WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:02.720 This podcast is the Ministry of Grankway Baptist Church. 00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:05.759 For more information on our church, please visit grandparkway.org. 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:08.400 If you've got a Bible, open it up to Ruth chapter 2. 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:10.000 Ruth is in the Old Testament. 00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:13.199 Somebody in the first service said, I I I couldn't find Ruth. 00:00:13.439 --> 00:00:15.279 Joshua judges Ruth. 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:18.079 If you get to like 1st and 2 Samuel, that's too far. 00:00:18.239 --> 00:00:20.239 If you don't have a Bible, there's one on your row there. 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:22.160 I'm on page 222. 00:00:22.399 --> 00:00:25.600 And if at your house you don't have a Bible, you can take that with you. 00:00:25.679 --> 00:00:27.120 That'll be our gift to you today. 00:00:27.359 --> 00:00:29.679 We love to give stuff away around here, right? 00:00:30.239 --> 00:00:39.759 Anyway, Ruth chapter 2, just by way of synopsis, last week we saw how that we're like Elimelech, uh Naomi's husband, the kind of patriarch of the family. 00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:45.920 We're like him in that when things get hard, instead of repenting and asking God what's going on, we seek relief. 00:00:46.079 --> 00:00:50.640 But God orchestrates circumstances in our lives in order to turn our hearts back to him. 00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:54.000 Even when we've been unfaithful, God remains faithful. 00:00:54.159 --> 00:00:59.119 And now we pick up the story of God as told through the life of Ruth in chapter 2. 00:00:59.359 --> 00:01:07.280 They've come back, and chapter 1 ends on, they says they came back at the time of the barley harvest, at the beginning of the barley harvest. 00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:12.640 And we introduce two new characters in the story this morning, in the first two verses, so don't miss them. 00:01:12.799 --> 00:01:21.359 Ruth chapter 2, verse 1 says, Now Naomi had a relative of her husband's, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. 00:01:21.680 --> 00:01:30.239 And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor. 00:01:30.640 --> 00:01:32.799 And she said to her, Go, my daughter. 00:01:32.959 --> 00:01:36.480 And so she set out and went and gleaned in the fields after the reapers. 00:01:36.640 --> 00:01:42.000 And she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech. 00:01:42.239 --> 00:01:44.400 And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. 00:01:44.879 --> 00:01:47.359 And he said to the reapers, The Lord be with you. 00:01:47.519 --> 00:01:49.519 And they answered, The Lord bless you. 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:54.879 And then Boaz said to his young man, who was in charge of the reapers, Whose young woman is this? 00:01:55.120 --> 00:02:02.480 And the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, She is the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. 00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:07.120 And she said, Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers. 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:12.639 So she came, and she has continued from early morning until now, except for a short rest. 00:02:12.800 --> 00:02:20.800 And then Boaz said to Ruth, Now listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. 00:02:20.960 --> 00:02:24.879 Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping, and go after them. 00:02:25.120 --> 00:02:28.000 Have I not charged the young men not to touch you? 00:02:28.080 --> 00:02:32.080 And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink where the young men have drawn. 00:02:32.240 --> 00:02:40.800 And then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, Why have I found favor in your eyes that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner? 00:02:40.960 --> 00:02:53.599 But Boaz answered her, All that you have done for your mother-in-law, since the death of your husband, has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and your mother and your native land, and came to a people that you did not know before. 00:02:53.840 --> 00:03:02.000 The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge. 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:10.879 And then she said, I have found favor in your eyes, my Lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not one of your servants. 00:03:11.039 --> 00:03:16.400 And at mealtime Boaz said to her, Come, come here and eat some bread, and dip your morsel in the wine. 00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:23.599 And so she sat beside the reapers, and he passed to her roasted grain, and she ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left over. 00:03:23.759 --> 00:03:36.560 And when she rose to glean, Boaz instructed his young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her, and also pull out from some of the bundles for her, and leave it for her to glean, and do not rebuke her. 00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:43.520 And so she gleaned in the field until evening, and then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. 