Fuller Than Ever - July 31

Read Ruth 4:13-17

So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and the LORD gave her conception, and she bore a son. Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel! He shall be to you a restorer of life and nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.” Then Naomi took the child and laid him in her lap and became his nurse. And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

Reflect

Has there been a time in your life when you have felt empty? Has the Lord worked to restore or nourish your life despite that pain?

They say that there is no pain like that of losing a child. Naomi was a mother who knew that pain all too well. She lost her husband and both of her sons! She was in so much pain that she felt as if the Lord’s hand had gone out against her (Ruth 1:13). She didn’t want to be called Naomi which means “pleasant” but rather Mara which means “bitter. She said that she “went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the LORD has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?” (Ruth 1:21). Naomi felt empty after the loss of her family. But she didn’t know how God was working in her life. She didn’t know just how full she was about to be.

Today we read that the Lord had blessed Naomi through Boaz and Ruth. Ruth was a gift from the Lord to Naomi as a daughter-in-law! She faithfully stood by Naomi in her darkest hour. Her faithful vow to Naomi has gone down in history: “For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you” (Ruth 1:16-17). If Ruth had not made that vow and chosen to go with Naomi back to Bethlehem, today’s beautiful scene in Scripture wouldn’t have happened.

But of course, Boaz was also a gift from God. He was willing to pay the price of redemption and was willing to marry Ruth. His selfless actions not only rescued her and Ruth from destitution and kept Mahlon’s land in the clan but also rescued a family lineage.

Today we see Naomi’s previously empty lap filled because God had allowed Ruth to conceive a son, Obed. Naomi had a grandson. The women whom Naomi had told to call her “bitter” blessed the Lord because of what He had done in Naomi's life. They recognized the fact that all of this was from the hand of the Lord. He wasn’t against her after all.

Not only did Naomi’s heart, and lap, go from empty to full, but she would be further honored in a way that she would probably not live to see. The narrator gives us this little detail: Boaz and Ruth’s son, Obed, would be the father of Jesse. And Jesse, would be the father of King David. That makes lowly widow Naomi, the great-great-grandmother of a king!

Isn’t that a beautiful story of redemption? It reminded me of our redemption in Jesus Christ. In Christ, we don’t necessarily become grandparents of kings. But we do become children and heirs of the King (Galatians 4:7). We were dead and empty in our sins but in Christ we have become alive and fuller than ever! We are infinitely and eternally blessed in Christ. Praise God!

Respond

Lord, when I look back on my life, I can trace Your hand in it. I can see all of the ways that You have blessed me and turned my emptiness into fullness. But the greatest gift You’ve ever given me is redemption in Jesus Christ. That I get to be called a child of God and an heir of the King is beyond my ability to grasp. Thank You, Lord! Amen.

Reveal

Do you know someone who is experiencing emptiness and pain? Share with them the fullness that can only be found in Christ.