Scripture
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.
— Ruth 2:3 (ESV)
Devotional
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 honourable toil, and the providence of God was guiding her every step. Little did she know that amid the sheaves she would find a husband, that he should make her the joint owner of all those broad acres, and that she a poor foreigner should 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 what may happen to us to-morrow, 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 in everything. The trivial events of today or to-morrow may involve consequences of the highest importance. O Lord, deal as graciously with thy servants as thou didst with Ruth.
How blessed would it be, if, in wandering in the field of meditation tonight, our hap should be to light upon the place where our next Kinsman will reveal himself to us! O Spirit of God, guide us to him. We would sooner glean in his field than bear away the whole harvest from any other. O for the footsteps of his flock, which may conduct us to the green pastures where he dwells! This is a weary world when Jesus is away–we could better do without sun and moon than without him–but how divinely fair all things become in the glory of his presence! Our souls know the virtue which dwells in Jesus, and can never be content without him. We will wait in prayer this night until our hap shall be to light on a part of the field belonging to Jesus wherein he will manifest himself to us.
Reflection
“Her hap was.” To Ruth it looked like luck. To God it was a road straight into the family line of the Messiah. Spurgeon wants us to see that chance has no seat at the Christian’s table. The ordinary errand you ran today sits inside the same providence that led a poor Moabite widow to Boaz, our picture of the Kinsman-Redeemer who would one day come for us.
Goad
Where did you call something an accident this week that God may have been quietly arranging?
Tie-In
Morning promised that God’s truth abides forever. Evening shows His providence arriving in a grain field. What He says and what He does always agree.
Closing
Spurgeon’s classic text with a brief reflection to help today’s reader.
If these words have stirred something, sit with it.
NewGrapes Ministries. Making disciples, not pew-fillers. Soli Deo Gloria.
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