I Must Be Dreaming, Says Rags-to-Riches Immigrant

by: Michael Wilcock

Can you see that headline over today’s story?” It’s not exactly riches for Ruth, at least not yet. But there’s a startling change in the fortunes of the friendless immigrant woman. That morning, she had literally to pick up a living where she could. Soon she found the toil of gleaning made easy for her. By the time the lunch break arrives, she is practically one of the workers and is being treated to a free meal in the staff lunchroom!

We don’t know what industrial relations were like in those days. Was Ruth embarrassed? Were the employees indignant? Perhaps they took it in their stride. There was in Israel a great tradition of care for “resident aliens” not always so evident in our world.

What we do know is that her good fortune was a great deal more than she had dared to hope—only that morning a penniless stranger, and now, heaped with privileges. Perhaps she had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.

This is what people regularly find when they begin to experience God’s blessing. God “is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think” (Eph. 3:20).