SHE RETURNED HOME!

So often situations and circumstances in our lives direct our decisions and promote our planning in directions we normally would not consider otherwise. Often the environments we live in determine our choices and direct the course of our lives. When Elimelech made that first step towards Moab with his family he could not in any stretch of imagination have visualized the consequences, As far as he was concerned he was moving from a bad situation to a better one. He was doing this for the good and benefit of his family. He was locked in with his own personal interest and gave no thought to the results of taking his family out of Bethlehem and transferring them to a culture of heathenism, idol worship and child sacrifice. Of his whole family only his wife Naomi who faithfully followed him remained along with two Moabite daughters-in-law.

 

Sometimes walking away from it all may seem the logical thing to do but at what cost? Your natural senses reasoning along lines you have been accustomed to from birth will continue to tug at you, leading you into the logical direction, convincing you that this is the obvious thing to do. What was more logical than moving away from a famine?

Yet look at the disastrous results!

 

Naomi had been away for 10 years during which time she lost everything. From being pleasant she became bitter! She blamed God for all her misfortunes but she came back!

And it was her coming back, accompanied by Ruth, that triggers the monumental movement towards redemption, not just her own but the whole world!

Of course she did not know it then, but we know it now. Given the culture of the day Ruth may have seemed like additional baggage at the time, but what a result a glorious move it turned out to be!

Naomi's return with Ruth triggered the series of events that propelled a newly converted, foreign widow into the limelight and forefront of redemption and into the records of Jewish history.

Naomi's decision to return home had an everlasting impact on the world, for through Ruth came David, the ancestor of Messiah...Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God!

The return may have been harder than the going away (it usually is) but coming back is important!

Circumstances may seem all against you and it will be a hard struggle! Do not give up! Be in the position and the place God wants you to be and it will bring forth fruit!

Even though walking away from it all may seem the logical thing to do, remember faith sees beyond logic. Your natural senses, reasoning along lines you have been accustomed to from birth, will continue to tug at you, leading you into the logical direction, convincing you that this is the obvious thing to do.

Like we said before, what was more logical than moving away from a famine?  Yet look at the disastrous results!

One could argue that if the logical move had not been made then Ruth would not have entered the picture. One would also however, need to remember that the decision to return was a matter of choice, and the will of the individual. They had to make up their minds, for God will not violate your will. He will allow events to take place and things to happen, but in the process will take it all and weave it into picture of beauty and victory for the believer.

Remember, in the only other Biblical book that is named after a woman, Mordecai's declaration to the young Jewish queen Esther! “Who knows whether you have come into the kingdom for such a time as this?” What may seem circumstantial is used by God for the furtherance of His purposes. Only God can take a bad situation or pending disaster and work it out for His Glory and the salvation of the world! For God does not see like we do, but He sees past, present and future always before Him in the NOW!

Naomi was totally unaware of the future that hung on her decision to return. She could have never in her wildest imaginations envisioned that, in her coming back with Ruth, she was a pivot in the Divine Plan to bless and redeem the world.

You may have become just like Naomi...bitter and full of more disappointments than you care to have or think of. Having walked away from God you may believe that He is against you. The peculiar thing about walking away is that you may in the hub of activity but are still isolated, as effectively as if you were hundreds or thousands of miles away. So many are so near and yet so far. And in it all God never stops loving you!

Remember you are not alone and as the saying goes...no man is an island! There may be someone whose future is entwined with yours. Your decision will affect their decision. Your action will determine the direction they go. It may be just a chance stranger or it may be a loved and close one! Your decision affects them for the rest of their lives.

Ruth’s life was never the same after her encounter with Naomi!

Ruth would not have seen Bethlehem but for the fact that Naomi returned.

Ruth would not have met Boaz if she had not returned with Naomi!

Ruth would not have become the ancestress of illustrious kings and the Messiah Himself if Naomi had not made the decision to return.

How important it is for those who have been there, to realize what may be hanging on our decisions and actions. Returning home alone would have been a disappointment and a tragic end. Allowing Ruth to return with her created an opportunity for her to enter into the joy of fruitfulness and the blessing of being a vital link in the chain of events leading to advent of the Eternal Redeemer, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.