Love By Any Other Name! – Part III

“And so Naomi was back, and Ruth the foreigner with her, back from the country of Moab. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.” Ruth 1:22 (MSG)

Isn’t it just like God, when you’ve come to the end of everything – and there is no where to turn – if you just turn to Him – He points you in the direction of a harvest. The leading of the Lord that urged Naomi to return with her daughter-in-law Ruth to her homeland, Bethlehem (the place of bread), was their entrance into the best time of the year. It was spring, time for the barley harvest – there would be provision for them!

And when Ruth went to work in the barley fields, just hoping to catch the grain that fell from those citizens of Bethlehem who had a right to work – not asserting herself or presuming that she had a right to have a place among the workers – content to “catch the crumbs that fell from the master’s table”. What a lesson this generation can learn from this humble servant. We live in an age where too many have a feeling of entitlement that prevents them from receiving the best God has, for God says:

The Lord is close to those who are of a broken heart and saves such as are crushed with sorrow for sin and are humbly and thoroughly penitent. Psalm 34:18 (AMP)

Those of us from the old school used to hear, “the way up – is down!” When we come to God free of expectations and orders and seek Him for His Heart and not His Hand – we find He will lead us out of whatever dark place we are in – into our barley harvest.

I have a statute of Ruth that my son brought back after a visit to Palestine – this beautiful hand-carved wooden statute has her holding a full bag of grain. Can you picture Ruth – leaving home both physically and spiritually to an unknown future – arriving at her new home at the time of barley harvest and left after her first day of harvesting with a bag full to overflowing!

Again, we see God’s love in action – not only did he make provision for Naomi and Ruth, but we see that God led Ruth to another blessing:

19 Naomi asked her, “So where did you glean today? Whose field? God bless whoever it was who took such good care of you!”
Ruth told her mother-in-law, “The man with whom I worked today? His name is Boaz.”
20 Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “Why, God bless that man! God hasn’t quite walked out on us after all! He still loves us, in bad times as well as good!”
Naomi went on, “That man, Ruth, is one of our circle of covenant redeemers, a close relative of ours!” Ruth 2:19-20 (MSG)

God led Ruth to the field of a very close relative and the best news of all is that even though she didn’t know of him – he had heard of her good works – her reputation preceded their meeting! I know you’ve already read the end of the story and you know that this fateful meeting resulted in Ruth receiving a new future complete with a new husband and son, and an entry into a very special family – for the love story doesn’t end with her marriage to Boaz – tomorrow we see another dimension of this beautiful love story.

God Bless,
Maria