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6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had visited His people by giving them bread. 7 Therefore she went out from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. 8 And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each to her mother’s house. The Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. 9 The Lord grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband. 10 And they said to her, “Surely we will return with you to your people.” ~ Ruth 1:6-10
Today, we return to our study of the Old Testament book of Ruth where we see the unfolding of a true story that points us ultimately, as all biblical books do, to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. It is He that is the fulfillment of all of the Scriptures, as well as all of the longings of our hearts. And yet, as I am discovering, the Lord Jesus does not fulfill the longings of my heart in the ways that I expect. The freedom we need, He says, is not from that which we expect like those who treat us wrongly. No, the freedom we long for is to discover our identity in our personal relationship with Him. This is the theme of this book.
The restoration of God's practical holiness takes a long time for God to instill in the soul of the believer in Christ. As we learn to trust Him more and more this process takes place. And, the more we give our hearts to Him, we will learn of His heart for us. Of course, the positional holiness that we have in Christ has been fully applied to our account because Christ died once and all for the forgiveness of our sin. Our security and significance increases only out of a growing intimacy with our Maker. He is the One who inculcates His transcendent presence in our souls as we go belly up with Him.
In v.6-7 of today's passage we read, "6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had visited His people by giving them bread. 7 Therefore she went out from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah."
As the story of Ruth unfolds, we notice that Naomi, Ruth's mother-in-law has survived the passing of her husband and her two sons. And now, Naomi has received word that the famine has ended in her home town of Bethlehem and she has made preparations to return home. This is what we do when the ugliness of this life shatters our dreams and leaves us with a broken heart. Naomi's decision reveals that she knew that God knew what He was doing even when she did not. Naomi, like us, was not given an idea in advance of what would happen in her future. This is true for all of us. We all must take life as it comes to us, one day at a time, all the while trusting the Lord with the outcomes.
Naomi was a brokenhearted believer in the God of the Bible due to the deaths of her loved ones. Broken-heartedness was a must in the process of me coming to the Lord. I find that it is often necessary in my walk with the Lord. In fact, it is very often that my brokenheartedness is what leads me back to the Lord. Due to her broken heart, Naomi not only returned home, she also returned to the Lord. She experienced bitterness toward the Lord, as we will see, but at least she had not totally turned away from Him. If we callously think Naomi got what was coming to her, we would then reveal how little we understand of God’s heart. He is the God who is rich in grace, and his pockets are deep and full of mercy and grace.
This is when the heart of the story of Ruth really begins with three widows in the land of Moab. It is our pain that enables God the opportunity to seep into our lives through the cracks created by our pain. We read that Naomi decided to return to her home in Bethlehem in Judah, and, her two daughters-in-law were determined to accompany her back to her homeland.
In v.8-10 of today's passage we read, "8 And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each to her mother’s house. The Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. 9 The Lord grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband. 10 And they said to her, 'Surely we will return with you to your people.'"
Both Orpah and Ruth intended to go to Bethlehem and start over in a new land with their mother-in-law. But Naomi warned them to think hard about what that would mean. When Naomi urged the two young ladies to go back home, she expressed a wish that the Lord might "deal kindly with them." The Hebrew word Naomi used for God's kindness is "chesed," which means "loyal covenant love." This is the Old Testament version of the grace of God.
Undoubtedly, on the heels of losing her husband and two sons, Naomi had her struggles, but, we are not told of them. One thing is for sure that God had not given up on Naomi. When our pains make us retreat from God, He does not retreat from us. By nature, He is love and He is committed to all who trust in Him. God's promise that "I will never leave you nor forsake you" is found in multiple books of the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments. With this promise, we can be assured that He is always with us because this promise has been procured by His Son's death on the cross.
Naomi was quite unaware that God had big plans for her life which were about to unfold. Little did she know that one day she would hold a baby in her lap who would be the grandfather of King David. Still less could she imagine that her daughter-in-law, Ruth, would end up in the line of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ? The same is true for you and me; God has big plans for our lives and we can not know in advance what those plans are. In fact, those plans are only accessed as we trust Him, and through our trust, we choose to daily follow Him.
