Reading the book of Ruth with my wife last night, I couldn’t help but notice how openly and unreservedly Naomi attributes all her afflictions, and indeed every circumstance of her life, directly to the LORD Himself. She so vividly portrays the mindset of one who was resting in the unwavering belief that God governs everything with absolute precision. “Be still, and know that I am God, I will be exalted.” Psalm 46:10. Trusting, albeit at times falteringly, (through bitter tears and shattered hopes,) that His ‘hand’ (unseen, yet sure) governs all things in perfect wisdom and love; that behind every famine and funeral, &c., stood the LORD, working all things together for good, for His name’s sake and according to His eternal counsel. That no sorrow was without purpose, and that every step, whether forward or backward, is appointed by Him who sees the “end from the beginning.” Isaiah 46:10. What seemed like the unraveling of her hopes was, in fact, the unfolding of a divine plan, every step, even into famine and loss, was appointed by Him whose greatest blessings often arrive disguised in hardship.
Does this mean she was consciously comforted by God’s care in the midst of her trials? Of course not, but she was given grace to believe that each bitter turn had been measured and ordained for a purpose that reached far beyond her own story. She was persuaded that her afflictions were not random misfortunes, but divinely appointed mercies in disguise, designed to unfold His redemptive purpose not only in her life, but in the lineage of the Messiah to come. This still and settled confidence that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men and in the affairs of His saints, Daniel 4:17, is that which gladdens the heart, (“thou hast put gladness in my heart,” Psalm 4:7,) even when all seems chaotic and unpredictable, resting in the certainty that nothing comes by chance, but that He ordains all things for His glory and for the good of His people.
Naomi saw HIS ‘hand’ (“who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this,” Job 12:9,) behind every circumstance, whether joyful or grievous, and acknowledged Him not merely as permitting events, but as actively ordaining and governing all things for His own wise and glorious purposes. By God’s grace she saw God’s will in every circumstance and traced His hand in the smallest matters. Moved by the report of divine mercy, “the LORD had visited his people in giving them bread,” Ruth 1:6, she leaves Moab behind, returning to Bethlehem under great loss, and incapable of disguising her grief, or silencing her faith, she says, “the Almighty hath afflicted me.” Ruth 1:21. She bows before the Lord, once again acknowledging God’s hand in every detail of her life, whether joyful or sorrowful, and that everything which had befallen her was under His wise and watchful care. Our steps are not aimless! (“A man’s heart deviseth his way, but the LORD directeth his steps.” Proverbs 16:9.)
I particularly love her confession of faith from the first chapter. “And she said unto them, 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; why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me.” Ruth 1:20-21. Seldom is God’s control over affliction so plainly and humbly confessed. Naomi traces her emptiness not to fate or human failure, but to God Himself, not with bitterness against Him, but again, with a recognition that He is the one who governs all things. Naomi lived with a profoundly God-centered view of all things. Famine, death, harvest, kindness, all are attributed to the active hand of the Lord. Like Job, whose heart bowed beneath the weight of loss, Naomi echoed that same confession of faith, “the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job 1:21.
If we are Christ’s, then her journey is written into ours, and is indeed a reflection of our own in so many ways. Marked by both joy and sorrow, triumph and trial, fullness and want, is one we all walk in some form. Philippians 4:12-13. And in that shared path, we see the unchanging pattern of God’s dealings with His people, pressing them low that He might lift them up, stripping away what fades that they might cling to what endures. “And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.” Deuteronomy 8:2-3. We are companions in grace, fellow heirs in Christ, bound by the same hope and led by the same hand. Truly, “thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.” Ruth 1:16.
Thinking along these lines, I’m struck with a thought so wonderful it borders on the indescribable. Just as Ruth, though born a Moabite, was included in God’s eternal purpose and became an ancestor of Christ according to the flesh, so we too, once strangers and aliens, Ephesians 2:12, were openly brought into that which was eternally ours in Christ. “That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.” Ephesians 2:12. From Ruth came Christ in the flesh; from Christ come we in the spirit. “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.” Romans 8:17. A truth woven throughout the Scripture. “Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” Galatians 4:7. What a thought!
We are getting ready to read Ruth chapter 4, (the last chapter,) and I have a confession. I already peeked at the ending, which closes with this genealogy. Obed becomes the father of Jesse, who is the father of David, establishing the royal lineage that ultimately leads to Christ, for in the end, all things are divinely ordered to lead us to Christ, who is the Alpha and the Omega, the sum and center of all God’s purposes. “And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:11. MPJ