Gleaning on the Everlasting Arms

[0:00] Very grateful to, very glad to welcome John Gemmel again this evening. John was with us last Sunday evening beginning a series on this wonderful little book in the Old Testament, the book of Ruth.

[0:11] So can I ask you to turn there now and we're going to read together in Ruth chapter 2. And John is going to be preaching on this for us a little later.

[0:30] Chapter 1, of course, introduces us to the main characters in this story, Naomi and Ruth. It tells you a little back story. If you weren't here last week, then there'll be a little interlude shortly and you can read through chapter 1 and pick up the story.

[0:46] But we begin at chapter 2 and verse 1. Now Naomi had a relative of her husband's, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz.

[1:01] And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain, after him in whose sight I shall find favour. And she said to her, Go, my daughter.

[1:14] So 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 clan of Elimelech.

[1:26] And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. And he said to the reapers, The Lord be with you. And they answered, The Lord bless you. Then Boaz said to his young man, who was in charge of the reapers, Whose young woman is this?

[1:42] And the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, She's the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. She said, Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers.

[1:53] So she came and she's continued from early morning until now, except for a short rest. And Boaz said to Ruth, Now listen, my daughter.

[2:06] Do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping, and go after them. Have I not charged the young men not to touch you?

[2:19] And when you're thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn. She fell on her face, buying to the ground, and said to him, Why have I found favor in your eyes that you should take notice of me since I'm a foreigner?

[2:33] But Boaz answered her, All that you've done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before.

[2:47] The Lord repay you for what you've done, and a full reward be given to you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you've come to take refuge.

[3:00] And she said, I have found favor in your eyes, my Lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not one of your servants. And at mealtime Boaz said to her, Come here and eat some of the bread and dip your morsel in the wine.

[3:14] So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed to her roasted grain, and she ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left over.

[3:26] When she rose to glean, Boaz instructed the young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, don't reproach her. And also pull out some from the bundles for her, and leave it for her to glean.

[3:38] Do not rebuke her. So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she'd gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.

[3:49] She took it and went to the city. Her mother-in-law saw what she'd gleaned, and she also brought out and gave her what food she had, and left over after having been satisfied.

[4:02] And her mother-in-law said to her, Where did you glean today? Where have you worked? Blessed be the man who took notice of you. So she told her mother-in-law with whom she'd worked, and said, The man's name with whom I work today is Boaz.

[4:17] And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, May he be blessed by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead. Naomi also said to her, This man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.

[4:30] And Ruth the Moabite said, Besides, he said to me, You shall keep close to my young men until they've finished all my harvest. And Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, It's good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, lest in another field you be assaulted.

[4:51] So she kept close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvest, and she lived with her mother-in-law. Amen.

[5:03] And may God bless to us his word. Good evening to you. It is lovely to be back in Glasgow, to what feels like a very calm city.

[5:18] I fought my way to church this morning through the Hibs Hearts fans. I then fought my way back home again after church with a lot of very disgruntled Hibs fans. And then I fought my way to the station this morning amidst the throng of the Edinburgh Festival.

[5:33] It is lovely to be in Glasgow in the midst of such calmness. As Willie said, we're going to continue our story in the book of Ruth, and we're going to dig into chapter 2.

[5:45] But just in case you haven't got the story so far, let me give you a recap. Last week in chapter 1, we saw that Elimelech, who was representative of Israel, decided that he would abandon God and his promises, and uproot his family and move to Moab, which we saw was a very foolish idea.

[6:08] A foolish idea that had catastrophic consequences. The events sound very like my little son Isaac's very favourite nursery rhyme.

[6:20] The events of chapter 1 verses 1 to 5 go something like this. Four folk went to Mo, went to live in Moab. One died, two married then died, three widows left in Moab.

[6:34] And only Naomi, the wife of Elimelech, is left. And being a widow in the time of the judges is a very precarious existence. And so after a disastrous decade, this prodigal daughter Naomi comes to her senses and sets out to return to Bethlehem, her hometown, with her two Moabite daughters-in-law in tow.

[7:00] Along the way on this long journey west from Moab back to Bethlehem, Naomi decides that it's time to convince Orpah and Ruth, her two daughters-in-law, that there is no hope for them back in Israel.