00:03:43.680 --> 00:03:45.680 And she took it up and went into the city. 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:52.879 Her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned, and she also brought out and gave her what food she had left over after being satisfied. 00:03:53.039 --> 00:03:56.159 And her mother-in-law said to her, Where did you glean today? 00:03:56.479 --> 00:03:57.680 And where have you worked? 00:03:57.840 --> 00:04:00.159 Blessed be the man who took notice of you. 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:07.759 And so she took her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, The man's name with whom I work today is Boaz. 00:04:08.639 --> 00:04:10.240 And we'll just stop right there. 00:04:10.400 --> 00:04:13.280 I want to talk to you this morning about starting over. 00:04:13.520 --> 00:04:14.479 About starting over. 00:04:14.639 --> 00:04:17.920 Last week we talked about how uh Elimelech led his family. 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:20.959 They lived in Bethlehem, the house of bread, and there was a famine. 00:04:21.120 --> 00:04:27.920 Instead of crying out to God and repenting and saying, No, wait a minute, God, we're in the promised land and we're not experiencing the promise. 00:04:28.079 --> 00:04:31.839 They put physical need above spiritual conviction and they went to Moab. 00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:33.680 That country is God's enemies. 00:04:33.759 --> 00:04:37.120 God said, Don't have anything to do with them, don't let your children marry them. 00:04:37.279 --> 00:04:40.560 And so they went, and there was things got difficult there. 00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:46.879 Uh Naomi's husband Limelech dies, her two sons die, and she's left with nothing but her two daughters-in-law. 00:04:46.959 --> 00:04:52.319 And she tells them, Hey, go back to your family, go back to your father's house, find husbands, go back to your God. 00:04:52.480 --> 00:04:54.240 And one of them says, That works for me. 00:04:54.480 --> 00:04:58.560 Orpah says, See, uh, the Bible says that Ruth clung to Naomi. 00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:00.240 She says, Where you go, I will go. 00:05:00.399 --> 00:05:01.839 Where you lie, I will lie. 00:05:02.399 --> 00:05:03.680 Your God will be my God. 00:05:03.920 --> 00:05:07.439 May anything but death separate you from me. 00:05:07.600 --> 00:05:08.639 And so they come back. 00:05:08.720 --> 00:05:12.000 I mean, Ruth is like a bad tattoo with feet for Naomi. 00:05:12.319 --> 00:05:15.519 Because she comes back and she's like, hey, God has dealt bitterly with me. 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:18.879 Don't call me Ruth, which I mean, don't call me Naomi, which means pleasant. 00:05:19.040 --> 00:05:21.279 Call me Mara, which means bitter. 00:05:21.439 --> 00:05:27.680 And so we pick up the story, and basically the story, what we see in chapter two is the story kind of advances the big picture. 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:30.480 There's two things that I want to talk to you about today. 00:05:30.959 --> 00:05:36.319 Because when people come back and they start over, they're usually kind of wondering, okay, what can I expect? 00:05:36.399 --> 00:05:37.279 What is this going to be? 00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:38.079 What am I going to do? 00:05:38.240 --> 00:05:44.000 And by the way, verse 2 of chapter 2, Naomi is so depressed, she can't even get out of bed. 00:05:44.160 --> 00:05:46.399 Ruth has got to get up and go to work for her. 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:47.920 She's just debilitated. 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:52.720 I mean, she's laying in bed, popping prozac and drinking cheap vodka, like whatever, that's great. 00:05:52.879 --> 00:05:53.680 You go work. 00:05:53.839 --> 00:05:55.360 I'm so bitter. 00:05:55.519 --> 00:05:56.720 I'm so frustrated. 00:05:56.879 --> 00:05:58.000 I'm so angry. 00:05:58.160 --> 00:05:59.600 I'm so despondent. 00:05:59.759 --> 00:06:02.800 And when I thought about that, I thought of the hymn writer. 00:06:03.040 --> 00:06:04.480 His name's William Cooper. 00:06:04.639 --> 00:06:10.879 William Cooper probably he wrote the hymn, There is a Fountain Filled with Blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins. 00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:14.160 He also wrote a hymn that we don't really sing much in the church anymore. 00:06:14.399 --> 00:06:19.279 But this is the, this is kind of, I want to put it down as a template over Ruth chapter 2. 