Our Faithfulness to God in the Daily Routine

Let me ask you a question. What is your daily routine?

Praying. Praying. All sorts of different things we could think of, aren't there?

Praying. Having our breakfast. Going to work. Time with family.

Taking the rubbish out.

What does a day in the life of you look like?

Take a few moments and imagine that I've given you a piece of paper and a pen.

And imagine that I've asked you to just jot down a few keywords or sentences or pictures

that just represent what an average day in the life of you looks like.

Now, there will be as many answers to that question as there are people.

Think about it for a few moments.

And I'm talking now about the ordinary stuff.

The mundane stuff.

My guess is right now you're thinking of images, or that's what I'm trying to get you to think of images,

that might involve being in the kitchen,

being in the bathroom,

the school run,

commuting,

finding a parking space,

filling up with fuel,

ploughing your way through emails,

replying to that text,

eating a sandwich,

shall I have ready salted or cheese and onion with that?

Running in to pick up a pint of milk on the way home,

or grabbing a cup of coffee at some point.

Replying to that text,

what does an average day in the life of you look like?

Now, my guess is,

as you ponder that question,

behind it all,

there will probably be two constant streams.

And at times,

some of those streams will peak,

and sometimes they will go down into a trough.

But there will be times of happiness,

and joy,

and excitement,

and anticipation,

all kind of positivity.

Blessings, if you like.

But there will also be a line,

of what we might call battles.

And there will always be those two things going on.

And sometimes the emphasis will be more on one than the other.

But by battles,

I mean there will be things that you struggle with.

Frustrations,

anxieties, worries,

big and small.

Short, medium, and long term.

Problems, challenges.

And they're always there.

Life has been described by many different people over the years

as a series of solving problems.

You've probably heard that old analogy,

which is actually a dead analogy now,

but the analogy of painting the fourth bridge.

You know,

it was always being painted,

because you take so long to paint,

by the time you get from one end to the other,

well, the paint only lasts so long,

so you have to go back

and start all over again.

And so this went on for years and years.

Up until about 15 years ago,

they actually discovered then

a type of paint that does last longer.

And so for the first time

in something like 120-something years,

they no longer are continually painting this bridge.

But for 120 years,

that was the reality.

It was always being painted.

Because as soon as you get one bit done,

there's something else to happen.

Now, as I say,

it's a dead analogy now,

but you get the point.

As soon as we solve one problem

or set of problems,

something else pops up.

And our daily routine takes place

with that backdrop consistently.

Maybe there's something in us,

and this perhaps is often the source

of our frustration

or perhaps even despair,

which kind of tells us,

well, of course,

one day you'll get all this sorted,

and win your hand,

then you can get on with life.

But it doesn't happen

because that's not life.

And life for a follower of Jesus

is ministry.

Every follower of Jesus

has a ministry.

And we can think to ourselves,

well, if only I can get all that sorted,

then I can get on

with my serving Jesus

and get on with my ministry.

But, you know,

the thing is,

the problems are the ministry.

Whatever you're thinking of right now,

when you think of those

everyday things

that make up your routine,

and the problems

and the frustrations

that are therein,

that's your ministry.

So what might Ruth

and her story,

or this part of her story,

have to tell us

about what it might mean

to be faithful to God

in the midst of all of that stuff.

I just want to suggest two things

that come from two passages

that we've just heard.

Two lines in that passage

that we've just heard.

The first comes from verse 2,

in which Ruth says to Naomi,

let me go to the fields

and pick up the leftover grain

behind anyone

in whose eyes I find favour.

And Naomi says to her,

go ahead, my daughter.

According to Jewish law,

Leviticus 23 to be precise,

when you harvested a field,

you had to leave behind

the scraps.

That was their security system.

For those that were poor,

marginalised,

they could come along

and help themselves

to those scraps.

It was enshrined

in Jewish law.

But notice

the sense of intention,

the sense of expectancy

that lies

within this conversation here.

See, this is Ruth,

for this moment in her life,

this is her daily routine.

She's going to go out

in the field

behind the farvesters,

picking up what she can find.

Imagine the sense

of vulnerability

that she has.

She's miles away from home,

she's left everything.

She's left a place

where famine was inherent.

They've had death

and loss within their family.

And her daily routine

is going behind the harvesters,

picking up what she can find.

For all of that concern

and fear and angst

that will be built

into her daily routine

right now,

notice,

pay attention

to the level of expectation

that is in this conversation.

let me go to the fields

and pick up the leftover

grain behind

anyone in whose eyes

I find favour.

Go ahead,

my daughter.

There is this sense

in Ruth

and indeed in Naomi

that God goes ahead of them

into that day

even though they don't know

how it's going to fare.

