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And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem,
and said unto the reapers, The LORD be with you. And they
answered him, The LORD bless thee. Then said
Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers, Whose
damsel is this? And the servant that was set over the
reapers answered and said, It
is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the
country of Moab: And she said, I pray you, let me glean and
gather after the reapers
among the sheaves: so she came, and hath continued even from
the morning until now, that she tarried a little in the
house. Then said Boaz unto
Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in
another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by
my maidens: Let thine eyes
be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them:
have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch
thee? and when thou art
athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the
young men have drawn. Then she fell on her face, and bowed
herself to the ground, and
said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that
thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?
And Boaz answered and said
unto her, It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast
left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy
nativity, and art come unto a
people which thou knewest not heretofore. The LORD
recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the
LORD God of Israel, under whose
wings thou art come to trust. Then she said, Let me find
favour in thy sight, my lord; for that thou hast comforted
me, and for that thou hast
spoken friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like
unto one of thine handmaidens. And Boaz said unto her, At
mealtime come thou hither,
and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And
she sat beside the reapers: and he reached her parched corn,
and she did eat, and
was sufficed, and left. And when she was risen up to
glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying,
Let her glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not:
And let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her,
and leave them, that she
may glean them, and rebuke her not. That is Ruth 2:4-16. I
hope that you are familiar with the book of Ruth; if not,
you need to
be, it is an amazing story. Boaz is a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ as our Kinsman redeemer. And Ruth is a picture
of a lost sinner that the
Lord redeems. I want to look at both of them as well as the
reapers. Ruth was a Moabitess, heathen, serving other gods,
not knowing the true God of
the Hebrews. When Naomi (the backslider) started for Home,
Ruth clung to her and went with her; I think that Ruth knew
that Naomi had something
that she didn't have. Ruth was searching for the truth;
anytime a sinner searches for the truth, God will make sure
they get it. Take Cornelius,
for example, in Acts 10; he wanted to know the true God and
the Lord sent him a preacher to tell him how to come to Him.
Ruth 2:2 says that Ruth
decided to go out and search for food (there are a lot of
sinners out there searching for something to eat
spiritually). Verse 3 says it was
her hap to fall upon Boaz's field (in reality nothing just
happens by chance, it is all in the Providence of the
Almighty God). So she goes up
to the reapers and asks if she can glean in the field and
they give her permission, she is still looking for that
food, and she doesn't know it
yet, but she has found the living bread. Well, the Lord
Jesus (Boaz) comes along and asks about her, seeing her
looking for the food. And he
goes to her and says,"Go not to glean in another field,
neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens:
Let thine eyes be on the field
that they do reap, and go thou after them: have I not
charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? and
when thou art athirst, go unto
the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have
drawn." In other words, he says, "don't you go anywhere else
looking for food, this is
where you need to be. Sometimes sinner try looking
everywhere but the Lord, and they come up empty, but as soon
as they start searching for the
Lord they will get satisfied everytime. Look at verse 14,
Boaz says, "At mealtime come thou hither, and eat of the
bread, and dip thy morsel in
the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers: and he reached
her parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed, and
left." The Lord wants her to
come to the dinner table and eat, the Lord wants sinners to
come into the church and sit down to the spiritual meal that
is set before them every
service; He has some of that parched corn he will give them
if they will come and dine. Then the Lord tells the reapers
not to reproach her, let
her glean where she wants, and drop to drop her some
handfuls of purpose. That is where you and I come in. The
Lord, He does the drawing and the
pleading; it is our job to drop those handfuls of purpose
every now and then. It may be a gospel tract, it may be a
testimony, and word spoken
about the Lord, a Bible verse that we have hid in our heart
and can quote to someone, even a song in our hearts can be a
handful of purpose to
someone. In chapter 3:9, you see Ruth at the feet of Boaz
asking to be redeemed. Glory to God! If we will be faithful
dropping those handfuls
of purpose, we will see more sinners at the feet of Jesus
asking to be saved. If you don't know the end of the story
of Ruth, I'll let you read
it for yourself. May the Lord bless you today.
Sis. Tanya |
in the
