This morning, my 6yr old son joined me while I was reading on the bed. We took a diversion and landed in Ruth. He counted how many times he heard the name Boaz.
She was in a strange land, Naomi was - Moab. She had left her homeland 10 years prior. She was coming back now. It had been a hard life there. Not much blessing - if any. How did she come back? "Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, but the Lord has brought me back empty . . "
"The Almighty has afflicted me"
Lord, so often we do not see what is going on. We go through time - years of unwanted experiences. Losses occur, pains hurt, weaknesses increase, dry times dominate. It has the same flavor, we would expect, of a life gone wrong, of a life under judgment - and maybe it is. But we so quickly attach diminishing hope to it. Why shouldn't hope increase? Well, because it would seem that things are not going in the "increasing-hope" direction.
God, the Almighty, positions for blessing. Yes, He positions us for blessing. We may not even want His kind of blessing or the timing of His giving it, but He wants to give it nonetheless. And in the end we are so glad that He does.
Naomi had lost everything and everyone she went to Moab with. Why not be bitter? Because there is no place for that among God's people. Remember . . . she now had Ruth!!! We cannot be too hard on Naomi, but we can rejoice with her.
You are not as empty as you think.
