sermon in my archives.
INTRODUCTION
Illus. – Brenda was a young woman who wanted to learn rock climbing. She went with a group to climb a tremendous cliff of rock. During the ascent, the climber above her snapped a rope against Brenda’s eye and knocked out her contact lens.
Now, you know how tiny contact lenses are and how difficult they are to find. Here she was: very far from home, with everything around her blurry in one eye, somewhere up in the mountains and no place close by to replace her lost contact lens. She looked out across range after range of mountains with her one good eye, thinking of that Bible verse that says, “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth.” She thought, Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every single stone and leaf on those mountains, and You know exactly where my contact lens is.
Finally, the time came to hike down the trail to the bottom of the mountain. When they arrived, there was a new party of rock climbers coming up the trail. One of them shouted, “Hey, guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?”
In astonishment, Brenda looked down at a contact lens that looked like hers. The only way to know for sure was to put it in, and sure enough, she could see clearly: It WAS her lost contact lens!
Well, that would be amazing in itself, wouldn’t it? But the rest of the story is even more startling. When Brenda asked the young lady where she found her lens, she said an ant was slowly carrying that contact lens across the face of a rock!
That story illustrates the main focus of Ruth 2—The truth that God is not a God who is way out there, uninvolved in the lives of His children. No, He is very near—intimately involved in the details of our lives.
Jesus said “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? and not one of them shall fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear…not therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Matthew 10:29-31)
God watches over even the sparrows and even knows the number of hairs on our heads, but Jesus said that we are of more value than many sparrows. So God knows what is going on in each of our lives and is intimately involved in everything we do.
The theological term for this is God’s “watchcare.” Today I’d like for us to examine three aspects of God’s watchcare from Ruth 2.
I. THE FIRST ASPECT WE OBSERVE IS THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD – Verses 1-3
The very first verse is a clue to the theme of this chapter, and indeed the whole book. Naomi returned to Bethlehem-judah penniless, husband-less, and hopeless. Her only asset was her foreign daughter-in-law who was in the same situation as she.
Yet all along, the solution to their dilemma was known to God – verse 1 – “And Naomi had a relative of her husband's, a prominent man of noble character, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz.” This man Boaz was the one who would be the answer to their problems. But, at this point Naomi and Ruth did not have a clue that God was working behind the scenes in their behalf.
Once they settled into their new home, their first concern was food. Rather than sitting around to see what would happen or bemoaning their bad situation, Ruth immediately shows initiative, and decides to go out and find some food. – verse 2 – “And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, ‘Let me…go to the field, and glean ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor.’ And she said unto her, ‘Go, my daughter.’”
Now what is “gleaning”? Gleaning was an interesting practice unknown outside Israel.
In Leviticus 19:9-10, we read, “And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap…the corners of your field, neither shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 Nor shall you strip your vineyard bare, nor gather the fallen grapes from your vineyard; You shall leave them for the poor and foreigner.”
References to the law of gleaning are found in 18 other verses in the Old Testament. And it was intended for someone like Ruth who was both poor and a foreigner.
Essentially, this was God’s answer to welfare here and in other Old Testament laws. When a landowner harvested his crops, his workers would make a sweep through the fields to harvest the grain. But he was to do two things as a provision for the poor and travelers and foreigners who were generally landless in Israel.
1. First, the workers were not to go back through a second time to pick up any grain that had been missed or had fallen to the ground.
2. Second, they were not to harvest the corners of his fields. What was left in the fields and the corners were known as the “gleanings” and “to glean” was the process of gathering the gleanings.
The purpose of these provisions in the Law of Moses was to provide for the able-bodied poor and needy by going through the fiends and harvesting the leftover sand corners for food to survive on.
Did you notice that this was not a hand-out? The poor and needy had to go out and glean the field THEMSELVES. In Bible days, only those who were completely helpless received alms. And the purpose of both the law of gleaning and giving of alms was not to redistribute wealth from the prosperous and industrious to the poor, but to provide the bare necessities for survival, specifically food.
