Gleaning with Grace

The story of Ruth is one that is often viewed through a lens of placing Boaz as God and Ruth as us.  We are told of God’s provision with this story, and how He redeems us.

However, recently it has become clear how a lesson of being a steward of God’s grace is blatantly obvious in this book of the Bible. 

First, let’s look at what a steward of grace is.  A steward is an individual who puts to use what the Lord has given them to honor God and to share His holiness with creation.  Grace is the undeserving assistance and forgiveness of the Lord given to His people as a result of their sanctification.  When putting these two definitions together, we see a steward of grace is one who purposely utilizes the unmerited assistance or forgiveness given by God.  When we actively use the grace He gives us, we are striving not for monetary, materialistic, or temporary rewards, but for eternal rewards that bring peace, provision, and comfort of God.  We are striving to partake in activity that humbles us and causes us to live in the midst of the Lord’s provision day by day, never expecting more than what we need.

So, how does this relate to the story of Ruth?  Ruth lost her husband, father-in-law, and brother-in-law.  After this tragedy, she chose to remain with her mother-in-law who, in the perspective of people in those days, had nothing left.  Ruth not only had the choice but was encouraged to leave Naomi and search for a worldly improvement on her life.  But, Ruth chose to push away this chance at temporary gain and remained faithful to her mother-in-law.

Later on, during a time where Ruth was talked about not only for being women of low status for the loss her husband, but also for being a Moabite woman among people in Bethlehem, she continued to work with the grace she was given.  Ruth went to the fields to glean among ears of grain left from the reapers.  In other words, she stayed in the fields day after day to collect the leftovers.  The poor and people of low status in society did this to provide for themselves.  With this in mind, we can dwell on how Ruth chose to be a steward of the grace she had by collecting only what she was given.  Without a doubt, surely Ruth desired more and to be put out of the circumstance she was in.  However, she did not demand this.  Instead, she spent each day thankfully collecting what was provided, therefore being a steward of her daily provision.

Eventually, Boaz not only took notice of Ruth, but invited her to share a meal.  Ruth ate until she was satisfied, and friends, please sincerely take note of this…yes, she took back what was left over.  But at this meal she ate only what she needed, and nothing more.  And after, she only took what was leftover, as well as what she had worked to glean, and nothing more.  This is being a steward of grace.  If looked at from a worldly perspective, Ruth should have eaten more than she needed to be able to take an overflowing abundance back to Naomi.  However, she only put to use the grace she was given that day, and nothing more.

All of this is not to say the Lord does not give in abundance; without a doubt, He does.  However, it is often too easy to become self-conceited and believe we deserve more than we have moment by moment.  We are to be stewards of grace in the moment, putting to use the grace we are given in that time.  This grace may look different one day to the next.  Sometimes, metaphorically speaking, we may have just enough sheaves from gleaning in the fields, and other times we may have extra food to take home after a shared meal.  And in some gracious circumstances, the Lord may provide a kind of grace similar to Boaz buying Elimelech’s land and marrying Ruth.

To close, I want to share words in Ann Voskamp’s book, One Thousand Gifts:

“And in that place of humble thanks, God exalts and gives more gifts and more of Himself, which humbles and lays the soul down lower.  And good God responds with greater gifts of grace and even more of Himself.  And I ride the undulating wave of grace, this lifting higher and higher in grace, the surging crest of joy, and this plunging lower and lower to humble thankfulness only to rise yet higher in grace…it offers the ultimate joyride and I don’t think I ever want to get off.”

Let’s live in our given moments being dependable and thankful stewards of God’s grace.