It’s been one of those mornings in Bible study—a time of reflection that promotes more questions than answers. A day when I (again) wrote these words in the margin of my current Bible study guide, “Do I really believe this?” Whenever this happens, my contemplation takes a turn, sometimes toward clarity, sometimes toward confusion. On this particular morning, there’s confusion—a long wrestling of thought, Word, and practical living that doesn’t compute fully with the author’s considerations. Accordingly, I won’t “go there,” at least not with you, friends. Instead, I’ll take my questions to God and continue to flesh out my beliefs with him, with his Word, and with an open heart. Sometimes it’s just better to let our questions simmer before him rather than fanning them into flame before mankind. Why?
Well, sometimes we’re not as forgiving as God is. In fact, never are we as forgiving as God is. He’s more open-minded with our earnest probing and deliberate searches for answers. We, on the other hand, are more comfortable with ours judgments, making assumptions, drawing conclusions, and rendering a verdict when someone bravely risks doing the heart work attached to his/her faith and doing so out loud. And so today, I tuck away my questions, and I focus on a scripture that has surfaced for me from this same study and from God’s Word that doesn’t warrant my question mark but only my highlighter and my “Amen.” Hear now from God’s Word:
“So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah. 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” (Ruth 2:17-18).
So what in the wide world of faith and function do these verses have in common with the questions stirring in my spirit this morning?
Everything, because in these two verses, God gives me . . . gives you a “how-to” for dealing with the hard wrestlings that sometime surface for us as we move forward in our faith and understanding. Ruth . . .
- gleaned the harvest;
- threshed the harvest;
- carried the harvest;
- ate the harvest;
- shared the harvest
Good theology, good understanding begins in the wheat fields, where bread has already been planted by the Sower, watered by the Sower, and grown by the Sower. Truth cannot be created. Truth already is; accordingly, our souls’ understanding cannot, should not be built from scratch. We must start with good seed planted in rich soil—a harvest ready for gleaning. Good understanding begins with God and his Word. Get there first, and you’re in a good place of education and eternal growth. Glean truth from what’s already been grown; you won’t come up empty-handed. God’s already handed you his abundance.
Secondly, good understanding grows during the threshing process—a time when the wheat is spread out so that the edible grain can be loosened from the inedible chaff. A time of cutting through the chaff to get to the palatable. “Without the grain’s release from its hardened casing, the ripened seeds are reduced in their usefulness” (Peace for the Journey, 2010, pg. 113). Good understanding doesn’t come home to roost in our hearts unless there’s been a hearty threshing applied along the way. It’s not always easy to relinquish the harvest to the pounding; rarely is it comfortable, but if we’re after God’s truth—if we really want to know that we know that we know deep down in the marrow of our souls—then we must surrender our questions and our confusion to the winnowing process.
Notice Ruth’s next obedience. She carried the harvest back to town. When questions surface in our hearts regarding our faith and our theology, not only must we glean and thresh the harvest, but also we must carry the harvest with us . . . for a season. Let the work that’s being done in you, linger with you for awhile. Don’t short step this process or make false assumptions about your knowledge. Good understanding must be mulled over, contemplated, and developed over time. The saints of old spent a lifetime cultivating godly understanding. They didn’t have all the answers on the front side of their faith; the answers arrived for them along the way and as they went, one step at a time. You don’t have all the answers regarding God and his Word. Thinking that you do is a good indicator that there’s more work to be done.
Next, Ruth ate the harvest. After gleaning it, threshing it, and carrying it, the harvest was finally ready for consumption. I don’t know much about the digestion process, but I do know that once something goes in my mouth, it goes down . . . deep down and becomes (in essence) part of my inward being. Are you hearing what I’m saying (rather what I’m typing—rather quickly and furiously I might add, not furiously bad, but furiously good)? Before anything, any truth, any knowledge becomes part of our inward beings, let’s be sure we give it thorough consideration before we consume it. To blindly eat the harvest in front of us is to open up our souls to disaster, to waste, to fraudulent food that does more harm than good.
Finally, Ruth shared the harvest. After she had eaten her fill, she generously shared the harvest with Naomi. Initially, we might think Ruth would have first given the harvest to her mother-in-law; after all, Ruth’s generosity is clearly on display at every turn. But I want to lead you along for a moment with a thought that just occurred to me. Just as the ancient custom of the king’s cupbearer tasting the wine before passing it on to his master, could it be the same principle at work here—Ruth eating her fill, making sure it was good for consumption before passing it along to Naomi? Could it be the same for us in regards to spiritual understanding? That after we’ve gleaned, threshed, carried, and eaten the harvest, we might finally come to some realizations about God’s truth in regards to our wrestlings and questions? In other words, if it goes down smoothly for us, if the harvest is good for us, then, perhaps it might be good for others, might be ready for the sharing? Sometimes, eating the harvest is the only way to know if it’s safe for public consumption. Better to pass truth along after it’s been tested.
And so today, on a day when I wrestle through some questions, I’ll do so with Ruth’s example in mind. I’ll glean from God’s fields, thresh the wheat, carry the edible around with me for awhile, eat it while monitoring my digestion, and then, maybe I’ll share it with you. Maybe I won’t. It’s too early to tell.
Oh that we all might take Ruth’s lead and step back from the mirror long enough to submit our thoughts, questions, and theology to the harvesting process so that we might arrive at the place of fully believing in the faith that we are so willing to boldly profess!
For what it’s worth, it’s what I’m thinking about today. What are you thinking about? As always . . .
