Ruth 4:11-17: a reflection

11All the people who were in the gate, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman who has come into your house like Rachel and like Leah, which both built the house of Israel; and treat you worthily in Ephrathah, and be famous in Bethlehem. 12Let your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, of the offspring which the LORD will give you by this young woman.” 13So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife; and he went in to her, and the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she bore a son. 14The women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you today without a near kinsman. Let his name be famous in Israel. 15He shall be to you a restorer of life and sustain you in your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.” 16Naomi took the child, laid him in her bosom, and became nurse to him. 17The women, her neighbors, gave him a name, saying, “A son is born to Naomi”. They named him Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

Ruth's story ends where it seemed it never could. Naomi, who had come home from Moab empty and bitter, having lost her husband and both sons, now holds a newborn grandson in her arms. Ruth marries Boaz, bears a son, Obed, and the women of the town say to Naomi, Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you without a redeemer; he will be a restorer of life to you. The empty, grieving woman of chapter one is full again, her life restored, a child on her lap.

Notice the quiet redemption in this. Naomi's story had seemed to end in loss; she had even asked to be called Bitter, convinced God had dealt harshly with her. And yet God was not finished. Through the faithful love of Ruth, better to her, the women say, than seven sons, and the kindness of Boaz, God quietly wove Naomi's broken story back toward fullness and life. The bitterness of chapter one becomes the joy of chapter four, and the child in her arms is the grandfather of David, and in time, of Christ.

There is hope here for anyone whose story seems to have ended in loss. Naomi could not have imagined, in her grief, the fullness God was still going to bring. God is a restorer of life, able to bring new life and joy where there has only been emptiness, often through the faithful love of ordinary people. If your story feels like Naomi's in chapter one, empty and bitter, remember that God was not finished with her, and may not be finished with you. He is a restorer of life.

Lord, Naomi came home empty and bitter, sure you had dealt harshly with her, and you quietly restored her life, placing a grandson in her arms through the faithful love of Ruth. When my own story seems to have ended in loss, remind me that you are a restorer of life, able to bring fullness where there has been only emptiness. Help me trust that you may not be finished, as you were not finished with Naomi.