What to Expect in a 'Ruth' Year

It's a Ruth year. That's one of the revelations Chuck Pierce has been sharing in the Hebrew year 5778. But what does that mean?

As I was reading the Book of Ruth, I received a revelation we can hang our faith on. Although there is more to be understood about the Ruth year, the second chapter of this book reveals five points that we can contend for in 2018 as we stand at the open door and prepare to move into a foreign land: divine connections, divine strategy, divine protection, divine favor and divine harvest.

In Ruth 2, we find Ruth and Naomi in Bethlehem. Although this was Naomi's homeland, it was a foreign land to Ruth. She followed her mother-in-law there out of loyalty. When you follow the Lord into a foreign territory out of allegiance to His heart, you can expect the following.

1. Divine Connections

Ruth the Moabitess asked her mother-in-law if she could go into the fields and glean grain behind anyone in whose eyes she found favor (Ruth 2:2). She happened upon the field of Boaz. This was a divine connection. She could have landed in anyone's field, but the Lord ordered her steps to one of Naomi's family members.

2. Divine Strategies

Boaz took notice of Ruth and gave her a strategy in Ruth 2:8-9a, "Listen, my daughter. Do not go to glean in another field and leave this one. Stay close to my young women. Keep your eyes on the field in which they reap and follow after them."

3. Divine Protection

Boaz also arranged for Ruth's protection, as it could be dangerous for a young woman to glean in the fields among the men (see Ruth 2:22). "I have commanded the men not to touch you. When you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn" (Ruth 2:9b).

4. Divine Favor

In response to Boaz's strategy and protection, Ruth responded:

So she fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, and said to him, 'Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should acknowledge me, a foreigner?'"

Boaz answered and said to her, "I have been told all that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband, and how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to a people you did not know before. May the Lord reward your deeds. May you have a full reward from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge" (Ruth 2:10-12).

5. Divine Harvest

Ruth was willing to work, but her divine connection and divine favor led to a divine harvest. "When she got up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, 'Let her glean even among the bundles, and do not harm her. Also pull out some grain for her from the bundles and leave it so that she may glean it, and do not rebuke her'" (Ruth 2:15-16).

One last word: Ruth's favor came from her right alignment. It's time to make sure we're aligned rightly in this year of the open door. Wrong alignments will hinder the harvest.