God at Work
Scripture Reading — Ruth 2
Ruth … said … “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.”
Ruth 2:2
When you don’t have food, you search for it. Ruth is going to glean the fields to find leftover grain, and God is also at work—not only to help her find leftovers but to give a harvest of blessing.
Boaz is a distant relative to Naomi—and much more. God is about to use an ordinary person for his extraordinary purposes again. Through the kindness of Boaz, Ruth is allowed to glean until the harvest is finished. This journey is marked by the generosity and hospitality Boaz demonstrates in his work life and by the way he runs his farming business.
Today many of us will return to work after a weekend. Whether we work at an office, job site, factory, school, or elsewhere, we will enter into the world of others as we get back to work. How we do our work will affect how others see the God we claim to serve.
Sadly, the praise that we give God on Sunday can be blemished by our words and actions on Monday. A hero of faith is called to be faithful every day of the week. A life of consistency of character is a life that God can use to shape another person’s life for eternity.
God used Boaz and Ruth to eventually be the great-grandfather of King David. And this means that Ruth—an outsider—became part of the family line of Jesus. (See Ruth 4:18-22; Matthew 1.) All this took place because God was at work.
Dear God, may I be a witness for you in all my words and deeds. And may I realize that you use events in time to affect eternity. In Jesus, Amen.
About the author — Julius T. Medenblik
Rev. Jul Medenblik is a former attorney who was called to pastoral ministry and became the founding pastor of a church in New Lenox, Illinois. He is currently serving as president of Calvin Theological Seminary, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Jul and his wife, Jackie, are blessed with a son, Joshua, and a daughter, Julianne.
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