Love Like a Mother -- Naomi and Ruth预览

Collect, Gather, Pick Up

From Bethlehem, a savior comes. Well, a guardian-redeemer that is.

Although Naomi may not have anticipated that a savior would enter the scene to relieve her and Ruth of their desperate circumstances, her decision to follow provision led Ruth right to the field of Boaz. It is exactly this posture of choice, together with her determined faith, that takes the story from a theme of desolation to jubilation.

Chapter one ends with such a choice. Naomi has received news that the famine in the land of her people (the famine that originally drove her family from her home) had subsided. At this point, Moab itself had become a place of famine with the tremendous loss which had tainted it. To return home to Bethlehem would be to yet again leave behind hopeless desolation in pursuit of provision, a decision that initially had been met with disastrously painful results. Despite the risk and objections of her heart, Naomi returned home with Ruth by her side. Keep in mind that Ruth was entering into a foreign land and seeing it for the first time.

Now Naomi, who had cared so unconditionally for her daughter, would find herself back in her homeland, but now on the receiving end of love in action. As Naomi was a woman of movement and decisiveness, so too was Ruth.

Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor... So she went out, entered a field, and began to glean behind the harvesters (Ruth 2:2-3 NIV)

To glean, from the Hebrew laqat, was to gather the grain or other harvested resource left behind by reapers. Ordained by God in Leviticus 19, gleaning required that landowners leave some of their harvest behind to provide food for the poor, orphaned, widowed, and resident aliens. Ruth had now become all of these things. What Ruth gleaned was a mere portion of the temptation of an entire field, but we’re told she faithfully and honestly worked all day with only a short rest. Imagine that! Rather than walk the easier route of taking what wasn’t hers out of a lack of confidence in God’s timing, she chose the taxing and mundane task of collecting, gathering, and picking up exactly and only what He allotted to her. Her integrity and hard-working nature were no doubt modeled and encouraged by Naomi.

Perhaps one of the most effective and loving qualities of Naomi as a mother was her example as well as her willingness to make faith-filled decisions like these. Think of the opposite scenario of previous events in these women’s lives. For Naomi to have remained passive in the face of their adversity would have been to forfeit involvement in Ruth’s wellbeing. Love and dedication are not translated into mindsets of apathy. Instead, they are amplified in actions that reflect hope for a better future. Naomi repeatedly spoke into reality a blessed tomorrow for Ruth, each time she collected herself, gathered courage, and started over.

Being a good mother has nothing to do with perfection and everything to do with choice. It has less to do with ability and everything to do with action. What will you do with what God has already given you? While your baby is still not sleeping through the night, while you’re still counting on overtime to provide for them, while they’re teething, crying, laughing and everything in between, choose motherhood. Choose to lead. Choose to model. Put your faith in more than what your immediate circumstances would have you believe about their future by choosing courage, perseverance, and a positive attitude. Choose faith that God will equip you where you fall short and provide at every milestone along the way. Love them with your head held high.

The decision to glean what materials have been set aside for you is an acceptance of your daily bread. It is learning to live beyond our own strength and limited ability. What a beautiful picture this is of the grace of God. If you look too far ahead, if you prematurely try to plan, then you leave room for doubt and fear to fill the gaps that uncertainty leaves open. But, when you set about the daily choices before you with faith and eager hands (taking no shortcuts), and when you choose to trust that He is faithful to provide, then you will find rest. You will find that your honest reputation is well received by the Lord. Just like Ruth, the process will be a blessed one with even more blessing on the other side.

Think about these questions for your own life: What are you doing with what God has already given to you? Have you been faithful to the small things? Should God trust you to pour out even greater blessing upon your life? Are you trusting in your own strength and ability in an area that only God can provide? What character qualities are being plainly modeled in your home? What is an aspect of this story that challenges and inspires you to depend on Him even more?