拿俄米讚美神
路得記二章18至23節
18她就把所拾取的帶進城去給婆婆看，又把她吃飽了所剩的給了婆婆。
19婆婆問她說：你今日在哪裡拾取麥穗，在哪裡做工呢？願那顧恤你的得福。路得就告訴婆婆說：我今日在一個名叫波阿斯的人那裡做工。
20拿俄米對兒婦說：願那人蒙耶和華賜福，因為他不斷地恩待活人死人。拿俄米又說：那是我們本族的人，是一個至近的親屬。
21摩押女子路得說：他對我說：你要緊隨我的僕人拾取麥穗，直等他們收完了我的莊稼。
22拿俄米對兒婦路得說：女兒啊，你跟著他的使女出去，不叫人遇見你在別人田間，這才為好。
23於是路得與波阿斯的使女常在一處拾取麥穗，直到收完了大麥和小麥。路得仍與婆婆同住。
信息分享
當拿俄米從路得口中得知波阿斯如何善待她們，心中感到異常的感動和興奮。她猛然記起波阿斯是她們的近親，於是，心中便開始出現一個念頭和構思。她更隱隱地體會到神沒有離棄她們，反而帶領路得的腳步，讓她走到波阿斯的田間拾穗。
拿俄米提醒路得說：「妳明天記著要到他的田間拾穗才好。妳如果到另一塊田，未必會遇到同樣的好人。不是每個人都像波阿斯那樣仁慈的。」
日子就這樣一天一天地經過。大麥的收割期究竟有多長？經文沒有告訴我們，但我們知道大麥大約在逾越節的前後開始收割，接著便是在五旬節的前後收割小麥。這兩個節期之間大約相隔七個星期，因此，第23節提到路得一直在波阿斯的田間拾穗，直至收完大麥與小麥，期間大概有兩個月左右。
路得在這段期間一直與拿俄米同住，我們相信她必定從婆婆口中對神認識更多。至於拿俄米本人，也顯然對神的信心不斷加增。有一點有趣的是，拿俄米在回鄉定居之初，雖然曾叫人稱她作「瑪拉」，來喻意自己命苦，可是，卻似乎沒有人用這個名字來稱呼她。「拿俄米」的名意是「甜」或「愉悅」，而隨著她的信心逐漸成長，她便愈來愈變得人如其名──頓覺人生的甜美和愉悅。
讓我們一同齊唱讚美詩「榮耀歸於真神」，來稱頌神為我們所成就的一切。
NAOMI PRAISES GOD
Ruth 2:18-23
18 Then she took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned.
So she brought out and gave to her what she had kept back after she had been satisfied.
19 And her mother-in-law said to her, “Where have you gleaned today? And where did you work? Blessed be the one who took notice of you.”
So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.”
20 Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “Blessed be he of the Lord, who has not forsaken His kindness to the living and the dead!” And Naomi said to her, “This man is a relation of ours, one of our close relatives.”
21 Ruth the Moabitess said, “He also said to me, ‘You shall stay close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’”
22 And Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, and that people do not meet you in any other field.”
23 So she stayed close by the young women of Boaz, to glean until the end of barley harvest and wheat harvest; and she dwelt with her mother-in-law.
Message
Can you imagine the little stone or mud-brick home in Bethlehem when Ruth arrived home that first night? She had a full bag of grain and an exciting full story to tell. She had threshed out the grain before she left Boaz' field and had carried home almost a bushel of precious barley. Quite a load for a young woman to carry from the field to the house in the village.
Naomi was tremendously excited when she heard what Boaz had said and done. She also remembered that Boaz was a close relative and a plan began to work itself out in her mind and heart. She also began to see even dimly that God had not left her desolate but had guided Ruth's feet to that field that day.
Naomi cautioned Ruth, 'Make sure you go back to those same fields tomorrow. You may not be so fortunate if you went to someone else's harvest field. Not everyone is as kind as Boaz.'
So the days slipped by. How long did the barley harvest last? We are not told but it was followed by the wheat harvest. We know that the barley harvest began around the time of the Passover and after that the wheat harvest which was around Pentecost. About seven weeks separated these two feasts so that would be the approximate time period mentioned in verse 23.
In the meantime Ruth lived with Naomi. It would be easy to imagine that in this time, Ruth learned more and more of the worship of the true God, under whose wings she had come to trust. Naomi had obviously been growing again in her faith in God. It is interesting that while she asked the people to call her 'Mara' which means bitterness, she never seems to have been known by that name. Naomi means pleasant or happy and as she grew again in faith, that is what she became once more.
Why not sing a verse of 'To God be the glory, Great things he has done'?