Full Emptiness: Naomi's Experience

I love the book of Ruth and I love the character of Naomi because she is so human. In Ruth 1.21 she says: "I went out full and the Lord hath brought me back empty" (KJV), which to all outward appearances was a correct statement. Her husband was dead; her sons were dead; one of her two daughters-in-law had stayed in Moab, all she had was a Moabite daughter-in-law...Ruth. And Ruth would turn out to be Naomi's fullness.

Rather than the Lord bringing Naomi back empty, he had brought her back chock full of blessings, although she didn't see them at the time. Ruth would marry a wealthy man, thereby ensuring that Naomi would be well taken care of in her old age. Ruth would bear children who would sit on Naomi's lap, making her elderly years full of joy. Ruth would be the great grandmother of David, making her in the line of the coming Messiah! With what great fullness God had sent Naomi back to her home village. She just didn't see it yet.

Reversal of Fortune

A reversal of fortune is one of the prominent themes of the Scriptures. We see it again and again. Joseph, stuck in an Egyptian prison and not having a single advocate in all of the land, suddenly becomes the second most powerful person in the country. Naomi—she who would be renamed Mara, or "bitter"—comes home with no prospects of happiness or wealth, and ends up being the grandmother of David. The Jewish people are doomed by the machinations of Haman, until suddenly it is Haman that is destroyed through the efforts of Mordecai and Esther.

Reversal of fortune is the theme in Ecc 7.12: "Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it will be well with them that fear God, which fear before him." "I know that there will be a reversal of fortune," says Solomon. "Evil will not prevail. It will be well with them that fear God."

The ultimate reversal of fortune was at the crux of history. Christ went to the cross and died for sinners. God the father must turn his back on him. Yet three days later, Christ rises from the dead. He conquers death, and suddenly every man has the possibility of turning from death to life in Christ.