Now look with me at verse 3 – “And she set out, and went, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.”
The author of Ruth says she “happened” to come to a part of a field belonging to Boaz, who was related to Naomi’s husband, Elimelech, who would turn out to be Ruth’s and Naomi’s savior! Now let me ask you: Did this happen by chance? Did Ruth just get lucky? Was this one of those amazing “coincidences” of life? No, it was none of these. Do you know how many times the words coincidence and luck are found in the Bible?—Exactly zero times.
Ruth’s “happening” to come into Boaz’s field was not a coincidence at all—IT WAS BY GOD’S DESIGN. It was an act of God’s providence. Timothy George in The Holman Bible Dictionary defines providence as “God’s faithful and effective care and guidance of everything which He has made toward the end which he has chosen.”
As believers, we’ve all seen God bring about circumstances in most amazing ways, just like God used an ant to deliver to a young lady her lost contact lens. Proverbs 16:9 reminds us that “A man’s heart plans his way: but the LORD directs his steps.”
The truth of God’s providence ought to be a great comfort to believers. It teaches that God loves us, and like any good parent, He watches over us. It teaches that God is behind the scenes working for our best even in those circumstances that seem “bad” to us as Romans 8:28 teaches us.
None of us escape things like illness, financial loss, death of loved ones, job and family stresses, loneliness, injustice, or the many other thorns of life. The point is not that following Christ will exempt us from trouble or pain, but the assurance that God’s presence is in the winds of life’s stormy tempests and that God is working in them to bring about good in our lives.
God is not some distant being uninvolved in His children’s lives. No, He is present with us through every situation—working in the background, guiding, and orchestrating circumstances in our lives.
II. A SECOND ASPECT OF GOD’S WATCHCARE IN RUTH 2 IS GOD’S PROVISION.
When Ruth went out to glean, she went out by faith, trusting God to supply someone who would be gracious and allow her to glean enough food to survive on.
Look what happened: Verses 4-9 – “And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, ‘The LORD be with you.’ And they answered him, ‘The LORD bless you.’ 5 Then said Boaz to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, ‘Whose young woman is this?’ 6 And the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered and said, ‘It is the Moabite woman who came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab: 7 And she said, “Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves. So she came and has continued…from the early morning until now, except for a short rest in the shelter. 8 Then said Boaz to Ruth, ‘Will you listen, my daughter? Do not go to glean in another field, nor go from here, but stay here close to my female servants. 9 See which field they are harvesting and follow them. Haven’t I ordered the young men not to not touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels, and drink from what the young men have drawn.”
The field that Ruth came upon was owned by a very gracious man. Boaz had no obligation to show any special kindness to Ruth other than to leave the gleanings and his un-harvested corners of the fields according to the Mosaic Law. Ruth was an outsider, a foreigner, and for all he knew, an idolater. But he implored her to not go to any other fields, but to glean only from his own. And to protect her, he told the young men not to bother her, and he told her that when she got thirsty, she could drink from his workers’ vessels.
Now go down to verses 14-19 – “And Boaz said to her, ‘At mealtime, come here, and eat some bread, and dip your morsel in the wine.” So she sat beside the reapers: and he passed her roasted grain, and she ate, and was satisfied, and had some left over. 15 And when she rose up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, ‘Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. 16 And let some of the handfulls fall on purpose for her, and leave them for her to pick up, and do not reprimand her.’ 17 So she gleaned in the field until evening, and beat out what she had gleaned: and it was about an ephah of barley. 18 And she took it up, and went to the city: and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned: and she brought out what food she had left over from her meal and gave it to her. 19 And her mother-in-law asked her, ‘Where did you glean today? And where have you worked? Blessed be the man who took notice of you.’ And she told her mother-in-law whom she had worked with, and said, ‘The man's name with whom I worked today is Boaz.”
