PROVIDENCE

And so it happened that she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.

Ruth 2:3b

Some might call it coincidence. We call it providence. After Robert Robinson was converted under the preaching of George Whitefield he felt called to preach. Trials would soon attack him and he found himself wandering from the Lord. He began traveling the world seeking for answers. On one journey he met a spiritually minded young woman. She asked him, “What do you think of this hymn I have been reading?” and then quoted “O to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be! Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee; Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love; Here’s my heart, O take and seal it; seal it for Thy courts above.” Robert immediately broke down confessing that he was the author of those words. Coincidence? I don’t think so!

Ruth found herself with nothing. The only thing she had was a love for Naomi and Naomi’s God. Armed with this conviction, she went out to work. From her perspective it was like a blind shot in the dark, but from God’s perspective, it was exactly how He had planned it.

Is that how you view the events in your life? Do you live with an awareness that God is orchestrating everything to accomplish His will? What this means is that nothing that occurs in your life is left to chance. Years later Ruth’s grandson, David, would write, “The footsteps of a man are established by Yahweh, and He delights in his way” (Psalm 37:23).

Philip Moeller