December 7, 2022 7:00 pm
Maria carried her fast-food lunch to an empty table. As she bit into her burger, her eyes locked on those of a young man seated several tables away. His clothes were soiled, his hair hung limply, and he clutched at an empty paper cup. Clearly, he was hungry. How could she help? A gift of cash seemed unwise. If she bought a meal and presented it to him, might he be embarrassed?
Just then Maria remembered the story of Ruth where Boaz, a wealthy landowner, invited the impoverished immigrant widow to glean from his fields. He gave orders to his men. “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her. Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her” (Ruth 2:15). In a culture where women were utterly dependent on their connection to men for survival, Boaz demonstrated God’s loving provision. Eventually, Boaz married Ruth, redeeming her from her serious need (4:9–10).
As Maria rose to leave, she placed her untouched packet of fries on a nearby table, meeting the man’s eyes as she did so. If he was hungry, he might glean from her “fast-food field.” God’s heart is revealed in the stories of Scripture as they illustrate creative solutions to encourage.
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Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.
I'm Elissa Morgan, and I titled our reading Fast Food Encouragement. Maria carried her fast food lunch to an empty table. As she bit into her burger, her eyes locked on those of a young man seated several tables away. His clothes were soiled, his hair hung limply, and he clutched an empty paper cup.
Clearly, he was hungry. How could she help? A gift of cash seemed unwise.
If she bought a meal and presented it to him, might he be embarrassed? Just then, Maria remembered the story of Ruth, where Boaz, a wealthy landowner, invited the impoverished immigrant widow to glean from his fields. In Ruth Chapter 2, he ordered his men, let her gather among the sheaves and don't reprimand her.
Even pull out some stocks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don't rebuke her. In a culture where women were utterly dependent on their connection to men for survival, Boaz demonstrated God's loving provision. Eventually, Boaz married Ruth, redeeming her from her serious need. As Maria rose to leave, she placed her untouched packet of fries on a nearby table, meeting the man's eyes as she did so. If he was hungry, he might glean from her fast food field.
God's heart is revealed in the stories of Scripture as they illustrate creative solutions to encourage others. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Ruth Chapter 2 verses 15 through 20. She carried it back to town and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough. Her mother-in-law asked her, Where did you glean today?
Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you. Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working.
The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz, she said. The Lord blessed him, Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.
She added, That man is our close relative. He is one of our guardian redeemers. Let's pray. Dear Father, show us who needs us to extend your love to them today. In Jesus' name we pray. Thanks for listening today. My name is Alisa Morgan and today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.
Whisper: medium.en / 2022-12-07 20:38:40 / 2022-12-07 20:40:18 / 2