[7:15] And Orpah is eventually convinced. She turns on her heels and returns to Moab. And we hear no more about her. But Ruth, full of faith, throws a whole lot in with Israel's God Yahweh, comes out with this astonishing confession of faith, and clings to Naomi.

[7:36] The end of chapter one, they arrive back in Bethlehem, and everyone is aghast at the sight of Naomi. She went away with her husband and two strapping young boys.

[7:48] She's come back a decade later empty, bitter, and destitute. And not only that, but she has a Moabite woman standing next to her.

[8:00] What on earth has happened, Naomi? To which Naomi says, don't call me sweet. Call me bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty.

[8:16] And yet at the very end of chapter one, there is a little hint of hope. We read these words after a decade of famine, and they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.

[8:29] I tried to show you last week that turning to the Lord is the only hope in a downward spiraling world. So let me pray, and then we'll get stuck into chapter two.

[8:40] Let's pray. Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us your gifts of faith, hope, and love, that we may obtain all that you promise.

[8:52] Make us delight in what you command in your word through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

[9:03] Amen. Lyndon Johnson's vice president, Humphrey Hubert, famously said this, the moral test of any society is how that society treats those who are in the dawn of their life, their children, those who are in the twilight of their life, their elderly, and those in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy, and the less able.

[9:28] If this is the test of any society, then Israel, in the time of the judges, the period in which the book of Ruth is written, would have failed that test miserably.

[9:38] miserably. It was a barbaric, chaotic society. It was a society where the dogs with the biggest teeth got the biggest dinners at the expense of everybody else.

[9:54] Judges charts the canonization of Israel. God saved his people out of Egypt. He got them to the promised land. They were supposed to be people who lived in the place that he provided under his lordship, living distinct lives, shining his goodness out to the surrounding nations.

[10:16] And yet far from live up to that call, they end up being infected by the people that they were supposed to displace. One way to see this downward disintegration of society is just to have a brief look at the plight of women in the book of Judges.

[10:35] And I think if we get this, the book of Ruth and the grace that's shown and the God that stands behind it shines all the more brightly. Listen to the plight of women in the book of Judges.

[10:47] In chapter 1, we meet Aksa, the daughter of Caleb, and wife of Othniel, the first judge, an upstanding model judge. In chapter 4, we read of Deborah, the spiritual leader of Israel.

[11:02] At the beginning of the book, it starts well. Both these women are honored and respect it. But that is as good as it gets in Judges. And there follows a steep downward slide.

[11:15] By chapter 8, Gideon has set up a harem of many wives, just like any Near Eastern king at the time, treating women as trinkets and commodities to be flaunted to others to show your power.

[11:32] By chapter 11, Jephthah, the son of a prostitute, commits pedicide, sacrificing his daughter after a rash vow. An action summed up with these ominous words he did to his daughter.

[11:45] As he had vowed. Chapter 14, Samson then marries a Philistine woman who he likes the look of against the wishes of his parents. He then refers to her as his heifer.

[12:00] A phrase just as insulting in Hebrew as it is in English. He then abandons her, consorts with prostitutes in Gaza, and is finally undone on account of another unwise affair with Delilah, who is devious.

[12:16] Towards the end of the book, chapter 17, Micah steals 1,100 pieces of silver from his mother without any repercussions, which are then used for his DIY religion.

[12:28] Chapter 19, a concubine is thrown to the mob in Gibeah and brutalized before succumbing to her injuries in scenes reminiscent of Sodom in Genesis chapter 19.

[12:38] After her death, she is butchered by her Levite master and her body parts are sent to all the tribes of Israel as a rallying cry for war. The final chapter of the book should come with a health warning and the plight of women is appalling.

[12:56] 400 daughters of Jabesh Gilead are sex trafficked to Shiloh where they are forced to marry the remaining men of Benjamin. The final scene of the book sees Benjamite men enact a plan to see 200 young maidens violently abducted from a vineyard and again forced to marry their captors.

[13:16] And this is before everyone carries on with business as usual. From Aksha to the 200 maidens we have seen an incredible decline in the fabric of society.

[13:30] And being a woman in Israel in the time of the judges is not safe. It's not savory. Where can you go?