Here Boaz goes even further. He doesn’t just extend to her the rights of a foreigner as laid out in the Law of Moses, but the same rights as his Jewish laborers. He invited her to eat with the other reapers in verse 14.
So she did, and she ate until she was full—perhaps for the first time in weeks. When she returned to the fields, unbeknown to her, Boaz commanded his reapers to do some special favors for Ruth besides simply letting her glean the fields: They were to DELIBERATELY drop handfuls of stalks of barley in her path so that she would have abundant provision. – As she was gleaning, she must have thought, Wow! These reapers are really careless. Look at all this food! Also, the reapers were not to rebuke her or hinder her in any way.
You know, that’s what God does for us—He gives us extra “handfuls on purpose.” God only promises to supply our most basic of needs.
In 1 Timothy 6:6-8 Paul instructs us: “But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and clothing let us be…content.”
The only two absolute necessities for survival are food and clothing. God says if you have those and nothing else in this life, you should be content.
And yet God gives us handfuls on purpose—extra provision for things beyond needs. Psalm 37:25 says, “I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his children begging for bread.”
Think of all that you have: many changes of clothes for any occasion; a nice house with plenty of furniture; plenty to eat—really TOO MUCH to eat!; many luxuries you really neither need nor deserve.
These are just more evidence of God’s loving watchcare over His children.
III. NOTE A FINAL ASPECT OF GOD’S WATCHCARE HERE—GOD’S PROMOTION.
Psalm 75:6-7 says “For promotion [or exaltation] comes neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. 7 But God is the judge: putting down one, and lifting up another.”
God has a way of exalting those who do good. Ruth was a poor foreigner who did the right thing. She remained faithful to her mother-in-law even though Naomi had become a bitter, cynical, angry woman. Ruth abandoned her false gods and accepted the one true God of Israel. She went out to labor in the fields to find food to provide for her mother-in-law.
Such selfless actions don’t go unnoticed by God, and usually not by people who love God. In His watchcare of His children, God often brings public praise for their good works.
Look how He used Boaz to let her actions come to public attention in verses 10-13 – “Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said to him, ‘Why have I found grace in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, who am a foreigner?’ 11 And 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 have left your father and…mother, and your native land, and came to a people you did not know before. 12 May the LORD repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.’ 13 Then she said, ‘Let me find favor in your sight, my lord; for…you have comforted me, and…have spoken kindly to me, your servant, though I am not…one of your servants.”
Whenever we see people do good, we ought to allow ourselves, like Boaz, to be the instrument of encouragement in response to their actions by honoring them for it. Praise for when people do good gives encouragement to continue to do good. Look how it encouraged Ruth in verse 13b – “…you have comforted me, [or “encouraged me”], and…have spoken kindly to me, your servant, though I am not…one of your servants.”
You see, part of God’s watchcare over Ruth was this encouragement that came from the lips of Boaz. She had done good. She was a new believer feeling her way around in a new culture. She was trying to follow God; maybe not always sure she was doing the right thing. But her heart was right, and God was pleased with her. God used Boaz as His instrument to encourage her, to keep her on the right path, to spur her to more good works, to strengthen her faith.
CONCLUSION
The big theme I’ve tried to stress in this chapter is that God is intimately involved in our lives; watching over us; working behind the scenes; providing for us; leaving us handfuls on purpose over and above what we need or deserve; caring for us; protecting us; sometimes even lifting us up in the eyes of others when we do good in His sight.
Praise God for His loving watchcare! What a wonderful God we serve!
Let me close by reading the following story by U.S. Army Chaplain Jerry Vintor that so vividly portrays for us the watchcare of God upon our lives as believers:
The passengers on the bus watched sympathetically as the…young woman with the white cane made her way carefully up the steps. She paid the driver and, using her hands to feel…the seats, walked down the aisle and found the seat he’d told her was empty. Then she settled in, placed her briefcase on her lap and rested her cane against her leg.
