Guest Author: Katrena Jordan

The book of Ruth is seen as one of the greatest love stories in history. Ruth meets Boaz and they immediately show subtle interest in each other and ultimately end up married and have a son named Obed. Obed is the grandfather of King David, who we know to be in the genealogy of Jesus! This love story is worth celebrating.

Loyalty, dedication, love, and kindness are all things that are easily spotted in the book of Ruth! However, we are sometimes blinded by all of the positives that we don’t see the heartbreak of another person. Throughout the book of Ruth we see that Naomi is genuinely in pain. Her heart is shattered. She lost not only her husband but also both of her children. She was living in a foreign land where she didn’t have her family. Her pain was unimaginable but she still showed love and kindness to Orpah and Ruth, her two daughters-in-law. She loved them so much that she wanted them to go back to their families and to find new husbands. The girls refused at first to go back home and demanded to stay with her. Naomi’s comment to them in chapter 1 verse 13 is, “It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!” Orpah returned to her family but Ruth was a bit more stubborn and stayed with Naomi. 

⁸ Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. ⁹ May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.”

Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud ¹⁰ and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”

¹¹ But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? ¹² Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— ¹³ would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!”

In Ruth chapter 1, verse 13 we can see Naomi’s pain. She believes the Lord has turned away from her. Again, we see this thought in chapter 1, verses 20-21, where Naomi responds to a woman who calls her by name. Naomi says “Don’t call me Naomi, call me Mara because the Almighty has made my life very bitter…” 

²⁰ “Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. ²¹ 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.”

Naomi was feeling intense emotion of grief and heartbreak. She was probably dealing with a bit of depression as well. She loved the Lord but felt that she had to have done something to make him turn away from her. Nowhere in the bible does it mention that Naomi did anything that would cause God to turn away from her. Naomi was only capable of seeing her heartbreak in that moment. She didn’t know what was going to transpire later on. So, it was pretty easy for the enemy to slide in and convince her that God had turned away from her.  

Unlike Naomi, we do know the rest of this story. We are blessed to have access to the amazing word of God where moments after hearing the despair of Naomi we read that Obed was born and he ultimately fit into the genealogy of Jesus. Naomi had to be married to Elimelek so that Mahlon and Killion would be born. The famine they faced that forced them to move to Moab was necessary so that Killion and Ruth would meet and get married. Because of this Ruth and Naomi had a beautiful relationship which resulted in Ruth not leaving Naomi even when Naomi tried to push her away. Naomi tried to push her away because she was dealing with the biggest grief in her life, the death of her husband and children. The Lord then blessed the people in Moab by getting rid of the famine. Naomi then had to feel the desire to go back to her home. Which brings us back to the story of Ruth and Boaz falling in love and Obed being born. 

Naomi loved the Lord and when she gave her life to him she invited him to use her. He used her pain to bring life into the world. What Naomi felt was real and valid. She had every right to feel heartbroken. Our emotions alone are a gift from God. But what Naomi saw as God turning away from her was really God using her to further the kingdom. All of these things had to occur and God knew that. Naomi was not a minor role in the book of Ruth, she was the most important role! So instead of thinking God has turned away from you or asking, “Why do bad things happen?” ask yourself, “What role is God having me fulfill through this?” 

Naomi didn’t know, nor would she ever know, that decades after the pain she felt Jesus would be born and then die to save us all. She couldn’t see that picture, but God did. God used her pain just like he is using yours. You may never know “why” but it’s not important for you to know, just be thankful that he is using you to bring others closer to him.