Read Ruth 2:18-23 (ESV)

And she took it up and went into the city. Her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also brought out and gave her what food she had left over after being satisfied. And her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today? And where have you worked? Blessed be the man who took notice of you.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.” And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the LORD, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!” Naomi also said to her, “The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.” And Ruth the Moabite said, “Besides, he said to me, ‘You shall keep close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’” And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, lest in another field you be assaulted.” So she kept close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

Reflect

Have you ever felt like God has abandoned or deserted you? What were the circumstances? How did it turn out?

I have overcome

As we go through life, we are going to experience hardship and tragedy. Jesus told us as much in John 16:33 when He said, “In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” We aren’t promised a painless and carefree life.

But when trouble strikes, especially when it piles on one after another, it can make us wonder if God has forgotten about us or even if He’s punishing us. Remember when Naomi was telling her daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth, to go back to their homes? She said, “No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the LORD has gone out against me” (Ruth 1:13).

When Naomi and Ruth returned to Bethlehem, Naomi told the locals: “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the LORD has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?” (Ruth 1:20-21). From Naomi’s perspective, God wasn’t on her side. She felt like He had forsaken her or was against her. The name Naomi means “pleasant” but she wasn’t very pleasant to be around during that season. She was deep in the depths of grief. And sadly, she had allowed bitterness to take root.

Thankfully, she was wrong. God was not against her. He had not forgotten her! God was orchestrating events that would turn her circumstances completely around. I won’t give a spoiler here, but by the end of the story, she will receive a blessing and an honor that she would never have imagined possible.

Not Forgotten

But at this point in the story, Naomi has realized that God had not forgotten her. In today’s passage, we can picture Ruth coming home from work with quite the haul of grain, absolutely astonishing Naomi. In fact, Naomi immediately went from bitterness to calling down a blessing upon the man who had noticed Ruth! Even before she knew the man’s name, she wanted him to be blessed for being a blessing to them. See the cycle of blessing? Ruth was a blessing to Naomi. Boaz noticed Ruth being a blessing to Naomi so he blessed Ruth. Naomi noticed that Boaz had been a blessing to them both, so she prayed that God would bless him. The blessings just keep coming around and going around but they all originated with God.

When Naomi asked whose field Ruth had been in and Ruth replied that it was Boaz, another exciting detail emerged. Boaz was a relative of her husband and he was one of their kinsman-redeemers! Boaz was a relative who could step into their lives and offer them much more than just an abundance of grain.

Friend, if you are in the midst of a painful time, know this—God is still sovereign. He is still working it all out. If you have placed your faith in Him, He hasn’t forsaken you!

Used with permission from Back to the Bible.