I expect it's happened to all of us at one time or another… when something ‘just so happened’ to take place at an opportune moment of time, and it felt like a coincidence!

Perhaps you might have been thinking of somebody, and they called a little while later on the phone, or you bumped into them in the shop!

Perhaps a song was running through your mind over and over, and later on you switched on the radio or the television and the same song was playing there!

In my own life there have been times when something was on my mind, or certain things were been happening at that time, and then during my alone time with the Lord I opened up the Scriptures and I just so happened to read something that went perfectly with what was on my mind, or was perfectly timed to bring help in my present circumstances.

Something like this happened in the Book of Ruth. An unfortunate set of circumstances caused a widow by the name of Naomi to leave the land of Moab where her former husband moved and settled a long while before. In this land she was also bereft of her two sons also leaving their young widows without support. Now it was just Naomi and her two daughters in law. She decided to return to her homeland in the land of Judah where God was blessing His people.

Now was the time when each of the young daughters in law had a choice to make - would they go with Naomi or stay in their homeland of Moab? One of them returned to Moab but the other devoted herself to her mother in law and went with her leaving Moab behind forever. Her name was Ruth.

There was talk in the land about the return of Naomi and her companion, and all eyes were on this stranger from Moab. But this was a woman beyond reproach and not only devoted to her mother in law but to the customs of the land… AND to Naomi’s God, the living God, the God of Israel.

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Before long when food was needed Ruth suggested going out and seeking grace from one of the land owners to glean ears of corn while the reapers were working. And it isn’t long into this account that we come across this little statement that caught my attention:

“And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers:
and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.”
Ruth 2: 3.

Elimelech was the name of her late husband, and she ‘just so happened’ to find grace and permission to glean in the field belonging to this highly respected and wealthy man called Boaz… a near kinsman!

Well, would you know! What a coincidence! … or was it?

I have lived long enough to learn that there are no such thing as coincidences! When something happens like this you can be sure that God orchestrated events to bring this all to pass!

He lives outside of our time domain and knew all about the events that brought Naomi and Ruth back into the land of Judah… just at the beginning of the barley harvest! He knew that there was an important role for Ruth to play in not only history but in the genealogy of our beloved Lord Jesus!

And so, just at the right time, and just in the very place where she would be noticed God brought her to the field of the man Boaz, where she worked hard, found favour and eventually became the precious wife of this influential man.

How could Ruth possibly have known that through the earlier tragedy in her life she would eventually leave her homeland and begin a new life in Judah being the wife of Boaz and eventually become the great grandmother of King David!

And if we continue down through the generations we eventually arrive at the birth of our Lord Jesus whose ancestors can be traced back to the said Boaz of Judah and Ruth the Moabitess! And back still further of course we will find more fascinating characters, which we will not cover this time.

We can read over and over in the Bible when events just so happened at just the right time in the lives of people that God used for His glory. All these things were not by chance or coincidence but ordered by God for a specific purpose.

It stands to reason that our God who never changes but is always the same
operates in exactly the same manner as He did in the Bible.

And so the next time something ‘just so happens’ it would be good to ask ‘why?’ Seeing as there are no coincidences with God, but everything has a purpose it would be both very interesting and beneficial to seek out the reason why God arranged something to happen that grabbed our attention.

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A few years ago there were a number of incidences, (not coincidences), that grabbed my attention, like puzzle pieces, and I brought them before the Lord and prayed earnestly about them… and waited!

It was only after circumstances became intense and my prayers matched the intensity of my circumstances that the Lord brought before me a portion of His Word that ‘just so happened’ to be part of my scheduled reading for that very day, and there was the answer to my heart cries add verbatim! Had He brought answer to my prayers earlier on, the answer He gave to me would not have had the impact that it did on that day. His timing was perfect!

There is one very important thing I have learned that is well worth bearing in mind, and that is when God is trying to get our attention it is initially with the intention to bring about His divine purpose in a matter that will bring to Him honour and glory.

So it is good and perhaps comforting to look at our circumstances and remember that God knows from His viewpoint exactly where we are, what is happening, and the reason why. We are not left all alone to the uncertainty of ‘chance’ or ‘fate’. God has a divine purpose for all the ups and downs in our lives and the many ‘just so happenings’ along the way.

Perhaps it is not always clear to us at the time, but later on, when we look back we will probably bless the Lord with all that is within us when we realise what God was really up to all the time. Oh, the blessing that followed, the deeper appreciation of His character that developed, and most important of all, the delight He received. All of these eternal things that time will never diminish.

For Naomi, it looked like her life had fallen apart and she was returning home in shame and poverty. For Ruth, it looked like she was an unwelcome foreigner destined to a life of hardship for the rest of her life. But there ‘just so happened’ to be a field that belonged to Boaz! And the rest is history!

I would encourage you to read this wonderful account in the book of Ruth, found in the Old Testament of the Bible. It consists of just four chapters jam packed with wonderment and blessing.

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