[13:41] And if we understand this backdrop then the events of Ruth chapter 2 become all the more remarkable. And the gracious God who stands behind them all the more amazing.

[13:54] In chapter 2 we will see God graciously provides, protects and prospers people who take refuge under his wing. And we'll be called to respond by being amazed at the loving kindness of God towards all of his people.

[14:10] So let's get stuck in. Look with me at verses 1 to 7 where we see the God of Providence. Verse 1 we're introduced to the remaining main character of the book this man Boaz.

[14:23] It's a narrator's comment that helps us set the scene for all that's going to happen in the rest of the book. Boaz is a man we know three things about. firstly he's a relative of Elimelech he's from the clan of Elimelech he is an Ephrathite.

[14:41] This is tantalizing information because we as readers know that the only hope for destitute widows in the time of the judges in Israel is if there's a male relative who will take them in and care for them provide for them and protect them.

[14:59] tantalizing information in verse 1 secondly we see that he is a worthy man a very rare commodity in the time of the judges he's a worthy man he's upstanding and thirdly his name Boaz means inner strength or moral fortitude fortitude.

[15:22] Fittingly in 1 Kings Solomon will be told that the temple needs two huge pillars and on the one on the north side of the temple to write Boaz and so when you think of Boaz in Ruth think of a pillar of the community he's super upstanding he's one of the few good guys left in the land.

[15:44] So that's the information we get to encourage us and tantalize us as this story unfolds before us. But verse 2 we are back in the squat where Ruth and Naomi are on the brink of emaciation and Ruth shares her plan.

[16:04] She says let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grey after him in whose sight I shall find favour literally grace. Let me go to the field and trust that God will bring me into the orbit of someone who will look after me of someone who will make gleaning in the time of the judges productive not dangerous.

[16:32] This is bold bordering on reckless. God had instituted the law in the law the provision of gleaning. both in Leviticus and Deuteronomy we read that landowners were to leave bits behind for the poor in the land.

[16:52] So in Deuteronomy we read this when you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field you shall not go back to get it.

[17:03] It shall be for the sojourner the fatherless and the widow that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. Here like so many places in the law God is giving his people an opportunity to show that they trust him in the day-to-day life that they live.

[17:24] God telling them be generous don't hoover it all up leave bits for the marginalized in society trust that in you being generous after me trust that I'm generous enough to keep providing for your needs.

[17:44] Ruth qualifies as a gleaner because she is a sojourner from Moab she is fatherless having forsaken her own people in chapter 1 and she is a widow as her husband Marlon died in Moab in chapter 1 verse 5 and now when we think of gleaning we might think of something like a modern day food bank that when Ruth goes gleaning she is going to the line to queue up for the trust or trust perhaps I want to say that's way too sanitized when you read gleaning think of dumpster diving in the bin behind the supermarket under the cover of dark it is disgusting degrading and exhausting work you would work all day in searing heat just trying to eat together enough grain to take the edge off the hunger pains that occupy your every thoughts this would have been the experience of gleaning in a faithful

[18:50] Israel that took the law seriously and we have seen that Israel in the time of the judges is anything but faithful what Ruth is proposing is going dumpster diving behind the supermarket in a gangland community of violence and exploitation where women in particular are abused with impunity therefore Ruth knows even as a newcomer to the society if she is going to survive if she's going to gain anything worth anything she is dependent on finding grace in the eyes of a landowner this is no small undertaking got to remember Israel's coming out of 10 years of famine which land owner is going to leave bits behind they're going to hoover it all up and so this is audacious faith this is taking God at his word this is trusting that the

[19:51] God to whom she has committed herself will watch over her as she heads fearfully towards the fields Naomi knows the extreme danger she ascends at the end of the chapter that it's very likely if she leaves Boaz's field in verse 22 she'll be assaulted or worse but seeing no alternative she says go my daughter go this is our hope and against this backdrop verse 3 is remarkable it is written in such a way to emphasize the care and compassion of God verse 3 literally says in the Hebrew so she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers and her chance chanced upon the field belonging to Boaz or alternatively she just so happened to happen upon the field of Boaz the whole point is that this is not chance or happenstance at all this is

