Grace: God's Unlimited Resources

Grace is God's unending provision. He never ceases to provide abundantly all things for those who love Him. Handfuls on purpose! But grace is more than that. Grace is also God's unlimited resources.

Boaz's instructions were generous well beyond the requirements of the law that allowed the gleaners in the fields only after the reapers had finished their work. As a result, Ruth was able to gather more grain than she ever could have imagined. We are told she gathered "about an ephah of barley." "So she gleaned in the field until evening, and beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley" (Ruth 2:17). That is estimated to be about one-half to two-thirds of a bushel (about twenty-nine to fifty pounds).

Such a large quantity of grain could not be gathered in one day by an ordinary gleaner. It shows how Boaz's instructions to his reapers aided Ruth and also how diligently Ruth had worked. Since the ration of a male worker was about one to two pounds of grain per day, Ruth probably had gathered enough to last Naomi and her for several weeks.

Upon returning home, Naomi "saw what she had gleaned" (v. 18a) and Ruth gave her the food she had saved from dinner: "So she brought out and gave to her what she had kept back after she had been satisfied" (v. 18b). Naomi was quite impressed as she inquired, "Where have you gleaned today? And where did you work?" (v. 19a). And she added a blessing, "Blessed be the one who took notice of you" (v. 19b).

Upon learning that the man who provided for Ruth was Boaz (v. 19c), Naomi blessed him again: "Blessed be he of the LORD, who has not forsaken His kindness to the living and the dead!" (v. 20a). And she told Ruth, "This man is a relation of ours, one of our close relatives" (v. 20b). And so, the fifth dialogue of this chapter has begun. It might be noted that every prayer in the Book of Ruth is a prayer of blessing, and every prayer is answered!

You might also note that, in this second blessing, it is God who is praised for continuing to show His great kindness through His unlimited resources with which He provided. It was through one of their "close relatives" (v. 20b), Boaz, that God provided, but it was God who gave them unending provisions through His unlimited resources. That is the general thought of this verse. We will take a closer look at verse 20 next week.

For now, let’s continue on. As the dialogue continues Ruth says, "He also said to me, 'You shall stay close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest.'" (v. 21). To which Naomi responds, "It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, and that people do not meet you in any other field" (v. 22).

Naomi realized the dangers Ruth might face if she went to some other fields. She also realized the protection Ruth would receive in Boaz's fields. When she said, "It is good...that people do not meet you in any other field" (v. 22b), the verb "meet" can mean "to meet" or "to encounter," but it can also mean "strike down" or "attack violently." Again, we see the blessing of God's protection while providing with abundance.

The chapter wraps up with these words: "So she stayed close by the young women of Boaz, to glean until the end of barley harvest and wheat harvest; and she dwelt with her mother-in-law" (v. 23). She recognized God's gift of provision and protection, and she obeyed the voice of God through Naomi.

God continued to supply their need through His servant Boaz. The two harvests (barley and wheat) followed each other and would last about seven weeks, normally from late April to early June, providing food for many months beyond that. Truly God provides without end from His unlimited resources; a lesson we must never forget.

Like Ruth, recognize God's gift of provision and protection, and obey the voice of God in your life. Follow His leading and trust Him in all things. He, in turn, will protect you and provide abundantly for all youir needs. Handfuls on purpose! Amen.

Grace: God's Unending Provision

I wrote on this second chapter of Ruth once before in August of 2016. There I covered the gist of the teaching in a blog entitled Handfuls on Purpose. Indeed, Giod provides for our needs with handfuls on purpose, just as Boaz purposely provided for the needs of Ruth and Naomi. But there is so much more to this story than I wrote about the first time. So, today I am going to expand greatly on this passage to fill in the many details of truth glossed over back then.

What is grace? Grace is giving what cannot be purchased. Let me illlustrate with a story: "Once there was a poor woman who greatly desired a bunch of grapes from the king's conservatory for her sick child. She took half a crown, went to the king's gardener, and tried to purchase the grapes, but was rudely repulsed. A second effort, with more money, met with like results.

"It happened that the king's daughter heard the angry words of the gardener and the crying of the woman, and inquired into the matter. When the poor woman had told her story, the princess said, 'My dear woman, you are mistaken. My father is not a merchant, but a king; his business is not to sell, but to give:' Whereupon she plucked the bunch of grapes from the vine and gently dropped it into the woman's apron." (Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations, [Assurance Publishers, Rockville, Maryland, 1979], #5407, 1228)

The king's business is to give. Our God is the King and His business is to give to those who love Him. That is grace! God's grace!

