#2 (THE "BOOK OF RUTH"
SERIES)
"RUTH REQUESTING!"
TEXT: Ruth
2:1-23
INTRO: Naomi and
Ruth found themselves in need; Naomi who had probably once been rich was now
poor. Naomi needed help from God and what does she get -- A Moabite daughter
in-law! To some this would not
have seemed like an answer to prayer!
How could Naomi expect God to help her?
So often we want to have God answer in
ways that will raise eyebrows ... in supernatural ways that will awe our friends
and ourselves; yet, so often God uses the ordinary things around us to answer
our needs, we just need to see them as answers from
God!
ILLUS: THE STORY
IS TOLD ABOUT A PLACE DOWN SOUTH WHERE RECENT EXCAVATIONS FOR A NEW HIGHWAY HAD
CONTRIBUTED TO SOME FLASH FLOOD PROBLEMS.
VOLUNTEERS RISKED THEIR LIVES TO RESCUE VICTIMS STRANDED IN THE DELUGE.
ONE OLD MAN WAS UP TO HIS KNEES IN
THE FAST RISING WATERS WHEN A ROWBOAT CAME TO RESCUE HIM, THEY SAID TO HIM, "HOP IN, WE'LL SAVE YOU!" THE MAN BEING A CHRISTIAN RESPONDED, “NO THANKS, THE LORD WILL PROVIDE.” A SHORT WHILE LATER A MOTORBOAT WAS
SENT TO SAVE HIM, BY THIS TIME THE WATER WAS OVER HIS WAIST, BUT AGAIN HE
REFUSED THE OFFER SAYING THE LORD WILL SAVE HIM AND PROVIDE A WAY OUT. SOON THE WATER WAS UP TO HIS CHIN AND
NOW A HELICOPTER CAME OVER AND THEY ASKED HIM TO GRAB THE ROPE, THIS WAS HIS
LAST CHANCE, BUT AGAIN HE SAID NO SAYING HE WOULD TRUST THE LORD TO HELP HIM
OUT. THE MAN FOUND HIMSELF AT THE
PEARLY GATES SUDDENLY FACING PETER, HE WAS MAD AS A HORNET TO REALIZE THAT HE
HAD DIED AND HE LOOKED AT ST. PETER AND SAID, "THE LAST THING I REMEMBER I WAS IN TROUBLE,
PRAYING UP A STORM, SO WHY DID YOU LET ME DROWN, WHY DIDN'T GOD ANSWER MY
REQUEST WHEN I TRUSTED IN HIM?"
ST. PETER LOOKED AT HIM AND SHOOK HIS HEAD AND SAID, "WE SENT YOU TWO BOATS AND A HELICOPTER WHAT
MORE DID YOU WANT?" -- Source
Unknown
Naomi's needs would be met in ways she
couldn't have dreamed of, Ruth would meet her needs by simply requesting the
rights of the poor in Israel -- to glean from the fields as they were
worked. Ruth was willing to put
action behind her request and the results will be marvelous. God delights in answering our requests
when they are given in a spirit of response on our part to do what we
can!
PROP.
SENT: The Bible teaches us
that we have the privilege to make requests to God for help and that when we are
prepared to do what we can do God will do what we can’t
do!
I. GOD'S
PROVIDENCE!
2:1-3
A. Commitment 2:1-2
1.
The answers to Naomi's needs were pretty
practical:
a. She needed encouragement for she
was bitter; God gives her Ruth whose name in Hebrew means "friendship."
b. She needed food and supplies for
she was poor; God gives her Ruth to help glean the fields for
food.
c. All these ways seemed pretty
unspiritual but they are the very ground work of God doing great things in
Naomi's life, and also for the line of the future king David and eventually for
the Messiah Jesus' lineage!
2.
Ruth's commitment to do whatever was necessary opened the door for
Naomi's needs to be met and for Ruth's requests to be
granted!
3.
God answers prayers through our fulfilling commitments many
times!
ILLUS: THERE IS A
STORY ABOUT AN OLD FAITHFUL DEACON WHO ALWAYS PRAYED THE SAME THING IN EVERY
SERVICE, "LORD, TOUCH THE UNSAVED WITH THY FINGER!" ONE PRAYER MEETING NIGHT HE WAS LEADING
IN PRAYER ONCE AGAIN WHEN AS HE HAD ALWAYS DONE HE PRAYED THIS SAME PRAYER,
EXCEPT THIS TIME HE SUDDENLY STOPPED MIDSTREAM IN THE SENTENCE! SUPPOSING THAT HE HAD BEEN TAKEN
SUDDENLY ILL, SOMEONE WENT TO HIM AND ASKED IF THERE WAS ANYTHING WRONG, IF HE
WAS ILL? HE REPLIED, ''NO, I'M
B. Coincidence? 2:3
1.
