RUTH 4: 13-17

When Naomi returned to her homeland of Bethlehem, she returned with nothing but the clothes on her back and with her most devoted daughter-in-law and best friend, Ruth. It was hard to believe that she who had so much in terms of family was now a widow and childless. The journey to Moab was hard but at least she had her family – now nothing. She went in search of a better life, but soon found out that life could get disheartening and distressing. In Moab, she had temporarily escaped the famine that was ravaging her homeland, but in Moab she also lost the people who were closest and dearest to her, her beloved husband and two sons. I have learnt a long time ago that things could get worse. We feel her pain when she thoughtfully declares “. . . Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full and the Lord hath brought me home again empty . . .” (Ruth 1:20, 21).

At least Naomi recognized it was God who brought her home or allowed her to come home. Even in our most difficult circumstances, we must learn to recognize the hand of the Almighty. He leads us out, and He brings us back in. It remains our observation that Jehovah gives and He takes away. May we like Naomi yet acknowledge Him. I feel that He who allows us to go down will bring us back up again. Let us never despair.

Honestly, we must also speak the truth like Naomi. This is exactly how we feel sometimes. Like Naomi, ours is not always a moving testimony of overcoming joy, victory, and deliverance. Sometimes we do feel wasted and washed up, devastated and disappointed. Nobody really wants to see their loved ones die and especially their children. Yet, Naomi had to bury both her husband and her sons and leave them in strange surroundings. Undoubtedly, she prayed for healing and deliverance, but death and dying overruled and conquered. I mean, how often do we pray for healing and nothing seems to change or give. Instead of being brought up, we sink even lower; instead of things changing, they seem to persist. It’s just like a dry spell that seems to continue interminably. We encounter things that we cannot rightly explain or comprehend and we just have to confess that it seems like we have been dealt a bitter hand from the Almighty.

Thank God Naomi eventually comes to the decision to return home and start all over again. It was hard, but the Word tells us that she got up to go back and arrived in Bethlehem (Ruth 1:19). It is hard but the Almighty will give us the grace, guts and gumption to go back and start all over again if we have to. She was old, but not dead! She was desolate but not God forsaken, troubled but not totally distressed, cast down but not destroyed. She thought she was all alone and abandoned, but she was not. She felt empty, but God sent her a treasured companion to walk alongside her. You are never alone! He will send you a Ruth, a friend, to accompany you on your journey, to help lift your spirits and cause you to not despair.

I encourage you today – Do not be afraid to start over. Starting over is never easy! It seemed bleak and pessimistic, but Naomi found redemption by trusting the God of Israel. He amazingly transformed her despair into joyful peace and contentment. They soon moved from emptiness to fullness – from despair to hope! Instead of giving up and dying, Naomi and Ruth held on to each other and started all over again. Refuse to give in and die in despair – start all over again! (Ruth 4:13-17).