Again I ask, what is grace? Grace is God's unmerited favor. But it is much more than you can imagine. Ruth chapter two is perhaps the most complete picture of God's grace as you will find in Scripture. Ruth's experience in chapter two, shows just how far God is willing to go for you.

Simply put, grace is God's unending provision. Note the structure of Ruth chapter two. It is made up of five dialogues that follow a well-established pattern among Hebrew narratives called a chiasm (a, b, c, b, a). The five dialogues are: Ruth and Naomi (vs. 2–3), Boaz and the reapers (vs. 4–7), Boaz and Ruth (vs. 8-14), back to Boaz and the reapers (vs. 15–16), and back to Ruth and Naomi (vs. 19–22). Hence, the pattern a, b, c, b, a. The emphasis in such a pattern is always on the central unit, which is the exchange between Boaz and Ruth. At the heart of that exchange lies what may be the key verse of the whole book, the words of Boaz in verse 12b, "a full reward be given you by the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge."

Immediately as the chapter begins, Boaz is introduced: "There was a relative of Naomi's husband, a man of great wealth, of the family of Elimelech. His name was Boaz" (Ruth 2:1). In what might be called a "foreword flash," the author leaves no doubt as to whom the future hope of Naomi and Ruth rests on. Here is the first step in the fulfillment of all that the barley harvest stands for. Boaz, whose name means "in him is strength," is introduced as a man of standing, through his great wealth; but much more important, he is a kinsman of Elimelech. This is the first indication that God is already working out His purposes.

In the opening dialogue, Ruth asks Naomi, "Let me go to the field, and glean heads of grain after him in whose sight I may find favor" (v. 2), and Naomi let her go. God had already made provision for landowners like Boaz to provide food for the poor and the hungry. Moses, in Leviticus 19:9-10, said, "When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest… you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am the LORD your God." Ruth was merely doing as the Law of Moses provided, so that she could gather food for her and Naomi.

However, landowners weren't always so kind and cooperative, especially in the time of the judges, when "everyone did what was right in his own eyes" (Judges 21:25). Few were paying much attention to the Law of Moses in those days, and so to go to the fields to gather grain after the harvesters was dangerous at best. Not only that, but a hard day's work under the hot sun usually only netted a small amount of grain. That is why Ruth hoped to find a field to glean where she would "find favor" (Ruth 2:2b).

Enter the providence of God. Note verse 3: "Then she left, and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech." Literally the Hebrew says, "her chance chanced" or "she happened to happen on" or, as the NIV puts it, "as it turned out." In other words, by chance Ruth came to the field owned by Boaz.

But remember, the overriding perspective of the Book of Ruth is that God is at work even in the accidental and chance happenings of life. Nothing is truly by accident or by chance. Even in the small things of life God is at work to accomplish His purposes. To Ruth and Boaz this may have been by accident, but not from God's perspective. He has a purpose in all of this.

Precisely the point of the start of verse 4a: "Now behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem." The timing was perfect because it was of God. And with these words the second dialogue begins. He greeted his workers with a typical Israelite greeting, but one that would be rare in that day and age: "The LORD be with you!" (v. 4b). His reapers responded in similar fashion: "The LORD bless you!" (v. 4c). From this little exchange we get a glimpse of Boaz's character. He was certainly a man of God.

Then Boaz turns his attention to Ruth, a woman he had not previously seen working in his fields. In verses 6-7 he seeks to discover who she is, namely, her ancestry or the clan she comes from. The servant, having identified her as the "young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi" (v. 6), further described her as courteous and hard working, taking little time to rest (v. 7).

The third dialogue, that between Boaz and Ruth in verses 8-14, brings us to the heart of the matter. Boaz encouraged Ruth not to go to other fields to glean, but to "stay close by my young women" (v, 8). The men cut the grain with sickles and the women followed along tying the sheaves in bundles (v. 9). Ruth was to follow them as she gathered what was left on the ground.

Not only that, but Boaz told her in verse 9 that he had ordered the men not to "touch" her, a Hebrew word meaning "to reach to" or "to strike." The New English Bible (NEB) translates it "molest." Boaz was concerned for her safety and so he took measures to protect her. He even said she could drink from "the vessels" or "water jars" (v. 9) that the men had filled for their use, a privilege not ordinarily permitted the gleaners.

