Abundant Blessings

Abundant Blessings

Ruth 2:14-23

The title of this message is “Abundant Blessings,” because that is what we will see in this passage. God uses Boaz to pour out His abundant blessings on Ruth and Naomi, and in the same way God’s abundant blessings come to us through Christ Jesus our Lord. (Read)

14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here, that you may eat of the bread and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar.” So, she sat beside the reapers; and he served her roasted grain, and she ate and was satisfied and had some left.

15 When she rose to glean, Boaz commanded his servants, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not insult her.

16“Also you shall purposely pull out for her some grain from the bundles and leave itthat she may glean, and do not rebuke her.”

17 So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.

18 She took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also took it out and gave Naomi what she had left after she was satisfied.

19 Her mother-in-law then said to her, “Where did you glean today and where did you work? May he who took notice of you be blessed.” So, she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.”

20 Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed of the Lord who has not withdrawn his kindness to the living and to the dead.” Again, Naomi said to her, “The man is our relative, he is one of our closest relatives.”

21 Then Ruth the Moabitess said, “Furthermore, he said to me, ‘You should stay close to my servants until they have finished all my harvest.’”

22 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his maids, so that others do not fall upon you in another field.”

23 So she stayed close by the maids of Boaz in order to glean until the end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest. And she lived with her mother-in-law. (Pray)

We have been studying the book of Ruth for several weeks now, so I think it is important to reestablish the context. We need to understand how we got where we are in this story.

The story began with Naomi, her husband, and two sons leaving Bethlehem, because of a famine, and going to live in the land of Moab. Shortly after arriving in Moab Naomi’s husband passed away. Her sons would go on to marry Moabite women and when they had lived in Moab ten years, her sons died as well.

Naomi, all alone now except these two daughters-in- law, decides it’s time to go home and she leaves Moab for Bethlehem. One of her daughters-in-law, Ruth, was determined to go with her. Now they have arrived back in Bethlehem at the perfect time, the time of the barley harvest and the farmers are out in the fields harvesting their grain.

But Naomi is in a terrible state of mind; she is bitter, depressed, and angry with God. Ruth knows if they are going to survive. It is up to her to go out in the fields and glean, and by the divine hand of God she has come to the field of Boaz, who God uses to bless her in ways she never could have imagined.

As I began to consider our passage this week, I tried to think about what Ruth felt as she made her way into the field of a stranger. Ruth was a foreigner. She was new to Bethlehem. She didn’t have the privilege of knowing who owned the fields. She had no way of knowing which neighbors would be kind to her, and which would be unwelcoming. I have no doubt her heart was filled with anxiety and fear.

But as we have already read in our passage, a day that began with so much uncertainty, ends with the abundant blessings of God.

What an incredible testimony this is to the goodness of God’s grace in our lives. Each one of us has had days like this; days when we dreaded going to work or school, because of the anxiety of what we face.

I can tell you there have been many times in my life when I faced difficult situations that I didn’t want to face. Each time I found God to be faithful in supplying what I needed. I have experienced days that began with doubt and dread and ended in peace and victory.

That is what we see in this passage this morning. A day that began with Ruth not knowing what to expect ended with the abundant blessings of God. There are three examples of God’s blessings in this passage I want to share with you.

The first example is the Blessings of Acceptance, Vs. 14. We all know what it feels like to be excluded. To not quite belong, or to be left out of conversations.

That is what Ruth was expecting to find in Bethlehem but that’s not what she received.

Look at Vs. 14, “At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here, that you may eat of the bread and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar.” So, she sat beside the reapers; and he served her roasted grain.”

Ruth was invited to the table. She is invited to sit with the family and eat with the master. She has become accepted as a part of the team, as a part of the inn crowd.

And notice not only does she sit at the table, but she is being served by the head of the table. Ruth must have been overwhelmed by all of this. I mean why was she being treated so well? Why is this wealthy landowner of Israel serving me? What a picture of the grace of God! The master became the servant to show His love and kindness to the undeserving.

This reminds me of the song of Hannah (prayers answered) in 1 Samuel 2:8 “He raises the poor from the dust, He lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with nobles and inherit a seat of honor.” That must have been the way Ruth felt at that moment.