00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:22.879 The name of the hymn is God Moves in a Mysterious Way. 00:06:23.120 --> 00:06:24.720 Now, beloved, let me tell you this. 00:06:24.879 --> 00:06:28.959 There are going to be times in your life where God's going to move in a mysterious way. 00:06:29.040 --> 00:06:34.160 And unless you believe in the providence of God and the kindness of God, you're not going to see it. 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:36.959 Matter of fact, let me tell you just a little bit about William Cooper. 00:06:37.120 --> 00:06:41.839 William Cooper, since the age of six, struggled with debilitating depression. 00:06:42.160 --> 00:06:49.680 I mean, like overwhelmingly sad depression, so much so that all through his life, on numerous occasions, he tried to take his life. 00:06:49.839 --> 00:06:53.199 Like one night he called a cab to take him to the Thames River in England. 00:06:53.360 --> 00:06:55.120 He was going to just jump in and end his life. 00:06:55.279 --> 00:07:04.480 And the cab driver, it was a foggy night, and the cab driver realized what was going on, and so he just drove around for a long time and he came back to Cooper's home and he said, Here you are, sir. 00:07:04.560 --> 00:07:07.439 And Cooper got out and realized he was home and he didn't even realize it. 00:07:07.519 --> 00:07:11.360 And he took it as a sign that maybe God was watching out over him. 00:07:11.519 --> 00:07:13.040 But all his life he struggled. 00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:20.240 Matter of fact, on his deathbed, he sat up and smiled and he looked at heaven and he says, Alas, heaven is open to me. 00:07:20.480 --> 00:07:25.439 Because he always lived with this sense of unworthiness that there's no way he could get into heaven. 00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:29.680 But I want to just read the lyrics to this old hymn, God moves in a mysterious way. 00:07:29.759 --> 00:07:33.519 And let that kind of be the windshield through which we look at Ruth chapter 2. 00:07:33.680 --> 00:07:38.399 The hymn says this God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform. 00:07:38.639 --> 00:07:42.879 He plants his footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm. 00:07:43.120 --> 00:07:46.800 Deep and unfathomable minds of never failing skill. 00:07:47.040 --> 00:07:51.439 He treasures up his bright design and works his sovereign will. 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:54.319 Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take. 00:07:54.480 --> 00:08:02.399 The clouds ye so much dread are big with mercy and shall break in blessing on your head. 00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:08.480 Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust him for his grace. 00:08:08.879 --> 00:08:13.439 Behind a frowning providence, he hides a smiling face. 00:08:13.920 --> 00:08:17.839 His purpose will ripen fast, unfolding every hour. 00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:23.600 The bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower. 00:08:23.839 --> 00:08:28.000 Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan his work in vain. 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:33.840 God is his own interpreter, and he will make it plain. 00:08:34.799 --> 00:08:39.600 God is his own interpreter, and he will make it plain. 00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:42.080 What does he make plain in Ruth chapter 2? 00:08:42.240 --> 00:08:42.960 Two things. 00:08:43.039 --> 00:08:44.799 And the first one is the providence of God. 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:45.919 You say, What do you mean? 00:08:46.080 --> 00:08:47.759 Look at verse 3 and 4. 00:08:47.919 --> 00:08:49.679 I want to just point out something to you. 00:08:49.840 --> 00:08:58.639 After uh they introduced two new characters, uh Boaz, and then this person that's gonna have favor on Ruth, or she believes it's gonna have favor on her. 00:08:58.799 --> 00:09:13.840 Verse 3 says, So she set out and she 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, and behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:15.039 Now just stop right there. 00:09:15.200 --> 00:09:19.600 There's a whole lot of, and by the way, in the literal Hebrew, it does say it just happened. 00:09:19.679 --> 00:09:21.039 It's chance upon chance. 00:09:21.200 --> 00:09:22.320 She happened to come. 00:09:22.799 --> 00:09:23.840 Notice what the Bible says. 00:09:23.919 --> 00:09:26.879 It doesn't say she came to the field that belonged to Boaz. 00:09:27.519 --> 00:09:28.159 How hard is that? 00:09:28.320 --> 00:09:30.720 You could just go out there and say, hey, where's Boaz's field? 00:09:30.799 --> 00:09:33.279 Well, it's that big 60-acre property. 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:36.240 But no, that's not the way they owned fields back then. 00:09:36.399 --> 00:09:38.000 You didn't own the entire field. 00:09:38.159 --> 00:09:39.840 You owned like a part of the field. 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:44.320 That's why the Bible says she came to the part of the field that belonged to Boaz. 00:09:44.480 --> 00:09:45.360 And what do you mean? 00:09:45.519 --> 00:09:47.440 Think of it like a patchwork quilt. 