True Love—Illustrations in Ruth
Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the field, and glean heads of grain after him in whose sight I may find favor.” Ruth 2:2
“When you reap your harvest in your field, and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.” (Deuteronomy 24:19) So wrote Moses, and so our Heavenly Father arranged for the survival and dignity of the less fortunate in Old Testament times. Gleaning was hard work! It was, in fact, backbreaking work, as you bent low to the ground for hours at a time picking up the stalks of mown grain dropped or overlooked by field-hands collecting Bethlehem’s precious harvest.
It was this work to which Ruth, the Moabitess, now turned to keep soul and body together both for herself and for Naomi. It was an act of service—a loving response necessary to meet pressing needs. True love, after all, seeks to serve and expends itself in service to others.
Elimelech, Naomi’s deceased husband, had been a landowner in Bethlehem prior to their departure. The land, presumably, was still there, but there had been no one to sow the seeds during the time of planting. The customary rains, therefore, did not germinate and cause grain to grow—only weeds and an assortment of volunteer plants covered the landscape.
For Ruth and Naomi—their future lay in the hands of providence and anyone in whose sight Ruth might find favor. She was among the “strangers” in Israel as well as being a “widow” of a fellow Israelite. Would anyone notice her plight? Would anyone permit her to work on their land and within their fields? Ruth did not know, but she requested permission first of Naomi, trusting that the God she had come to serve would bless her efforts!
Dear Father in heaven, when needs arise, we pray You would watch over us, move us in love to take advantage of any opportunities You provide for us, and then bless our efforts to help and serve those whose needs have become our own. Amen.