When she rose to glean, Boaz instructed his young men, saying, ‘Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. And also pull out some from the bundles for her and leave it for her to glean, and do not rebuke her.’ So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.
(Ruth 2:15-17 ESV)
Most of us have experienced a moment where we worked hard for something and later found out someone had been quietly helping us the whole time. Maybe it was a teacher who gave you a second chance you didn’t know you were getting. Or a manager who went to bat for you behind closed doors. Or a coworker who picked up your slack without ever mentioning it.
There’s something almost overwhelming about finding that out. Not just because of the help itself, but because you realize that someone cared enough to act on your behalf.
That’s what’s happening here in Ruth 2.
After Boaz notices Ruth gleaning in his field, he pulls his workers aside and gives them a quiet instruction. Most translations say something like: “Pull out some stalks from the bundles and leave them for her to glean.” The word for “pull out” is shalal (שָׁלַל), pronounced shah-LAHL. But Boaz uses an intensified form of this word that means something closer to “Be absolutely certain to pull out.” This isn’t a suggestion. It’s an emphatic command.
And what’s interesting is that shalal is the same root word used in the Old Testament for plunder, for taking the spoils of war. Boaz is telling his workers to raid their own harvest. To reach into the bundles they had already cut and gathered, and deliberately scatter them in Ruth’s direction.
She would never know. And that was the point. Ruth would bend down, find stalks of grain and think, “I must have missed these. Lucky me.” She worked her way through the field thinking it was her diligence paying off, her own good fortune. But the whole time, Boaz’s workers were making sure there was more far more available than she could ever account for on her own.
How many times have you looked back at a difficult time in your life and thought, “I don’t know how I made it through that.” In hindsight, there was more provision than there should have been. Doors that opened without explanation. Help that arrived at just the right time.
What if that wasn’t luck? What if the Lord had already gone ahead of you and pulled out handfuls of grace and scattered them in your path before you even got there? That’s what God does. He doesn’t leave provision by accident. He commands it. And when He gives the order, He doesn’t say “leave a little.” He says “leave plenty.”
Ruth went home that evening with far more than she expected. She thought it was a good day’s work. She didn’t know it was grace. You may not know it yet either, but you will. Keep gleaning.
Prayer: Lord, open my eyes to the graces You’ve repeatedly scattered in my path, the provisions I’ve been collecting without knowing they were placed there by You. Forgive me for those times I’ve chalked up Your faithfulness to luck or my own effort. Help me to glean with gratitude, trusting that the harvest in front of me reflects Your care more than my efforts. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Alan Smith
Reprinted with permission from Alan Smith’s Thought For the Day