{"id":3849,"date":"2018-05-31T09:00:31","date_gmt":"2018-05-31T14:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/?p=3849"},"modified":"2019-03-14T17:34:52","modified_gmt":"2019-03-14T22:34:52","slug":"gleaning-while-she-waits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/2018\/05\/31\/gleaning-while-she-waits\/","title":{"rendered":"Gleaning While She Waits"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Erica Campbell<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, \u2018Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone whose eyes I find favor.\u2019\u201d Ruth 2:2<\/p>\n<p>Often while reading about Ruth, the little girl in me finds the romantic, fairytale elements of her story so captivating that I inadvertently gloss over other key details that lend to the power of this narrative. Now, don\u2019t get me wrong, I love that part of the story! Ruth finding her kinsman redeemer (ancient Israel\u2019s version of a knight-in-shining-armor) will forever remain a beautiful picture of God\u2019s provision and redemption. However, as I\u2019ve studied this story again, I find myself particularly drawn to the word, <em>glean<\/em>. Before we get to that, though, let\u2019s have some back story.<\/p>\n<p>When we first meet Ruth, she\u2019s a destitute Moabite widow living with her equally destitute, Jewish mother-in-law, Naomi, who is also a widow. Stricken by misfortune and having no husband or sons to provide for her, Naomi decides to return to her homeland, Israel, insisting that Ruth returns to her own land. But, as the story goes, Ruth surprisingly and adamantly insists on returning with Naomi, rather than parting ways. After some deliberation, Naomi consents, and the two women travel home to Bethlehem together. When they arrive home, their misfortune leaves them with severely limited options. Desperate for relief, Ruth takes to gleaning left-over wheat from the fields of one of Naomi\u2019s remaining relatives, Boaz. And from there, I\u2019m tempted to fast forward to the good parts. But Ruth\u2019s gleaning is what I\u2019d rather focus on.<\/p>\n<p>What do we know about gleaning? For starters, when it was time to harvest wheat and barley, by Israelite law, landowners were not allowed to harvest the edges of their fields. Additionally, any wheat that fell to the ground while harvesting other sections of their fields were to be left so that the poor could gather them up. It\u2019s also important to note that gleaning in those days was no easy task. In many ways, gleaning was harder than regular harvesting. The corner of the fields lay in a heavy thicket, and the fruits that remained were usually few, harder to find, and harder to pick. Couple this with the fact that Ruth lived in Israel during the time of the judges, when great moral corruption and lawlessness ruled the people, in many ways this put her at risk. However, these gleaning laws were poignant evidences of God\u2019s compassion for the poor, the widow, and the foreigner. Our main character, Ruth, easily fits into all three of those categories.<\/p>\n<p>Of the many lessons we can learn from Ruth, one, in particular, stands out to me: <em>she did what she had to do while hoping for something better<\/em>. By no choice of her own, tragedy threw her from provision to destitution. Once, she had a husband; now, she didn\u2019t. Once, she was provided for; now, she wasn\u2019t. Once, things were simple; now, they weren\u2019t. But how did she respond? She humbled herself and took action. Nowhere in scripture is Ruth recorded complaining about her circumstances. Rather, in poverty of spirit, she chose to glean while she waited and hoped. And she did it faithfully, at that.<\/p>\n<p>So, how do we apply this gleaning principle to our own lives? Perhaps our circumstances aren\u2019t what we would like. Maybe, we\u2019re waiting, wishing, longing for something better. Some of us even may be trying to just make it from one day to the next. But instead of giving ourselves over to despair while we wait, <em>let us do what we have to do, in hope. <\/em>Be encouraged! In every season, good or bad, there\u2019s an opportunity to glean and place our hope in God\u2019s compassionate love for us. It may be challenging or require bravery we don\u2019t feel we have. There may be days where we can\u2019t seem to find the end of the tunnel. But just as God saw Ruth gathering wheat, He also sees you in your field gathering what you can and being faithful in that. God\u2019s provision will meet you where you are. Glean while you hope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"excerpt","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":3852,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,37],"tags":[749,16,374,125,710],"class_list":{"0":"post-3849","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-general","8":"category-womens-ministries","9":"tag-749","10":"tag-discipleship","11":"tag-erica-campbell","12":"tag-leadership","13":"tag-ruth","14":"entry"},"title_es":"Gleaning