Ruth 2:2

Ruth 2:2

Work has many aspects. It may be treated as a portion of man's curse. But it was not work which was new to man. From the beginning work had been assigned to him; the difference was that work henceforth was to be both excessive in degree and comparatively unremunerative.

Notice:

I. Nature works. Sometimes in the mere consciousness of health and vitality. There is that in a man which will not and cannot be idle. Doubtless human life is the gainer by every kind and department of industry. The labourers of society are its benefactors. Better any work than any idleness.

II. Faith works. (1) The work of faith looks within. Faith, which is the sight of the unseen, apprehends the existence of spirit, the possibility of regeneration, and the direct influence of Divine grace upon the heart and soul of man. It would not be faith in the Christian sense if it did not apprehend these mysteries. Before faith can set out upon her gleaning she must find grace in the sight of One unseen. (2) The work of faith looks upward. The eye of faith is upon God, even while the hand of faith and the foot of faith are moving among the things of this world. (3) The work of faith looks around. Faith does not look only on her own things, but on the things of others. Faith does seriously contemplate the wants and the woes and the wickednesses which are making havoc of humanity, and has something truly of that mind in her which was also first and perfectly in Christ Jesus. (4) The work of faith looks onward. Oftentimes faith would faint if it had not an onward aspect. It is willing to wait for the day of God's power, willing to be lost and forgotten in the eventual ingathering.

C. J. Vaughan, Voices of the Prophets;p. 55 (see also Good Words,1886, p. 815)

References: Ruth 2:3. Spurgeon, Morning by Morning,p. 214; Spurgeon, Evening by Evening,p. 301.Ruth 2:4. R. L. Browne, Sussex Sermons,p. 81; C. Kingsley, The Water of Life,p. 140; F. E. Paget, Village Sermons: Trinity to Advent,p. 201; Homiletic Quarterly,vol. ii., p. 266; J. Keble, Sermons for the Christian Year: Sundays after Trinity,Part II., p. 97. Ruth 2:12. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xxxi., No. 1851.Ruth 2:14. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. ix., p. 522; Spurgeon, Evening by Evening,p. 79; W. Meller, Village Homilies,p. 114; S. Baring-Gould, Village Preaching for a Year,vol. i., p. 229. Ruth 2:15; Ruth 2:16. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. viii., No. 464.Ruth 2:16. D. Lane, Thursday Penny Pulpit,vol. x., p. 149.