June 14, 2023 –
When you part company with someone, what do you leave behind? Does the person you left feel better at a meeting with you? Did you smile and leave words of encouragement, wisdom, advice, understanding, and empathy, or where the phrase negative, put-down, I’m unconcerned, you are on your own?
The Book of Ruth tells how Ruth, the Moabite widowed daughter-in-law of Naomi, meets her future husband, Boaz when she seeks permission to follow the grain reapers in his fields and gather the seed kernels that have fallen to the ground. God instituted this method of helping the poor to get food. In Leviticus, God said, “When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap to the very edge of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You must not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor and the foreign resident; I am Yahweh, your God.” (Leviticus 19:9-10, HCSB)
Ruth was unaware that by gleaning in Boaz’s fields to provide food for her and her mother-in-law, she would become an ancestor of Jesus. Today, we must keep in mind God’s words, “Don’t you say, there are still four more months, then comes the harvest? Listen to what I’m telling you: Open your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ready for harvest.” (John 4:35, HCSB)
Christians must remember that people often gather, bit by bit, the thoughts we share from our experience and knowledge of harvest. We should remember to allow others cheerfully and generously in need to glean from the blessings we have received. We do well to realize that we have gleaned our blessings through God’s goodness and grace from His abundant fields.