Note Ruth's response in verse 10: "So she fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, and said to him, 'Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?'" To bow down with her face to the ground was a typical way of expressing gratitude and humility in that culture. Boaz responds with praise for Ruth: "It has been fully reported to me, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know before" (v. 11).

Then Boaz pronounced a blessing upon Ruth in verse 12: "The Lord repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge." As I mentioned earlier, this may well be the key to the entire Book of Ruth. The Lord will "repay your work" and a "full reward" will be given you by God when you take refuge in Him. In other words, when you trust in God and look to Him in all your needs, He will respond as He has promised and He will meet your needs and see to it that you are fully provided for. And so the "wings" (v. 12b) symbolize the power of God's grace that Ruth is experiencing, both in protection and in provision.

Ruth responded again with all humility and with gratitude for his kindness to her. In verse 13 the phrase, "Let me find favor," is better translated, "May I continue to find favor." And so we read: "May I continue to find favor in your sight, my lord; for you have comforted me, and have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your maidservants."

Yet Boaz wasn't finished. He continues to provide by having her share in his own meal (v. 14). And through the forth dialogue, he commands his reapers to "let her glean even among the sheaves" (v. 15), allowing her more than what was accidentally dropped. He even said for them to "let grain from the bundles fall purposely for her" (v. 16).

Handfuls on purpose! Here we see God abundantly providing. He does the same for us. He shows His grace through His unending provision for our needs. Amen.

Any Doubts? God Builds Your Faith!

We left off last week looking at Naomi's almost relentless trust in God. Changing her name to "Mara" (Ruth 1:20) did not mean she was bitter against God in her heart. She wasn't. It only reflects the bitter experience she had in Moab where God dealt harshly with her. The lesson we learned was that soometimes God empties us, but only to fill us again with His gioodness. We learned of God's unchanging faithfulness and dependability. Naomi's realization was that God never forsakes us. No matter what may be happenning in your life, God is there and He is actively at work in your life, watching over you and taking care of you.

The title figure of the book now becomes the focus. The first thing to notice about Ruth is that she is a foreigner, outside the covenant community. Yet she is going to be brought into the royal line of the King of kings because of God's grace and her faith in His covenant-love. At first her faith was a borrowed faith. It was Naomi's faith in which Orpah and Ruth shared. But God builds that faith in Ruth.

Ruth apparently was moved by the quality of Naomi's faith in the face of all her trials, and she wanted to share it. She knew that Naomi's God could be relied on. Even a little faith may be called on to face great testing, as Ruth was through her bereavement, her poverty as a widow, and her leaving behind the prospect of marriage in Moab if she decided to go with Naomi. She was further tested by the return of Orpah to their homeland, but through it all she "clung" to Naomi (Ruth 1:14), and by clinging to Naomi, she came to believe in Naomi's God.

Verse 16 expresses Ruth's decision in memorable terms: "But Ruth said: 'Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you; for wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.'" Ruth's loyalty to Naomi is shown to have its roots in her loyalty to Naomi's God ("your God, my God," v. 16b). What began as a borrowed faith is now declared to be her own, and her further statement in verse 17 reveals her commitment to the powerful, sovereign hand of God over her life: "Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. The LORD do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me."

This is undoubtedly the turning point in Ruth's life, but she is brought to it along a path of suffering, disappointment, and grief. In her way, she too meets God when she is at the end of her rope. Yet is was then that she was ready to put her life in His hands.

Whatever our past or present experience, the moment of change always comes at the point where we are prepared to stop fighting God and to start trusting Him, to stop going it alone and start giving it to God, to determine never to go back to our old way of life but to bring our emptiness to God and move forward into the unknown with Him. Your faith may begin small, but as God brings you through the trials of life, He builds your faith.

The chapter ends by reminding us that the barley harvest was beginning, just as Naomi and Ruth arrived at Bethlehem (v. 22). There will be food for them both, and who knows what other possibilities may lie ahead of them in the providence of God? The chapter ends on an upbeat note, because the future is always as bright as the promises of God for those who trust Him. As Paul said, "For no matter how many promises God has made, they are 'Yes' in Christ. And so through him the 'Amen' is spoken by us to the glory of God" (2 Cor. 1:20, NIV). Amen.

