August 2, Evening

C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling

"So she gleaned in the field until even." — Ruth 2:17 · KJV

Let me learn from Ruth the gleaner. As she went out to gather ears of corn, so must I go into the fields of prayer, meditation, and the hearing of the word to gather spiritual food. The gleaner gathers her portion ear by ear; her gains come little by little, and so must I be content to search out single truths where there is no greater plenty. Every ear helps make a bundle, and every gospel lesson helps make us wise unto salvation. The gleaner keeps her eyes open; if she wandered among the stubble as in a dream, she would carry no load home at evening. So I must be watchful in religious exercises, lest they become unprofitable to me. I fear I have lost much already — O that I may rightly value my opportunities and glean with greater diligence! The gleaner stoops for all she finds, and so must I. High spirits criticize and object, but lowly minds glean and gain; a humble heart is a great help toward hearing the gospel with profit, for the engrafted, soul-saving word is received only with meekness. A stiff back makes a bad gleaner; down, master pride — you are a vile robber, not to be endured for a moment. What the gleaner gathers she keeps; if she dropped one ear to find another, her day's work would be scant. She is as careful to retain as to obtain, and so at last her gains are great. How often do I forget all that I hear — the second truth pushing the first out of my head, so that my reading and hearing end in much ado about nothing! Do I duly feel the importance of storing up the truth? A hungry stomach makes the gleaner wise: if there is no corn in her hand, there will be no bread on her table. She labors under a sense of necessity, and so her step is quick and her grasp firm. I have a greater necessity still; Lord, help me feel it, that it may urge me on to glean in fields that so richly reward diligence.