Joel M Bradshaw

17So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. 18And she took it up and went into the city. Her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also brought out and gave her what food she had left over after being satisfied. 19And her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today? And where have you worked? Blessed be the man who took notice of you.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.”

 20And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the LORD, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!” Naomi also said to her, “The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.” 21And Ruth the Moabite said, “Besides, he said to me, ‘You shall keep close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’” 22And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, lest in another field you be assaulted.” 23So she kept close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests. And she lived with her mother-in-law.–Ruth 2

When we last left Naomi, she was a bitter mess. She blamed God for her problems and maintained that story before the people of her hometown.

Ruth had hatched a plan to glean in the fields. Her hard work would stand out in this story. It impressed Boaz and his crew and it provided for Naomi. Yet when Naomi saw Ruth come home with an abundance of grain, she wondered what had happened. How had Ruth come home with so much?

When Ruth shared the story about Boaz, Naomi’s perspective immediately changed. She went from blaming God for her problems to declaring the praises of the God who shows kindness. What a transformation!

Depression comes down to the stories we tell ourselves. Naomi’s story once was angry, accusing, and bitter. And now it was grateful and with hope. What changed? Even in her pain she was able to see her situation with the eyes of faith. In her eyes the impossible had happened. Ruth just happened to wander to the field of the one man in Naomi’s family who could have been a blessing. And that one man ended up not like other men who might have taken advantage of an impressive young widow.

We give Naomi credit. She saw God at work immediately in her situation. And her story illustrates a wonderful lesson for us. She might not have been looking to see God at work, but she immediately recognized what only God could do. God was not her enemy, but was kind both to her and to the legacy of her dead sons and husband!

In your pain look for God’s hand at work. I remember long ago being a poor youth pastor with no health insurance. And I had to get an MRI to check up on the progression of my MS. It was the first MRI I had to get being off my parents’ insurance plan. And it represented thousands of dollars that I simply didn’t have. I was on such a tight budget that even if I used the hospital payment plan, it would have taken well over a year to pay it off.

And the next thing I knew, the hospital made a decision to simply write off the expense and send me on my way. I was trusting God with my situation, but I do wonder if I had left that hospital with a bill how I would have felt months into the slow repayment. Would I have grown bitter? I didn’t cause my body to get MS and Naomi didn’t cause all her family to die.

All I know is that I left that hospital grateful and singing God’s praises. I remember it to this day. Naomi realized that God was at work and her perspective began to change. Maybe in your story you can have a realization like she did. I told you we were rooting for her faith!–JMB