Hello, my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends on this Friday,
Have you discovered God is Sovereign over TIME and God pays very close attention to the DETAILS? IN our journey through God’s “GRAND NARRATIVE” we’ve already seen this several times, do you remember? May I show you four specific examples?
* Exodus 40:1 tells us the fabrication of all the materials for the Tabernacle was completed just in time for Moses to assemble that “Tent of Meeting”, for the very first time, on the 1st day of the 1st month, at Mt Sinai. That was exactly one year after God instructed Moses to start the Hebrew calendar in Egypt. (Exodus 12:1,2)
* Numbers 9:1,2 tells us Moses and the Israelites celebrated their second Passover, only a few days after that Tabernacle had been erected at Mt Sinai, and exactly on the one-year anniversary of their first Passover, the night they fled Egypt! (Ex.12:12-14)
* Joshua 4:19 Tells us 40 years later Joshua and the Israelites crossed from the desert into the Land of God’s promise, through the dried Jordan river exactly on the 10th day of the first month... just in time to celebrate the Passover, only a few days after arriving in God’s promised land! (Joshua 5:10)
* And finally, I see in Joshua 3:15 that Joshua & the Israelites crossed the “flooded Jordan” river and came into God’s Land of Promise at HARVEST time! That meant God timed their arrival so they could begin eating harvest food right away! And the Manna stopped the day after they ate harvest food for the first time! (Joshua 5:11,12)
Yes, our Sovereign God pays very close attention to TIME even though God Himself is timeless, eternal, and never bound by time! It’s really important we understand this truth about God, my friends.
Yesterday we met Naomi and her family, and I left you with Naomi in Bethlehem after she had returned from the land of Moab. (Ruth 1) You’ll recall Namoi, along with her husband and sons, had moved to Moab several years before, in search of food because famine had wiped out all the crops in the Bethlehem region. Naomi’s husband and both sons died in Moab.
Years later word came to widowed Naomi that food was again available in Bethlehem, so old Naomi journeyed back home to Bethlehem with Ruth, her Moabite daughter-in-law, who had committed to stay with and serve widow Naomi in her old age. (Ruth 1:16,17)
The closing statement of Ruth 1 is very powerful and shows us again God’s perfect awareness of TIME! “So, Naomi returned from Moab, accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.” (Ruth 1:22) Did you notice it was harvest time?
That meant two important things as we’ll see today in Ruth 2: first, FOOD would be available even for widows! You see God had instructed the Israelites to NOT glean all their crops at harvest time but leave the ripe grain along the edges of the fields, for the poor to glean, even widows. (Leviticus 19:9,10)
Secondly, the harvest process would bring landowners to inspect their fields and crops, and that brought a man named Boaz. We’ll see in Ruth 3 what that means for Ruth and Naomi! Let’s please not miss God’s attention to TIME in Naomi’s story!
Ruth 2:1 introduces us to a prominent man in Bethlehem named Boaz, who happened to be from the same family clan as Naomi’s deceased husband Elimelek. Then as now we often lean on family relationships to help us when we face times of need, right? Not only does God pay attention to TIME, God also watches over DETAILS like farm field ownership! Amazingly, as Ruth went out to glean ripe grain, she ended up working in a field owned by Boaz! (Ruth 2:1-4)
Now friends, in moments like this we all need to make a choice… is this simply good luck, or is this evidence that God is working in the details of widow Naomi’s situation?
As you read through Ruth 2 today, pay careful attention to the little details which show you God was watching over widow Naomi and Moabite Ruth. But more than watching over, God was working His plan for Naomi, Ruth, Boaz, the town of Bethlehem, the nation of Israel and even the entire world’s population, including you and me!!
WHAT? I hear you asking. How could this simple, brief story, which occurred about 3200 years ago, have any relationship to our world, you and me, in 2025?
Well, Bethlehem, of course, is the little town God chose for the miraculous incarnation of God, living here on earth in the person of Jesus Christ, about 1100 years after this story of Naomi. And that Jesus is, of course, the Savior of the world who has made sin forgiveness and eternal life in heaven possible for anyone in our world. And today, as Israel is in the global headline news every day, that same Bethlehem is now almost as southern suburb of modern Jerusalem!
Yes, God pays attention to TIME and DETAILS always, and that includes right now, no matter what’s going on in your life!
When Ruth arrived home to Naomi after her first long day of gleaning the harvest in the fields of Bethlehem, she not only had a large supply of grain but quite a story to tell Naomi. Be sure you read Ruth 2 carefully today. When Ruth told Naomi the name of the field owner, Boaz, Naomi’s response was remarkable: “That man is one of our ‘kinsman-redeemers’.”(Ruth 2:20) We understand the word ‘kinsman’, it means close relative.
The word ‘kinsman-redeemer’ is yet another example of the remarkable society structure God set up for Israel as a model to the world. Boaz, being related to Elimelech, Naomi’s deceased husband, as a ‘kinsman-redeemer’, was responsible to help Naomi in her widow situation.
Pause for reflection: If every person is uniquely created by God in God’s image, and God the Son, Jesus Christ, came to our rescue to pay our sin price so we could have sin forgiveness and eternal life with God, can you see how Jesus is the ultimate example of “kinsman-redeemer” for you and me?
Tomorrow, we’ll see how God worked in the little details and perfect timing to accomplish His miracle for Naomi, Ruth, Boaz and our world. For today I urge you to read carefully Ruth 2 and look closely at how God has worked in the TIMING and DETAILS of their lives and your life, for your good, His glory and the accomplishment of His purposes! More study notes are available, as always, at the Grand Narrative link below and here’s a wonderful worship song celebrating God’s great work in the timing of our lives!
Today’s Scripture: Ruth 2.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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