So Ruth goes out to look for a way to meet the needs Naomi and she has
…the important phrase in this verse is, “as it turned
out…”
a. What appears to be an accident
is God's providential hand at work!
This is so true even today in our lives!
b. What Ruth doesn't know will become
apparent later, that God is directing her path even though at the moment she is
unaware of it!
c. Ruth finds herself in the fields of
Boaz, who just happens to be
related to her dead husband and Naomi, but she didn't know this at the
time!
2.
God was already at work, Naomi and Ruth just are not aware of it. To some extent Boaz was not even aware of
it, but God clearly was aware of all of it!
a. In
God's work there are no accidents, He is already at work in
everything in our lives.
b. This is the essence of Romans
c. We should not be afraid to request
God's help and then believe He will help when we are willing to do what we can
do!
ILLUS: JOHN
WENGATZ IN HIS BOOK "MIRACLES IN BLACK" TELLS THE STORY ABOUT AN AFRICAN CONVERT
WHO WAS LEFT AT A NEW
3.
To some this would have been a coincidence, but he knew better; to some
this was God answering the prayers of a godly preacher, but what about the
ordinary people like Ruth and Naomi!?
How about regular people today?
ILLUS: A
TIRED-LOOKING WOMAN ENTERED A GROCERY STORE AND ASKED THE OWNER FOR ENOUGH FOOD
TO MAKE A CHRISTMAS DINNER FOR HER CHILDREN. WHEN HE INQUIRED HOW MUCH SHE COULD
AFFORD, SHE ANSWERED, "MY HUSBAND WAS KILLED IN AN ACCIDENT. TRUTHFULLY, I HAVE NOTHING TO OFFER
EXCEPT A LITTLE PRAYER." ALTHOUGH
THE MAN WAS UNMOVED AT FIRST, HE THOUGHT OF A CLEVER RESPONSE TO THE
WOMAN'S SIMPLE REQUEST. HE SAID TO
HER SARCASTICALLY, "WRITE YOUR PRAYER ON A PIECE OF PAPER AND YOU CAN HAVE ITS
WEIGHT IN GROCERIES." TO HIS
SURPRISE, SHE PLUCKED A FOLDED NOTE OUT OF HER POCKET AND HANDED IT TO HIM
SAYING, "I ALREADY DID THAT DURING THE NIGHT WHILE I WAS WATCHING OVER MY SICK
BABY." WITHOUT EVEN READING IT, HE
PUT IT ON ONE SIDE OF HIS OLD FASHIONED SCALES ... "WE'LL LET’S SEE HOW MUCH
FOOD THIS IS WORTH." HE MUTTERED.
TO HIS DISMAY NOTHING HAPPENED TO THE SCALE WHEN HE PLACED A LOAF OF
BREAD ON THE OTHER SIDE, IT DIDN'T TIP DOWN! HE BECAME EVEN MORE UPSET WHEN HE ADDED
TO THE BREAD A NUMBER OF OTHER ITEMS OF FOOD AND IT STILL DID NOT TIP DOWN! FINALLY HE BLURTED OUT, "WELL, THAT'S
ALL IT WILL HOLD ANYWAY, HERE'S A BAG, YOU'LL HAVE TO PUT THESE THINGS IN
YOURSELF I'M BUSY!" WITH A TEARFUL
"THANK YOU!" FROM HER THE WOMAN HAPPILY WENT ON HER WAY. THE GROCER LATER DISCOVERED THAT THE
SCALES SOMEHOW HAD BROKEN AND FROZE UP, FOR A LONG TIME HE WONDERED IF THIS HAD
BEEN NOTHING MORE THAN JUST A LUCKY COINCIDENCE FOR THIS WOMAN! HAD SHE HAPPENED TO COME IN JUST AFTER
IT HAD BROKEN SOMEHOW? HAD SHE JUST
LUCKILY WROTE THAT NOTE AHEAD OF TIME SO THAT IT WAS READY WHEN HE SAID HE WOULD
TAKE A PRAYER ON A NOTE AND WEIGH IT AND GIVE HER THAT MUCH IN GROCERIES!? EVERY TIME HE LOOKED AT THAT NOTE SHE
WROTE DURING THE NIGHT BEFORE COMING IN HE IS AMAZED, FOR ON IT SHE HAD WRITTEN,
"PLEASE DEAR LORD, GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD!" HOW DID SHE KNOW HE WOULD PUT A LOAF OF
BREAD ON IT FIRST? -- Source
Unknown
4.
God doesn't work in "coincidences" ... He works
providentially!
a. His works sometimes appear pretty
"ordinary" in scope to us, but He is supernaturally working in
them!
b. Ruth's desire to work and glean the
fields was part of God's plan for many things, it will be the "miracle" Naomi is
looking for, the one Ruth needs and the one we all needed since Ruth and Boaz
were in the direct line of the Messiah!
