365 Blessings- September 17

The women said to Naomi: "Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth." (Ruth 4:14, 15)

Finally a time of rejoicing had come into the life of Naomi after all the anguish that she had endured in her life. She was a widow and had lost both her sons and the only thing that she had solace in was her daughter-in-law Ruth who had taken a decision to stay with her come what may.

Naomi had returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, "Can this be Naomi?" "Don't call me Naomi," she told them. "Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me."

Wonder whether the Lord had much to do with all the misfortune that she talked about; perhaps it was the agony that she was going through that made her say all that. Nevertheless, the Bible affirms that, “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and also that, “As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.”(Psalm 103:8, 13)

This is vividly seen in the restoration that the Lord worked out in the life of Naomi. The coming of Boaz into Ruth’s life was no chance happening but all engineered by the Lord. Naomi didn’t want to marry again. She would never enjoy the love of a husband again but God gave her a child (Obed- Boaz & Ruth’s child) in her arms to forget the pains that she had gone through.

God works in mysterious ways. The pain/anguish that you are passing through today can be healed by the Lord in his perfect way. So trust in him.