Feel Deserted? God Never Forsakes You!

Barb and I returned home to Stanzel Tuesday evening after Barb spent the better part of ten days in Mayo Clinic's Methodest Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota, fighting pneumonia. She was very sick with fluid gathering in her lungs and abdomen, and around her heart. It is all cleared up now, and she is doing much better. She is stronger and walking without a walker or cane again. Thank you all for your prayers. Keep praying for her continued improvement. God bless all of you richly. Now to today's Bible Insight.

We saw in Ruth 1:1-5, how Naomi learned a great lesson about the God she loved and trusted so much. That lesson was that, no matter how bad things seemed to get in your life, God is there. When you are at the end of your rope, God is there!

The turning point for Naomi comes with a direct intervention by the Lord. He corrects the situation that indirectly led to her problems. God comes to the aid of His people by providing food: "Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had visited His people by giving them bread" (Ruth 1:6). The situation having changed, Naomi decides to go back empty to Bethlehem, meaning the House of Bread, where she really belongs. Though a common-sense response to outward circumstances, spiritually it is a move toward the Lord, not away from Him.

God is putting the pieces together for Naomi, although at this stage she isn’t aware of that. She merely does what seems right. As David Jackman says in The Preacher’s Commentary, "This is an interesting feature of the theology of this book. There is not the faintest hint that the total control being exercised by the Lord in any way limits the freedom of activity of the people involved. But as the book proceeds, we see the detailed and delicate way in which God in fact works all their actions together into His plan." (The Preacher's Commentary: Judges, Ruth, Vol. 7 [Thomas Nelsonn Publishers, Nashville, 1991 by Word, Inc.)

The more the story seems to hide the hand of God, the more it actually affirms His total sovereignty. This story shows that God does not act on occasion, but continuously. Though He may appear to step into the scene at given key moments, He is actually actively there every moment, although hidden. That reality sees Naomi through the midst of life’s bitterness and keeps her trusting the Lord, even when she cannot see where He is leading her.

Professor Ronald M. Hals in The Theology of the Book of Ruth writes: "While in the Book of Judges the Lord is described as periodically stepping in to punish or deliver his people, here he remains on the scene every moment, but hidden. While in the Book of Judges he acts through charismatic agents and in holy wars, here he acts in the needs and hopes of ordinary people... So deeply has the author hidden God’s directing of history that the thread of God’s plan disappears completely into the tapestry of everyday events." (Ibid)

That is the point of Scripture. It is written to reveal God’s view of the uncertainties of this life. Only when we, like Naomi, learn to see God’s hand in every moment of life can we truly begin to understand His sovereignty and omnipotence. Yet in everything, we only understand what God has chosen to reveal. As Moses said, "The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law" (Deut. 29:29). God reveals His work in our lives through Scripture so that we might do all His words. To recognize that is to realize why Paul said, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Rom. 10:17).

Look at the evidence of Naomi’s faith, in spite of all she was enduring. First, Naomi prays for her two daughters-in-law. She instructs them to return to their people in Moab and she asks the Lord to be with them and deal kindly with them there (Ruth 1:8). She prayed for rest and a new husband to provide for each of them (v. 9). Then, in verse 10 when they, through their fears, state that they want to go with her, she reminds them of the consequences (vs. 11-13). She can no longer bear them any husbands, so they need to return and trust the Lord to provide for them in their hometowns.

The key statement in verses 6–13 is found in verse 13b where Naomi openly recognizes God’s hand in her circumstances: "It grieves me very much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me!" These words demonstrate how she met her bitter experience with acceptance and trust. There is pain and anger in this verse, but there is also honesty and faith, for Naomi knows that her life is in God’s hands.

These things have not happened by chance. God rules. How else can we comfort one another when we are facing life’s tragedies? If we deny God’s sovereignty, we have to say, in effect, that God’s back was turned, which means that either He didn’t know or didn’t care. What sort of a God is that? No, we have to admit that we cannot know why a particular tragedy has happened, but then that is not what would help us most, anyway. We want to come to the point, with Job, where we can say amid all the tears and pain and anger, "though He slay me, yet will I trust Him" (Job 13:15). That is not submitting blindly, but actively cooperating with the God of all power, all wisdom, and all love, who is working all things together for the good of those whom He loves, as the Book of Ruth will go on to prove.

