March 19, Evening

C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling

"And she did eat, and was sufficed, and left." — Ruth 2:14 · KJV

Whenever we are privileged to eat of the bread that Jesus gives, we are, like Ruth, satisfied with the full and sweet meal. When Jesus is the host, no guest goes empty from the table. Our head is satisfied with the precious truth Christ reveals; our heart is content with Jesus as the altogether lovely object of affection; our hope is satisfied, for whom have we in heaven but Jesus? and our desire is satiated, for what could we wish for more than "to know Christ, and to be found in Him"? Jesus fills our conscience till it is at perfect peace, our judgment with persuasion of the certainty of His teaching, our memory with recollections of what He has done, and our imagination with the prospects of what He is yet to do. As Ruth was "sufficed, and left," so is it with us. We have had deep draughts; we have thought we could take in all of Christ; but when we have done our best, we have had to leave a vast remainder. We have sat at the table of the Lord's love and said, "Nothing but the infinite can ever satisfy me; I am such a great sinner that I must have infinite merit to wash my sin away"; but we have had our sin removed, and found there was merit to spare; we have had our hunger relieved at the feast of sacred love, and found that there was an abundance of spiritual food remaining. There are certain sweet things in the Word of God that we have not yet enjoyed, and which we must leave for a while; for we are like the disciples to whom Jesus said, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now." Yes, there are graces we have not attained, places of fellowship nearer to Christ that we have not reached, heights of communion our feet have not climbed. At every banquet of love there are many baskets of fragments left. Let us magnify the liberality of our glorious Boaz.