Everyday Life

Everyday Life
Ruth 2:14-23


Do you find much opportunity to rejoice in everyday life? Or to be happy? Sometimes funny things happen to us, or we get into a humorous situation – a friend this week was describing to me how he bought his wife a new car, and promptly backed into with his old truck. He smashed the grille and had to take it in because the hood was damaged. After taking it in, they realized the damage was worse than they thought because some other panels were smashed out of alignment. They got the car fixed, got it home and she took it to work the next day – where it got keyed and the paint job is ruined. He laughed about it – which is a good attitude, and promised to never buy a new car again.

Laughing isn’t always natural. Pessimism is always easier than optimism. Many of you know that Mandy and I work for the BCNE as collegiate ministers, our boss, the state director of collegiate ministries is undergoing a kidney transplant on Tuesday. It’s a pretty fearsome thing, but throughout the entire process – which we’ve been praying about for months – he’s maintained a thankful and optimistic spirit. To the point that his wife wrote an email announcing the retirement of Bob the kidney and hiring of Bill the kidney.

Sometimes we think optimists don’t live in the real world – kidneys don’t retire. But our attitudes and actions directly connect with this desire of our hearts to be satisfied. In our journey through Ruth we’ve seen how our relationship with God, our understanding of the transforming power of loving Jesus Christ, brings satisfaction in even the hard times. Last week we looked at the role that gratitude plays: grateful people are satisfied people. If you can cultivate thankfulness in your heart: thankfulness to God and to people you will cultivate satisfaction.

Last week we also saw the integrity of Boaz, his attitude of graciousness and love for God. He is a satisfied person: not because of fields or money or employees or productivity, but ultimately because of His love for God. Money won’t satisfy. Only a satisfied person can give money away: when we take up an offering we declare to God “You satisfy me” not the GW’s.

Ruth and Naomi are showing satisfaction and trust in God. Boaz shows the same: they are at 2 different points in life, but God has brought them together and neither despises the other. How easy for one class of people to say to another: you’re not like me, you’re not in my situation, therefore you can’t know me, we can’t be friends, we don’t need to relate. James 2:1 “Don’t show favoritism.” Boaz was full of love, and it overflowed.

We meet Boaz and Ruth and Naomi this week when their lives have come together, and it’s a normal day. Nothing extraordinary, nothing unusual, just a chance for people of faith to live out that faith. Everyday we have the opportunity to worship God: in our attitudes and actions: do we take it? Do we honor God?

Read Ruth 2:14-23.

Christian living cannot be from mountaintop to mountaintop. We can go on a mission trip and get a high, or on a retreat or conference or hear a really spirit-empowered speaker. Those times are great – but if it is just an emotional experience it will not last.

Tough times come in life – we’ve seen this illustrated in the journey of Naomi and Ruth: two widows who have left their homeland for a foreign land, and who have forged a commitment to God and each other. Naomi’s all-encompassing relationship with God opened Ruth’s eyes to His power, and now Ruth serves the living God, the God of Israel.

But life did not remain easy for them. This glimpse of a normal day – Ruth setting out to find food shows a lot of their attitude and keys to life. They found satisfaction first in God, and we see in this passage 2 keys to satisfaction.