It had been a year since Susan, thirty-four, became blind. Due to a medical misdiagnosis she had been rendered sightless, and she was suddenly thrown into a world of darkness, anger, frustration and self-pity. Once a fiercely independent woman, Susan now felt condemned by this terrible twist of fate to become a powerless, helpless burden on everyone around her. “How could this have happened to me?” she would plead, her heart knotted with anger. But no matter how much she cried or ranted or prayed, she knew the painful truth, her sight was never going to return. A cloud of depression hung over Susan’s once optimistic spirit. Just getting through each day was an exercise in frustration and exhaustion. And all she had to cling to was her husband Mark.
Mark was an Air Force officer and he loved Susan with all of his heart. When she first lost her sight, he watched her sink into despair and was determined to help his wife gain the strength and confidence she needed to become independent again. Mark’s military background had trained him well to deal with sensitive situations, and yet he knew this was the most difficult battle he would ever face.
Finally, Susan felt ready to return to her job, but how would she get there? She used to take the bus, but was now too frightened to get around the city by herself. Mark offered to drive her to work each day, even though they worked at opposite ends of the city. At first, this comforted Susan and fulfilled Mark’s need to protect his sightless wife who was so insecure about performing the slightest task. Soon, however Mark realized that this arrangement wasn’t working—it was hectic, and costly. Susan is going to have to start taking the bus again, he admitted to himself. But just the thought of mentioning it to her made him cringe. She was still so fragile, so angry. How would she react?
Just as Mark predicted, Susan was horrified at the idea of taking the bus again. “I’m blind!” she responded bitterly. “How am I supposed to know where I’m going? I feel like you’re abandoning me.” Mark’s heart broke to hear these words, but he knew what had to be done. He promised Susan that each morning and evening he would ride the bus with her, for as long as it took, until she got the hang of it.
And that is exactly what happened. For two solid weeks, Mark…accompanied Susan to and from work each day. He taught her how to rely on her other senses, specifically her hearing, to determine where she was and how to adapt to her new environment. He helped her befriend the bus drivers who could watch out for her, and save her a seat. He made her laugh, even on those not-so-good days when she would trip exiting the bus, or drop her briefcase.
Each morning they made the journey together, and Mark would take a cab back to his office. Although this routine was even more costly and exhausting than the previous one, Mark knew it was only a matter of time before Susan would be able to ride the bus on her own. He believed in her, in the Susan he used to know before she’d lost her sight, who wasn’t afraid of any challenge and who would never, ever quit.
Finally, Susan decided that she was ready to try the trip on her own. Monday arrived, and before she left, she threw her arms around Mark, her temporary bus riding companion, her husband, and her best friend. Her eyes filled with tears of gratitude for his loyalty, his patience, his love. She said good-bye, and for the first time, they went their separate ways. Each day for a whole week, all on her own, went perfectly, and Susan had never felt better. She was doing it! She was going to work all by herself!
On Friday morning, Susan took the bus to work as usual. As she was paying for her fare to exit the bus, the driver said, “Boy, I sure envy you.” Susan wasn’t sure if the driver was speaking to her or not. After all, who on earth would ever envy a blind woman who had struggled just to find the courage to live for the past year? Curious, she asked the driver, “Why do you say that you envy me?”
The driver responded, “It must feel so good to be taken care of and protected like you are.”…“What do you mean?” she asked. The driver answered, “You know, every morning for the past week, a fine looking gentleman in a military uniform has been standing across the corner watching you when you get off the bus. He makes sure you cross the street safely and he watches you until you enter your office building. Then he blows you a kiss, gives you a little salute and walks away. You are one lucky lady.”
Tears of happiness poured down Susan’s cheeks. For although she couldn’t physically see him, she had always felt Mark’s presence. She was blessed, so blessed, for he had given her a gift more powerful than sight, a gift she didn’t need to see to believe—the gift of love that can bring light where there had been darkness.
Brethren, God watches over us in just the same way. We may not know He is present. We may not be able to see His face, but He is there nonetheless! Be blessed in this thought: God loves you, and even though you cannot see Him, and watches over you.