II. GOD'S PROVISIONS 2:4-18
A. Compassion
2:4-10
1.
"Just
then ..." Boaz arrives and notices Ruth, again no
coincidence!
2.
Notice the kind of greeting his workers give him and his greeting to
them!
a. “The Lord be with
you!” and “the Lord bless you!”
b. This is a well loved man, a man of
compassion!
c. Naomi who was bitter, and Ruth who
was a stranger and something of a racial outcast was in need of
compassion!
3.
Boaz notices this stranger in his fields and asks about
her.
a. After being identified, Boaz talks
to her and she makes her request to glean his fields which was the right of the
poor in
b. He is gracious to her and requests
that she only glean in his fields, he offers to protect her and provide
water and even food for her.
4. Boaz is a type of Christ here; he is the
kinsman-redeemer to Ruth and Naomi.
a. His compassion toward her was not
isolated, his other workers loved him by their greeting; he was a man of
compassion!
b. God was already answering Ruth's
request in the heart of this man of love!
5.
God often uses others to bring healing to our hearts and to show us the
Father’s love.
ILLUS: AT ONE TIME
J. WILBUR CHAPMAN EXPERIENCED A GREAT SORROW THAT NEARLY SHOOK HIS FAITH. IN ADDITION, HIS FINANCES WERE ALMOST
DEPLETED JUST WHEN IT WAS NECESSARY FOR HIM TO TAKE A LONG TRIP TO THE WESTERN
UNITED STATES. ONE OF THE ELDERS OF
HIS CHURCH WHO WAS A WEALTHY BANKER CAME TO HIS HOME TO OFFER A WORD OF COMFORT
AND ENCOURAGEMENT. AS HE LEFT, HE
SLIPPED A PIECE OF PAPER INTO THE PASTOR'S HAND. CHAPMAN LOOKED AT IT AND WAS SURPRISED
TO FIND THAT IT WAS A CHECK MADE OUT TO HIM AND SIGNED BY THIS RICH FRIEND. HE NOTICED HOWEVER THAT NO FIGURES HAD
BEEN WRITTEN ON THE CHECK AND HE ASKED, "DID YOU REALLY MEAN TO GIVE ME A SIGNED
CHECK THAT IS BLANK?" HIS FRIEND ANSWERED YES TO THIS AND ADDED, "I DIDN'T KNOW
HOW MUCH YOU'D NEED AND I WANTED TO BE SURE YOU WOULD HAVE ENOUGH." CHAPMAN
NEVER USED THE CHECK, BUT HE MENTIONED HOW HE FELT KNOWING THAT AT HIS DISPOSAL
IF HE NEEDED IT WAS THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS ... GOD HAD GIVEN HIM HIS COMPASSION
THROUGH A FRIEND! -- Source
Unknown
B. Comfort
1.
Boaz was responding compassionately to Ruth as one who had demonstrated
compassion toward Naomi!
a. It is true that we reap what we
sow!
b. Boaz is moved by this foreigner who
had shown such love toward a very bitter woman named “Naomi!”
c. As is often the case, God is moved
by those who have themselves been faithful to love and sacrifice themselves for
others!
2.
Boaz recognizes Ruth's faith in God, though she is a foreigner she was
trusting in the God of
a. In this sense he will act on God's
behalf!
b. When we minister to others in
Christ’s name we are doing the same thing!
3.
Too often we fail to appreciate how God meets our needs, we would always
prefer of course to have immediate answers but sometimes God is doing something
bigger that requires more time!
a. Ruth would be provided for, but she
would work over several months to experience that
provision!
b. But this would also allow time for
Boaz to fall in love with her!
c. God could have provided all the
grain they needed in one moment, but doing it over time was accomplishing more
than one purpose that God had in mind!
4.
God's comfort is not just something that happens all at once, it is the
knowledge that He is at work that should be our comfort, even when it will be
spread over time!
ILLUS: A
MISSIONARY BECAME CONCERNED WHEN SHE DID NOT RECEIVE HER MONTHLY SUPPORT
CHECK. ON TOP OF THIS SHE BECAME
ILL AND BECAUSE SHE HAD NO MONEY TO LIVE ON SHE ENDED UP SUBSISTING ON OATMEAL
AND CANNED MILK THAT SHE HAD PLENTY OF AROUND THE HOUSE. FINALLY 30 DAYS LATER SHE RECEIVED HER
CHECK. AFTER MENTIONING THIS TRYING
TIME TO A DOCTOR WHEN HOME ON FURLOUGH HE HAD ASKED ABOUT THE NATURE OF HER
SICKNESS AT THAT TIME. SHE
DESCRIBED THE INTESTINAL DIGESTIVE TROUBLE SHE HAD EXPERIENCED AND HE EXCLAIMED
TO HER, "IF YOUR CHECK HAD COME ON TIME AND YOU HAD BEEN EATING YOUR CURRENT
DIET YOU WOULD NOW BE DEAD!" HE
EXPLAINED THAT WHAT SHE HAD FOR AN ILLNESS HAD ONLY ONE TREATMENT: A 30 DAY OATMEAL DIET!!! GOD HAD EVERYTHING IN CONTROL AND WAS
MINISTERING TO HER BY DELAYING HER CHECK, THUS SAVING HER LIFE! NEW COMFORT CAME TO HER FROM THE
REALIZATION THAT A GOD WHO KNEW WHAT SHE DIDN'T KNOW HAD PROTECTED
HER! -- Source
Unknown
5.
