HE IS ALWAYS THERE

"AND RUTH THE MOABITESS SAID TO NAOMI, 'PLEASE LET ME GO TO THE FIELD AND GLEAN AMONG THE EARS OF GRAIN AFTER ONE IN WHOSE SIGHT I MIGHT FIND FAVOR.' AND SHE SAID TO HER, 'GO MY DAUGHTER.' SO SHE DEPARTED AND WENT AND GLEANED IN THE FIELD AFTER THE REAPERS; AND SHE HAPPENED TO COME TO THE PORTION OF THE FIELD BELONGING TO BOAZ, WHO WAS OF THE FAMILY OF ELIMELECH." RUTH 2:2-3

God is in the everyday ordinary. When we rise us in the morning, He is there. When we cook the dinner meal, He is there. When we go to work each day, He is there. When we struggle with grief or pain or loneliness and believe He has gone around the corner or turned His back on us--no, He is there right beside us, filling the void.

Such was the case with Naomi. Widow of Elimilech, she buries her two sons in a foreign land and turns home to Bethlehem. She states to anyone who will listen:

"the hand of the Lord has gone against me." (Ruth 1:13)
"The Almighty has dealt very bitterly against me." (Ruth 1:20)
"the Lord has witnessed against me and the Almighty has afflicted me." (Ruth 1:21)

In her grief, she cannot see past the pain and despair. But one person can: her daughter-in-law, Ruth. Somehow this Moabitess, a foreigner, has seen God in the midst and wants to adopt Him as her own as well as Naomi and her people as her own. Ruth leaves everything behind to accompany Naomi and seek refuge under the eternal Father's everlasting wings.

The shelter and protection they find comes in the daily, ordinary dealings of life. No major miracles here. It is a simple story of obedience and faithfulness in the normal everyday. The Law of Moses had set up a provision for the poor: the corners of the fields were not to be reaped but left for the needy. (Leviticus 19:9) How humbling to walk the fields amongst people you do not know, a foreigner and a stranger, fearful for your safety, gathering grain to feed two widowed women who have no other means.

In the midst of this story there is a precious jewel: "and she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech." (Ruth 2:3) Wait a minute--Elimelech--that's Ruth's father-in-law who died in Moab. Wait a minute--Boaz--this is who would become Ruth's husband. Wait a minute--Boaz and Ruth together--this is who would become the great-grandparents of King David. She just
H-A-P-P-E-N-E-D to glean in the one field on this one day that would bring life anew, provision, and protection both from God on High and Boaz here on earth? It just goes to show you that there are no coincidences in life because God is in the details and God ordains our very footsteps.

How about you? It is easy to see the Lord God Almighty in the parting of the Red Sea and when the walls of Jericho come tumbling down, but do you see God in the everyday,ordinary tasks? The grocery shopping, the friendships that are developing, the children you dress each morning. Ruth was known as a "woman of excellence" (Ruth 3:11) for simply being faithful in the ordinary. Rise up and call Him blessed and seek what He has in store for you today. In His footsteps ordained for you the ordinary becomes extraordinary. When Ruth went out to glean a field for food, she did not know that her name would be recorded in the lineage of Jesus Christ in the first book of the New Testament. She was simply faithful to perform the tasks set in front of her day by day because she was obedient to God's calling. May we follow in her example and footsteps and do the same.