7-30-23 PM Service: It Just So "Happed"

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The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist

Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us,

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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.

Ruth and Chapter #2 in a message that I have entitled It just So

Hacked. And while that title doesn't

make sense, and, well, several of my titles don't make sense

that I found over the time, but this title will, Lord willing,

make sense as we go through and read our text here in just a few

moments. This idea of something just so

happening, you know, You ever wonder how One seemingly small

decision. Seemingly unimportant decision

could change the trajectory of the rest of your life.

How something so small, something so trivial, could end

up literally changing your life forever.

Taking a train at 3:00 o'clock instead of four o'clock.

Buying groceries on Monday night instead of on Wednesday

afternoon. Going to work 15 minutes early

or maybe 15 minutes late. All of these things are

insignificant. They're small.

There wouldn't even seem to be any relevance to them, or that

it would make any difference that you would do one thing

instead of the other. We've all been in situations

like this. But that that one single change,

That one small thought. By the time the day was done, we

thought, wow, I would have missed this event entirely if I

hadn't had this delay, or if I hadn't gone early, or if I

hadn't had this change. Thrust upon me, maybe that I

didn't even choose, but that someone chose for me.

Well, my day changed. I met someone that I wouldn't

have met before. I had a situation occur that

wouldn't have happened. Or maybe I was saved from being

part of a situation that I could have been, but now I'm not

because of the fact that I was making a different decision in

the first place. You know, if you think about it,

it could almost cause you to have a paralysis by analysis.

You ever heard that before? Or it almost makes you freeze

up. Well, what do I do if my life

could change at any moment depending on if I go here, go

there, do this, do that. Well, how do I even make a

decision in the first place? In my intention tonight in this

text is not to cause us to analyze down to the microscopic

level, every single decision that we make.

But. I want to maybe overall, if I

was to look at the big picture tonight from this text, it will

be this. I want us to realize this, that

God is at work and even the most seemingly trivial parts of our

life. That God in his Providence is at

work and even the most seemingly trivial parts of our life.

And I think sometimes we forget that the God of the universe is

also the God of the microscopic. The God who does these great

things, and boy, he does great things, doesn't he.

This, this God who does these great things is also the one who

works on the molecular and even the atomic level.

That this God, who does all of these amazing and tremendous

things, also cares about the very minute parts of our life.

And I think that comes through very clearly in our text here

tonight. Would you please stand for the

reading of God's word if you can?

Ruth chapter 2 will read the 1st 3 verses tonight.

Ruth 2 · chapter mention

Ruth chapter 2, beginning in verse #1.

Ruth 2 · chapter mention

And then once again, I will not be here next Sunday night or

Sunday morning. But then would Ross be preaching

the word of God next week? And I hope that you'll support

him and the services next Sunday night.

Ruth two verse #1 says this. And Naomi had a kinsman of her

husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of a

Limolek. And his name was Boaz.

And Ruth the moabitest said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the

field, and glean ears of corn after him, in whose side I shall

find grace. And she said unto her, Go, my

daughter. And she went, and came, and

gleaned in the field of the reapers, or after the reapers,

and her hap. You see that word there in our

King James Bible, and her hap that may look interesting to us.

We'll look at that again in a moment.

Her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto

Boaz, who was of the kindred of Limolech.

Now these three verses may seem completely unimportant to the

overall scope of the book of Ruth, but yet what we see in

those three verses with something that just so happed

change the course of Naomi and Ruth.

And Boaz and Israel's history forever because of something

that just seemed to be mere happenstance.

It was God proving that he cared about even the most trivial

parts of life. And if he cared about their

lives. Could I tell you this tonight?

He cares about yours too. Heavenly Father, be with us

tonight as we get into your word bless.

We do ask in the way that only you can through your Holy

Spirit. And we ask it in the name of

Jesus. Amen.

Thank you. May be seated.

Chapter 2 tonight begins by introducing a new key character

to this love story, a man named Boaz.

Now we looked at much length in the first message of this series

at what each of the names meant and how each of their names told

us a little bit about the person or the character that we were

looking at him. Boaz is no exception.

Boaz's name means strength is in him, strength is in him, and as

we look more at Boaz as the. Kinsman Redeemer will realize

that that name is apt in so many ways.

In fact, just saying that word, that phrase Kinsman Redeemer.

