FOR WHOM ARE YOU LABORING?

                                                                  
     "May the LORD reward your work, and your wages be full from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge" Ruth 2:12.  This is a statement which Boaz made to Ruth.  Ruth was a foreigner to God and His land.  She was from the country of Moab and had married an Israelite who had come to her land.  After being married to him for only a short while, he died as did her father-in-law.  So Ruth came with her mother-in-law, Naomi, to the land of Israel in order to take care of her mother-in-law.  She went to work harvesting in Boaz's field to make a living for Naomi and herself. Boaz prays that the Lord will recompense her work and give her a full reward.  He asked this blessing upon her because of the great care that she was giving Naomi (Ruth 2:11).
     On more than one occasion the apostle Paul reminds us that we are to labor for the purpose of helping others.  He said in Acts 20:35, "In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak" and in Ephesians 4:28 he said, "He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need."
     The promise is that God would reward Ruth's labors because she was caring for Naomi.  Solomon promised, "A faithful man will abound with blessings, but he who makes haste to be rich will not go unpunished" Proverbs 28:20. Malachi recorded a similar promise from God when he wrote, "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this, says the LORD of hosts, 'If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows'" 3:10.
     We cannot out give God.  The more one labors for God and others, the more God will bless him.  For whom are you laboring?

 

-- Wayne Burger