[20:54] God's providence the sovereign God who's guided Ruth's steps who's answered Ruth's prayer that she would find favor in someone's eyes and is showing compassion to Ruth in response to her audacious faith she just happened to happen upon the field belonging to Boaz and verse 4 takes it further not only that but the same God startling startlingly assures that Boaz just so happens to turn up to the field to do a sight visit on the very day that Ruth starts gleaning just so happened that Ruth happened upon the field belonging to Boaz and it just so happened that Boaz also happened to turn up to that field on that day and such is the character of the man he greets his workers with a vocalization of number six the Lord be with you and they answered the Lord bless you

[21:56] Boaz then asked his foreman whose young woman is this again see the desperate plight of a widow in this society not who is this but whose is this whose daughter is she whose sister is she whose wife is she so dangerous so precarious would it be to be a widow in this society the foreman explained she is the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab she's worked hard she got here early she's still working now and she's had a little rest it seems Ruth's faith in the sovereign God has been rewarded that he's brought Ruth to a safe place he's brought

[23:02] Ruth to a place where the law is taken seriously and we're going to see that he's brought Ruth to a place to a landowner who's going to show her grace God is just getting started with Ruth by the end of this chapter he would have placarded his grace as he sets about providing for protecting and prospering Ruth but Boaz here is a model believer who takes the law seriously who seeks to be obedient who reads about gleaning in his bible and does gleaning in his fields Ruth is also shown to be a model believer one who trusts God not just with the big things but with the little things not just to guide her eternity but to guide her steps as she goes fearfully into the field a God she's discovered is gracious he prospects on that grace and says

[24:11] Naomi I'm going to glean today it is faith in action and it's faith that's rewarded I thought a lot about that this week faith in action in the day today I was teaching Sunday school last Sunday morning and we taught the children this song he's the God of the big he's the God of the little and he's the God of the stuff somewhere in the middle and I think I'm pretty much down with trusting God with the big stuff I think he's got my eternity in his hands I think he's got eternity sorted out I know and fully believe that when my time on this earth is over God in Jesus has done everything necessary to provide a glorious future where every chapter will be better than the one before I know that he's the God of the big stuff but in my life I struggle to believe that he's also the God of the little stuff a cost of living crisis anxiety about what we need to do each day problems with jobs or joblessness problems at home relational breakdown and I think to myself he's the

[25:24] God of the big but can he really be trusted with the little and I want to say on the back of Ruth too he can he guides steps he's ahead of us we can prospect on his grace and he is better than we could possibly imagine so irrational to think he's got the big stuff but worry about tomorrow he can be trusted and he's good and he's gracious and he's kind beyond our wildest dreams he is the God of providence but see secondly he's the God of provision verses 8 to 13 Boaz now meets Ruth and Boaz his first words to Ruth are words of protection do not glean anywhere else stay close to my female workers and do not be afraid of the young men who have been strictly charged not to touch you to look after you he's a shining outlier of chivalry in a dark and dangerous society then we read chapter 1 why is it that Boaz has such a propensity towards an outsider like a

[26:35] Moabite widow and we read in Matthew chapter 1 verse 5 that either his mother or somebody in his wider family was Rahab in the time of Joshua another outsider grafted into the life of Israel Israel and so now when he's faced with Ruth a Moabite grafted into Israel he's kind to her he gets it he knows outsiders can be really good news but see he sets about providing for Ruth in outrageous ways Boaz hasn't finished in just protecting Ruth up until this point he has obeyed the letter of the law but is now going to go beyond to the very spirit of the law he says middle of verse nine help yourself to water whenever you are thirsty my water he says the water

[27:38] I've supplied for my workers in the dry dusty and dirty work of scrabbling around in the soil Boaz says refresh yourself whenever you need a drink and Ruth is undone by the kindness verse 10 she falls down in front of Boaz and that's why she is the recipient of such grace in his eyes grace beyond her wildest dreams Boaz offers three reasons firstly because of Ruth's service to Naomi all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me secondly because Ruth has thrown her lot in with Israel's God and his people as a result of her wholehearted commitment and thirdly because Boaz is seeking to reflect the goodness and grace of God in his dealings with Ruth he wants to show her as one of