You may have heard me use that phrase in passing before, but

yet we see the near kinsman here in our text, right there in

verse #1 when it says in Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's a

mighty man of wealth. Now we know today that when we

use the term kin, we don't use it very often.

But when we do use the term kin, it usually means family, doesn't

it? That someone?

Is close kin. That means that they're a close

relative, or even if they're a kindred spirit, it means that we

have something in common, or maybe many things in common that

makes us feel like family, even if we are not family.

Well, Naomi had a kinsman and his name was a Limolek, or

rather a Po has, and he was a kinsman because he was related

to a Limolek. They were near kin.

They were family. Now to us today, to have someone

who's a close relative. Might be something that brings

encouragement, It might be something that brings joy, but

it doesn't mean maybe a whole lot else.

For instance, on vacation, I'm looking forward to going to see

my uncle and my my aunt, my Uncle David and my aunt Shahome.

They they are really the only relatives I have left outside of

my father other than very far extended family.

That's kind of one of the things about being an only child.

And so because of that, we're going to get to see my Uncle

David and my Aunt Shahone. I'm glad to be able to see them.

But you know, legally, although we do have a close relationship

in the fact that we love one another, legally there's no kind

of requirement that they are supposed to take care of us if

something happens to us or or vice versa.

There is none of that. But understand that when we're

looking here in Ruth Chapter 2 or we're looking in Israel and

Ruth 2 · chapter mention

we're looking at the Old Testament law, that there were

requirements for family to be able to take care of one another

in the instance that something happened to.

Your kin, and particularly in a situation where the father had

died, the husband had died. If there was a near kinsman, it

was his responsibility to take care of the family, and in many

times to actually take up the name of the family and to

continue it on in that way. He was a relative of a lemon

lec, and it said in verse number one that he was a mighty man of

great wealth. I think this is important one,

because, well, wealth does mean finances.

And certainly he was a man who had great means.

He owned a field and he had servants who worked for him, and

he was a kind master to his servants.

He took care of them. I think that's very obvious as

you see how he took care of Ruth.

But I also see that if you were to look into the Hebrew and you

look at the connotation of that word, wealth, it doesn't just

mean he was a mighty man of financial means.

He was also a man of honor and virtue that that term, mighty

man of wealth is not just finances, although certainly

that's clear from the context of what he we mean.

This is an honorable man. This is a virtuous man.

This is a good man. In fact, it's a man whose

strength is in him. Why?

His name is Boaz in the 1st place.

He is a mighty man of wealth. He was a man of great virtue,

great honor, and yes, even financial means.

You know, it's one thing for Ruth to make her life changing

declaration in chapter #1. I'll go where you go.

Your people will be my people and your God will be my God.

But guess what happened? Now she's in Bethlehem.

Now she's here. And now they're hungry.

They have no food. They have no means.

Something has to be done. How are they going to make this

work? So the first need was for them

to acquire food. But we find, if we go into the

law of Moses, and I want to turn to a couple verses tonight, that

God made provision for those in his economy of the nation of

Israel. That theocracy being ruled by

God, he made provision for those who could not provide for

themselves to be able to have. Could we call it this way a

welfare system? But the kind of system where God

made sure that people took care of one another.

One of those verses in Leviticus chapter #23, Would you turn

there quickly? Leviticus chapter #23, and then

we'll go to verse #22, Leviticus 23, and verse #22.

If you had a field and you were to harvest your field, God had.

A requirement laid upon you in his law about how you were to

harvest that field. Leviticus 2322 says.

And when you 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 gleaming of thy

harvest. Thou shalt leave them unto the

poor and to the stranger. I am the Lord your God, you see.

God had required the landowner to make sure that at the edges

of their field that not everything was harvested.

And also when they were to glean that they were to be able to

leave a little bit left over. They weren't to get the most

minute part of grain. They were to be able to leave

something there. For those who were not able to

provide for themselves, that they were to go out.

If they were physically able to go out in the field and to

provide for themselves, they were to have to work themselves.

It wasn't just. Handed to him.

Boaz didn't just take a basket and take it over to the people's

homes who needed food, but there was provision made to make sure

that they were caring for one another.

And that's where we see, well, God's just so angry in the Old

Testament. Do you realize?

The same benevolent God of the New Testament, the same loving,

concerning, caring God of the New Testament is in this exact

same characteristic in the Old Testament as well.

And we see that here in Leviticus 23.

What about Deuteronomy Chapter 24 if you turn there quickly?

