Wed. Devo - Come to the Table

Read Ruth 2:13-23
Ruth always takes the low road: "Let me find favor in your sight, my Lord, for you have comforted me, and you have spoken friendly unto your handmaid, though I be not like one of your handmaidens." Boaz invites her to eat with him, the owner of the field. He offers her bread and vinegar to dip her bread into. The vinegar is a sweet refreshing wine that was and is still served in the field in Italy during harvest. So, in essence, he is inviting her to the Lord's table where bread and wine is served. We are invited every day to this table. The Lord's supper is not to make us sad and sober but to refresh us for service. Boaz wanted Ruth to feel like a part of the family, not like the foreigner she was. Jesus is showing us how to treat new converts. Then Boaz told his servants to drop some grain on purpose for her. This reminds me of how God treats new believers: He makes it easy for them. Ever notice how new Christians seem to get all their prayers answered. Well, here is the prototype. God is trying to encourage them and welcome them into the kingdom. Their time of fighting and contending will come later when they are mature.
Ruth gleans a whole ephaph which is about 4 gallons of barley! Naomi is pleasantly surprised and asked about how she could glean so much in a day and whose field did she glean in. Ruth tells her about Boaz and the events of the day. Naomi gets excited because Boaz is a close relative. What fate! She gleans in Boaz's field through the barley harvest and through the wheat harvest.
This is a picture of what we are to be doing until Jesus comes back. We are to be busy in God's field. Sometimes that field looks like our family and sometimes it looks like random people we come in contact with during the day. Wherever we are we are to be feasting in the presence of God and gleaning enough from our time with God to feed ourselves and enough to give out to those God puts under our care. If we don't follow close to the source we will not get the things God drops down for us. Lord, we receive out of your bounty that never runs empty.