[28:41] God's people just how much refuge there is in the God of Israel the first readers would have read verse 11 how you left your father and mother in your native land and came to a people that you did not know before the first readers of that would have thought that is Abraham that's what Abraham did in Genesis 12 that's exactly what people full of faith do they trust God and go where he leads Ruth does in Ruth 2 what Abraham the father of faith does in Genesis 12 seeking to show that Ruth truly is an Israelite by faith the people in the story get this she's always called daughter my daughter one of the family she's hardly ever referred to as daughter in law or an outsider by people in the direct dialogue that takes up so much of the book unbeknownst to

[29:48] Boaz as the story develops he will become even more the answer to his own petition in verse 12 Boaz will be part of the full reward and the repayment of the God of Israel under whose wings Ruth has come to take refuge God has provided for Ruth providentially brought her to a place of grace and now he's provided for her better than she could ever dream but we're just getting started with how good God is because look at 14 to 18 we see that he's the God of plentifulness God of provision God of providence God of provision God of plentiful verse 14 sometime later in the day it came to mealtime and Boaz goes further still not just permitting Ruth to drink water but providing Ruth with a hearty lunch a starter of bread and balsamic vinegar sitting at the top table as a bit of antipasti and followed by roasted grain for mains and not just a mouth full but a belly full and not just a belly full but a pocket full of leftovers to take home for the end of the day this truly is grace on top of grace this truly is plentiful ness it's abundance

[31:12] Ruth came to the field desperate with hunger and the God on whom she staked everything has provided better for her than she could have ever asked or imagined not only that but as we read on gleaning is going to be far more productive after lunch than it was before she is going to be the exception to the rule that she is going to get more work done in the afternoon than she did in the morning Boaz instructs his workers to make two provisions for Ruth firstly she doesn't just need to pick up what the reapers of mist but she can go gleaning among the sheaves and when she does they are not to reproach her the whole field is now hers she doesn't need leftovers she can go for the good stuff out front not only that but they are also to deliberately leave some bundles behind and when she picks them up she is not to be rebuked

[32:19] I imagine this taking on some kind of comical flavor you know the reapers going along oh whoops I dropped another one oh whoops oh Ruth make sure you pick up that bit I might have just spilled out of the wagon this dangerous dumpster diving enterprise after lunch turns into supermarket sweep by the time evening falls verses 17 and 18 she beats out the barley and is left with an ephah and we all go what's an ephah so we read the footnote and it says two fifths of a bushel and we go what's two fifths of a bushel and we read it's 22 litres or about 18 kilograms or if you're going there what's a kilogram 40 pounds in old money that is enough to bake 39 warburton's barley loafs the whole thing has become utterly preposterous this this is the equivalent of winning the lottery when it comes to gleaning ruth who early in the morning fearfully crept to the field afraid of what might await her by the end of the day is struggling to lug her enormous gleaning hall home so heavy god through boaz has been so kind so generous and so gracious to her this friends is what god is like he is so kind he is so gracious he is so good he is so trustworthy so often we think god is stingy or miserly who's worried that there might be a bit of excess or wastage and

[34:17] Ruth 2 says no god loves abundance he loves lavishing things upon those who trust him Ruth chapter 2 says if we are god's people today we need to think really hard about a theology of leftovers a god who is into thriving not just surviving a god so generous that he blesses us and others through us reflecting his generosity a god who graciously provides for protects and prospers all his people even a moabite outsider who by human standards is in a hopeless situation and i think if we really get this god who stands behind Ruth chapter 2 then we'll really have the opportunity to shine like stars when things like the cost of living crisis bites us that we of all people can be generous and trusting and gracious to others and when everybody else is counting the pennies won't that say something about the god who we worship and the god whom we trust so we come into land at the end of the story the god of potentiality i needed another p and potentiality seemed to have a lot of potential ruth returns home at the end of the day and the success of the day prompts naomi to inquire as to what has happened where did you glean today and where have you worked blessed be the man who took notice of you ruth seems to reluctantly say at the end of verse 19 who he is the man's name with whom

