Hope
By Peggy Kleckner
“At mealtime Boaz said to her, ‘Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.’ When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over…So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah (about 30 lbs.). She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.”
Ruth 2:14-18
In this portion of Ruth’s story, Ruth has gone out to the fields hoping to glean enough barley to help sustain her and her mother-in-law. Their husbands are dead and they are alone trying to provide for themselves. Although Naomi, the mother-in-law, is an Israelite, she has returned home to her country bitter and hurt by her circumstances. Have you ever been there? Have you fallen headlong into a season or pit of despair and hopelessness? Naomi knew God, but she was struggling to believe that He cared for her.By Peggy Kleckner
“At mealtime Boaz said to her, ‘Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.’ When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over…So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah (about 30 lbs.). She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.”
Ruth 2:14-18
Ruth did what she knew to do. She had gone out to work in order to take care of her and her mother-in-law. In the process, she ran strait into God’s provision and grace. She went out as a foreigner (she was a Moabite, not an Israelite) and found favor in the field of Boaz. She wasn’t even a hired field worker; she was a beggar allowed to glean after the harvesters.
Read the verses again. Ruth was given roasted grain to eat until she was full and she saved the leftovers for Naomi. She also carried home 30 pounds of barley. I am sure she didn’t realize that what she brought back to her mother-in-law was not simply food, but hope as well. It was God’s exclamation point. She reminded Naomi that Naomi’s God was the God of more than enough! The God of abundance! When we least expect it, God sends grace right to our doorstep.
Ruth went out in faith looking for provision and was met with not just provision, but grace abundant enough to bring back and share. Are we willing to step out in faith? Are we willing to bring back armfuls of hope?
GOING DEEPER:
1. Who are you in the story? Are you in a “Naomi” season of bitterness and despair or are you in a “Ruth” season of discovering God’s provision and grace? Are you willing to take a step forward in faith in order to receive hope?
FURTHER READING:
1 Kings 17:7-16; 2 Kings 4:1-7; Luke 9:12-17
Peggy is a wife and mother of four adult children - two sons and two stepsons. She is the Co-coordinator of Oakwood’s Wednesday p.m. Bible Study.
