I used to say, “If I had no bad luck, I’d have no luck at all.” I would compare my life to others and just think that I was plagued to be unlucky. Then after years trying to run from what God wanted from me, I finally realized. There is no such thing as luck. There is God, His love, and blessings.
It wasn’t luck that brought Ruth to Boaz’s field. It wasn’t luck that he just happened to arrive back to his field from Bethlehem at the same time Ruth was there. And is sure wasn’t luck that Boaz was from the clan of Elimelek and therefore a close relative to Naomi.
It wasn’t luck. It was God.
Ruth 2:20-23 New International Version (NIV)
20 “The Lord bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.[a]”
21 Then Ruth the Moabite said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.’”
22 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.”
23 So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law
I was grown with a son before I learned about God’s providence. How He goes before us to orchestrate events in our lives. He sets up things that many times we don’t even understand until years later.
Throughout the book of Ruth, we see God’s loving hand through all the details, events, and opportunities in spite of disobedience, mistakes, and sin. What I love about the book of Ruth is how God, through His amazing love, went before Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz. He wrote a beautiful story of redemption which mirrors His heart for all His children; children who at one time were like Ruth, people in need of a redeemer.
Though Elimelek and Naomi shouldn’t have moved to Moab, God in His mercy gave Naomi her daughter-in-law, Ruth. Through Naomi, Ruth turns from her past, her gods, her culture, and clings to Naomi and Naomi’s God. When Naomi and Ruth need food to survive back in Bethlehem, God provides a Redeemer in Boaz. At every turn and every crisis, we witness God’s providence, not luck, providing, tending to, and caring for Naomi and Ruth.
What God did for Ruth and Naomi, He does for us too.
You may be looking at your life right now and wondering what in the world God is up to. Or you may be crying out to God, begging Him to redeem your mistakes, your journeys to foreign lands, and missed opportunities. If so, know that you are not alone. Like a prodigal son, turn back to God. When you do, you’ll see that He is running after you with open arms.
When we look at Ruth’s life and how God worked. God is at work in your life just like He was in Ruth’s. God is up to more than what meets the eye. There are no chance meetings, no lucky opportunities. It is God, your kinsman redeemer, who is at work in your life. That doesn’t mean that the road ahead will be easy. It doesn’t mean that there won’t be construction involved, delays, or possibly detours. What it does mean is that God is orchestrating your life for a bigger purpose.
Looking back over your life, how has God been orchestrating it for a greater good?