Naomi Redeemed

Read Ruth 1-2
 
Ruth 1:20 “Don't call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.”
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Ruth 2:20 “The Lord bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.”
 
RUTH 1 is a sad account of a family destroyed by drought and death. To many, many cultures around the world throughout history up to today, this is a too common story. Natural disasters cause food shortages and starvation. Political upheavals force people to leave their homeland. Disease cripples and kills unexpectedly. Men die or desert their wives, leaving widows to fend for themselves. Such conditions plague our world. Where, then, is hope?
    Hope was not with Naomi. There is no record Naomi sought God’s provision and direction. She even encouraged Orpah and Ruth to return to their gods. Orpah left. Then Ruth, the foreigner, speaks the first words of faith, Ruth 1:16 But Ruth replied, “Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.”
    To Bethlehem Naomi returned, and hope one day, too, returned to Naomi. Ruth volunteers to gather grain in the harvest fields. The Spirit sends her to Boaz’s field. Boaz receives and protects here. This is the Lord’s redemptive work. God cares for widows and the poor. His law provided for them: Leviticus 19:9-10 “When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the Lord your God.” Boaz welcomed this humble, hard-working Moabite woman. This is the blessings of devotion to our elders and the honor of hard work as Ruth cares for Naomi. 
    Do you see it? Here comes Hope. Quietly, Hope tells Bitterness, “Be gone! You’re not welcome here.” Naomi knows Boaz. He is kinsman to her husband. Naomi now recognizes the Lord’s hand as Ruth reports on her day. In God’s leading, Naomi will continue to instruct Ruth. God will bless these faithful women to a lasting legacy of faith. God had Hope plans far beyond Naomi’s bitterness. Out of this family came David, whose family line would give birth to Jesus, son of Joseph of Nazareth, Son of Man, Son of God. Hope, indeed, has come. Bitterness is no more.
    How refreshing to see people change in the Lord’s benevolent care. The Spirit of God moved Naomi on a journey of redemption. He lifted up her face to see His providence upon her life. She responded in faith to live her days in the Lord’s tender mercies.
 
How True It Is: Luke 1:50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.