00:09:47.600 --> 00:09:54.399 And so she's standing right there, and she could be 20 yards that way and not be in the part of the field that he owns. 00:09:54.480 --> 00:10:01.440 She could be 10 feet that way, or she could be 50 yards that way, or 8 feet that way, and be out of the part of the field. 00:10:01.519 --> 00:10:08.240 But the Bible's kind of tongue-in-cheek in the Hebrew, and it says she just so happened as fate would have it. 00:10:08.480 --> 00:10:12.159 She comes to the part of the field that is owned by Boaz. 00:10:12.320 --> 00:10:16.080 And oh, by the way, behold, which is not a word we use. 00:10:17.200 --> 00:10:18.240 Nobody used that word. 00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:21.440 Drop that word on, you're not gonna go to lunch today and go, behold, fajitas. 00:10:23.440 --> 00:10:24.960 It's just not something we use. 00:10:25.120 --> 00:10:26.639 It's modern-day vernacular. 00:10:26.720 --> 00:10:28.639 What they're saying is, hey, don't miss this. 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:29.840 Check this out. 00:10:30.080 --> 00:10:34.000 Behold, and Boaz who happened to be there from Bethlehem. 00:10:34.080 --> 00:10:34.879 Are you kidding me? 00:10:35.039 --> 00:10:36.320 It's like karma. 00:10:36.960 --> 00:10:38.080 No, it's not. 00:10:38.399 --> 00:10:41.120 See, it's not karma or coincidence or fate. 00:10:41.360 --> 00:10:43.039 Those are all impersonal things. 00:10:43.120 --> 00:10:48.559 And so if you believe in karma or fate or all this stuff, then then I got a question for you. 00:10:48.960 --> 00:10:50.639 Who do you give credit to for? 00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:52.799 Who do you thank when it's good? 00:10:52.960 --> 00:10:53.840 Who do you blame? 00:10:54.000 --> 00:11:02.960 I mean, I want to suggest a different word is at work here in the life of Ruth and Naomi and my life and in your life, and it's this word providence. 00:11:03.200 --> 00:11:04.559 See, that is the theme. 00:11:04.720 --> 00:11:09.679 Everything that happens in Ruth chapter 2, and the context for it all is providence. 00:11:09.759 --> 00:11:12.240 So we need to understand what we mean by providence. 00:11:12.399 --> 00:11:16.799 Let me give you a couple of definitions, and then I want to give you one you could just live in. 00:11:16.960 --> 00:11:21.840 The first definition of providence, according to the dictionary, is the protective care of God. 00:11:22.799 --> 00:11:25.200 The protective care of God. 00:11:25.360 --> 00:11:26.960 You say, Well, what do you mean? 00:11:27.120 --> 00:11:28.320 I give you a great example. 00:11:28.480 --> 00:11:35.279 How many of you remember back in high school when you did things that were just ridiculously stupid and you can't believe you did them? 00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:39.840 And now that you look back as a 30 or 40-year-old, you're like, God, why did you not kill me? 00:11:40.080 --> 00:11:41.120 Raise your hand. 00:11:42.480 --> 00:11:43.440 Look around. 00:11:43.679 --> 00:11:44.799 You're in great company. 00:11:44.960 --> 00:11:47.440 I remember going back, Madison hopefully doesn't remember this. 00:11:47.600 --> 00:11:48.799 He was about five years old. 00:11:48.879 --> 00:11:51.919 Uh, and I was in the there's one grocery store in my hometown. 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:52.799 That's how big it is. 00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:55.840 And so everybody goes there, it's kind of like the social hub, and so I walk in. 00:11:55.919 --> 00:11:57.039 Hey, McLean, what's up? 00:11:57.120 --> 00:11:57.679 Blah, blah, blah. 00:11:57.919 --> 00:12:00.000 And I'm walking, and Sophie, I think Sophie was a baby. 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:02.639 I'm carrying Sophie, and I'm and Madison's pushing the car. 00:12:02.720 --> 00:12:04.559 I'm like, don't hit my heels with that thing, please. 00:12:04.720 --> 00:12:05.600 How hard is this? 00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:08.960 Uh and so I walk along there, and then we got to talking, and the guy says, You know what? 00:12:09.039 --> 00:12:11.600 You know what my impression is, you know what my lasting memory of you is? 00:12:11.679 --> 00:12:18.639 I'll never forget coming down the danger foot highway, going 117 miles an hour, and you had the truck door open, you were puking your guts out. 00:12:19.759 --> 00:12:24.480 And I just with had the baby in one hand, just kind of took Madison's head and just covered her ears. 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:25.039 Really? 00:12:25.200 --> 00:12:27.039 In front of my kids, you're gonna say that? 00:12:27.759 --> 00:12:31.120 But you say, now here's why we don't want you students to hear that. 00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:36.320 It's because you look at that and kind of go, see, you did that, dad, and you turned out okay. 00:12:38.879 --> 00:12:40.639 We know how you think, clones. 00:12:42.639 --> 00:12:48.159 But what we would say to you as old men and women is that that wasn't us just, oh, just being teenagers. 