Deuteronomy 24 · chapter mention

Just a few books away, Deuteronomy chapter 24, verse

Deuteronomy 24 · chapter mention

#19, Deuteronomy 2419 says when thou cutest down thine harvest

in thy field, it has forgot a sheaf of grain.

You realize what it says? A sheaf of grain, a stock that

maybe because you're using a sickle, you're using some of

these older fashion tools that we certainly wouldn't use today,

where they use combines and. Machines like that.

If there was a sheath, if there was a stalk of grain that was

left behind, thou shalt not go again to fetch it.

It shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the

widow, that the Lord may bless thee in all the work of thine

hands. You see, what God is doing is

creating in this system a vehicle of grace.

He is saying you don't deserve the fatherless, the poor, the

widow to get this, but it'll be left for you.

And you'll have a benefit if you receive it.

And he says to the landowner, you have to be able to have

generosity within your heart as well.

By the way it says to leave your corners.

It didn't say how big those corners had to be.

Think about that for a second. Didn't say how big those corners

had to be. It said just leave the corners.

I would imagine it would be up to the landowner to see how

generous they would be. But I see from this year in

Deuteronomy 2419 that God says this if you take care of those

who are less fortunate. Then I will bless you for your

care and your concern for them. So God created the system where

people could go out into the fields and they could be

provided for, and God would bless those who had little.

But God would also bless those who had much as well, as they

all took care of one another. This is what God had intended.

So Ruth goes to exercise her literal God-given right to

glean. And when I say God-given rights,

sometimes we talk about God-given rights and they have

nothing to do with God giving them in the 1st place.

But I just showed you two different verses which shows

that Ruth and Naomi had a literal right given to them by

God to go out in the field and glean so that they would be

provided for. This isn't even really

necessarily taking to the fact that he's the kinsman yet.

I mean, that will come later, but they're just going out and

finding a landowner and finding a field.

And I imagine, again, not knowing much about Bethlehem,

Judah at that time, but knowing that it was the House of bread

and knowing historically there would have been many fields that

would have been out there that would have been owned assumingly

by several different landowners. And could you imagine maybe just

like driving down the street, you're about to run out of gas?

And you say, what, what gas station should I go to?

And if you're like me, you start to go to that mental checklist

of which gas station has the best prices, which ones have the

best amenities, which has the kind of things that you want or

you don't want. And you're saying, how far can I

go before I go to the gas station?

Some of you are like me, and you wait to see that needle.

How far can it get down before, just because I like to keep life

exciting. That may be what it is, I don't

know, but you just maybe at random choose one.

Maybe you're thinking about it. Maybe you're making a plan, or

maybe it just happens to be this needle is low.

The next one I find that's where I go and it just seems like such

a random decision here. Here's what it means when it

what it was her hap that she looks out on the fields and she

doesn't know who Boaz is. She doesn't know who the kinsman

is. She doesn't know what the

relationship between Boaz and a Limolek and Naomi is.

And I would say this, that Naomi gives no indication.

That she should even go to Boaz's field.

It doesn't seem to me, if you read the rest of the chapter,

that Naomi is really understanding that Boaz's field

would be a good choice for her. Because when Ruth comes back

home and explains what happened, Naomi seems maybe just as

surprised as anybody as what to what's going on in this

situation. And so it is the fact that she

goes out and she looks and she says what field.

There's a field over there. There's a field over there.

And by law I can glean at any of them.

Well. There.

And it was boaz's field, the kinsman Redeemer.

It just so happed, in fact, that word hap, according to the

Webster's 1828 dictionary, means that would come suddenly or

unexpectedly. Chance, fortune, accident,

casual event. By the way, this is the only

time this word is used in the Bible.

So is the Bible saying that Ruth just happened by chance to land

in the field that belongs to Boaz?

And my answer to you is this. You and I both know that with

God there are no accidents. You know that with God, nothing

just happens by happenstance. That, just as the old saying

goes, has never occurred to you That nothing has ever occurred

to God. That there is no mistake and

there is no chance. And there is nothing that takes

God by surprise in the throne of heaven as he looks down at us

and say, wow, I didn't see that one coming.

So no, we wouldn't say that that word that.

She took her hap to be able to go.

