Who knew that a 3,000-year-old book that often is dismissed as a mere love story would have so much impact on my life? The book of Ruth has brought so much encouragement to me in just the last three weeks. And I certainly don’t know what’s happening in your life right now, but I’m trusting that maybe this clip will be the encouragement that you need as well.
If last week you realized you were a Naomi, consumed with feelings that God has left you alone, this week is a really important one for you. You can see it right here, or listen to the audio-only version here.
If you want to see the full sermon associated with this clip, you can find it here.
Transcript: He sees and notices
Wed, Aug 30, 2023 : Peter Heck
NOTE: This is an automated transcription, please overlook typographical and grammatical errors.
(Begin transcript)
I read the rest of this chapter of Ruth being rewarded. When is the last time Ruth tasted anything like this? I doubt that she ever had. You saw what she eats right? Roasted grain from Boaz, his dish, roasted grain. It's unbelievable.
Okay, the only way I can liken this, think of the migrants that are coming across the southern border, lay aside the politics, I'm not talking about the drug runners. I'm not talking about the human traffickers, leave all of that to the side. Take a migrant who is desperate to find a new life. That's what they want. And they come across the border. They're sifting through ground and looking for anything more so that they can eat, and you take that person who hasn't had a decent meal, maybe their entire life, and you put them in Ruth's Chris Steakhouse and put a spread in front of them. That's what Ruth's going through right here. That's what she's experiencing. She'd never seen anything like this before.
And she's being set beside the Reapers. Not behind them, he has elevated her a foreigner, and he's brought her to this position, she eats from his hand until she is full. And then there's more leftover. It's like, she got more energy. And then she says, I'm gonna go back out and collect some more for us. And he says, go for it. And he tells the men don't just leave the grain behind you toss some of the big sheaves down for her to take. But she'd never been treated like this, what in the world is happening? He provided abundantly for this woman of faith.
Okay, if you're fading, we're wrapping it up right here. So I need you to come back to me because this is what you have to get. We want to bring this home. Alright, so focus, wake yourself up, because this is it right here. I don't know the circumstances of your life right now. Some of you, your lives have fallen apart. And you're in the midst of that. Others of you don't know it's coming, but it's going to happen soon, your life is gonna fall apart. I don't want you to leave this place without hearing this word, which I believe God has preserved for us to hear this morning. Okay, I want you to get this.
Some of you your lives have fallen apart around you. But I need you to know that there is a field that you can go to, who has an owner who will take care of you. And that owner has an overseer, he has a foreman who has come down to the field and he saw all of us poor people scrounging around on the ground, looking for crumbs. That's the reality. And he saw us, this overseer saw us he saw you and he spoke to you. And he invited you to his table to eat his roasted grain from his dish. His eye is on the one that nobody notices his eye is on you, you and his heart is big enough for every single one of your needs. And his field is big enough to fill you and his wings are wide enough for you to hide under and seek refuge no matter what life storms brings in his house. His house is big enough.
That's the reality of the God that we serve. How do I know that? I told you that the book of Ruth, if you look, you will see shadows of the cross. You will see Jesus in this book. And I'm telling you that right there the promise of Boaz to Ruth, the unbelievable blessing that he was to her. That's exactly what we have been offered in Christ Jesus that we read in Ephesians, “Because of His great love for us, God who was rich and mercy,” just like Boaz was rich, he “made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions.
Even when we were the ones scrounging around in the field, destitute widows, he saw us and He made us alive and He raised us up with Christ, and he seated us with him in the heavenly realms with Christ Jesus, we're not sitting behind the Reapers. We're sitting with the reapers and we are eating from his plate and drinking from his cup, but in the coming age, he might show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in kindness to us through Christ Jesus. That is the promise for those of you whose life is falling apart, the father sees you, he loves you, and He is preparing something amazing for you.
(End transcript)