[36:00] I work today is boaz well both naomi's eyebrows go up at the news you know the way that only mother in law eyebrows can go up those kind of eyebrow looks she prays that boaz would be blessed for the kindness he has shown and also shares with ruth that he is a close relative and one of our redeemers something that's going to be a big feature in the second half of the book he demas and naomi's mind is getting ahead of herself suddenly she thinks this might not just be a short term providence but there is potential here for something more permanent and satisfactory ruth informs her that there is some security in the short term boaz has instructed ruth to stay on for the whole harvesting season that she is to stay close to his young men until all the harvesting is done but the closing verse says we're not there yet and she lived with her mother in law she was there for all of the wheat and the barley harvest she has a job and security and sustenance from

[37:19] April time until the end of May but she's still a widow living with an older widow in Bethlehem at a savage time in Israel's history the final sentence looms ominously over the story chapter two had been such good news and the last verse says we're not there yet their status hasn't changed they're still two widows without a future huddling together in a hostile world temporary relief but no long term prospects something even more dramatic than a bumper gleaning yield is going to have to happen if they aren't just going to revert back to life on the margins our society is full of the rags to riches story the way that we're all being upwardly mobile that's not old testament Israel once you get to the bottom of gleaning there's really no hope unless hope comes from outside you'll have to come back next week to see whether that happens or not spoiler alert it does for the first readers of Ruth probably the people of

[38:39] Judah in exile in Babylon Ruth chapter two would have wooed them if Ruth chapter one had caused them to hope for a future beyond Babylon then Ruth chapter two would have really made them want it a future of gracious provision a future of protection a future of prosperity a future where God in his kindness and his goodness was gracious to them and abundantly gracious to them despite all of their failures that have got them into this situation in the first place as they read this in Babylon they would have gone we wish we were home and we wish we would know the goodness and kindness of God again as we close the great Charles Haddon Spurgeon when preaching Ruth two described Jesus like this the Lord Jesus is our great and glorious

[39:39] Boaz it's a lovely phrase I think and very apt it gets to the heart right to the heart of grace and through Boaz we see just how kind Jesus has been to each of us as he paints the grace and goodness of God on a far bigger canvas the Lord Jesus is to us infinitely more than Boaz was to Ruth the Lord Jesus sees us and is kind to us and shows unfathomable grace to us in our helpless states he's so kind the Lord Jesus is so caring the Lord Jesus who knows everything about us like Ruth Boaz knew everything about Ruth and for all of us it's not a good report and yet he moves towards us in loving acceptance and grace in spite of that the Lord

[40:46] Jesus in himself goes above and beyond what Boaz does graciously providing far more than physical water to quench our thirst but is himself in his death a fountain of living water welling up to eternal life where our arid souls will be satiated forever the Lord Jesus who doesn't just provide a pocket full of leftovers but in his earthly ministry basket fulls of leftovers to show himself to be the same God of abundance and lavishness when he feeds not just one widow with leftovers but 5,000 ravenous followers with basket fulls left from just five small loaves the Lord Jesus who will repeat that same act of taking bread giving thanks and breaking it not this time in a field with 5,000 but in an upper room with 12 and as he breaks and he breaks and he breaks he says

[41:48] I in myself in my body am providing eternal nourishment forever through my body broken for you the Lord Jesus who like Boaz graciously protects us from all our enemies eternally through his sovereign word Boaz says I've told them not to touch you and they won't touch you Jesus says I've told them not to touch you and they won't touch you apart from my acquiescence the Lord Jesus who goes further than Boaz not a close relative by nature but a close relative by choice the one who left the very throne room of heaven to take on flesh in order that he might be our close relative and so be qualified as our perfect redeemer the Lord Jesus who through faith pours out on us grace on top of grace Boaz friends is so kind to Ruth and I hope we've seen something of that tonight but he is just a miniature caricature of just how outrageously kind Jesus has been to us and is to us and will be to us the book of Ruth is really

[43:10] Jesus choosing his ancestors then Boaz really is a chip of the new block let's pray Father God we want to say thank you this evening for the Lord Jesus that he is so kind and gracious and loving and caring that he is our life and our security and Father may the grace he's shown us flow from us to others and Father may we be those that trust you in every area of our lives trust that in everything you oh Lord are kind and gracious and good and good and are working out all things for your eternal glory and our eternal blessing so Lord may these pictures we see of you in Ruth chapter 2 would they make a real difference in our lives this week that we would trust you and we would be those of audacious faith as we seek to live for you and we pray this in Jesus name who loved us and gave himself for us amen