It just so hap that she would go to Boaz's field, as that is

saying that God just kind of rolled the dice and said, you

know what'll be fun? Why don't we get Ruth to go over

to Boaz's field? I bet that would turn into a

great story. You know, I mean, this could

happen a lot of different ways, but let's just kind of see what

happens and take it by random. Let's choose a number.

Let's see what happens. No, no, that's not what it is at

all. God, in his Providence directed

Ruth. I believe in a way that only he

could. To the field of Boaz, but yet as

it would occur to the outside world, as it would occur to

someone who was outside of this account in this story, it would

seem as if by chance that she just happened upon this field.

But God in his Providence, and God in his love, and God in his

care, was working together, a marvelous plan in his Providence

that Ruth could only dream of, that Ruth could not supply for

herself. That she couldn't write up if

she wrote the script, but yet God says this, I'm going to put

together something absolutely amazing in your life, and it

starts here with something that seems so random and so

happenstance. I'm going to see that you go to

the field of Boaz. Spurgeons morning and evening By

the way, if you've never read Spurgeons Morning and Evening,

it's a wonderful book. If you're fairly new into

reading your devotions, it gives you just a small glimpse of

Spurgeon for the morning, at night, for 365 days.

But Spurgeon actually deals with this verse in that morning and

evening devotional, and he said this.

Her hap was yes, it seemed nothing but an accident.

But how divinely was it overruled?

Ruth had gone forth, with her mother's blessing, under the

care of her mother's God, to humble but honorable toil, and

the Providence of God was guiding her every step.

Little did she know that amid the she she would find a

husband, that she would make her the joint owner of all those

broad acres, and that she, a poor foreigner, would become one

of the progenitors of the great Messiah.

God is very good to those who trust in Him and often surprises

them with unlooked for blessings.

Little do we know that what may happen to us tomorrow, but this

sweet fact may cheer us, that no good thing shall be withheld.

Chance is banished from the faith of Christians, for they

see the hand of God and everything.

The trivial events of today or tomorrow may involve

consequences of the highest importance.

O Lord, deal as graciously with thy servants as thou didst with

Ruth. What is Spurgeon saying?

They're so eloquently. He's saying this the moment that

Ruth says I am going to trust in Jehovah God.

That's what she said in chapter #1.

I am going to trust that he will lead.

I am going to trust that he will guide.

I'm going to trust that he will direct.

And as I walk by faith, remember that's what we're told to do in

Ephesians. We're to walk by faith, not by

sight. As we walk by faith, every step

trusting that God is taking us the right place.

It may just seem that these random things occur to us.

It may just seem that things just happen to.

Come together in these unexpected ways.

But as we just take a step after a step after a step by faith, we

realize that God is directing and God is leading.

And even in the things that might seem small or trivial,

like going to Shaw's instead of Big Y, or going to Walmart

instead of buying something on Amazon or or getting the gas

filled up at Cumberland Farms instead of going to a Speedway,

we realize that even in these. Mundane and small things of life

as we just yield ourselves to him and trust in him and walk in

faith that he will direct us and he is interested and even the

smallest parts of our lives. That's what we call the

Providence of God. Now don't get weird on me about

that because sometimes we use that word, and I'll be honest

with you, it can be taken out of context.

But realizing that God's simply in control of everything, that

even understanding that we have a free will, but yet that we

have a God that see saw every decision already decided by our

free will before the world even began and orchestrated

everything together in such a way to make sure that his will

be done. He say, how do you explain that,

pastor? Well, I just tried to.

Maybe I should say, how do you understand that, pastor?

And the answer is, I don't know. Because I'll be honest with you,

It'll boggle the mind if you think about it long enough.

The fact that I could buy something for $50.00 that I

could have bought for $100 and that my life could change

forever because of that decision, you say, How could

something that small don't tell me there have been things in

your life that you look back and realize, wow, that was seemingly

inconsequential. Choosing a doctor and you're

looking at a list of five names and you say, how on earth am I

supposed to know? And it just so hap that God

directed you to the right Doctor Who would give you the right

diagnosis or just so happy that you went to a doctor that you

didn't care for. But that God use that situation

to be able to further your life and to be able to further you.

That it's not just wow, I'm just going to so happy and

everything's happy, go lucky because it doesn't always work

that way either. But that as we go by faith, we

realize it with every step that God will direct us through his

Providence into the situations that we need, when we need them

to be able to grow for God's glory.

