She Happened to Come to the Field of Boaz (Ruth 2:1–4)
She Happened to Come to the Field of Boaz (Ruth 2:1–4) 7/26/2026
One of the greatest blessings in life is meeting. The meeting of our family line, our parents, children, and siblings. We do not choose these relationships ourselves. They are appointed by God. Even unbelievers sometimes say that certain meetings are “destined by heaven.”
What about meeting a spouse, or lifelong coworkers and friends? These relationships also come only by God’s permission.
In the field of evangelism, it is God who leads us to those who will receive the gospel and be greatly used by Him. When Philip the deacon met the Ethiopian eunuch and preached the gospel, Scripture says that the angel of the Lord, the Holy Spirit spoke to and guided Philip (Acts 8:26–29). When Saul the persecutor needed to meet Christ and become God’s chosen instrument, the Lord appeared to Ananias and instructed him (Acts 9:15). The same was true when Peter met Cornelius, the Roman centurion (Acts 10:1–23), and when Paul met Lydia and the other disciples.
- God’s saved people of the covenant should enjoy this blessing throughout their lives.
1) This blessing accompanies God’s calling, choosing, and saving us within His eternal covenant. When God called Abraham as His covenant people in Genesis 12:1–3, He said, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse.” This blessing is implied within these words. Spiritually speaking, those who bless God’s covenant people are encounters prepared by God, and those who oppose or curse them are encounters prepared by Satan. Even Judas Iscariot was used in this way (John 6:70).
2) The covenant is God’s absolute plan, absolute love, and absolute blessing for His chosen people.
① Adam and Eve had the condition of the fruit from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam and Eve’s crime broke the covenant (Hosea 6:7).
As a result, they lost God’s plan. They lost the privilege of enjoying His love and blessings.
The Bible calls such people those without God and without the covenant (Ephesians 2:12). We too once lived in that condition.
② God could not simply abandon Adam and Eve, whom He had created in His own image.
Before the foundation of the world, He had already chosen His people according to His eternal plan (Ephesians 1:3–5). Therefore, He established a new covenant by sending Christ so that we could recover everything we had lost.
Christ became the Mediator of the new covenant (Hebrews 9:15). Scripture calls this a better covenant (Hebrews 8:6), because Christ paid for everything through His atoning sacrifice and freely gave to us by grace.
③ Who are those saved in Christ? They are certainly called children of God (John 1:12). More specifically, they are God’s covenant people, members of His household (Ephesians 2:19), and children of the covenant (Acts 3:25; Galatians 4:28).
- The life of those who live in this covenant blessing is called the Covenant Journey.
1) We have only one life that God has given us. That is why we call it a journey. Since our lives are filled with weaknesses, failures, and regrets, we must continually hold onto and choose God’s covenant (as emphasized in last week’s message).
① Every time we hear God’s Word, we should engrave His covenant into our hearts.
It is Holding onto God’s promises for yourself, your family, future generations, the church He has led you to, and the field and generation in which He has placed you.
② Spend time meditating on God’s Word. Only then will the covenant take root. Psalm 1:3 says we will become like a tree planted by streams of water.
③ Choose the covenant during problems, conflicts, and crises. As this becomes your habit, the covenant and the gospel become part of your spiritual nature. Then you will overcome everything.
2) What blessings come when the covenant becomes our imprint, root, and nature?
① True faith develops. God promises to work far beyond all that we ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). He will not allow even a single word spoken by His covenant people to fall to the ground. This was the blessing Samuel enjoyed (1 Samuel 3:19). Ruth went out simply to gather leftover grain in order to survive, but she hoped someone would show her kindness (Ruth 2:2). God did far more than Ruth had imagined because she held onto His covenant.
② Even greater, God begins His prepared encounters. Ruth merely followed the harvesters into a field (v. 3). The text describes it as though she “happened” to arrive there. Yet God’s prepared blessing was waiting for her. This is the covenant we should hold onto this week. Ruth left everything behind and followed Naomi back to Bethlehem, where God’s covenant people lived. She simply did what was necessary to survive. Yet the place she “happened” to enter became the beginning of her meeting Boaz, the covenant husband God had prepared.
③ What kind of man was Boaz? Boaz sincerely blessed the poor and the foreigners who came to gather grain (v. 4). It was God’s heart that some grain be left behind during harvest so the poor and foreigners could gather food. Boaz even intentionally left extra grain and instructed his workers to share their water with them. This reflects the life we are called to live – holding onto God’s covenant, overcoming suffering and persecution through prayer, and sharing the gospel. This is also why we should care for foreigners and people of every nation with generosity (schoalrship offerings). We are to freely share the grace we have freely received. That is the life of a true worshiper (this is called the pilgrim’s journey).
- This is God’s reward for those who hold onto and choose His covenant. These blessings are not earned by extraordinary effort. Rather, they come because we love the God of the covenant and seek to follow Him alone. This is how Ruth met Boaz. It was a meeting prepared and rewarded by God.
1) Although Ruth had lost everything, she chose the God of the covenant and His people. News of her faith spread throughout Judah (v. 11). Boaz heard about her and recognized that the young woman gleaning in his field was the very Ruth everyone had spoken about. God not only remembers the covenant we hold onto and ensures that our faith is not in vain. The Triune God who gave the covenant, fulfills it, and prepares our eternal inheritance from His heavenly throne works beyond time and space with unprecedented blessings and with the power of His light that overcomes all darkness and despair.
2) What blessing did God give through Boaz? (v. 12)
① “The God of Israel” This title refers to the God who establishes, reveals, and fulfills His covenant (Genesis 17:7; Genesis 32:28).
② “You have come to take refuge under His wings.” This is Ruth’s only faith and only choice. She held onto “only.” This was not an easy decision. She made this choice after losing everything, even risking her own life (Ruth 1:17).
③ Boaz blessed Ruth saying, “May the Lord give you a full reward.” The Hebrew word translated “full” (šĕlēmāh) is related to the words shalom (peace, prosperity, wholeness) and shalem (complete, lacking nothing). This is the lifelong blessing God desires for His people. Exactly as Boaz blessed her, these words were fulfilled in Ruth’s life. She became the ancestor of King David, and ultimately an ancestor of Christ—and thus one of our spiritual ancestors as well.
Conclusion – If we truly are people who hold onto God’s covenant, we will experience this blessing of God-prepared encounters throughout our lives. Nothing is a coincidence. Treasure the people you meet within God’s covenant, and hold onto those relationships with an eternal perspective. Even the smallest things we do in God’s covenant can become part of our inheritance of eternal blessing.
7.26.26 She Happened to Come to the Field of Boaz