Boaz actually gives orders for the men not to hassle her and to
deliberately drop extra grain for her to gather!
a. An ephah was an unusual amount for
a poor gleaner to gather! (It was about 3/5 of a
bushel!)
b. Even the meal that Boaz had let
Ruth eat with them was too much and she had brought some of that home to Naomi!
This was unusual
too!
c. She was allowed to drink from the
water drawn for the workers, an unusual gesture as
well!
6.
What comfort to know that God was taking care of their needs! (He still
is today!)
III. GOD'S PURPOSE
A. Consoled! 2:19-20
1.
All of this was for both Ruth and Naomi, He was at work in both of their
lives.
2.
As Ruth returns to Naomi with the news of the day and how things had gone
Naomi finds a new hope returning to her "bitter" soul!
a. Had God forgotten Naomi and her
bitterness?
NO!
b. Had God forgotten that Ruth was an
outsider in
c. God was bringing consolation to
both Ruth and Naomi, He was ministering to their
needs!
(1. Naomi's
bitterness!
(2. Ruth's need of a husband and
acceptance!
3.
God was touching the rough spots in their
lives!
ILLUS: STORY OF
THE 3 LITTLE TREES: #1 WANTED TO
GROW UP AND BE MADE INTO A BEAUTIFUL CRADLE FOR SOME BABY, INSTEAD IT WAS MADE
INTO A ROUGH SHAPED MANGER ... BUT
THAT HELD THE BABY JESUS, A GREATER PRIVILEGE THAN ANY OTHER CRADLE! #2 WANTED TO BE MADE INTO A GREAT SEA
GOING SHIP, BUT IT ENDED UP AS A PLAIN FISHING BOAT ON THE SEA OF GALILEE ...
BUT IT WAS THE BOAT JESUS CAME ABOARD AND PREACHED FROM, A GREATER PRIVILEGE
THAN ALL OTHER BOATS! #3 WANTED TO STAY ON A HILL AND GROW BIG,
BUT IT WAS TAKEN DOWN AND MADE INTO A CROSS ... NOW IT WOULD NOT HOLD ANY
BEAUTY, IT WOULD BE USED TO KILL PEOPLE!
JESUS ENDED UP ON THAT CROSS AND IT STANDS AS THE SYMBOL OF OUR SALVATION
TO THIS DAY, NO TREE HAS HAD A BETTER MEANING! WE SOMETIMES FEEL LOST AND OUR LIVES ARE
TORN FROM US AND MADE INTO SOMETHING WE DIDN'T WANT, BUT GOD TOUCHES THEM AND
TRANSFORMS THEM INTO SOMETHING OF GREATER VALUE! -- Source
Unknown
4.
God was transforming Naomi by consoling her through His provisions for
her, provisions she would never have thought God would use to minister to her
and her pain!
a. God knows what He is doing even
when we do not understand His ways!
b. The full story is never known at
the beginning, sometimes not even in the middle!
B. Consistent!
2:21-23
1.
Ruth will consistently give herself to serve, in this God will provide
for her the needed husband, for day after day Boaz will see her and fall deeper
and deeper in love with her!
2.
Had Ruth quit she would not have received the needed
miracles!
3.
Ruth stayed and persisted and trusted God, this is the stuff of
miracles!
ILLUS: SOME 50
YEARS AGO, ONE BITTER JANUARY NIGHT THE INHABITANTS OF THE
4.
Ruth and Naomi’s needs were answered in seemingly regular ways, but
together these things were part of God's great plan for them and for us. Ruth's requesting was answered as she
did what she could and God did what He could too!
5.
Is God answering needs in your life in ways you don't see right now.
It may be through some very
ordinary ways used by God in extraordinary ways!
CONCLUSION:
Ruth's requests were honored by God because Ruth lived a life within the
context of faith! Her faith not
only asked, her faith compelled her to act! Faith is not a passive force that simply
believes and then passively waits for an answer; faith moves us to act where we
can and to trust God for what we cannot do! It is this concept of faith and "asking"
that Jesus taught His disciples and us
too!