May I remind you tonight that we have to remember that God is at

work even in the most trivial moments and decisions in our

lives. I remember I've told the story

before, was several years ago. I believe that when I started

the job at Gordon's Jewelers, I I didn't have a job.

I worked at IHOP. I mentioned that this morning

for like two or three days, and that didn't work out.

I didn't have a job. And David Corley said to me, you

want to go to Chickfila. Now, who would have thought my

life would change because someone asked me to go to

Chickfila. It's good.

It's not that good. All right.

But he said, you want to go to Chickfila.

The closest Chickfila to us at the time.

There were really not many freestanding stores at that

time. You went to the mall, We went to

Penn Square Mall. We were leaving Penn Square

Mall. And there was a sign in front of

Gordon's Jewelers that says call such and such number about

hiring. And I thought, I need a job.

And I said I got a girlfriend, I'm going to get her a ring

eventually. By the way, that's her in case

you're worried, Okay. But I'm going to have to do

something. So I'm just standing there

looking at the sign. In fact, it was a smaller sign

on top of the jewelry case. And the manager comes up to me.

Her name is less. I know that now.

I didn't know that at the time. And she says, are you looking

for a job? I said, I I am.

I said I was actually going to call that number.

Because don't worry about calling that number.

She says, Tell me a little bit about yourself.

I said, well, I'm a student at Heartland Baptist Bible College.

She said, wait a second, So is that where Valerie Meeks goes?

And I happen to know Valerie was a student at Heartland.

I didn't know her very well, but I certainly knew of her.

The school was small enough to be able to know pretty much

everybody. I said.

Valerie does go there she goes, you know, Valerie's leaving in a

few weeks, she's about to get married and so they're going to

be moving on. And so she asked me a few more

questions. She says, Would you like the

job? And I started talking her out of

it. I said no, this is happening way

too quick. I said, I don't even know the

difference between a sapphire and emerald and a Ruby.

She goes, we'll teach you what the colors are.

We'll teach you what all that is.

She goes, But if you're interested, Heartland has a

great testimony and reputation here.

I would like you to work here before I knew it, a couple days

later, I was wearing a suit from school and just walking over to

Penn Square Mall. We're driving over Penn Square

Mall and walking in. And I had a new job just because

I have to go to Chickfila now, the world would say, isn't that

a coincidence? What Tim Hackett, tongue in

cheek, calls the coincidence list, the prayer list.

Because it is a coincidence. These things get answered.

But we realized the Providence of God when we found this

church. I've told you before the reason

we found We not even found this church, but found Easton.

We were praying about this whole area.

Where would God take us? And I went on this trip with

Mike Carney, the worst New England driver I've ever met.

Stop. Go.

Stop. Go, stop.

Go You ever been so sick that you wish you would throw up?

And I just, I was like, I would just wish I would.

I would get this over with because because he's driving me

crazy, he's going 60 miles an hour for three feet and then

hitting the brakes. And I'm from Florida.

I've never seen this, but apparently this is what Boston

traffic was like. I didn't know.

And so he's taking me everywhere.

He took me all the way to Gloucester and took me to

Waltham is Lord, where should we plan a church?

None of these places did I feel the spirit of the Lord moving.

And finally I have to go home. And he says, you know what, I I

have to go to the chiropractor. It's in Middleboro.

I'm in Randolph. But the closest train station

you need to be able to get to TF Green is in a place called

Mansfield. Now I've never been down to

Mansfield before, but I can remember driving down the area

which is now where I live, and I can show you almost the cluster

of houses on 106 going into Mansfield where it was as if the

Lord. He didn't use an audible voice,

but he might as well have because it was so clear where

the Lord says here because a man had to go to the chiropractor

and took me to a train station, which was different than the one

he picked me up from. And Sharon, now the world says,

well, what a coincidence. I say just so happened.

It just so happened. Do you realize what an amazing

thing that is to know there's a God that so intimately cares

about you? That even in the very smallest

and mundane things of life that he is working in the background

through through nature and through the decisions of man,

that he is able to do these things?

And and and that that delicate balance between the sovereignty

of Providence of God and the free will of man, that he's able

to be able to put all of that together.

And he works in ways that only he can and he does so to be able

to direct our life. And he does so because he loves

us and he cares about us. So I don't, I don't know that I

like the sound of it sounds like God's in control.

Well, no. We have a free will.