But first lets take a close look at the end of this chapter, which speaks clearly of the bitter life Naomi had lived thus far. Having returned to Bethlehem, everyone was excited to see her again, though somewhat startled by what they saw: "Is this Naomi?" (Ruth 1:19). Then we see even more clearly Naomi’s almost relentless trust in God: "But she said to them, 'Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?'" (vs. 20–21).

The contrast observed by her friends must have been startling to them (v. 19). But the fact that she calls herself "Mara" does not mean that she was bitter against God in her own heart, but rather that her experience had been bitter, and, for some reason which she could not understand, God had dealt harshly with her.

We need to be reminded that the Lord does sometimes empty us, but only in order to fill us with His goodness. The name by which Naomi refers to “the Almighty” is El Shaddai. No one is exactly sure of its meaning, though it is common to relate it to the idea of mountain-like stability, or to God’s attribute of unchanging faithfulness and dependability. She knowingly makes a conscious decision to place all her pain, bitter experiences, and hopelessness within the structure of God’s sovereignty, and she leaves the explanation and responsibility with Him. She realizes that God never forsakes us.

That is a great lesson for us. No matter what is happening in life, God is there, actively at work in your life. He cares for you and watches over you at every moment. He never forsakes you. So trust Him with all your heart and look to Him in all things, for He cares for you and He will take care of you and meet all your needs. Amen.

At the End of Your Rope? God Is There!

Barb has been getting weaker by the day for a week or so. Sunday afternoon I called the ambulance and they took her to the Greenfield hospital, She has fluid on her lungs, possibly from an infection. Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota sent their airplane to fly her up there. I am headed that way this morning. Pray for her health and a speedy recovery. Pray for her strength to return as well. Thanks.

Now for today's Bible Insight. In an article entitled, When God Is Out to Get Us, W. Gary Phillips tells this story: "There was once a lady who came from one of the older established families in town. Old money. Social status. Her family went to the “first church.” She and her husband had two sons. He decided to relocate the family to greener pastures in a different town, where he thought life would be more pleasant. But he died of a sudden heart attack at age forty-eight. The business venture into which he had put all their money went bankrupt, and the family was left penniless. The two boys had to quit high school and go to work. In order to make ends meet the boys took a second job at a factory, late shift. They also married girls outside their race and religion, which was hard for their mother to adjust to. One night returning home at 2:00 a.m., the older brother fell asleep at the wheel and ran off the road. Both sons were killed. The woman who had previously had it all, now had nothing! She felt that God was against her. She told the girls to go home to their parents. One did, one did not." (W. Gary Phillips, Holman Old Testament Commentary: Judges, Ruth, [Broadman & Holman Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 2004], 301)

Sound familiar? This is a fictional story, yet it is found in the first chapter of Ruth; just change a few details and transport the family back in time about three thousand years. As you see in Ruth chapter one, God’s people suffer greatly at times. When bad things happen to good people, how do we hold on to our faith in a loving God? Naomi became embittered against God, yet she still believed! She gave up on God’s goodness for a while, but she never gave up on God.

The Book of Ruth may have originally been written as part of the Book of Judges. (The Jewish Talmud refers to them as one book.) The last two stories of Judges (chapters 17-21) and the story of Ruth, all occur around the small village of Bethlehem. That is why these three stories are often referred to as the Bethlehem trilogy. The difference in the stories is one of demeanor. The last two stories in Judges are negative, pointing out man’s basic problem: sin. Ruth, however, is positive and speaks of redemption; the redemption of a family which points to the future redemption of mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Going back to the story I began with, how would you react to such a tragedy in your life? Perhaps you have experienced something similar. If so, how did you react? How do you maintain your faith in God when bad things happen to good people? Do you become embittered against God and give up on Him? Or do you continue to have faith, and trust that God will take care of you and make you all the better as a result?

I am reminded of Romans 8:28, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." As we will see here in chapter one, Naomi had a hard time, but she never let go of her faith and trust in God. When confronted with difficult circumstances in life, she knew that God is always there.

The problems Naomi faced came about because of her husband’s decision well over ten years before. Yet that decision was made in response to circumstances that were quite outside his control. The famine of verse 1, may have been an act of God’s judgment through drought, or because of marauding invaders, like the Midianites in Gideon’s day as recorded in Judges 6. It is likely that this story occurred around the time of Gideon. Whatever the cause, the fact remains that at Bethlehem (which means "the house of bread") the supply had stopped and a man whose name means "my God is King," made the difficult decision to take his wife and two sons off to live as resident aliens in the land of Moab, about fifty miles southeast of Bethlehem.

