Now Naomi had a kinsman of her husband, a man of great wealth, of the family of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. Ruth 2:1

Did it just so happen that Naomi had a kinsman named Boaz? Not a chance. I don’t believe in random threads. What looks like a coincidence is the quiet choreography of divine providence. Perhaps Boaz had been only a name Naomi once knew, a distant relative, a familiar face in Bethlehem’s stories. Scripture doesn’t tell us. But what we do know is that, from this point on, his presence will become the hinge on which Naomi and Ruth’s story turns. 

God’s purposes often enter our lives disguised as simple moments or passing acquaintances. A conversation we almost didn’t have. A person we almost overlooked. A door that seemed too small to matter. But later, when we trace the fingerprints, we see God’s perfect design. The stranger I met a decade ago changed the life of one of my children.  The kindness I extended to a crabby waitress was the catalyst that moved her toward God.

In my 70’s, I can see this more clearly.  I look back on seasons where someone’s arrival seemed accidental, only to realize that their presence changed the entire trajectory of my story. When I walk prayerfully, every encounter could be a significant divine appointment.  I may never know the outcome of a seemingly mundane conversation until glory.

Naomi could not have arranged Boaz’s actions, nor could Ruth have planned their meeting or the timing of the harvest. But God, who “works all things according to the counsel of His will,” could and did. Divine providence was quietly at work. What seemed like chance was actually the unfolding of God’s covenant faithfulness. Long before Ruth gleaned a single stalk, God had already prepared the path that would lead her to redemption. Through her, the Messiah would be born.

So when I cross paths with someone who awakens something profound in me, I should stop and take notice: the Lord is the Author of divine appointments. 

Lord, I want to be a woman who sees beyond circumstance to sovereignty. May I never mistake providence for coincidence.  Amen