Running:
The return of Noemi and her remaining daughter-in-law moved her community. Noemi had left Bethlehem-judah with her husband and two sons to live in the country of Moab. They left their home because of a famine that plagued their land. Noemi’s name marked her personality. Her name means pleasant and amiable. She was a prominent person in her community because the whole city came out to greet her when she returned. God’s grace was at work in their lives (Jm 4:6). Noemi and her family paid a heavy price when they tried to evade God’s plan for their community. Even though Noemi and her family went to a land that God had not sent them to, his plans for their lives had not changed (Is 55:8-9). Little did Noemi know that one of her sons would marry a girl, Ruth, whose descendant would save the world. Ruth, who married Boaz, would be Jessie’s mother and King David’s grandmother, of whom the Messiah came. Boaz was a rich pillar in his community. King Solomon named one of the pillars of the temple Boaz in honor of his great-grandfather.
Ruth 1:20-21
19 So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi?
20 And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.
21 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?
But the consequences for running from God’s plan were to be paid. Noemi’s husband and two sons died in the land of Moab. Her finances became pleited. She had acquired the prodigal son’s syndrome. And, like the prodigal son (Lk 15:17-18), she noticed that there was prosperity in her father’s house. Noemi heard in the country of Moab that God was blessing her home community and decided to return home (Rt 1:6). When we do not run in the face of adversity or in the midst of the battle, God will come through for us. It is what Hannah came to realize after enduring the torment of her adversary because she would not give birth to a child (1 Sm 2:6-8). She said, “He raiseth up the poor out of the dust.” God’s plan did not change because Noemi and her family had run in the time of trial. He brought her back home to continue what he had started. The work he has started in us, he will continue until the day of Christ (Phil 1:6)
James 4:6
6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
Isaiah 55:8-9
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Luke 15:17-18
17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
Ruth 1:6
6 Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread.
1 Samuel 2:6-8
6 The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.7 The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up.8 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the Lord‘s, and he hath set the world upon them.
Philippians 1:6
6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: