Have you ever noticed that the book of Ruth keeps coming back to Naomi, over and over?  Me neither.  I got this from reading Dale Davis’ book  The Word Made Fresh [excellent little book].  Davis says: “Every chapter returns to Naomi and some provision for her.”

Really?  Is that true?  I had never noticed that before.  In Chapter One, after the death of her whole family, Naomi is given…Ruth.  Chapter Two: After the interesting day at the barley field the chapter ends as Ruth reports the incredible provision to…Naomi.  Chapter Three: The mysterious encounter at the threshing floor ends with Ruth’s debriefing to…you guessed it…Naomi.  Chapter Four: Boaz takes a wife.  Look how that ends, what it all meant to…Naomi (4.13-17).

What does it mean?  I don’t have a clue, fortunately, Mr. Davis does.  He writes: “He [the Lord] simply can’t take his eyes off Naomi; he is preoccupied with her welfare.  It’s the text’s way of saying, Naomi is never forgotten; she is always the focus of Yahweh’s attention.”

Go back to chapter one (Ruth 1.20) where Naomi says that her name should be changed to “Mara” which means “bitter,” “for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me” (KJV).  Her life circumstances were seemingly very bitter.  A widow with no family was a prescription for a life of extreme poverty.  Naomi could not see it at the time, but the truth of the matter was that God could not keep his eyes off of Naomi’s welfare.  He keeps coming back to provision for her time after time!

The lesson?  As Mr. Davis puts it: “All of which should teach us caution and wisdom: we simply don’t know enough, ever, to despair intelligently and completely over our senseless troubles – or even over our apparently insignificant service.”