This time yesterday she wandered to an unknown place, not knowing what to expect and today she is sitting at the table being served by the master. That is what it looks like to be accepted by God. (Jesus, came to serve not to be served.)

The dipping of the bread in the vinegar is a picture of the Lord’s supper, and Jesus Christ who becomes the greater Boaz in the bible. And sitting around Him are the disciples who are the reapers in the story, ready to go out in the field and serve the master.

They are ready to go and invite others to come and eat from the table of the Lord. And it doesn’t matter how poor you are, and it doesn’t matter how weak you are, and it doesn’t matter how undeserving you are, you are invited to come and be served by the master Himself the Lord Jesus Christ! What a blessing!

How many of you had a main table in the cafeteria in High School. The main table in the cafeteria at my High School was where all the cool kids sat. It was where the captain of the football team, the basketball team, and the cheerleaders sat. The main table was where all the blond-haired, blue-eyed people sat. I wasn’t allowed near the main table in the cafeteria.

But the table of the Lord is not like that. You’re not invited to the table of the Lord because there is something special about you, but because there is something special about Him. Just like Ruth we know we don’t deserve it, but He invites us to come to the table anyway and share the blessings of a relationship with Him.

Notice her satisfaction, Vs. 14 says, “she ate and was satisfied and had some left.”

As I read this, I can’t help but think, Ruth probably had not eaten a good meal in some time. She had been traveling from Moab to Bethlehem. There had been famines in the land, and now she is sitting at a feast. She eats, she is satisfied, and she even has some left over. There is an abundance of God’s grace flowing in this story.

This is the kind of eating and satisfaction we find throughout the Bible. I am reminded of when the children of Israel left Egypt and were wandering through the wilderness. God caused it to reign manna down from heaven for them to eat, and water from a rock for them to drink.

They had everything they needed, and their supply never ran out. And the same thing is true in our life. When we find our blessings from the Lord, we find an endless supply of everything we need.

Psalm 22:26 says, “The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied.” Psalm 107:9 says, “For He has satisfied the thirsty soul and the hungry soul He has filled with what is good.”

In the New Testament we see Jesus on separate occasions feeding thousands of people with a few loaves of bread and a few fish, and we are told “they all ate and were satisfied.”

In fact, we read how the disciples picked up baskets of leftovers. The point is, Christ has an abundance of blessings that are more than enough for those who sit at His table.

Ruth arrived in Bethlehem not knowing where her next meal would come from and now, she sits at the master’s table. Remember what Naomi said when she came back to Bethlehem. 1:21, “I went out full, but the Lord has brought me back empty.” Well, all of that was getting ready to change for Naomi.

Because not only do we see the blessings of acceptance in this story, but we see the blessings of provision, Vs. 15-17. Ruth may not have known the God of Israel, but she was getting ready to learn an important lesson. Even though she didn’t know God, He was already working on her behalf to provide for her.

Notice the command for provision. Vs. 15 says, “When she rose to glean, Boaz commanded his servants, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not insult her.”

If you remember from our study, God had made a provision in the law of Moses for poor people. He said, they were allowed to glean in the corners of the field and pick up the leftovers of the harvest. But landowners were not obligated to give them anything else.

Here, Boaz commands his reapers to allow Ruth to glean from the best. To glean among the sheaves was to pick the corn right off the stalk. And notice they are not allowed to say anything to her. He doesn’t want her to be offended. What a blessing for Ruth.

To us this might seem like an incredible coincidence, but I want you to understand, Ruth didn’t stumble onto the field of the kindest man in Bethlehem by accident.

She was led there by the Lord. He was already preparing the heart of Boaz to provide for Ruth even though Ruth was unaware of God’s plan.

You might believe in luck or coincidence, but I don’t. In fact, I don’t think those words shouldn’t be a part of a Christians vocabulary. Our lives do not run according to luck or chance. We have a sovereign God who is in control of our lives, and He is at work on our behalf whether we are aware of it or not. (Rom. 8:28)

Notice that greater provision was given on purpose. Vs. 16 says, “Also you shall purposely pull out for her some grain from the bundles and leave it that she may glean, and do not rebuke her.”

As if it wasn’t enough to let her glean among the sheaves Boaz wanted to make it easy on her. He wanted to make sure she was provided for. So, he intentionally tells his reapers to do a bad job, be sloppy, and make sure you leave some behind for her.

You see he wasn’t only going to provide the means of blessing; he was going to provide the blessing itself.

And God does the same thing in our lives. God is at work in your life and mine. He expects us to work and provide for ourselves within our own means. But, Sometimes God provides us with the ability to go get our blessing and sometimes He provides the blessing itself.

Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” What a joy it is to know the God of Heaven is at work providing us with the specific blessings He wants us to have.

Notice the supply of blessing in Vs. 17. “So, she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.”

An “ephah” was somewhere between 30-50 lbs.. To put this in perspective a person might eat a pound in a day so, this was enough for Ruth and Naomi to eat for weeks.

This was like Ruth went to the grocery store and came out with a cart full of food. This would be like carrying home a fifty-pound bag of dog food from tractor supply. I wonder how she was able to carry it.

What a beautiful picture of grace we see in this story. Ruth had come to the field of Boaz in search of grain, and she wasn’t going to leave empty handed.

But what I want you to see is long before she ever made it to the field, The grain had been planted. By the time she arrived in Bethlehem the harvest was ready.

You see God was making provisions for Ruth life long before she ever needed them. And God is aware of your situation. He knows exactly what you need, and He is more than able to provide. In fact, there is nothing we will ever face in this life that will be beyond our Lord’s ability to provide.

So, we see an example of the blessings of Acceptance, and the blessings of Provision. Now, I want you to see an example of the blessings of Hope, 18-23.

Ruth returns home to share her blessing with Naomi, and they are both filled with incredible hope. Suddenly, the future appeared much brighter.

Notice it was a hope that was shared. Vs. 18 says, “She took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also took it out and gave Naomi what she had left after she was satisfied.”

Ruth set out in the morning hoping to glean enough for them to eat for the day and she brings back enough for them to eat for weeks. Naomi was shocked by what she saw, she was full of joy, as Ruth shared the blessings with her.

And the same thing should be true in our lives. The blessings of God should benefit the people around us. If you are saved and have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, you have received far more than you deserve. And you are supposed to share it with others.

Now our salvation is only sufficient for us. In other words, you can’t save anyone. But everyone in your life should benefit from the blessings you have received from God. Everyone should benefit from your forgiveness. Everyone should benefit from your freedom and grace.

Notice the testimony of hope in Vs. 19. “Her mother-in-law then said to her, “Where did you glean today and where did you work? May he who took notice of you be blessed.” So, she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.”

Ruth was excited and she shared her testimony. The same thing should be true in our life. If God has blessed you, then you should be excited to tell people about it.

Keep in mind how bitter life had become for Naomi. She had gone through this tragedy. She had lost her husband and her sons. She was gripped by grief and depression. But now she has a renewed sense of hope because of Ruth’s testimony.

You see the name Boaz speaks of something greater to Naomi than the grain Ruth has brought home from the field. The name of Boaz speaks of a kinsmen redeemer.

A kinsmen redeemer in Israel was someone who could rescue a family from destruction. Someone who could redeem the poor out of their property and reestablish the family name. Naomi was fully aware that Boaz could do this and now, because of Ruth’s testimony, she was aware that he was willing to do it.

Notice Vs. 20, “Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed of the Lord who has not withdrawn his kindness to the living and to the dead.” Again, Naomi said to her, “The man is our relative, he is one of our closest relatives.”

The literally means “He is our kinsmen redeemer.” Boaz is a striking picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is able to pay the price to redeem Naomi’s family. And now Naomi is filled with the blessings of hope because of her kinsmen redeemer, and that same hope fills the life of every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

In the land of Israel a kinsmen redeemer may spend a lot of money, or time, or work to redeem a family or a property, but consider the price Jesus paid to redeem us. He gave His body and His blood; He gave His life and His soul. He gave it all and paid the ultimate price that we might be redeemed and share the blessings of God.

He gave everything so that we could sit at the table we don’t deserve to sit at. He lived to die so that we could die and live, and we owe Him a heart of gratitude for the blessings we have received.

Jesus said, “The thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy, but I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.” Are you living the abundant life in Christ? Are you enjoying a relationship with God that fills your life with meaning and purpose? Because that is why Jesus came. We learn from this passage is God’s abundant blessings come to us through Christ Jesus our Lord.