It Starts Small

Ruth is my all time favorite story of God’s Redemption in our lives. I have written a small series on the book of Ruth:

Decisions that Determine the Destiny
God’s Amazing Grace
Get Closer
The Happy Ending, Don’t you want it?

Today, we are going to focus on God’s promising of renewal and redemption. This verse is probably a a few praises from the women surrounding her as she held her grandson. 

Naomi was a woman filled will hopelessness, grief and suffering. Her sons had died and her husband had died in Moab. There was no hope for future generations.

I think on different levels we can understand the grief and pain of loss. At a spiritual level, we can agree that we all need redemption. Something deep within our heart senses we need restoration. Many of us think we can earn redemption by trying to produce more positives than negatives in our lives. God’s Word on the other hand, presents redemption as a gift.

The book of Ruth gives us the picture of redemption. It was designed to point us to a genuine artifact. Naomi thought she would never be redeemed. The fallen world had left her bitter and empty. Naomi’s redemption comes not from her own efforts, but as a gift from God. 

When the women of the town place that little boy in her arms, they said, “…your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, gave birth to him.” In Biblical times, that is quite the statement to say. Sons were the golden rule. Many sons meant the future was secured. Naomi thought all hope of Ruth giving birth to a son, a male heir, was lost. Now, she held a little boy, born to her daughter-in-law (the one she tried to send away) and the kinsmen redeemer of her family, and she held the redemption in her arms. 

It is as if the women were saying, “See, Naomi, the Lord never left you without a redeemer.“

The Lord provides us a redeemer for our souls. 

In our darkest hours, we can remember Naomi and remember when things look bleak and impossible, nothing is possible WITH God. He makes possible His redeeming kindness in ways we could never imagine. He uses the weak of the world, so we can know His strength. He uses the foolish of the world, so we can know His wisdom. He take impossible and makes them possible to show us NOTHING is impossible WITH HIM!

The Lord allows us to live in a fallen world because He is patient. He is waiting for us to learn what Naomi learned in her Journey through life. 

Turn away from the foolish ways of trying to work out your own redemption in your own power, and trust in the redemption the Lord Provides in His Son Jesus Christ. 

He will renew your life….

Other versions have transcribed it as “restore your life.” The original Hebrew word is šûḇ and means, to return, turn back, to be brought back. This is one of God’s faithful promises He gives to us when we turn around, repent and return to Him. God had returned hope and life to Naomi’s spirit. 

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