The God who Controls History

The God who Controls History
Read: Ruth 4

“Blessed is the Lord who has not left you without a redeemer today, and may his name become famous in Israel. May he also be to you a restorer of life and a sustainer of your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.”

When we started this brief overview of the book of Ruth, we found Naomi in the depths of despair. After the death of her family, she returns home and asks that people no longer call her Naomi (meaning pleasant) but Mara (meaning bitter).   She sees her life empty and afflicted with little hope for a future of happiness. Yet nothing happens outside God’s sovereign and gracious hand. What were tragic and arbitrary events to Naomi were opportunities for God to display his sovereign care for his people. Even in the chance events of life, God's unseen hand orchestrates the events to achieve what is according to his purposes and best for those he loves. Women who saw Naomi's bitterness now testify of Naomi's blessing. In verse 13, the narrator pulls the curtain away. What was once “chance” is now the sovereign working of God, who enabled Ruth to conceive and give birth to a son. There is no longer any question about who is standing behind the events.

As the women rejoice with Naomi, little do they realize the symbolic nature of the blessing they pronounced upon her. They rejoice that God has provided her a redeemer and pray that he will “become famous in Israel.”  These words were far more perceptive than they realized, for not only did the Lord provide a redeemer for Naomi, but through Naomi, the Lord would provide the future redeemer for all humanity. They prayed that his name would become famous in Israel--his name would not only be remembered in the pages of Scripture but would become the father of the kings of Israel. He would ultimately be the one through whom the ultimate redeemer would come. They asked that this son “be a restorer of life and sustainer of your old age,” not realizing that through this son, the ultimate restorer of life and sustainer of all people would descend.  

While they rejoiced with Naomi at her good fortune, we also rejoice today with Naomi at our good fortune. This is not just a story about God’s provision for a brokenhearted woman. It is a story of how he orchestrated the events in her life to fulfill his redemptive program. We discover this in verse 17, for the son born to Ruth would be the grandfather of David. The despised Moabite woman becomes the celebration of the nation of Israel. In a time (i.e., the period of the Judges) when Israel was on the verge of political and spiritual collapse, the book of Ruth reminds us that God is still in control and his grace is still moving to preserve a nation through the most unlikely means. God’s providence oversees the events. Daniel Block states, “The family consists of the most unlikely candidates for divine service: a widow left without husband or sons, an alien in a similar state, and a bachelor from the humble town of Bethlehem.”  In a city where there once was no bread, the bread of all humanity would come.

In our lives, events happen that shape us and those around us. Sometimes they seem like chance. Sometimes they seem harsh and demanding. Sometimes they see pointless and trivial. However, we do not know how these events may shape generations to come and the eternal destiny of people in the future. Such is the working of a sovereign God with whom there is no chance, nothing meaningless, and no event arbitrary. Ruth reminds us that God is still at work in ways we cannot perceive to achieve results we may not see. Yet, because of his providential movement, we can “give thanks in all circumstances” (2 Thess. 5:16-18), for he works in ways we could never imagine.