Was he right or wrong? The biblical text does not encourage us to be dogmatic, but certainly the decision was questionable. Why go off to a country and people whose god Chemosh demanded human sacrifice? Why join a nation whose king Eglon had pressed Israel into servitude for eighteen years (Judg. 3:14)? At the time Elimelech chose to go to Moab, it seems that Israel and Moab must have been on friendly terms, and clearly Elimelech had no intention of staying there forever. It was just "for a while," during the famine.

Although they would not be Moabite citizens, they would be able to make a living, food would be more plentiful, and no one would stop them from practicing their religion because all religions were allowed. It seemed like a good deal. But decisions like this can have life-changing effects for generations.

Was Elimelech turning his back on the Lord? There is certainly no record in the text that he consulted God about it. Was it lack of faith on his part? The fact that he was an Ephrathite (v. 2) probably means that he belonged to a well-established, even wealthy family, and certainly Naomi’s remark in verse 21 would seem to support this: "I went out full, and the LORD has brought me home again empty." She not only contrasts the conditions in which she left and returned ("full" and "empty") but also the different reasons behind her experiences: "I went out full," but "the LORD has brought me home again empty."

Were material comforts and prosperity too high on Elimelech’s agenda? Certainly the purpose of the move, to escape discomfort and death, was not fulfilled (vs. 3, 5). First the father and then Mahlon ("sickly") and Chilion ("failing") died. It is clear that the names were intended to be significant. They were Canaanite names frequently in use, which may again imply a detachment from the worship of the Lord God.

Whatever the reasons for Elimelech’s decision, Naomi is left, widowed and childless, without sons or grandsons to continue the family line, which is a situation of great deprivation and despair. All this has happened in a foreign land, far away from the support of those who speak her language or worship her God. Yet, equally clear, Naomi is a believer in the Lord. Ruth’s subsequent confession of faith in God (v. 16) confirms that: "But Ruth said: 'Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you; for wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.'"

Still Naomi is at the end of her rope. That is seen in the changing of her name in verse 20 from Naomi ("pleasant") to Mara ("bitter"). Can the God she believed in really be at the other end of the rope? Clearly that is the message here. When you come to the end of your rope, God is there. When things happen and you find yourself asking "where did I go wrong?" or "why did God let this happen to me?" remember, God is there. When you need Him most, He is there. Look to Him in faith and He will see you through even the toughest of circumstances. Amen.

Pray the Harvesters into the Harvest

In Matthew 9:37-38, Jesus calls you to action: "Then He said to His disciples, 'The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.'"

This is a pivotal passage about bridging the gap between Jesus’ ministry and ours, so that we have the same kind of ministry that He had. I would love to have the compassion that Jesus had, but that is not the only thing Jesus talks about. He speaks to His disciples at this pivotal moment, giving them something to believe and something to do. So this passage also gives us something to believe and something to do.

What does Jesus tell us to believe? He says, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few" (v. 37). He switches metaphors from shepherding to farming. And what He tells us is that the harvest is ready. In other words, people are ready to receive the good news of the kingdom. People are ripe for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Many are ready to receive Jesus as theitr Lord and and Savior, but they need to be shown the way!

The problem isn’t that people are unready to receive the good news; the problem is that we aren’t ready to tell them! "The workers are few" (v. 37b). Imagine a farmer with fields ready to be harvested, but workers who are AWOL or non-existent. Jesus looks around Him and He sees people who are helpless and harassed and ready to hear the good news of the gospel. The problem is, there is nobody to tell them. The question is, who will go into the harvest?

So let me ask: Do you believe the harvest is plentiful? The harvest is plentiful all around us! Do you believe that? Jesus gives it to us as something for us to believe. One of the greatest lies of the devil is to convince us that people aren’t interested, that it’s a waste of time to tell them. The harvest is plentiful! God has prepared them! There are many yet to be reached with the gospel of the kingdom and there is an urgency. They are ready to hear. This is what He tells us to believe. Do you believe it?

