In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. - Ruth 1:1 NIV
Don't call me Naomi, she tells the friends in Bethlehem as she returns from Moab. Call me bitter because I went out full and have come back empty.
This took place during the time of the judges, when there was still not a king in Israel. The judges had little control over the people and in many seasons they abandoned the Lord God who then abandoned them to their own fate. Such was the case with Ruth and her family, who fled to Moab during a great famine, where they found no better life, but instead met the fate that ended the lives of the father and sons.
This story repeats itself over and over again, most often not with the happy ending that Ruth and Naomi experienced. Most of us, when left to our own devices, when we think that God is not acting fast enough and take matters into our own hands, do not end up begetting the dynasty of King David. Most of us just end up bitter.
We're all prone to wander, to seek greener pastures. We're all prone to take matters into our own hands. Fortunately, we have a God that works in mysterious ways, a God who can take the tattered remnants of our bad decisions and make something wonderful out of them. Out of the folly of Naomi's husband and sons, came the kinsman-redeemer, and eventually, our Savior-redeemer.
The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman–redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel!
He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter–in–law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”
Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him.
The women living there said, “Naomi has a son.” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. - Ruth 4:24-27 NIV
While there is redemption, there are also repercussions to our actions. Naomi would see God's hand at work in the life of Ruth and Boaz, but the child that would carry on the family name would not be of her own flesh and blood. Perhaps that didn't matter to her at all when she could see the obvious hand of God in the child on her lap.
