Group Guide: Ruth 2:1-13

This passage of scripture, if not the whole book of Ruth, causes us to consider what is known as the “Providence” of God. The teller of this story wants us to know that God has been orchestrating all of the events in Naomi’s, Ruth’s, and Boaz’s lives to bring them exactly where He has them at this point in the story.

As Ruth leaves to find a field to glean and gather grain from, she “just so happens” to make her way to a field belonging to Boaz, her future kinsman redeemer. We are also told that Boaz just so happens to make his way to that field on that particular day to check on his workers. Although the storyteller says that this happens by chance, he is using those words in a literary sense to imply that there really is no chance involved here. The Israelites did not believe in chance or fate. They attributed everything to the working of God. What we see in chapter 2 is how God’s plan is coming together.

The difference between the sovereignty of God and God’s providence has to do with intent or purpose. To say that God is sovereign is to say that he has the power and the right to do anything He wants to do. To say that God is providential is to say that He is at work in all things in order to accomplish His purposes.

God’s providence can be described as God’s continual activity and working in all things at all times in order to accomplish His glorious objective for His own glory and for the ultimate good of His people.

Many people struggle with the providence of God. They struggle believing that God is workings “all things after the counsel of His will” (Ephesians 1:11). They struggle because they have difficulty reconciling God’s working with man’s choosing. It is here that we must acknowledge and accept a biblical truth that is mysterious. People make real choices, often sinful choices, that have major impacts on those around them. God doesn’t cause people to sin. But at the same time, God causes all things, including bad choices, “to work together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). What people do that is evil and intended for evil, “God uses for good” (Genesis 50:20).

Furthermore, people struggle with God’s providence because they cannot see how God either causes or allows pain and suffering in the world. In other words, they question how a loving God can have anything to do with pain and suffering. Yet we know, and scripture teaches, that while pain and suffering are real, they are not definitive. The Christian can be assured that whatever pain or grief or sorrow they encounter will ultimately be redeemed for both God’s glory and their good.

Naomi is struggling with the good providence of God. But she is also struggling because she is in “the middle of the story” which means, God is not through with what He is doing. We too are in the middle of a redemptive story.We presently “see through a glass darkly” (1 Corinthians 13:12). However, we do know how the story ends. “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

When we embrace the providence of God, we know and believe that even our pain ultimately has a redemptive purpose and is not definitive. Then we can live with a peace that passes all understanding!