00:12:48.320 --> 00:12:51.200 That was the providence of God, the protective care of God. 00:12:51.440 --> 00:12:55.919 Another definition of providence is timely preparation for future eventualities. 00:12:56.799 --> 00:12:59.600 Gotta use big words so you don't think you're in church. 00:13:00.320 --> 00:13:01.600 Timely, what do you mean? 00:13:01.840 --> 00:13:04.480 Timely preparation for future eventualities. 00:13:04.799 --> 00:13:16.639 In other words, I had, in other words, God's got a plan, and it's bigger and better and beyond, and and and and he's not never at any point is God kind of like, oh, what am I gonna do now? 00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:18.960 Oh, I didn't see that coming. 00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:25.120 I had dinner uh dinner one night this week with a young couple in our church. 00:13:25.360 --> 00:13:33.440 Um, and and we're talking, and they said, Hey, we want to join our church, but we and I said, Well, we want to just we want to know your story, we want to just fill the building up with strangers, and so let me take you to dinner. 00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:38.399 So we sat down, they're a young couple, they celebrate their one-year anniversary tomorrow. 00:13:38.639 --> 00:13:41.279 And I was just kind of like, Oh, God love you. 00:13:41.519 --> 00:13:44.000 And they said, So was the first year hard? 00:13:44.240 --> 00:13:44.879 Uh-huh. 00:13:45.759 --> 00:13:54.159 And the second year gets a little bit better, and then you get good for a while, and then your wife finally gets comfortable enough to tell you, hey, you do this, and it drives me crazy. 00:13:54.320 --> 00:13:56.159 And you're like, Why haven't you said that before? 00:13:56.320 --> 00:13:59.759 We were newlyweds, I didn't want to fight about it, but now I don't care. 00:14:00.559 --> 00:14:04.080 I'm gonna take this pillow and suffocate you if you don't stop snoring, okay? 00:14:04.240 --> 00:14:05.039 Turn over. 00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:07.039 I say, here's how you know you've been married a long time. 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:10.799 When you first get married, your wife's like, hey, sweetie, you're snoring. 00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:12.639 And you're like, okay, you turn over. 00:14:12.720 --> 00:14:16.240 After about five years, hey, hey, turn over. 00:14:17.519 --> 00:14:20.639 Like, oh, oh, oh, oh, I guess the honeymoon's over. 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:23.039 But we sit down, you say, What do you mean? 00:14:23.200 --> 00:14:26.240 Providence, what do you mean, preparation for future eventualities? 00:14:26.399 --> 00:14:27.360 I said, Tell me y'all's story. 00:14:27.440 --> 00:14:28.080 How'd you meet? 00:14:28.240 --> 00:14:30.240 And they kind of laughed, they kind of smiled, looked at each other. 00:14:30.320 --> 00:14:31.279 I said, Why is there a story here? 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:38.799 You said, Well, I coached a swim team, and she was one of the people on the swim team, and I was kind of young, and she was kind of old, and I'm older than relax, okay? 00:14:38.879 --> 00:14:40.000 I don't think you're one of those guys. 00:14:40.080 --> 00:14:40.639 Go ahead. 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:47.679 So, anyway, and so I didn't use, I just coached, and then, and then six years later, he said, I walked in, I just happened to walk in this restaurant. 00:14:47.919 --> 00:14:49.759 Just happened, there's that word again. 00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:54.080 I just happened to walk in this restaurant, and she was a hostess in the restaurant. 00:14:54.399 --> 00:14:55.679 And I said, Do you recognize her? 00:14:55.759 --> 00:14:56.559 And he went, Not really. 00:14:56.639 --> 00:15:04.320 And I went, uh you say that the face looked familiar, and she's like, I recognize him. 00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:09.519 And so we just kind of chatted and we went out on a date, and we've been dating ever since. 00:15:10.480 --> 00:15:12.080 I said, That's providence. 00:15:12.320 --> 00:15:14.960 Let me give you a third definition for providence, and it's simply this. 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:17.039 This is from the Heidelberg Catechism. 00:15:17.120 --> 00:15:20.159 This is the way they taught their children, their congregations. 00:15:20.240 --> 00:15:28.080 There's 52 questions in the Heidelberg Catechism, and they take one every Sunday afternoon and meditate on it, and they'd ask the question what is the providence of God? 00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:31.519 In other words, what is the realm of that which God controls? 00:15:31.679 --> 00:15:36.080 And here's the response God's providence is his almighty and ever-present power. 00:15:36.240 --> 00:15:54.480 Whereas with his hand, he still upholds heaven and earth and all creatures, and so governs them that leaf and blade and rain and drought and fruitful and barren years, food and drink and health and sickness and riches and poverty. 