But don't be don't be surprised by the fact that God's in

control. If God's not in control of all

things, then he's not sovereign. If God's not sovereign, then

he's not God. So the price of maintaining

contingencies outside of God's control results in a belief that

God is not really God. And if our free will can trump

God's Providence, then who ultimately is God?

Here's what I mean by that. If our free will can thwart

God's plans, then that means we're more powerful than God.

I imagine there's going to be a lot of people exercising their

free will in the end times, doing what they decide they want

to do, and it's still going to play out word for word and verse

for verse. What we see here in the Book of

Revelation, how is that the balance between the free will of

man and the Providence of God? It's going to happen exactly

like we see here. There's not going to be a time

where God says, Oh no, they made a decision I didn't expect.

Now Revelation is wrong. Before the foundation of the

earth he knew the free will, decisions that would be made.

He understood and was able to put them all together.

It reminds me of Proverbs 21, one that gives people like heart

palpitation sometimes when they think of it.

The King's heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of

water. He turneth it withersoever He

will. And people sometimes get very

nervous about that verse. But listen, the bottom line of

this is that man does have free will, but man will not thwart

God's plan. X the 713 and 14 people get

nervous about that as well. And God harden Pharaoh's heart

that he harkened not unto them, as the Lord had said.

And the Lord said unto Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hardened.

He refused to let the people go. Do you know what I see from

that? Is that Pharaoh made the

decision, I will harden my heart.

And God says I see that decision.

And I'm going to use that decision to be able to make my

power known to Egypt and to make my power known to every

generation that's followed as we see it here in the book of

Exodus. And I know this is not a full

discussion on the topic of God's Providence, but I want us to

consider the fact that every day, even in the mundane things

of life, God is working and God is leading, even if we don't see

it. I imagine Ruth did not realize

she made a life changing decision when she wandered into

the field of Boaz. There wasn't something that just

swelled within her and said, you know, I've done something really

well today. I imagine later she looked back

and said, wow, what if I'd gone to a different field?

What if I had made a different decision?

What if I had made a different choice?

But the fact is, you didn't. She didn't.

That God in his Providence directed her to that place

didn't overwhelm her, didn't turn her into a robot, but that

she made the decision because she was walking by faith.

And as she walked in faith, she was where she needed to be when

she needed to be there. Isn't that what it comes down

to? This isn't about the paralysis

of where do I go? What do I do?

What train should I take? What should I do with my car?

What should I do with my life? I don't understand every

decision. It could be monumental.

What do I do? Take the next step of life by

faith. Just take the next step of life

by faith. And as you do so, you realize

every day is a gift and every moment is an opportunity that

God can work in your life. And this isn't just about

church. This is even when we're doing

the things that aren't considered, quote UN quote

spiritual, that God can use those things that we do to be

able to put together such a thing, to weave into that

tapestry of life, to be able to accomplish his purpose and be

able to do what he would want us to do.

This is true when you're going shopping.

It's true about where you go for dinner.

It's true about who shows up at the office one day.

It's true about the restaurant that is closed that you thought

would be open, so now you have to go to a different restaurant.

It's true about the drive, where every light seems to turn red.

It's true about maybe even you getting sick that through all of

these situations, God can use these things in such a way that

we look at as typically being so inconvenient, or that we look at

it so inconsequential and that God could use all of those

things. How many of you ever been in a

situation where you got held up and then as you were driving,

you saw a great and large accident and you realize if I

had left when I wanted to leave, you realize I could be, I could

be dead right now. But what is that?

That's God's protection. That's God's Providence in your

life, in the decisions that seem inconsequential.

Well, I was running late. I mean, this is a big deal.

Well, God maybe had different plans for you on that day.

The interesting thing about this is, though, is that work had to

be done. Ruth had to get up.

Ruth had to go. Ruth couldn't just sit around

all day. In fact, I would submit to you

that Naomi and I'm not. Listen, we've said a lot about

Naomi here, and I love some of the dialogue I've had with folks

about Naomi. I've talked to several different

people about Naomi and about her in this book.

And boy, what a multifaceted person like we all are.

But so even in this book. But Naomi did not go.

Perhaps she missed some of the blessings at first because Ruth

went and she did not. Now, I don't want to be too hard

to Naomi. We don't know her physical

situation. We don't know all those details.

But this is what I know. Ruth made the decision to go,

and Ruth received incredible blessings and it just seemed to

be at random. And it wasn't.

This isn't just work harder and good things will happen.