As it happens,

this story has a very happy ending,

but they don't know that

at this point.

but they do have

this sense

of confidence

that God goes ahead of them

into this situation.

And what I want to suggest to us

is that whatever

our daily routine looks like,

this is a pretty good lesson

that we can learn from Ruth.

Whatever vulnerabilities

may be ours,

no matter what frustrations

or struggles

we may be going through,

to make that our prayer,

Lord,

I don't know

what's going to happen today,

but you do

and I'm going to trust

that you go ahead of me

into this situation.

And if that seems

like a naive thing to say,

just consider Ruth's situation

as she takes

precisely that attitude

into her daily routine.

God's going ahead of me

into this.

I don't know

what it's going to be,

I don't know

how it's going to turn out,

who I'm going to meet,

what conversations will happen,

but somehow I'm going to trust

that God's going to meet that need.

And I want to suggest

that that's the challenge

facing all of us

as we face our daily routine,

whatever it may be,

to put God front and centre,

knowing that he goes ahead of us,

he goes before us

this day or this week.

A business studies tutor

was lecturing a group

of business studies students

on time management.

They took a bucket

and they filled it with rocks

and you could just see

a few rocks poking up

from the top

and they said to the students,

is this bucket full?

And they said,

well, yeah,

you can see it's full.

This rock's almost overflowing.

They said,

well, actually,

that's not quite correct.

They took another bucket

containing pebbles

and they poured it

into the bucket

containing the rocks

and as it did so,

so they sort of cascaded down

through the gaps

and filled the gaps

in between the rocks.

He said,

is the bucket full now?

And he said,

all right,

take your point,

yes,

it's full now.

He said,

you're still wrong.

At which point,

they picked up a sack of sand

and poured that

into the bucket

and so it made its way

into the little gaps

in between the rocks

and the smaller stones,

the pebbles.

He said,

is the bucket full now?

He said,

probably not.

She said,

you're right

and she took a jug of water

and she poured that

into the bucket.

She said,

I want you to remember

that image

whenever you're facing

so many competing sets

of priorities

and claims on your life

because there is only one way

in which you could get

all of those things

into that bucket

and that is if you start

with the large things.

If we'd have done it

the other way around

or in any other order,

it wouldn't have worked.

You can only fit

all of that

into that space

when you start

with the large rocks

and then you go down

in size

with the smaller things.

Now that was a lesson

in time management

but it's a pretty good lesson

when it comes to priorities

in the wider sense.

The calling of every Christian

in every age

is the calling

to put Jesus

front and centre.

Like Ruth,

we don't know

what's going to happen

in our daily routine.

We don't know

what's going to happen

the next day,

the next week,

the next month,

the next year.

Ultimately,

we have this faith

in Christ

but for day-to-day living

we don't know.

But this lesson

we can learn

from Ruth

is that sense

of expectation.

We go into this day

in her case

to walk behind

the harvesters

and pick up

what was left

on the floor

believing that God

somehow has got it

in hand.

Which leads us

to the second thing.

I said there were two things.

Which is in the next verse

when we read

in verse 3

so she went out

entered a field

and began to glean

behind the harvesters.

As it turned out

she was working

in a field

belonging to

Boaz

who was from

the clan

of Elimelech.

Well,

the story has

a happy ending

but at this point

we don't know that.

Unless,

of course,

you've read the story

but Ruth doesn't know this.

Naomi doesn't know it.

But there's four words

in those

in that short

sentence there

that

I want to draw

attention to

and it's just this.

As it turned out

I didn't know

what was going to happen

but as it turned out

she found herself

in a field

belonging to Boaz

who eventually

she was going to marry.

She didn't know that

at that point.

As it turned out

you know

we go through our lives

we're kind of thinking

well is this coincidence

or is it not?

And almost kind of

subconsciously

we can go into

each and every day

and face our routine

thinking well

is this luck?

Is this coincidence?

We don't know.

Think of that story

years ago

there was a pilot

who successfully

safely

crash landed

a plane

and he was being

interviewed afterwards

and he looked

remarkably calm

but

what perhaps

he didn't realise

he was saying

was actually quite telling

as he kind of

blurted out this answer

as the microphones

were put in front of him

and said

how are you feeling?

And he said

well

by chance

I was lucky

fate was on my side

thank God.