00:15:54.639 --> 00:16:02.720 Indeed, all things come not by chance, not by karma or fate or coincidence, but by his fatherly hand. 00:16:04.080 --> 00:16:19.840 And I'm gonna stand before you as your pastor who loves you and tell you you need to get your life around that, or else it is gonna be all about you and what you can produce and accumulate and get and fix and all that stuff. 00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:35.039 But I'm telling you, not only is there a God in this world, and it's like we said earlier when we read when Amy stood here and read the 130th Psalm, praise the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all his benefits without a good theology or a doctrine of providence. 00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:38.159 You don't have a framework for blessing the Lord. 00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:39.600 You don't have a framework for going. 00:16:39.679 --> 00:16:48.399 You know, God, when I was 16 and I was an idiot and I had the truck door open, puking my guts up, doing 117 miles an hour in Cecil Petrie's truck. 00:16:48.559 --> 00:16:53.039 True story, horribly embarrassing, but true. 00:16:53.919 --> 00:16:59.279 Lone Star was the culprit because it was always on sale. 00:17:00.879 --> 00:17:06.319 But now I get to stand in aisle forth, and Greg Malloy says, Yeah, that's my last memory about you. 00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:07.759 And we were talking about it on the parking lot. 00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:10.160 We're like, that guy could have fallen out. 00:17:11.039 --> 00:17:22.480 No, because I believe what we just read from the Heidelberg Catechism, that the providence of God was watching over me and keeping me from destroying myself. 00:17:22.720 --> 00:17:34.160 And so if you're here today and you know deep in the marrow of your bones, not in your head or in your heart where you feel, but in the marrow of bones where you this certainty dwells, you don't have words for that. 00:17:34.240 --> 00:17:36.480 Hey, I am outside of the will of God. 00:17:36.640 --> 00:17:43.839 Your only hope, my friend, is that God is providentially watching over you as an expression of his mercy. 00:17:45.119 --> 00:17:49.599 And the Bible says in Ruth chapter 2. 00:17:50.960 --> 00:17:52.960 And so she said, Go. 00:17:53.279 --> 00:18:05.519 And so she set out and went and gleaned in the fields after the reapers, and she just happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who happened to be of the clan of Elimelech, and behold, Boaz was there. 00:18:05.680 --> 00:18:10.160 She happened, he, Boaz happened to be of the clan of Elimelech, and we'll get into this next week. 00:18:10.319 --> 00:18:17.039 We'll talk about the kinsman redeemer motif, and oh, and God's kind of telling the story, and God's kind of saying, hey, don't miss this. 00:18:17.119 --> 00:18:22.799 I'm kind of setting the stage, not because I'm good or loving, but because I'm in charge. 00:18:23.200 --> 00:18:28.000 I'm I'm exercising, exercising my providence over this thing. 00:18:28.160 --> 00:18:38.079 Now, the less you we can put that statement from the Heidelberg Catechism back up there, and and depending on how you're wired up theologically, there's part of that you read and kind of go, I don't know if I believe that. 00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:41.359 Let me just tell you what bothers me about this, okay? 00:18:41.839 --> 00:18:44.160 It's written in old English, doesn't bother me. 00:18:44.240 --> 00:18:45.759 You gotta slow down, think about it. 00:18:45.839 --> 00:18:46.720 That's a good thing. 00:18:46.960 --> 00:18:52.559 That all things come not by chance, just those two words, all things, used to really bother me. 00:18:52.640 --> 00:18:53.920 I was like, are you serious? 00:18:54.079 --> 00:18:54.720 All things? 00:18:54.799 --> 00:19:03.519 Oh well, but I had to work through that, had to read the Bible, and I just go to Starbucks and talk to my friends and say and find an opinion that that fit my preferences. 00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:05.920 I had to read the Bible and I was like, got it. 00:19:06.079 --> 00:19:07.920 Here's the part that bothers me. 00:19:08.640 --> 00:19:10.079 I do weddings. 00:19:13.039 --> 00:19:14.960 That's what bothers me about this. 00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:20.799 Y'all look like you look when your kids come to you and go, I need$100. 00:19:22.240 --> 00:19:24.480 Put your hand on your bill phone, what for? 00:19:26.240 --> 00:19:26.799 Here's why. 00:19:26.960 --> 00:19:27.680 Here's what bothers me. 00:19:27.839 --> 00:19:28.799 Not that I do weddings. 00:19:28.880 --> 00:19:29.599 I love doing weddings. 00:19:29.680 --> 00:19:30.720 I do premarital counseling. 00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:35.359 If you want me to marry you, you gotta do like five sessions of premarital counseling in 75 minutes. 