Ruth 2 Devotional

No Accident in the Field

“Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the LORD, who has not withdrawn His kindness from the living or the dead.” Naomi continued, “The man is a close relative. He is one of our kinsman-redeemers.””Ruth 2:20 (BSB)

Ruth goes out to glean, gathering leftover grain behind the harvesters. The narrator says she happened to come to the part of the field that belonged to Boaz, a relative from Elimelech's clan (2:3). Ruth did not choose that field by any plan, yet it was no accident. Boaz notices her, protects her, feeds her at mealtime, and quietly tells his workers to pull out stalks for her to gather (2:8-16). He prays that the LORD, the God of Israel, will reward her, since she has come to shelter under his wings (2:12).

That evening Naomi hears the name Boaz, and her words begin to turn from bitterness toward blessing. The LORD, she says, has not stopped showing kindness to the living or the dead (2:20). The woman who came home bitter now catches sight of God's care. The ordinary turns of your day are not outside his hand either. The God Ruth sought refuge in is the God who guided where she stepped.

To think about: What ordinary moment in your recent days might look different if you saw God's hand guiding it?