He Hath Not Left Off His Kindness

In our Come, Follow Me reading this week we have the story of two women who suffered great anguish of soul. Naomi clearly had a hard life: she went with her family to Moab in search of food when there was famine, and then in that foreign land she lost her husband and both her two sons. She returned back to Israel and when people called her by name she replied, “Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. 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?” (Ruth 1:20-21) She was overcome with grief because of the great loss she had experienced. Hannah is the second woman who suffered intense sorrow, for she could not bear children. We read, “The Lord had shut up her womb. And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the Lord had shut up her womb…. When she went up to the house of the Lord, so she provoked her; therefore she wept, and did not eat.” When at the temple “she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore” (1 Samuel 1:5-10). Like Naomi, she was full of grief because of her trials, and these verses help us feel the very real, intense anguish of soul that both of these faithful women felt.

                In both stories we also see the ultimate blessings of the Lord that came upon these women. For Naomi we first see that the Lord blessed her with a friend that would never leave her. I believe Ruth’s desire to remain with her mother-in-law was inspired by the Lord who was looking out for His daughter Naomi. When they got back to Bethlehem, the Lord clearly guided Ruth to meet Boaz and ultimately be married to him. Naomi could see the hand of the Lord in it: “Blessed be he of the Lord, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead” (Ruth 2:20). After the marriage which secured Naomi and Ruth’s futures and the birth of Ruth’s son, the people said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age” (Ruth 4:15). Naomi and Ruth lost their men in the beginning, but in the end the Lord blessed them again with a son who would carry on their family line and be the posterity of a future king. The Lord had indeed restored life to their family and showed that He had not forgotten Naomi and her family.

                Ultimately we see the triumph of Hannah as well. In her intense grief she vowed with the Lord that if He would give her a son she would consecrate him to the Lord’s service. We read, “The Lord remembered her” and “she conceived, that she bare a son” (1 Samuel 1:19-20). She kept her vow and lent him to the Lord, and she expressed her joy—in contrast to her original intense sorrow—this way: “My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, mine horn is exalted in the Lord: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation. There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God…. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust…. He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed” (1 Samuel 2:1-10). The Lord never forgot Hannah and though He shut up her womb for a time, He heard her cries and blessed her to be the mother of a great prophet in Israel. And not only that, for after Samuel she continued to have children: “And the Lord visited Hannah, so that she conceived, and bare three sons and two daughters” (1 Samuel 2:21). Both of these stories show us how the Lord remembers His people—though He will let them pass through bitter tries, He will not forsake those who hold fast to Him. The words of Ruth to Naomi could perhaps be the words of the Lord to each of us who have covenanted with Him: “For whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge” (Ruth 1:16). He will be with us always as He later promised to His disciples: “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20).