00:19:36.880 --> 00:19:39.759 And I ask you questions like, who do you trust in? 00:19:40.480 --> 00:19:44.960 Because if you put all your hope in this guy or this girl, you're gonna be like two ticks and no dog. 00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:46.480 This is not gonna last long. 00:19:50.079 --> 00:19:51.680 And just not. 00:19:51.920 --> 00:19:53.839 And so, I mean, usually it goes well. 00:19:53.920 --> 00:19:55.359 Sometimes it doesn't go so well. 00:19:55.839 --> 00:20:01.920 There's a young lady in this church a couple, three years ago, was getting she got engaged and said, Well, you do our premarital counseling. 00:20:02.079 --> 00:20:05.200 My fiance's heard of you, but he didn't go to our church, and he agreed. 00:20:05.359 --> 00:20:06.079 I'm like, great. 00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:09.200 And about the second, see, married people have this radar. 00:20:09.359 --> 00:20:11.279 We can tell you if this is a good idea. 00:20:11.440 --> 00:20:15.839 You ain't got to be a preacher, you just gotta be married to kind of go, oh, you mm-mm. 00:20:16.319 --> 00:20:21.920 And so about the second session, I was just kind of looked at and I said, Now, do you you sure you want to do this? 00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:28.480 Because if you do this, you're gonna have a kid on the day you get married, and he's not gonna have a child until you get pregnant. 00:20:28.559 --> 00:20:32.240 But you then you're gonna have two kids because he's not ready to be married. 00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:35.279 And she's like, and the guy was like, hey dude, I'm right here talking about you. 00:20:35.359 --> 00:20:36.799 Yes, I'm talking about you. 00:20:37.519 --> 00:20:38.240 Absolutely. 00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:41.599 You are fundamentally unprepared for marriage. 00:20:41.839 --> 00:20:45.920 And if she marries you, I said, you better think long and hard about this, okay? 00:20:46.160 --> 00:20:50.640 And she's like, Well, I kind of been wondering, don't overlook anything. 00:20:50.880 --> 00:20:53.119 Because marriage isn't gonna make it go away. 00:20:53.359 --> 00:20:58.400 Marriage is gonna give permission to the fullness of whatever's in him right now in moderation. 00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:01.359 I don't know what that means. 00:21:01.519 --> 00:21:07.519 That means if he's selfish right now, you have no idea how selfish he's gonna be. 00:21:08.960 --> 00:21:10.799 And all of a sudden her eyes are getting bigger. 00:21:10.960 --> 00:21:12.000 She goes, I gotta think about that. 00:21:12.160 --> 00:21:13.440 Yeah, you need to think about it. 00:21:13.599 --> 00:21:14.720 That week I got an email. 00:21:14.799 --> 00:21:16.400 She said, Listen, I broke the engagement. 00:21:16.480 --> 00:21:16.960 Thank you. 00:21:17.279 --> 00:21:21.039 Her dad had already given me a gift card, a nice gift card. 00:21:24.160 --> 00:21:25.839 To golfsmith. 00:21:26.799 --> 00:21:29.920 And so I was kind of like, oh Lord, I was gonna get me. 00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:32.079 It was enough to get a new set of irons. 00:21:32.400 --> 00:21:34.559 It was like, Lord, give me some new golf clubs. 00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:36.960 No, no, no, you didn't do the waiting, give that back. 00:21:37.119 --> 00:21:38.000 Okay, all right. 00:21:38.160 --> 00:21:40.880 So I come up the next Sunday to the dad, I said, Hey, here you go. 00:21:40.960 --> 00:21:41.920 You know, that thing broke up. 00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:43.680 Oh, no, no, no, you keep that. 00:21:46.480 --> 00:21:47.839 I said, No, I didn't do that. 00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:49.839 No, no, no, you did plenty. 00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:53.839 That is the best money I will have ever spent in my life. 00:21:55.920 --> 00:21:58.559 God's like, Oh, oh, oh, okay. 00:21:59.359 --> 00:21:59.759 See, let me. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:01.759 Let me bring it down to where you live, okay? 00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:03.839 Just just think about it like this just for a second. 00:22:04.240 --> 00:22:08.480 When I say the providence of God, what bothers me is I do weddings, and here's here's what bothers me. 00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:17.359 People, this sounds like a when you say he still upholds heaven and earth and all creatures and so governs them that leaf and blade and rain and drought. 00:22:17.599 --> 00:22:18.720 Think of wedding vow. 00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:27.519 Fruitful and barren years, food and drink, sickness and in health, richer for poor, health and sickness, riches in poverty, indeed, all things. 00:22:27.680 --> 00:22:44.880 Here's what bothers me about this great confession of the providence of God is that we are more than willing and joyfully willing to stand before God and make that vow to another fallen, yet redeemed human being. 