If you read the Bible, you will find numerous stories where in God’s goodness despair is turned to deliverance, misery is turned to majesty, brokenness is turned to beauty, and grief is turned to glory. These stories are not here to stoke our wishful thinking. These stories show us, in compressed form, the redemption God is weaving into our stories as well.
The same God who was working all along to bring redemption into Ruth and Naomi’s stories, is the same God who is right now working redemption in your story and mine. The problem is, we’re often too close to the action and so we usually don’t see it.
God is weaving an intricate tapestry of redemption. Boaz and Ruth had no idea what their stories would one day mean, how redemption would turn out to be the story of the universe in Jesus. Naomi had no idea her loss and grief and bitterness could be turned to such joy, not only for her, but for the world.
And yet, without their knowing, or their permission, God’s mercies were operating in the shadows. God is doing the same for our stories today.
Ruth 4:13-22
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