Ruth 2:23; 3:10-11 – Faithfulness is Hard Work

²³ So she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz to glean unto the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and dwelt with her mother in law.

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¹⁰ And he said, Blessed be thou of the Lord, my daughter: for thou hast shewed more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch as thou followedst not young men, whether poor or rich.

¹¹ And now, my daughter, fear not; I will do to thee all that thou requirest: for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman.

Faithfulness is not something that comes easily or naturally to anyone. Our natural tendencies is to not be faithful in what we do, but to try to take the easy way out, or try to cut corners. Here, however, we see an important lesson about Ruth’s character that we can stand to learn from: she worked hard to stay faithful. In chapter 2, she continued to collect food from the beginning to the end of the barley and wheat harvest. This was a time period of around 4-6 weeks of working in the fields gathering food. This was no easy task. Around this time, Ruth asked Boaz to marry her and redeem her late husband’s family tree. Boaz, having noticed Ruth’s faithfulness and hard work, commended her for her faithfulness and focus (there were plenty of young men working in the fields, too. It would have been easy for her to marry one of them and settle). Boaz agrees to redeem her family tree as long as one relative, who happens to be a closer relative than Boaz, refuses to marry Ruth (which he does).

The important lesson for us Christians to learn from Ruth is that Faithfulness requires hard work! It is not easy to be faithful to church, Bible reading, or prayer. It is just not in our nature to be faithful. However, it is not impossible to be faithful. It does require a lot of hard work, but God honors that, just like he will honor Ruth. Our responsibility is to be faithful, even when it’s hard.

Life Step: Think about it…

In what areas do you sometimes struggle to stay faithful?

What are some ways we can work to stay faithful?