Note the urgency of evangelism: It is theologically urgent, because of what God has revealed, including the truth that there is a heaven and hell. It is spiritually urgent, because people are utterly lost spiritually apart from Christ. It is physically urgent, because death is coming for all and with it the opportunity to respond to the gospel will be past. It is statistically urgent, because many people in our community have not yet heard the gospel or been invited to respond to it. It is strategically urgent, because God chose to use the church as His strategy for reaching the lost. It is personally urgent, because each of us must respond to God's call. (DashHouse.com)

So if we believe that people are ready, what does Jesus tell us to do? Surely He would say, "Get out there and tell them!" But that is not what Jesus said. Surprisingly, He said, "Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest" (v. 38).

Why would Jesus tell us to pray instead of doing something? He wants action. In the very next chapter, remember, He is going to instruct His disciples and then send them out to preach and teach and do the things that He has done. But He knows that before we can have the ministry that He has, we must have the same prayerful reliance on the Father that He has. Before we have the compassion of Jesus, we must have the connection with the Father that He has.

Warren Wiersbe said, "When we pray as He commanded, we will see what He saw, feel what He felt, and do what He did. God will multiply our lives as we share in the great harvest that is already ripe." (Ibid)

It is one thing for us to go and do. It is another thing altogether to plead with God that He would raise up people—either through conversion or growth—who are ready to go; to pray that God would give them a spirit for the work, call them to it, and give them wisdom and success.

Matthew Henry said, "It is a good sign God is about to bestow some special mercy upon a people, when He stirs up those that have an interest at the throne of grace, to pray for it" (Ibid). God is up to something when we begin to pray like Jesus commands us in this passage.

When we start to believe that the harvest is plentiful and we pray that He would send out workers, you never know if we may become the answers to our own prayers. Perhaps we would be the workers commissioned by the Lord of the harvest. Being involved in evangelism is a core discipline of the faith. It is something God calls each of us to do—to reach out and reach the lost. Amen.

Catch the Vision for the Harvest

Matthew 9:36 shows how Jesus interpreted the need for the harvest—why it needs to be done: “Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them.” This verse gives a window into the heart of Jesus. His was a heart of compassion. If we’re to have the type of ministry that Jesus had, it will be because our heart is becoming like the heart of Jesus. We too will have a heart of compassion.

The compassion of Jesus is a common theme that keeps coming to the surface in the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew 14:14 says, “When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick.” Again, in Matthew 15:32, Jesus said, “I feel compassion for the people, because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.” And in Matthew 20:34 we read, “Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him.” What we discover is that compassion is at the heart of Jesus and all that He does.

Compassion is a pretty strong word. You would think that the reason for Jesus’ compassion would be because of the sicknesses that He encountered. Everywhere He turns He meets people who are blind, epileptic, paralyzed or even dead. That is certainly worth our feeling compassion for them. Watch even a little T.V. and an ad comes on showing pictures of people somewhere who are suffering many things. It is an attempt to raise money to help these people. It is hard to watch and you can’t help but feel compassion for them. It pulls at the heart strings. It makes sense to be moved with compassion when we encounter the sick.

But what moves Jesus isn’t the physical illnesses that He encountered. Matthew 9:36 goes on to say, “Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.” What moved Jesus was the great spiritual need of the people. Without Jesus, their lives had no center, their existence seemed aimless, and their whole experience was one of futility.

The prophet Micah wrote: “But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel” (Micah 5:2, as quoted in Matt. 2:6). And through Ezekiel, God said: “Then I will set over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will feed them; he will feed them himself and be their shepherd” (Ezek. 34:23). But Jesus saw the situation as similar to what Ezekiel had said earlier in the same chapter: “My flock wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill; My flock was scattered over all the surface of the earth, and there was no one to search or seek for them” (Ezek. 34:6).

So Jesus saw the people as distressed and dispirited; as harassed, confused, bothered, and unable to help themselves. This, even more than the illnesses He encountered, moved Him with compassion. Like Jesus, we must be moved with compassion by the spiritual need of the people we know and encounter. That is the vision for the harvest that we must catch.

If we are to serve like Jesus served, we must have a heart that is becoming like the heart of Jesus—one filled with compassion for the lost. There are people around you who are “like sheep without a shepherd” (Matt. 9:36b). Look around you and see people the way Jesus sees them, and feel compassion for them the way He does. They are the harvest! Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners. Their salvation is why outreach is needed. Catch the vision for the harvest and witness for Christ at every opportunity. Amen.