Expectation leads to Encounter – Ruth 2:

Expectation leads to Encounter – Ruth 2:1-4
‘As it turned out’ – NIV; ‘And as it happened’ – NLT; ‘and she happened to come’ – NASB; ‘and she happened to stop’ – Amplified But this was not a stroke of luck.
We are always privileged to see the bigger picture as we study the Bible.
It was the intention of God that Boaz, an Ephrathite in Bethlehem, be married to a young Moabite woman named Ruth. It was God’s plan that they would have a son called Obed, who would be the father of Jesse, the father of king David and who’s genealogical line would eventually produce Jesus Christ of Nazareth, God’s Son.
How would that happen?
It would be by a meeting of man’s will and God’s will in a divine encounter.
God had to wait for Ruth to be born, grow up, marry Mahlon, Elimech and Naomi’s son, wait a further 10 years for Mahlon to die, then wait for her to return with Naomi to Bethlehem. He would then wait for her to glean the fields. He had to wait for her to enter the part of the field which belonged to Boaz. Finally comes that divine encounter between Ruth and Boaz that God fore-ordained and which we are yet to study in detail.
But can you see the long road to that encounter. Maybe God had to protect situations to make sure the divine encounter took place. Maybe God had to send angels to protect Boaz’s business. Maybe during the famine Boaz thought of selling his fields and angels were sent to make sure there was no sale. “I need that field for in 10 years time there’s going to be a divine encounter there.”
You may be waiting for something to take place, waiting for God, think for a moment, how long has God had to wait on us, the years of protecting situations, waiting for us to get into the right place for a divine encounter.