We witness throughout the Old Testament the significance of reaping. Hired workers gathered the barley during harvest time. However, God made provisions through the law for those who had little or nothing at all. The poorest of people, the widowed, orphaned, and alien were given permission from the landowners to glean behind the hired reapers to provide for their daily needs. Deuteronomy 24:19 declares, “When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.”

In the second chapter of Ruth, we witness God’s magnificent orchestration of Ruth’s daily activities by opening the way for her to glean from the field of Naomi’s kinsman, Boaz.  Ruth 2:3 states, “So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.”  Boaz was a wealthy landowner and the son of Rahab the prostitute (Joshua 2). He had great compassion for Ruth’s faithfulness to Naomi. Everyone within the town had heard of her loyalty. As we observed last week, Ruth was willing to do whatever she needed to provide for her and Naomi. In chapter one, God uses Ruth to display his faithful presence to Naomi, and in chapter two, God uses the generosity of Boaz to arrange his divine favor for Ruth. She was poor, childless, a young widow, and in great need of the wideness of God’s mercy to restore her life. What an amazing God we serve! He redeems her past and restores the future all for his glory.

John Wesley believed that Ruth’s faith exceeded Abraham by leaving everything behind but without a promise to follow. Wesley often said that it is good for us to ask ourselves every day, what have I gleaned or gathered from the Lord and how have I used this precious knowledge to grow and prepare my heart for God’s harvest? So, we must search our heart daily to see if we are allowing the Holy Spirit to prepare us for ushing in God’s kingdom. In Mathew 9:37-38, Jesus sees the helpless crowds and has compassion on them and claims to his disciples, “the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few, therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Gleaning involves hard work, much labor and toil to see good fruitful produce. Jesus was describing to his disciples that many want to reap results but are not willing to pour their heart into the process. What we sow, we will reap. As you wholly offer yourselves to Jesus and allow him to become Lord over your lives, you will always reap God’s divine favor and find refuge. This is our precious promise.

I can remember my first gleanings from the Lord and his divine orchestration through it all. I was in my mid- twenties, just returned from New York, and had no clue what I was supposed to do. In the meantime, I worked with my sister at our family-owned Christian bookstore. My soul was empty, anxious, restless, and completely uncertain of the next steps. I was at the end of myself and the very position I needed to be for the Lord to work within my heart. This is where we must enter the road less traveled in full surrender to the Lord. We, as humans must become totally barren of any effort to be filled with the life of Jesus. God does not need us to orchestrate anything, just the willingness to enter our heart and become Lord over our lives so the Holy Spirit can direct our steps. As I began to continually abandon myself to the Lord, I trusted that he was slowly cultivating a kingdom harvest within me. As God grew my heart in wisdom and understanding, the Holy Spirit began to secure a new life of rest within my soul. Here again, God drew me to Jesus so that the Holy Spirit could transform my heart. As I willingly opened the door to every area in my life, I lived reaping and rejoicing day by day because my desires changed dramatically. I enjoyed the process of abiding and being one with Jesus, no longer looking for a plentiful produce, because I knew in due season, the seeds the Lord was planting would eventually reap a bountiful harvest for his glorious work.  About that time, God arranged for a young and handsome Louisiana man to enter the bookstore and change my life forever.

My point is that just as God’s grace went before Ruth and Naomi to provide richly for them, redeem their past, and restore their future, so he will for you! Our heart is a training ground, a sacred sanctuary of labor and great toil, reaping and gleaning, if we move in step with the Holy Spirit and not veer off on our own effort. Boaz, Naomi’s kinsmen redeemer, gave explicit instructions for Ruth to glean behind the reapers so that she would be protected and well provided for. We too must rest under the shelter of the Almighty to receive his divine blessing in Christ Jesus. Open your heart to Jesus and leave nothing out because he knows your desires and needs and would delight in nothing more than to prepare your heart to reap a plentiful harvest that will be forever rich and satisfying. We have so much to glean from the Lord through every moment. God has gone before you in his grace to open your heart, wait in his refuge, and watch for his harvest to form in you so that you might touch the world with the most precious gift of Jesus! Amen and Amen!

Dear Father,

Thank you for the plentiful harvest we have received in your Beloved Son, Jesus! We are so thankful that we can glean every moment from him as the Holy Spirit cultivates a harvest in us.

In Jesus name,

Amen!

Blessings

Dr. Caroline