mientras espera","content_es":"<strong>Escrito por: Erica Campbell<\/strong> \"Y Ruth la moabita le dijo a Noem\u00ed: 'D\u00e9jame ir a los campos y recoger el grano sobrante detr\u00e1s de cualquiera cuyos ojos encuentre favores'\". Rut 2: 2 A menudo, mientras lee sobre Rut, la ni\u00f1a en m\u00ed, los elementos rom\u00e1nticos y de cuento de hadas de su historia son tan cautivadores que inadvertidamente ignoro otros detalles clave que prestan al poder de esta narrativa. Ahora, no me malinterpreten, \u00a1me encanta esa parte de la historia! Ruth encontrando a su pariente redentor (la versi\u00f3n antigua de Israel de una armadura de caballero en brillante) siempre ser\u00e1 una bella imagen de la provisi\u00f3n y redenci\u00f3n de Dios. Sin embargo, al estudiar esta historia nuevamente, me siento particularmente atra\u00eddo por la palabra, <em>espigar<\/em> . Antes de llegar a eso, sin embargo, tengamos algo de historia. Cuando conocemos por primera vez a Ruth, ella es una viuda moabita indigente que vive con su igualmente adormilada suegra jud\u00eda, Naomi, que tambi\u00e9n es viuda. Golpeada por la desgracia y al no tener marido o hijos que la protejan, Naomi decide regresar a su tierra natal, Israel, insistiendo en que Ruth regrese a su propia tierra. Pero, seg\u00fan cuenta la historia, Ruth sorprende e insistentemente insiste en regresar con Naomi, en lugar de separarse. Despu\u00e9s de algunas deliberaciones, Naomi da su consentimiento, y las dos mujeres viajan juntas a casa en Bel\u00e9n. Cuando llegan a casa, su desgracia les deja con opciones severamente limitadas. Desesperado por el alivio, Ruth se dedica a recoger trigo sobrante de los campos de uno de los parientes restantes de Naomi, Boaz. Y a partir de ah\u00ed, estoy tentado de avanzar r\u00e1pidamente a las partes buenas. Pero lo que prefiero enfocar es averiguar de Ruth. \u00bfQu\u00e9 sabemos sobre espigar? Para empezar, cuando lleg\u00f3 el momento de cosechar trigo y cebada, seg\u00fan la ley israelita, a los terratenientes no se les permiti\u00f3 cosechar los bordes de sus campos. Adem\u00e1s, cualquier trigo que cayera al suelo mientras se cosechaban otras secciones de sus campos deb\u00eda dejarse para que los pobres pudieran recogerlos. Tambi\u00e9n es importante tener en cuenta que recoger en esos d\u00edas no fue tarea f\u00e1cil. En muchos sentidos, la recolecci\u00f3n fue m\u00e1s dif\u00edcil que la recolecci\u00f3n regular. La esquina de los campos yac\u00eda en una espesura espesa, y los frutos que quedaban eran generalmente pocos, m\u00e1s dif\u00edciles de encontrar y m\u00e1s dif\u00edciles de recoger. Si unimos esto con el hecho de que Ruth vivi\u00f3 en Israel durante el tiempo de los jueces, cuando la gran corrupci\u00f3n moral y la anarqu\u00eda gobernaron a la gente, en muchos sentidos esto la puso en riesgo. Sin embargo, estas leyes de recolecci\u00f3n fueron evidencias conmovedoras de la compasi\u00f3n de Dios por los pobres, la viuda y el extranjero. Nuestro personaje principal, Ruth, se adapta f\u00e1cilmente a las tres categor\u00edas. De las muchas lecciones que podemos aprender de Ruth, una, en particular, se destaca para m\u00ed: <em>hizo lo que ten\u00eda que hacer mientras esperaba algo mejor<\/em> . Sin elecci\u00f3n propia, la tragedia la ech\u00f3 de la provisi\u00f3n a la miseria. Una vez, ella tuvo un esposo; ahora, ella no. Una vez, ella fue provista; ahora, ella no. Una vez, las cosas fueron simples; ahora, no lo fueron. Pero, \u00bfc\u00f3mo respondi\u00f3 ella? Ella se humill\u00f3 a s\u00ed misma y tom\u00f3 medidas. En ninguna parte de las Escrituras se registra a Ruth quej\u00e1ndose de sus circunstancias. Por el contrario, en la pobreza de esp\u00edritu, ella opt\u00f3 por recoger mientras esperaba y esperaba. Y lo hizo fielmente, en eso. Entonces, \u00bfc\u00f3mo aplicamos este principio de recoger a nuestras propias vidas? Tal vez nuestras circunstancias no son lo que nos gustar\u00eda. Tal vez, estamos esperando, deseando, anhelando algo mejor. Algunos de nosotros incluso estamos tratando de pasar de un d\u00eda para otro. Pero en lugar de entregarnos a la desesperaci\u00f3n mientras esperamos, <em>hagamos lo que tenemos que hacer, con esperanza.<\/em> \u00a1Ser alentado! En cada temporada, buena o mala, hay una oportunidad de recoger y poner nuestra esperanza en el amor compasivo de Dios por nosotros. Puede ser desafiante o requerir valent\u00eda que no creemos que tengamos. Puede haber d\u00edas en los que parece que no podemos encontrar el final del t\u00fanel. Pero as\u00ed como Dios vio a Rut recogiendo trigo, tambi\u00e9n te ve en tu campo reuniendo todo lo que puedes y siendo fiel en eso. La provisi\u00f3n de Dios te encontrar\u00e1 donde est\u00e1s. Remueve mientras esperas.","author_name":"","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/05\/Gleaning-While-She-Waits.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4T9u2-105","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}