Peace for the journey,
I like this, Elaine, “Sometimes, eating the harvest is the only way to know if it’s safe for public consumption.”
I believe in many ways regarding theology I’ve done this – over the past 2 years especially. It’s what propelled me to write my Bible study, “Life in the Key of G ~ Grace & Glory.” I’ve lived His grace in the worst of days.
I know you have done the same.
How differently life looks through the lens of suffering! I know you’ve felt this deeply, Melanie. I know you continue to feel it. Thank you for allowing God to shape your heart and your theology along the way. Few allow him the privilege of doing so. Keep to it.
It has been awhile since I have been able to stop by your little corner of blog world but God knew that today was the day I needed to be here. I have been in a season of carrying the harvest around.
Our “carrying time” is never wasted, Amy, as long as we’re carrying the right stuff around! I know that you are and that, in time, you’ll be filled with many good treasures to share! Thanks for stopping by.
I love what you have written on this post… how Ruth gleaned, and threshed, then carried it back, ate some, and shared it.
It is really a beautiful spiritual principle, and quite do-able, in our own personal versions of it.
These days, I am in the process of gleaning fresh truths from the Bible, but not just for the purpose of gleaning for mere intellectual input… I have to thresh it out, separate the grain from the chaff, then I have to let it enter my own life story, and EAT it… make it a part of my heart understanding, so that it becomes part of my spiritual cellular structure… and only then can I have the credibility to even share it.
Amazing how these simple words from this little book are speaking volumes to me right this very minute.
Thank you Elaine for, as Nikki Rosen would say it, being in my corner!
Much love
Lidia
Always in your corner, friend, even when that corner is miles away, separated by an ocean. I love the faithfulness you display in all the corners of your life. You’re a treasure!
Glean, thresh, carry, eat and share. This is excellent! Each step so important. One building upon another. No short-cuts. So often I have, especially the share part when I surely have needed to ‘chew’ on it more. Thank you, Elaine. This is good counsel. Excellent counsel. 🙂
Me too, Kathie! Sometimes boldness is to be celebrated in the moment; sometimes it is needed. But sometimes, like you said, and like Lori B. mentioned, it’s better to chew on it before sharing it. I’m learning as I go. Thanks for weighing in.
~elaine
Love the principles that God showed you through this passage, Elaine, and how we can apply them to gaining spiritual understanding. Good, good stuff!
As always, thanks for being here Cheryl! You are a continual encouragement to me. Praying for the grandmother to be this morning!!!
I like your statement, “That after we’ve gleaned, threshed, carried, and eaten the harvest, we might finally come to some realizations about God’s truth in regards to our wrestlings and questions? In other words, if it goes down smoothly for us, if the harvest is good for us, then, perhaps it might be good for others, might be ready for the sharing? Sometimes, eating the harvest is the only way to know if it’s safe for public consumption. Better to pass truth along after it’s been tested.”
This speaks to my heart the importance of practicing what we preach.
Great point dear sister!
Blessings.
I’m with you, Nancy. I just want to be careful to pay attention to my belief system and to really understand what I believe before I “give it” to others. This doesn’t mean I get to sit on the sidelines of faith and take a pass when it comes to speaking my faith. It just means I want to really know God in a deeply personal way and be careful how I represent him and his Word to others. I know you feel the same way. Thanks for stopping by.
GREAT post Elaine!!!!! I love what you had to say here… “Sometimes, eating the harvest is the only way to know if it’s safe for public consumption. Better to pass truth along after it’s been tested.” Sometimes we can be too quick to share with others something we have been pondering and wrestling with. I think that sometimes God needs us to “chew on it for awhile” first. We don’t always need outside influences, advice, or comments on something we are going through. I think God lets us know when we need to share.
Keep wrestling my friend! Love ya!!!
Have mercy, I’ve always been more than “ready” to share my every thought! I remember my dad once telling me, “Elaine, feel free to keep a few thoughts to yourself. Not everyone needs to know your every thought.” So true. I’m learning! Love you, friend.
wifeforthejourney:
When life is hard and the labor seems so long, is it any wonder that the numbers of people willing to sign up for working the harvest fields are few?
In the gleaning, Ruth made the most of the harvest “leftovers.” Enough for herself. Enough to share with Naomi. Obviously what was going on inside of her was not just a desire to fill her belly, not just a moral obligation to care for her mother-in-law but an act of faith and love. So I ask myself this morning, “What are the motivations of my heart today?” Do I serve the church because I’m on the payroll? Do I regard the harvest field with the ungrateful term, “leftovers,” or do I see God’s grace at work in allowing me to work? And finally, what am I bringing home at the end of the day? Do I believe what God provides is really “enough?”
I know my response should be one of gratitude……thank you for allowing me a morning’s pause to consider what my attitude and my day’s labor should be like. Love you,
Billy
this is so good. i love this idea of harvesting Truth and understanding. thank you.
good to hear from you..
i’m going to be back on the road July 8…email me if you’re available any time that week…will be staying w/ my MIL and she would love to get out and about some 😉
This is such a wonderful post Elaine…Thank you for sharing. I loved the study of Ruth and came out of it with so much more than I could have ever imagined.
Your blog’s been open on my computer for several days. You’ve read my blog, so you know this has been a difficult week with mother. I’ve gleaned, threshed, carried and ate and now that I’ve shared, I’m hoping I can let it all go, until next time. I’m emailing you now.
XOXOXO,
Brenda
“Good theology, good understanding begins in the wheat fields …” I had never thought about that before. Powerful! You make some compelling points in this post, many I need to ingest to digest. Good stuff!