Taking A Step Of Faith

Ruth 2:2 tells us: “Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, ‘Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.’” Remember, the harvest was just beginning when Ruth and Naomi arrived back in Bethlehem from Moab, so the fields would have been full of reapers cutting down the stalks of wheat and tying them together. The Old Testament law declared that poor people could follow behind the paid workers and pick up whatever bit of wheat was left behind. The term was called gleaning. It was hard work. There was no salary involved. All you got was the wheat that you could pick up that was left on the ground.

Not only was it hard work, it was unsafe work for Ruth as well. She would be working in a field surrounded by transient workers who didn’t have a high regard for a woman anyway. Ruth was very vulnerable in this situation. It was hard and risky work. But it was what Ruth could do. So she took the first step. 

Many people, when they need something from God, think it is enough to “just pray”. Prayer is the most important thing we can do, but it is not the only thing we should do. If you want to experience God’s provision, you have to take the first step.

Gleaning wasn’t a permanent solution. Harvest would end eventually. It wasn’t ideal work. But it was something she could do at the time. Gleaning wasn’t an end to she and Naomi's financial problems, but it was a step in the right direction. And just as important, it was a step she could take. Sometimes you may need to do something that isn’t a permanent solution to your problem, but it may be a first step.

When we are needing God’s provision, while it is a necessity that we take it to the Lord in prayer, we should also ask ourselves, “What can I do get the process of provision started.” Even if it is not a permanent solution to the problem, we need to ask ourselves what we can do to open the door to new possibilities.

You see, when you start taking those first steps of faith, you open the door for good things in your life. You open the door to what has been called by author Steve May, God-ordained coincidences.  These are those moments that initially seem to be a coincidence, but once you have the time and the perspective to look back on the events, you realize that the only way the events could have lined up was for God to be involved in it. However, for today, please remember, those moments often occur when you have taken the first step. When you have begun to glean in your circumstances.