We were invited to glean after the harvest.

Tuesday 2-14-17, Modesto, California

Today we read Lev 23 – 24, Psalm 24 and Acts 21

S = Scripture  O = Observation  A = Application  P = Prayer  SOAP for the soul.

S. Lev 23:22 "When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. Leave it for the poor and the foreigners living among you. I, the LORD, am your God." NLT

O. Mixed in among many detailed ceremonial laws, we find that God shows his concern for the poor, the widows and the strangers. They were instructed not to glean** the remnants of their harvests, but to leave the edges and corners of the field and all that had been missed in the harvest for the needy.

This concept is displayed vividly in the book of Ruth who was both a stranger and a widow.

When I was a teenager, although we never knew it, we were among the poor. Oregon is berry country. Each summer we worked all day in the heat, harvesting black berries, strawberries, raspberries, loganberries and boysenberries. One of the farms where I worked belonged to David Tillstrom, known to be a devote Christian. He told us that after we finished the harvest, if we wished we could come back later and “glean” the remaining berries. I brought my father and sisters and carried home enough boysenberries to can them and enjoy them all the following winter.

A. Some very wealthy people carefully count their pennies and find it hard to release their leftovers for the needy.  God reminds us at least four times with these instructions for the farmer… and applicable to all of us: When He blesses us, we should be quick to share our excess with the needy.

P. Lord, You have been so generous with me. Give me a generous heart, like David Tillstrom, ready to share my possessions to bless the needy.  Amen.

Ralph

**Historically the word “glean” means to gather the leftover grain or other produce after a harvest.

** When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. Deut 24:21 KJV