"The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and care for it ". Genesis 2:15

It is not a prideful statement to state that there is no God with a better track record of power than Jehovah. However, it is also fair to recognize that many believers, particularly those from developing countries, who worship Jehovah, are anything but diligent in their work. Some of us use the excuse of God's power to be negligent in our work, but the book of Ruth will show us that we are wrong.

Ruth has the same profile as us. She is not a Jew but like us, she discovered and accepted Jehovah as God later: “Your God will be my God” (Ruth 1:16). However, there is a big distinction between the attitude of most of us and Ruth’s attitude. After we have accepted Jehovah through Christ, we tend to neglect work and focus our energies on looking for miracles. That was not the case for Ruth. Even though Ruth met the same God, she opted to do her part by working hard instead of focusing on miracles. Ruth said to Naomie: “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain.” (Ruth 2:2). That was not the end; she also added action to her words by working from morning to evening except for a short rest (Ruth 2:7 and Ruth 2:17).

Naomie’s hard work allowed her to get more than food on the table (Ruth 2:17-18). In fact, it allowed her to attract other key elements, including a mentor and a sponsor, both of which are particularly essential to great destinies. Indeed, Boaz sponsored Ruth by giving some words to his servants to make her very comfortable in her work (Ruth 2:8-9). On her side and in her own way, Naomie mentored her by showing her how to make Boaz interested in marrying her. Yes, God made that orchestration to bless Ruth materially, emotionally, and spiritually. Spiritually because she became the great-grandmother of David (Matthew 1:5). But I doubt if that material and emotional blessing would have been possible if Ruth had not been diligent in her work.

If you see work as a curse because of Genesis 3 and use all your energies looking for a miracle, this message urges you to think again because if work was a curse God would not ask Adam and Eve to work in the garden in Genesis 2.