This is not health and wealth. This is not any of those things.

In fact, as I mentioned before, it could just so happen that

something in your life comes along that's not so great after

all. It could just so have that

something comes along that you feel like is not a blessing.

It's like someone threw you an anchor and said hold on to this

for a while. But even in those types of

things, God works and God will use them.

I look at a tumor in my jaw and I think that two years ago I

would have said this isn't a blessing.

And I'm very careful about calling it a blessing now

because I don't want the second blessing.

But I do know this. Did God use it in my life?

And can I point to very definite things that God did in my life

and in the life of my family and even in the life of this church,

because of what I personally went through, I would be a fool

to say I wish I'd had something else.

I wish it had gone another way. It just so happened that before

I got a tooth extracted that my life changed forever.

There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about that

surgery or what it's done to my body is I have even still some

issues with my leg. Not much.

Some of you would. I mean, I imagine many of you

would rather trade with me. It's so minor.

It's so minor. But I sometimes wonder if God

just leaves it there just to remind me.

Hey, remember, like Jacob with a limp God needed to be remind

him. Remember who's in control.

You fought me and you lost. That limp will remind you every

day the rest of your life. You have to wonder sometimes if

God's done something like that in my life and who am I to fight

that? Who are we to fight that?

We get so bitter at God when he does certain things in our

lives, but we don't realize that those things that maybe seem so

random, that maybe see so inconsequential, is God's hap in

our life getting us to where we need to go.

The rest of this chapter, the rest of this book does not

happen. If she doesn't happen upon

Boaz's field. But God is not just the God of

the universe. He's the God of the microscopic.

I'm going to give you this example.

I'll be done. I've always had trouble with the

end of the book of John, and I mentioned this verse a few weeks

ago where it says that if all the books were written of the

works of Christ, that the world could not contain them.

I've had trouble with that. And the reason why is because, I

mean the world's big, you know, how could that be the case?

But at the same time, I also understand that God's word is

true. And so when I have something

that doesn't seem to line up, let me give you some help with

Bible study. When there's something that

doesn't line up with the way you think, the Bible says one thing,

you think something else. Just start from the place of I'm

wrong and the Bible's right. Because it's not that for 2000

years or so since the can has been completed that you are the

one that was right and everyone else was wrong.

But isn't that what our flesh does?

And so I have trouble with this. It's so.

But it's like, okay, Lord, I realize I'm wrong here and

you're right. But how is this the case?

And I heard this illustration just a few weeks ago, but it's

but it's truth. And I it's not just a sermon

illustration. I had to look it up to make sure

it wasn't just preaching that it was true.

So you've been around church long enough to know what I'm

talking about. If you were to take the DNA that

is in your body, our body's just DNA that that code.

If you were to stretch out of the DNA in one body, there's a

lot of different numbers that people come up with.

But I have seen that that very, very thin microscopic thread

would go back and forth between the moon hundreds if not

thousands of times in your body, in your body, say, Pastor, what

does this do with HAP? Well, hold on a second.

One body. Now why don't we take the about

the 8 billion people that are on this earth right now?

And I've seen estimates somewhere between 15 to 17

billion people that might be alive since the creation.

Let's just take somewhere around there and take all of their DNA

and write it down in a book. I imagine the world wouldn't be

able to contain it. I imagine that you say.

Well, but it says the acts that Christ performed, did he not

create all of them? Do you realize that the world

couldn't contain it? That's the God of the universe.

You're telling me the God of the universe doesn't care about the

microscopic, That he doesn't care about where you go and when

you go and how you get there, or what you spend or what you don't

spend, or or who you meet or who you don't meet, or or what place

was closed and what place was open or or the car ran or the

car didn't run. We met the foresman's because

our car broke down. If our car didn't break down, we

don't meet Dan and Priscilla Foresman because we were on a

road. I shouldn't have been on in the

church van because I should have been in our van, but our car was

broken and I was mad at God that our car is broken.

This is such a bad thing. It just so happened that the car

transmission went kabloui kabloui.

That's theological. You look it up.

It's in the original Hebrew, but God provides over and over

again. Here's the application.

Are you ready? Why don't we trust him?

And why don't we walk by faith? Because as we take each step by

faith, what happens? It'll just so happen he gets us

where we need to go. Thank you for listening to the

sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church.

If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we

can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at

[email protected]. Or you can visit us this Sunday

at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA.

May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.