Gleaning In The Fields

Now Naomi had a relative on her husband's side, from the clan of Elimelech, a man of standing, whose name was Boaz. And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favour. Naomi said to her, Go ahead, my daughter.So she went out and began to glean in the fields behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech.
Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, The LORD be with you! The LORD bless you! they called back. Boaz asked the foreman of his harvesters, Whose young woman is that? The foreman replied, She is the Moabitess who came back from Moab with Naomi. She said, 'Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.' She went into the field and has worked steadily from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.
So Boaz said to Ruth, My daughter, listen to me. Don't go and glean in another field and don't go away from here. Stay here with my servant girls. Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the girls. I have told the men not to touch you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled. (Ruth 2:1-9)

I have to believe that gleaning is a difficult job. It must be demeaning and demanding, but is also demonstrative. Let's think it through..... a person who has nothing, trespasses on another's property in order to collect the remnants in fields left behind the harvesters in order to feed themselves and their families. In Leviticus 19 and 23, God tells the Israelites to leave the gleanings for the poor and the alien.

I might be wrong, but my guess is that those that gleaned developed a bad reputation and were looked down on by society and were probably abused. (Boaz had to tell his men not to "touch" Ruth) Maybe not, but knowing how people think and talk, my guess is that the gleaners were not looked upon too kindly. So the story here is of a young widow that had followed her mother-in-law to her homeland that finds food in the fields of another. Hunger does something to a person's pride. (maybe that is why we are told to fast)

Today I am going to go in a totally different direction. I want to you and me to think about gleaning for the LORD. In Luke 10, we are told...The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. In our society, particularly in our hometown, it seems that everyone has heard about Jesus. One way or another, the message of salvation has gone out to almost every person. While we might not all agree on what that message is, most everyone has heard that God sent His Son to die for their sins. So, what do we do? Has the job of reaching the lost been completed? Are we satisfied to sit at home thinking that the field has been harvested?

Hunger does something to a person's pride. (I have heard that somewhere before) If we "hunger and thirst after righteousness", we will not be willing to ride the bench, thinking the game is over. 2 Peter 3:9 tells us that "the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." He is not satisfied when the fields still have any harvest left in them. God sent His Son for the "world", the whole world, not a select few.

God has called us to be co-workers with Him. "For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building." (1 Cor 3:9) When we go out into the fields to glean, God is right there with us. He hungers for every soul to be saved, even those that have heard the message and have rejected it or those that have not understood it. He is not satisfied with good enough, He wants every person to have the opportunity to love Him, because He already loves them.

Just like Ruth, we are gleaning in someone else's field. The harvest does not belong to us, but to the One that owns the field. Some fields are full and ready for the harvest, some fields have been harvested and finding the leftovers is more difficult and some fields have never been harvested. Whatever the situation you find yourself in, God says get into the field. He says "go", He says "make disciples of every nation", He says baptize them and teach them. (Matthew 28:18ff) The decision to work is ours, the work is and always has been available; the question for us is are we hungry?

Are you hungry? Or have you and I become desensitized to the work that God has prepared for us to do. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Eph 2:10) Think about it. Who will glean your part of the field if you don't show up? What will become of those that are left in your part of the field? Let's get up, grab our equipment and hit the field, God says the harvest is waiting. Glean on!