Rut 1:6 | KingComments | STEP | It seems that the happiness of the marriages of Mahlon and Chilion lasted only briefly. Even before there were children, they died. Now Naomi has lost every male support. Around her she has nothing left of any support. If she looks ahead, there is no prospect at all. She has gone down a dead-end road with her husband and children and has now reached the end of that road. She sees no way out, but is still not entirely without a way out ( ). At this deepest point in her life, when everything is lost, the desire arises in Naomi to return to the land of Israel. The awakening of this desire is not even the result of the misery in which she finds herself. Because she is now all alone, there is room for the LORD to awaken this desire in her. He lets the rumor reach her that He has given the land bread again. The LORD takes the initiative. Perhaps after all the misery – the death of her husband and her sons – she had no need to go back at all. But the LORD works in her the desire to return to Him and to the inheritance. That’s how He always works. He works a longing for Him and repentance. It is not so much the insight of everything that has been lost that makes a person return, but the remembrance of home, as with the prodigal son: “But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men”‘” ( ). It is the longing for what God can give. If we as Christians have strayed from God and the place where He gives blessing, we must first come to the acknowledgment that we have not found what we were looking for. Seeking to satisfy our desires independently of the Lord Jesus and the path God shows us toward Him, always ends in disappointment after a time. Only then there will be room again for God’s Spirit to work in us the longing for all the spiritual blessings that God has given us in Christ. The emergence of this longing is the first step toward restoring of the enjoyment of the blessing.

‏ Ruth 1:6

Naomi Returns to Israel

It seems that the happiness of the marriages of Mahlon and Chilion lasted only briefly. Even before there were children, they died. Now Naomi has lost every male support. Around her she has nothing left of any support. If she looks ahead, there is no prospect at all. She has gone down a dead-end road with her husband and children and has now reached the end of that road.

She sees no way out, but is still not entirely without a way out (2Cor 4:8). At this deepest point in her life, when everything is lost, the desire arises in Naomi to return to the land of Israel. The awakening of this desire is not even the result of the misery in which she finds herself. Because she is now all alone, there is room for the LORD to awaken this desire in her. He lets the rumor reach her that He has given the land bread again.

The LORD takes the initiative. Perhaps after all the misery – the death of her husband and her sons – she had no need to go back at all. But the LORD works in her the desire to return to Him and to the inheritance. That’s how He always works. He works a longing for Him and repentance.

It is not so much the insight of everything that has been lost that makes a person return, but the remembrance of home, as with the prodigal son: “But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men”‘” (Lk 15:17-19). It is the longing for what God can give.

If we as Christians have strayed from God and the place where He gives blessing, we must first come to the acknowledgment that we have not found what we were looking for. Seeking to satisfy our desires independently of the Lord Jesus and the path God shows us toward Him, always ends in disappointment after a time. Only then there will be room again for God’s Spirit to work in us the longing for all the spiritual blessings that God has given us in Christ. The emergence of this longing is the first step toward restoring of the enjoyment of the blessing.