As it turned out

life can be full

of solving problems

it can also be full

of coincidences

it can also be full

of coincidences

so often people say

answers to prayer

are coincidences

in which God

coincidences in which

God chooses

to remain

anonymous

can't be verified

can't be falsified

but living by faith

is living under

that conviction

that God has got it

in hand

as it turned out

as it turns out

as we

make our way

through

our daily routine

living under that

conviction

I don't quite know

how it's going to

turn out

but I believe

that it will

turn out

between 1901

and 1920

the Bishop

of Durham

his name

was Handley

Mool

I think it's

pronounced

Handley Mool

was Bishop

of Durham

and during his

time

in that role

there was a

horrific

mining tragedy

and he was

faced with the

task of

visiting

the families

of 170

miners

who had died

and as Handley

Mool sat in

his study

wondering how

on earth

he was going

to face

that challenge

he prayed

really hard

and he picked

up a

bookmark

that his

mother had

given him

years ago

it was a

hand stitched

bookmark

and he was

looking on the

reverse side

of this

and just

seeing that

the tapestry

there

and it was

just a mess

as it is

the reverse

side of any

piece of

tapestry

and as he

looked at this

he just

kind of

ran his

thumb over it

and thought

to himself

yeah

that's

the mess

that's going

on right

now

that's the

mess that

doesn't seem

to show any

sense of

beauty or

reason

just chaos

I don't know

what to make

of it

and he

turned that

around

and saw

the other

side where

it was

embroidered

simply

God

is

love

we have

ultimate

promises

of eternity

but we're

not there

yet

we have

that ultimate

promise

that as it

turns out

God's got it

in hand

but sometimes

it doesn't

feel like it

and our

daily experience

our daily

routine

can be just

one of staring

at that

reverse side

of the

tapestry

but our

call is

to live

under that

conviction

turn it

over

in

eternity

and you'll

see he's

got it

all in

hand

see these

God's

sense of

time is

very different

to our

sense of

time

because God

by definition

is eternal

but we live

in the

confines of

time and

space

for God

you know

one fleeting

moment

a thousand

years is

like a

fleeting

moment to

him

to us

it's not

because it's

that daily

experience of

time and

space and

routine and

struggles and

wrestling and

doubting and

pain and

anguish

but in

God's

time

he's got

his hand

on it

he sees

the other

side of

that tapestry

in his

time

our calling

is to live

by faith

under the

conviction

that it

is there

it is

taking place

you know

thinking about

time

we often

complain don't

we about

the speed

with which

it takes

things to

get through

the post

you may

have heard

that story

it was

2021

there was a

guy in

Crystal Palace

in South

London

that received

a letter

the thing

that was so

unusual about

it was that

it had a

George V

stamp on

it

when he

opened it

up it

wasn't addressed

to him and

he could tell

it was very

old

when he

opened up

the letter

it was a

letter that

had been

posted from

Bath from

somebody on

holiday

in 1916

only took

105 years

to get

there

what made

me laugh

was that

the Royal

Mail

spokesperson

afterwards

said

incidents

like this

happen

occasionally

it got

there

and we

are uncertain

as to what

happened

in this

instance

thing is

all the

while

throughout

those 105

years

that letter

had been

posted

it was on

its way

it was

going to

get there

God's

promises

can be

hard to

understand

and can

be hard

to trust

in at

times

our call

like Ruth

is to

trust

to trust

in him

that as

it turned

out

God was

working on

it

in his

own time

so let's

pray together

now

and as

we pray

let's

revisit

those

images

that I

invited you

to bring

to mind

a few

minutes

ago

let's

take a

moment

to be

still

you might

find it

helpful to

close your

eyes

because I'm

going to

invite you

to picture

in your

mind

some

images

that

represent

a day

in the

life

of you

let's

just pray

through our

daily routine

right now

Lord thank

you that you

have been

there and

that you

are there

all the

time

Lord our

sense of

time is

different from

yours

from your

vantage point

in eternity

Lord help

us to

trust in

you and

to be

faithful to

you in

our daily

routine

first let's

just take a

few moments

just to

imagine what

we might be

doing at

eight o'clock

tomorrow

Holy Spirit

would you

renew in

us that

confidence that

you are there

already

preparing whatever

we're going to

be there

when we get

to eight o'clock

tomorrow may

we know

your presence

with us

now I

invite you to

turn your

thoughts to

midday or

thereabouts

tomorrow

where you'll

be what

you'll be

doing who

you'll be

with

Holy Spirit

may we know

that you will

be there

help us to

be faithful to

you whatever

we're going to

be up to at

that point

and now

turn your

thoughts to

about six

o'clock

early evening

tomorrow

what you're

going to be

doing who

you're going

to be with

Lord as we

think about

tomorrow evening

wherever we

may be whatever

we're going to

be up to may

we know that

you are with

us that you

go ahead of

us

Lord as we

face our

daily routine

this day

tomorrow and

this week and

each day

help us like

Ruth to

have that

expectancy

that you go

ahead of us

help us like

Ruth to

know and to

trust and to

believe that

you've got it

all in hand

that things

will turn out

right

Lord be

with us in

the waiting

be with us

in the

praying

help us to

be faithful

to you

and to

know your

faithfulness to

us

in Jesus

name

Amen

Amen