I. Rest in God’s Provision (14-17, 22).
A. Ruth worked steadily till lunchtime, and Boaz invited her to lunch. She joined Boaz and was accepted into the group. Already 2x Ruth has expressed gratitude to Boaz, and Boaz made clear that he wants her to trust in the Lord, in “whose wings she has come to take refuge” (v. 12).
B. Ruth did not wander away to another field, or ignore Boaz’s generosity. I’m sometimes left bewildered when someone refuses generosity. It can be for good reasons:
1. They don’t know you or trust you. Ruth had to take a step of faith here – she just met Boaz that day. My mom told me never to take candy from a stranger – and here is Ruth eating grain and drinking wine vinegar. To be satisfied we must trust. We trust God to provide for us, and we express that trust by willingly accepting what he has provided. We also thank Him for it.
2. They don’t need what you’re offering. A poor person who turns down a penny doesn’t need a dollar. A rich man who gives a penny is stingy. Meet the need. If your friend needs a ride and you can meet the need, do it.
3. Pride. Pride can keep us from accepting generosity, and God’s provision. Ruth could have walked away saying – I don’t need you; I’ll make my own way. But she trusted this man who talked about the Lord. She was also humble and grateful – we saw here gratitude last week. She is satisfied, and now she eats all that she wants.
C. Resting in God’s provision also means that we realize that what we have is not our own.
There are 2 examples of this in the passage:
1. Boaz: he did not keep all the grain for himself, or save up the best grain for himself, but invited even Ruth to his table. He trusted God and just as God was gracious to Him, so He was gracious to others. In the Hebrew, v. 14 the NIV says he offered her grain. The Hebrew is more like: he heaped grain on her. He didn’t hold back his grace. He gave it to her. Here is a man who rests and trusts in God and is freed from the slavery of ownership to give to others. When we think of things as ours, they’re hard to let go of. People often chide me for letting others drive away in my car. I even let some of you here today drive my Jeep, when God let me have one. If we can separate ourselves and our tentacles from our possessions and believe that God has provided, we can see that we are much more free to give. We can spend money on ourselves extravagantly – don’t do it. Don’t be a slave to your money or your belongings: use them to honor God. That is resting in God’s provision.
2. Nor did Boaz hoard the grain. He told his workers: don’t embarrass her, even pull out some stalks from the already gathered sheaves for her. He is being graciously kind. Extravagance is meant for others, not yourself.
a. One of the tragedies we experienced in Russia was touring the armory museum in Moscow. The Armory holds the treasure of the tsars – rulers of Russia before Communism. The tsars oppressed the people and used people for their own end. We saw Bibles 3 feet tall and 10 inches think encased in gold. Never opened, just a decoration. We saw hand painted china, riches galore, and yet the people of Russia are poor. The rulers used all the wealth for themselves. That is not the kindness of God, who didn’t even spare His own son to show you love.
3. The 2nd example is Ruth. She takes the leftover grain and all she works for to Naomi, and gives to her. She doesn’t forget about Naomi when she’s eating. She’s caring for her. If your friend is hungry, feed them. Do you think about the others you live with when you’re eating without them? Would you order something they like to take the leftovers back to them? Resting in God’s provision is an attitude that says: the Lord gives, the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord. We saw this in the hard times of Naomi and Ruth’s lives, and now we see it in the good. Enjoy the good from God! Rest in Him.

II. The 2nd key toward satisfaction: Return Kindness (17-23)
A. v.17 – Naomi gave Ruth her blessing to go and gather from the harvest (v. 2). Ruth only asked to harvest.
1. When I was a kid, if it involved work like this and my dad had asked me to do it or if I had even thought of it myself, I would only have done what was asked of me. I would have brought back a lot of grain stalks, unthreshed. I would’ve said – “you only said to gather grain, not thresh it.” It’s like the worker who is digging a ditch and the water main is burst, water is pouring out everywhere, and their standing there watching it. You ask them: are you going to do something about it? And they say “I was only hired to dig the ditch, not fix the main.” A key to satisfaction is returning kindness: going the extra mile for the good of the other person.
B. Ruth returned Kindness to God: as the Lord provided for her she gave to Naomi. She returned kindness to Naomi, who was sheltering her, by bringing home ready to use grain. She took the blessing of God, through Boaz, and passed it on. We are not to be a store house of God’s blessing but a well-spring of God’s blessing: pouring into others what He has poured into us. Satisfaction, found in God, is evident when we return kindness to others.
C. Naomi blesses Boaz (v.19, 20). She again roots this blessing in God. She calls on Yahweh to bless Him. She has nothing to give, but such a relationship with God that she gives him everything she can!
D. Naomi accepts the kindness of Boaz and tells Ruth: stay there with his girls, they will look out for you. So Ruth stays: she in effect says to Boaz: “Thank you, I accept your offer and protection.” Again, Boaz recognized what he could do to be God’s advocate in her life, and he did it. He didn’t leave her in v. 12 with a blessing but acted on it. God was kind to all in this passage, and each showed it as they could.
E. A final note to this key: kindness doesn’t stop: Ruth lived with Naomi. She didn’t leave her for a full time life with Boaz’s girls, but stayed with her. The prospects may have been better in Boaz’s house, but she determined to honor her commitments.

There is a lot of integrity in this one-day glimpse into the lives of Boaz, Ruth, and Naomi. Remember the 2 keys: Rest in God’s provision, and return kindness.