拿俄米赞美神
路得记二章18至23节
18她就把所拾取的带进城去给婆婆看，又把她吃饱了所剩的给了婆婆。
19婆婆问她说：你今日在哪里拾取麦穗，在哪里做工呢？愿那顾恤你的得福。路得就告诉婆婆说：我今日在一个名叫波阿斯的人那里做工。
20拿俄米对儿妇说：愿那人蒙耶和华赐福，因为他不断地恩待活人死人。拿俄米又说：那是我们本族的人，是一个至近的亲属。
21摩押女子路得说：他对我说：你要紧随我的仆人拾取麦穗，直等他们收完了我的庄稼。
22拿俄米对儿妇路得说：女儿啊，你跟着他的使女出去，不叫人遇见你在别人田间，这才为好。
23于是路得与波阿斯的使女常在一处拾取麦穗，直到收完了大麦和小麦。路得仍与婆婆同住。
信息分享
当拿俄米从路得口中得知波阿斯如何善待她们，心中感到异常的感动和兴奋。她猛然记起波阿斯是她们的近亲，于是，心中便开始出现一个念头和构思。她更隐隐地体会到神没有离弃她们，反而带领路得的脚步，让她走到波阿斯的田间拾穗。
拿俄米提醒路得说：「妳明天记着要到他的田间拾穗才好。妳如果到另一块田，未必会遇到同样的好人。不是每个人都像波阿斯那样仁慈的。」
日子就这样一天一天地经过。大麦的收割期究竟有多长？经文没有告诉我们，但我们知道大麦大约在逾越节的前后开始收割，接着便是在五旬节的前后收割小麦。这两个节期之间大约相隔七个星期，因此，第23节提到路得一直在波阿斯的田间拾穗，直至收完大麦与小麦，期间大概有两个月左右。
路得在这段期间一直与拿俄米同住，我们相信她必定从婆婆口中对神认识更多。至于拿俄米本人，也显然对神的信心不断加增。有一点有趣的是，拿俄米在回乡定居之初，虽然曾叫人称她作「玛拉」，来喻意自己命苦，可是，却似乎没有人用这个名字来称呼她。「拿俄米」的名意是「甜」或「愉悦」，而随着她的信心逐渐成长，她便愈来愈变得人如其名──顿觉人生的甜美和愉悦。
让我们一同齐唱赞美诗「荣耀归于真神」，来称颂神为我们所成就的一切。
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'?