Favour Means “It Just Happened”

As we step into a brand-new year, I want you to believe for favour… because favour means things just happen.

The book of Ruth gives us a powerful picture of how favour works. You’ve got really good Ruth who’s reliable, faithful and always doing the right thing. Then there’s bright Boaz, filled with wisdom, insight, and the ability to see what God is doing. And not-a-clue Naomi, a covenant woman thinking the wrong way.

Lesson One: Chase God, not provision.

Naomi leaves Bethlehem during a famine to chase provision in Moab. That’s Babylon thinking. “There’s no water here—go where there’s water”, even if you leave the covenant place. That’s the world’s way. God’s way is different. Favour means trusting Him, resting in Him, and working with the expectation that God has got you.

Lesson Two: Don’t overlook the Ruths God has put in your life.

When Naomi returns to Israel, she says, “I went out full, and the Lord has brought me back empty.” Ruth is standing right there, but she didn’t count. Losses counted—but Ruth didn’t. Babylonian thinking makes you blind to the provision God has already placed beside you. Boaz saw what Naomi missed. He recognised Ruth’s faithfulness and said she had come under the wings of Yahweh.

Lesson Three: In favour, things just happen.

Ruth “happened” to come to the field belonging to Boaz. No angel or sign. No voice from heaven. She found a field and started working… and it just happened. That’s favour. When you get into God’s system, you’ll find yourself in the right field, or the right people will find their way into yours.

Lesson Four: Trust God’s leading, not your plans.

Boaz wasn’t the first option. A closer relative had the right to redeem Ruth, but he said “no” because it would mess up his plans. Babylon thinking again. He missed being connected to the lineage of Jesus! Favour leads us where our plans wouldn’t. God sees what we can’t see. He knows what’s coming down the track.

As we step into this new year, let’s do it with Ruth’s faithfulness and Boaz’s insight. Thank God for what He’s already given you because bitterness can overshadow provision that’s still in seed form. Trust Him. Rejoice. Be thankful.

And thank God for the Ruths—the faithful, loyal, and hardworking. Those who serve quietly without recognition. Boaz noticed Ruth… and God always notices.

Let’s step into this year in favour, where things just happen and we recognise it was God all along.