00:22:45.519 --> 00:22:54.960 And yet we are consistently unwilling to make that vow to God, whose nature is so much more certain. 00:22:56.000 --> 00:22:57.119 So much more certain. 00:22:57.200 --> 00:23:03.359 And here's the crazy thing they said in my office and say they've known each other two years, five years. 00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:06.480 I don't care if you were born in the same hospital. 00:23:07.039 --> 00:23:13.359 And I just tell them the marriage is hard work, it's more than legalized sex. 00:23:13.920 --> 00:23:17.920 And the guy's always like, well, more could there be. 00:23:24.079 --> 00:23:25.920 Here's my phone number. 00:23:27.440 --> 00:23:30.720 And by the way, that part that's part of it, and it's great. 00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:41.599 But we just we seem to be willing to say, yes, I trust this person, and yet God says, live this way in relation to me. 00:23:41.839 --> 00:23:54.799 Believe this about me, that I'm the providence of God is at work in Ruth's life in such a way that she goes, and by the way, when you read things like this, it should cause us to wonder, what must this God be like? 00:23:55.279 --> 00:23:56.640 See, what must He be like? 00:23:56.799 --> 00:23:59.599 Here's the big phrase I told you earlier was coming. 00:23:59.759 --> 00:24:03.759 The nature of God is not episodic, it's eternal. 00:24:04.079 --> 00:24:08.799 The nature of God is not, it's not defined by whatever circumstance you're in right now. 00:24:08.960 --> 00:24:24.480 So if you're if your marriage is in the tank and it's hard right now, you know, just you you're gonna be real tempted to define God as, well, God, you know, our marriage is really messed up, but we're really recommitted and we've got into church, all good things, and and God was faithful. 00:24:24.640 --> 00:24:29.279 And it makes it sound like, oh, God just in that moment decided to be faithful. 00:24:29.519 --> 00:24:32.480 Hey, God was faithful before you ever got here. 00:24:34.559 --> 00:24:38.319 His nature's not episodic, it's eternal. 00:24:38.799 --> 00:24:40.160 It's just eternal. 00:24:40.960 --> 00:24:43.519 It's been going on for a long, long. 00:24:43.839 --> 00:24:44.799 You said, What do you mean? 00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:48.880 You just, if you've got a Bible uh in Exodus 34, you don't have to turn there. 00:24:48.960 --> 00:24:50.400 Uh, it'll come up on the screen. 00:24:50.559 --> 00:24:52.160 I just want to point this out to you. 00:24:52.319 --> 00:24:54.240 Just three verses in Exodus 34. 00:24:54.319 --> 00:24:57.119 This is when Moses goes to get the Ten Commandments. 00:24:57.359 --> 00:24:58.960 And he says this in verse 6. 00:24:59.200 --> 00:25:04.079 He says, The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, this is what God said about himself. 00:25:04.400 --> 00:25:05.279 Look at me, beloved. 00:25:05.599 --> 00:25:07.279 If you hear anything, hear this. 00:25:07.440 --> 00:25:09.839 Don't listen to what people say about God. 00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:12.559 Listen to what God says about God. 00:25:13.599 --> 00:25:18.559 Because people say crazy things like, well, God helps those who help themselves. 00:25:21.599 --> 00:25:22.640 Where's that in the Bible? 00:25:22.720 --> 00:25:24.240 Well, it's in there somewhere. 00:25:25.039 --> 00:25:25.839 No, it's not. 00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:26.880 Yeah, it is. 00:25:27.119 --> 00:25:27.839 No, it's not. 00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:29.119 Our preacher told us that. 00:25:29.279 --> 00:25:30.480 He should be fired. 00:25:31.759 --> 00:25:33.680 This is what God says about Himself. 00:25:34.240 --> 00:25:59.119 He said, The Lord passed before Moses and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on the children's children to the third and fourth generations. 00:25:59.279 --> 00:26:06.240 And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. 00:26:07.920 --> 00:26:12.640 And said, Oh Lord, if I found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us. 00:26:12.799 --> 00:26:17.519 For it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin and take us for your inheritance. 00:26:17.759 --> 00:26:25.599 See, when people finally understand how good God is, when they stop listening to everybody else, their posture of their life changes. 00:26:25.759 --> 00:26:27.759 Moses just kind of bowed his head to the ground. 00:26:27.839 --> 00:26:29.599 He's like, Oh, that's so good. 00:26:29.839 --> 00:26:32.160 Oh man, I could smoke that so good. 00:26:32.240 --> 00:26:33.200 Are you kidding me? 00:26:33.440 --> 00:26:36.240 But I'm all out of cigarettes, so I'll just bow down. 00:26:38.880 --> 00:26:40.079 Remember this. 00:26:40.799 --> 00:26:46.559 Anytime in the Bible, people understand how good it is. 00:26:47.599 --> 00:26:49.440 Their posture changes. 00:26:49.920 --> 00:26:52.240 My friend Billy Foote, who's been here led worship before. 00:26:52.319 --> 00:26:53.200 You know Billy Foote? 00:26:53.359 --> 00:26:55.119 Big bald-headed guy with a goatee? 00:26:55.359 --> 00:26:57.680