Ruth 1: 19-21
The story so far: Elimelech took his family from Judah to nearby Moab so that they would have food to eat during one of the famines that took place in the time that the judges ruled in Israel.
Then Elimelech died, his sons grew up and married, and they died, too. This left his wife and the two sons' wives destitute, without any male family left to support them.
Then the wife, Naomi, heard that the famine was over in Israel, and decided to return home. Realizing how hopeless it would be for her daughters-in-law being foreigners in Israel, she explained why they should stay in their own land, and break up this family.
So Orpah departed and went to her mother's house, but Ruth refused to leave her mother-in-law and determined to go to Israel with her, abandoning her land, her culture, and her gods.
(19) So they both went until they came to Bethlehem.
Two lone women traveling from Moab to Bethlehem were taking a very dangerous journey, and this shows God's providential care for these two.
And when they had come to Bethlehem, all the city was stirred because of them,
The word for stirred is hum, so we can say the city hummed with the news of their arrival.
and the women said, "Is this Naomi?"
The women who had known her noticed how changed her appearance had become, through all the years and the sorrows.
(20) She said to them, "Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.
(21) "I went out full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the lord has witnessed against me and the Almighty has afflicted me?"
"Naomi" means "pleasant" or "lovely," and she didn't feel like either of these at that time. "Mara" means "bitterness." This is how she saw herself, because she didn't see how her situation could ever get any better.
When she left, she had three male family members to support her, now she's coming back alone, with no prospects, and only this foreign daughter-in-law, who wouldn't fit in.
Naomi did not know that God was leading her steps, guiding her life, to be a very important detail in His Plan of the Ages. Now He had them where He wanted them to be. Both of them.
O my Father, even though Naomi was disheartened and disappointed at that point in her life, You still brought her back to Bethlehem with Ruth, so that they would be there to take the next step. You are sovereign; You use our choices and our decisions to further Your Plan and Your Program, even when we think we're just freely making up our minds to do what we think would be best. Even it it's not really the best, You still use it.
O Father, Your authority over everything You made is absolute. And Your wisdom and power will perform Your will to accomplish everything You want to do. Even though we are free to choose to do whatever we do, it is all inside the fence, all in the yard of Your will for us. Nothing we decide is outside of Your boundaries for us, and will cause Your Program to progress, on schedule.
My Father, please send out Your children to tell the world how much You love them. Let every living person in every nation of the world hear about your compassionate plan to rescue us and redeem us and save us from ourselves! Open the minds and hearts of all who are seeking You, even if they don't realize it's You they are looking for.
Please draw all of Your embryonic children to the birth into Your own family, and fill Your house with uncountable children.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, our Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus, come!
