GOD HAS A PLAN

GOD HAS A PLAN

Ruth 1:22 (KJV)

So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter in law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.

Ruth 2:1-3 (KJV)

And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz.

And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter.

And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.

I am calling this little series of messages out of Ruth,

Christmas at Bethlehem – the Pre-Christmas Story.

It’s a really short piece of the Bible filled with all sorts of amazing lessons.

Here is a family that leaves the Promised Land in a difficult time.

It seems like everything went wrong

But their lives were turned right side up because of a Gentile girl, and the God she learned to love.

There’s plenty to be thankful for in the book of Ruth, and it ends with the birth of a baby, 

·   who would be the father of a baby, 

·   who would be the father of King David, 

·   who would be the family from which comes the Saviour.

That whole passage, Micah 5:2 (KJV)

But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

All starts right here.

It wouldn’t be difficult to finish reading chapter one and to think, “this is going to be a depressing little piece of Scripture.”

Listen to Naomi, Ruth 1:20-21 (KJV)

And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.

I went out full, and the LORD hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the LORD hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?

I’m hearing pieces of “Fiddler on the Roof” right now….

That typical Jewish woman negativity…

“You have two children in this world and, with my luck, wouldn’t you know it, the good one dies.”

You would have thought Naomi would be happy to have Ruth coming home with her, but when she said, “I went out full and the LORD hath brought me home again empty” Ruth was with her.

I think the most positive words written in chapter one might be, Ruth 1:22 (KJV)

…. and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.

The harvest season is always a time of thanksgiving and hope.

You’ve watched over the years as your stores have dwindled. 

·   Slowly at first – you barely noticed it

·   But by the time summer starts, those cupboards start to empty out pretty quick

·   You wonder if you’ll be able to stretch the supplies until something else comes

·   Day after day you look at the pantry and then to the fields, “When, oh when, will the crops be ready?”

But then it’s the harvest.

·   There’s activity

· There are people all around

·   There’s food just waiting for you to get it

·   Not long now and there will be food aplenty.

·   Not long now, and there will be money in the bank

·   Not long now and we can plan our whole year’s budget

Naomi came home depressed, but she came home when everyone around her was giving thanks!

Something about hope brings hope.

And every word of the book of Ruth after Ruth 1:22 is hopeful.

Just as they were all looking forward to the harvest, God was looking forward to His plan of the salvation of men.

Notice with me that God

I. BEGAN AT THE END

Ruth 2:1 (KJV)

And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz.

Think about this with me, if you had never read the story of Ruth, if you had no hint about what the story was about and how it would end, wouldn’t you think, “What does this have to do with anything?”

So Elimelech had a relative named Boaz.

·   He’s not related to Naomi.

·   He has no obligation to Naomi

·   He is a wealthy man, but its pretty obvious, he’s not going to take care of Naomi the rest of her life.

You know what’s happening, here don’t you?

This is God telling you what He is going to do before He does it.

At least He gives you a hint.

I just want to remind you that God has a plan.

He knows what he is going to do long before He does it.

Naomi had come home – mara

·   Bitter and

·   Empty and

·   Mad at the Lord

So much so that she couldn’t even see Ruth for the blessing that she was.

Whatever the reasons that she and her family had left Bethlehem it had surely ended different than any of them expected.

Elimelech died

·   Then Mahlon

·   Then Chilion

Haven’t you ever had things turn out different than you expected?

·   The job wasn’t what you thought it would be

·   Marriage wasn’t what you thought it would be

·   Having kids wasn’t what you thought it would be

·   Homeownership wasn’t what you thought it would be

·   That new car wasn’t what you thought it would be

·   That investment didn’t turn out like you thought

I could go on and on. Life is filled with potential disappointments!

How does the saying go? 

“Life’s hard.

And then you die.”

I just want to tell you; God has a plan.

He knows what He is doing in your life long before He does it.

And he has never failed anybody.

There’s six thousand years of human history to back that up.

Notice with me secondly,

II. RUTH HAS SOME OBEDIENCE

Ruth 2:2 (KJV)

And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter.

