Last Sunday we held our annual church picnic, and due to some unseasonably wet weather this had to be held indoors. Earlier in the morning we had looked at three of the picnics/packed lunches that we read of in the Bible.
In Ruth chapter 2, Ruth has gone out into the area around Bethlehem, to find a field where she will be able to tag along after the harvesters and pick up any left over grain, in order that she might make some food for herself and her mother-in-law Naomi. At this point in the story Naomi and Ruth have nothing - and Naomi is of the view that even God has turned against them.
And yet the narrator of the story alerts us to the possibility of better days ahead by introducing the reader to Boaz, who is a relative of Naomi. And in Ruth 2:3 we read that Ruth ends up working in a field that just happens to belong to Boaz. Some people might want to translate this verse something like: ...luckily for Ruth... or ...by chance... And as the story unfolds Boaz invites Ruth to join his workers and to share their packed lunch - and then to cut to the end of story (SPOILER ALERT!) Ruth and Boaz get married, and will then become the great grandparents of King David.
Clearly this was not a chance encounter, it was not simply lucky, it was not a coincidence. Here we see God working in the background to provide and care for Naomi and Ruth. Here we see God working out his plans and purposes for Ruth and Naomi - even though everything seemed hopeless.
