If it could go wrong, it went wrong. Her country had experienced such a bad drought that her husband decided to move their family away from their home to a place full of strangers. They got to their new country and her husband died. She had to be strong though so she kept trying to keep their head above water and life moves on. Her two sons found two beautiful wives and it seemed like their hard times might be over. But ten years later, both of her sons passed away suddenly.

How could God do this to her? How could God take not only her husband, not only one of her sons, but both sons? She decided she’d had enough heartache in this land of strangers. She decided to move back home to her native country: at least there, she’d have people to help her. She and her two daughters-in-law packed up their few things and start traveling back to her hometown, every step feeling like defeat and sadness. 

She stopped after a little while and turned to her companions. She told them “Look, there’s no hope for you if you come with me. I’m not going to be giving you any more husbands, your parents and friends are all here. If you keep walking this road with me, you’re just going to become me: a lonely, old widow. So turn back now while you still can.”

After some tears, one daughter in law picked up her suitcase and started walking back to her parents’ house. At least if she turned back now, she’d have some hope of a happy life. But the other daughter in law still stood there on the road. 

Ruth told Naomi in her bravest, steadfast voice, “Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.”

Ruth and Naomi continued their travelling and finally arrived at Bethlehem. It seemed like the whole city came out to welcome back Naomi and Ruth hears Naomi start to wail, “Don’t call me Naomi (which means laughter): call me Mara (which means bitterness). I went out full, and the LORD hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the LORD hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?”

Now, if I were Ruth I’d be a little upset at that point. Because first of all, Naomi did not leave full: they left because they were living in a drought. And second of all, Naomi did not return empty. Uh, hello?? Ruth here?? Daughter-in-law who just pledged a little while ago to be with you until death..?

But Naomi specifically stated that she returned empty, even with a loving daughter-in-law with her. 

Ruth & Naomi get settled in and they need to figure out how they’re going to live. Widows back then really didn’t have much they could do to earn money or provide for themselves. Ruth knew from God’s Word that during the harvest, the poor were allowed to glean leftovers in fields in Israel so she decided to head out to work in the morning. 

The Bible tells us that Ruth happened to end up in a field belonging to a family member of Naomi’s. And this family member, Boaz, noticed her when he came to check on his field. He asked his workers about her and they tell her how hard she’s been working in the harvest and how she’d only taken one short rest. 

Boaz walks up to her and tells Ruth that she should stay in his field because she’ll be safe there and well taken care of. 

Ruth asked him, “Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?” 

But Boaz answered, “It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine husband: and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore.

The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.”

Ruth and Naomi both went through very similar experiences. They both left their home, family, and friends to live among strangers. They both lost loved ones to death. They both found themselves wondering how they would feed themselves to stay alive. But Naomi grew bitter and Ruth grew hopeful. 

What was the difference? How could two women come to different conclusions from the same circumstances?

1. Ruth was trusting in a God she could not fully see. When a baby is born, they can only see from about 8 inches to 15 inches away. That’s just far enough to see the face of a person who’s holding them. When Micah was hungry as a baby, he cried loudly — very, very loudly. He had a need that he didn’t see being met. All Micah could see was just over a foot in front of him and he couldn’t see Mama preparing a bottle a few feet away. He couldn’t see my arms or hands reaching out to hold him when he needed to be comforted.

Naomi grew bitter because she was only focused on that 15 inches in front of her. She couldn’t see the blessing or hope she still had in Ruth and the law of the kinsmen redeemer: all she could see was her need not being met. 

Ruth trusted in the God whose hands she could not see. She had learned the truth of Psalms 91:4 that speaks of God saying, ““He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.” She knew she could trust this God of Israel. 

Boaz recognized this truth as well and reminded Ruth that she would be taken care of because she was under the protective wings of a God she could trust. Neither of them knew at that moment that Boaz would be God’s provision in Ruth’s life. 

2.Ruth was trusting her faith and not her feelings. Ruth’s husband passed away and she moved away from almost everyone and everything that she had known and loved her whole life. Do you think she wasn’t sad? Do you think she wasn’t mourning her loss? But she recognized that the God of Israel was bigger than her feelings. Lamentations 3:22-23 tells us, “It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” 

Things are going to wrong for us today. They’re probably going to wrong for us tomorrow, too. You’re going to wake up one of these days with a bad headache. That jerk who can’t got off his cellphone is going to cut you off on the freeway. Your kids are going to forget that you ordered the good obedient children and not the kids who scream the Spiderman theme song for an hour as they run across the house throwing out Hotwheels like they’re confetti. Your husband is going to forget to take out the trash *again*. 

You are going to get bad news from your doctor. You are going to wake up one day and find out that someone you love very much has passed away suddenly. I missed last year’s Mother’s Day banquet because I got a phone call from my sister 3000 miles away saying that my dad, who was only 53, had died of a heart attack. 

My feelings cannot be trusted. My feelings will tell me that a bad five minutes should ruin my entire day. My feelings will tell me that there is no hope in the hard situations I endure. My feelings tell me I should not forgive the little wrongs others do to me, but should instead allow bitterness and unforgiveness to fester in my heart. My feelings are short sighted. 

But God doesn’t work through my fickle, female feelings: He only works through my faith. And He tells us in His Word that his mercies and compassions are new every morning.

Every day that I wake up still on this earth, God prepares the mercies and compassions that I will need to make it through that day, no matter what the day holds. But I have to be willing to choose faith in His abilities and knowledge over my feelings in my circumstances. 

Hebrews 11: 1 tells us, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Ruth willingly chose to hope in the God whose feathers covered her. She trusted in His wings even though she couldn’t know how God would miraculously provide for her every need and desire. 

We each have a choice every single day, no matter what our circumstances may be, no matter what happens to us in that day, to choose: do I want to be bitter by trusting only what I can see and what my feelings say? Or do I want to be hopeful by trusting in the God who I may not see working on my behalf? 

One night a house caught on fire, and a little boy was stranded on the second floor. All the boy could see was smoke and flames. However, he could hear his father’s voice telling him to jump. The boy said, “Daddy, I can’t see you.”

The dad said, “But I can see you and that’s all that matters.”

We may struggle to see God’s hand moving in our circumstances, but He sees us and we are safe under the shadow of His wings. The God Who loves us is the God Who sees.