At first glance you might not get the significance of this verse.

So what, she asked permission to see if she could gather some food for them.

There’s more going on here than that.

I don’t know what the Moabites did, but I do know that God had made a law in Israel, during the harvest, landowners were to leave the corners of their field untouched for the poor of the land.[1]

It was God’s plan for the care of the poor.

God didn’t give free handouts to the poor.

He didn’t tell them to create a welfare system where everyone was taxed some of what they earned so the government to line the people up and give them what they decided was best for them.

God’s plan was for the farmers to leave the corners of their fields to that those in need to come harvest that, themselves.

That way they worked for what they ate, just like everyone else and

That way, the harder they worked, the more they could earn.

If they were industrious enough, they might earn enough to pay their debts, maybe buy themselves a piece of land, maybe next year, if they worked hard enough, they could leave something for someone else to glean.

When Ruth asked Naomi to let her go to the field, she was accepting God’s plan for their care.

She was obeying the Bible.

Wait a minute, notice the words, “and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace”

·   She understood her hard work wouldn’t save them.

·   She understood that whatever she would bring home at the end of the day would be all of grace.

She was going to obey God’s Word and trust God’s grace.

No one is saved by good works, doing good deeds, and obeying the Bible. We are saved by grace or we are not saved at all.

But everyone who is saved is saved to work.[2] It’s God’s plan that the saved are “created in Christ Jesus unto good works.”

Then notice that Naomi says, “Go, my daughter.”

Here’s the first ray of hopefulness we have seen in Naomi.

It’s like suddenly she realized, “God’s got our back!”

He’s made a way for us.

·   It wasn’t what she thought it would be

·   It wasn’t what she and Elimelech used to dream about but

·   It was a way out

Listen, don’t ever give up hope.

God has a plan.

He knows what He is going to do long before he does it.

Then notice one last point,

III. ELIMELECH HAS SOME FAMILY

Ruth 2:3 (KJV)

And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.

Just as an aside, this is like life assurance.

Elimelech was dead but he was still taking care of his family through his name.

Notice that phrase, “her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging to Boaz.”

Her hap

·   She stumbled upon a part of the field belonging to Boaz

·   It just so happened, 

·   By chance she ended up on a part of the field belonging to Boaz

If you are a Christian, you know nothing really ever happens by chance.

God has a plan for your life.

But some things do look like happenstance, don’t they?

One of the great keys to thanksgiving is to learn to look for God in the little things.

One of the most revealing things I’ve ever discovered in the Bible is that, in the 4000 years of recorded history in the Word of God, less than 200 of those years are miraculous.

·   The parting of the Red Sea

·   The parting of the Jordan River

There were a few miracles that happened in the battles of Joshua.

There were miracles in some of the battles of King David

One or two of the kings saw one or two miracles

But the rest of the Old Testament they lived by faith.

They were still talking about the Red Sea in the Psalms -400 years later.

That tells me that big-time miracles like that didn’t happen every day.

Jesus’ becoming a man was the biggest of all miracles, but it was 4000 years between when it was first promised and when it happened.

And even then, Jesus' time on this earth was just 33 ½ years.

And when you think about it, there was only about 4[3] of those years that were obviously miraculous.

And Out of His 3 ½ year ministry, God deemed it necessary to record only bits of what happened then.

·   The Christian life isn’t lived in one great big miracle after the other.

·   The Christian life is lived day by day – seeing God in the small things in life.

Thanksgiving isn’t found in a turkey feast every other day.

Thanksgiving is found in seeing God in all of the small incidents of life.

Thanking God that, when you woke up this morning, you had heat in your house

Thanking God that, when you paid that bill on Friday, you had money in your wallet.

The world might call those things happenstances.

The thankful soul will realize, God has a plan.

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[1] Leviticus 23:22 (KJV)

22  And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the LORD your God.

[2] Ephesians 2:8-10 (KJV)

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Not of works, lest any man should boast.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

[3] That’s if we count His birth and the announcements of the angels.