In the opening verses of Ruth, we read about the tragic triple bereavement of one of the book’s central figures, Naomi: “In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land” (v. 1). And in that famine, both Naomi’s husband, Elimelech, and her two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, die.
Left with only her two daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth, to comfort her, Naomi sets out with them on a journey from Moab to Judah. Her action sets in motion the familiar events of God’s unfolding purpose: Ruth’s conversion; her subsequent marriage to Boaz and motherhood; the coming of David, the king of Israel; and, ultimately, the birth of Jesus Christ Himself.
But long before we reach that joyful culmination, Naomi’s grief and the faith that she displays in the face of it confront and challenge us.
Faith Can Endure Severe Trials
The first lesson we can learn from Naomi’s faith is a simple one: She had it, even in the face of severe trial. Anyone can espouse faith and champion trust in a sovereign God when the band is playing, the crowd is marching, the sun is shining, and all is well. The real tests and challenges come when faith is pushed to its limit by the pains we endure.
Naomi must have felt that her life’s story was falling apart. To lose her husband was to lose her provider, the head of the family table. The death of her two sons compounded that loss. We might imagine her as an alien in Moab—not the land of her nativity but the land of her sojourn—standing in the doorway of her home, looking down the street, with no prospect of the three men she loved coming up the road.
Yet while Naomi’s faith was tried faith, it was still faith, not unbelief. She did not say, “I no longer believe in a God who is sovereign over the affairs of life.” Nor did she say, “I disavow a God who would place me in this dreadful predicament.” Instead, she expressed faith—screaming faith, crying faith, challenged faith—in God’s sovereignty. When she hears “that the Lord had visited his people and given them food,” she acts in faith, “set[ting] out from the place” (vv. 6–7), undertaking the return to Judah. And when she declares her intent to depart, she wishes God’s blessing on her daughters-in-law, telling them, “May the Lord deal kindly with you” (v. 8), and “The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!” (v. 9). Despite her pain, she never doubted that Yahweh was in control. And that is an important reminder for all who face dark days.
Faith Can Struggle to See God’s Provision
Though Naomi did not give in to unbelief, however, her faith had its limitations. We see, secondly, that her faith, though still faith, was nonetheless blind to God’s provision in her trial.
Naomi didn’t doubt that God could come to the aid of His people in a generic way. (Again, see verse 6.) But in her little world, it still felt like everything had collapsed. She still believed, but she was in danger of missing the fact that the God who provides via the barley harvest is the same God who knows when the sparrow falls (Matt. 10:29; Luke 12:6), knew her entirely, and knew exactly what she, as Naomi, required.
As the biblical story unfolds, we discover that Ruth was to be the means of God’s provision for Naomi. In fact, in providing for Naomi personally, Ruth would bless all of Israel and, eventually, all of the world through her descendent, Jesus. And yet Naomi, on the road from Moab, can’t see the provision. Instead, she actually insists multiple times to Ruth and Orpah that they abandon their plans to accompany her to Bethlehem. Her motivation is wonderfully selfless. But in the moment, she misses that in front of her very eyes, God has given her the answer to her affliction.
The Bible teaches that alongside afflictions, God provides means of comfort and solace (1 Cor. 10:13; 2 Cor. 1:4). He will not bring us into trial without also providing His fatherly care. The great danger is that we resist His provision, if we don’t miss it altogether. Our minds and hearts may even perversely enjoy our predicament—the attention, the self-pity, the sense that nobody knows trouble like we have—more than the hope of salvation from it.
Perhaps Naomi was tempted in one of those directions. And if we would not be likewise tempted, then we must remember that in both the immediacy of our circumstances and in the entire journey of our lives, our vision only extends so far.
Faith Finds Hope in Small Signs
Even if Naomi missed the big picture, though, we can see that she still found hope in small signs of God’s providence—as, indeed, should we.
Faith sees the provision of God in little things: a home to return to, food for the table, companions for the journey. That Naomi, with Ruth, “went on until they came to Bethlehem” (v. 19) shows that she saw enough to greet her in each new day to press forward. That she responded to Ruth’s request to glean in the fields with “Go, my daughter” (2:2) shows that she held out hope God would still provide. As the sun shone upon the barley, perhaps there was the inkling of a new beginning and a new day.
Fast-forward a few chapters, and we find that Naomi’s small hopes have become great joys. Ruth gleans in the fields, meets Boaz, marries him, and bears a child. By 4:14, the Lord’s provision is so evident that the townswomen can’t help but point it out to Naomi: “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel!” And as she takes the new baby in her arms and lays him on her lap in v. 16, so great is her joy that they say not “A son has been born to Ruth” (which would have been true!) but “A son has been born to Naomi” (v. 17). Here, now, in this most ordinary, tranquil scene, she whose tested and tried faith is still faith is scarcely able to grasp the significance of what God has done.
Faith Never Guesses What God Can Accomplish
This leads us to a final observation: Naomi could never have guessed what God would accomplish through her trials—and neither can we. As the opening of Matthew makes clear, this child, Obed, would be the father of Jesse, the grandfather of David, and ultimately the forebear of Jesus Christ Himself. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2:9, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (KJV).
When we bear the wonder of God’s provision in mind, in Naomi’s life and in our own, it should change the way we think about faith in the face of hard trials. There should be little doubt, for instance, that Christians will be far more effective in speaking to their friends and neighbors when they are honest about pain, suffering, sadness, and disappointment—and the fact that our faith, though stretched to the limits, is still faith.
Triumphalistic ramblings grate on the ears of the tenderhearted and brokenhearted. As we face pain and uncertainty, the Bible gives us a God who came in the person of His Son and experienced to the fullest all the bitterness, wretchedness, animosity, and difficulty that life could throw at Him—all to make eternal, saving provision for our sake. We should ask ourselves: Are we missing the provision of God right before our very eyes? Will we not bow our knees before the only one who offers to us a peace that passes human understanding?
