Mercy Finds Us

Naomi - a woman of courage, a woman of honesty, a woman of joy; a widow bereft of her husband and two sons.  She, along with her husband Elimelech and their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, had travelled to Moab to escape the famine in Bethlehem, the town whose name means ‘House of Bread.’   (You can read their story here).  Ten years later, she returns to Bethlehem without her husband, without her two sons and with her daughter-in-law, Ruth.  It was a less-than-glorious return, for the famine had followed her to Moab – a famine of spiritual proportions that she had not expected.

Two widows, one of whom was barren, were making their way back home. It was a journey fraught with painful memories; but somehow the longed-for comfort of being home and the companionship of a God who never forsook them made the odyssey bearable.  After seven to ten days of travel, they finally entered through the gate of the town of Bethlehem.  Did she remark to Ruth, on that long journey home, that she and her family had slept at such-and-such a place, or had gotten food at that particular town?  Was there weeping as they walked, remembering the graves left behind in Moab?  Regret, perhaps; regrets about leaving Bethlehem and turmoil about a return that would only cause questions and pronouncements of “I told you so?”  Never mind the raised eyebrows over bringing a Moabite into the land of Israel.  Would Ruth be safe- this foreigner who had pledged her allegiance to Naomi and to her God?  Would she even be allowed to get water at the well?  

Famine is such a huge metaphor for the spiritual drift that can happen when we ‘do what is right in our own eyes.’  Such was the time of the Judges; such was the setting for this story of Naomi - there was a famine in the land, which served to highlight the profoundly deeper spiritual famine that was starving the people of God.  It is a sad irony indeed that they took a never-forgotten journey to what I call ‘the land of dread,’(Moab), from ‘the house of Bread,(Bethlehem).’  And while we do not have all the details, it would appear that going to Moab was not the wisest choice this little family had made.  In the Book of Ruth, Naomi states it this way:  “The hand of the Lord has gone out against me.”(1:13)  “ Do not call me Naomi,(which means pleasantness); call me Mara, (which means bitterness), for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.”(1:20)  “…the Almighty has afflicted me.”(1:22b)  These are difficult and terse words but Naomi has not denied God’s right to judge, nor has she rejected Him as her God; she is identifying His sovereign hand at work.

Sin takes us on a journey that is longer, more difficult and more turbulent than we had ever planned, but mercy finds us there and repentance brings us home.  Naomi has come home.

My prayer:   “Lord, may my journey home be shorter!  Thank you for the cross.”

My paraphrase of 2 Corinthians 7:9,10

Godly sorrow is a groaning that leads to true repentance and life, while worldly sorrow only moans over being caught and leads to spiritual death.”