God Will Fill Your Ephah
Ruth 2:17-18 - So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah. She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.
Ruth put in quite a day. She gleaned (gathered) until the sun went down, and then she threshed what she had gathered. Threshing in Old Testament times meant beating the heads of the grain to separate the kernel and then throwing everything into the air with something like a pitchfork. The light, inedible husks and other chaff would blow away and the heavier grain would fall back onto the ground or stone threshing floor. The prophet Hosea painted an effective picture of what threshing looked like when he compared it to "smoke escaping through a window" (Hosea 13:3).
What Ruth took home that day was out of the ordinary. An ephah (rhymes with cheetah) was 3/5 of a bushel. For those who don't know how big a bushel is, imagine a 5 gallon pail filled most of the way up: an ephah was about 22 or 23 quarts of dry measure.
God would supply Ruth with even more. We can thank him that he has provided each of us with everything we need, and more. Sometimes God fills up our ephah with things other than barley grain. Think about God's abundant blessings today and remember to thank him.
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT: Besides physical food, what other daily items does God provide you out of his goodness? How can you more actively and regularly thank him?
PRAYER SUGGESTIONS: Ask God to instill in you a desire to live thankfully. Share your thanks with him for all things - big or small!