Ruth 1:16-2016And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: 17Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me. 18When she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her. 19So 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? 20And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. (Ruth 1:16‑20).
Ruth had already, we believe, given up “her gods” in her heart. She had turned from the false gods of Moab, to Jehovah the true God of Israel, and she would not turn back. No true believer will ever give up the Lord. The very mention of such a thing only confirms the fact, as it did here. Perhaps Ruth had never made an open confession before, but how definite it is here. It is beautiful to read it. It is so clear, so decisive, and a life decision too. She said, “Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God; where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried.” Ruth 1:16, 1716And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: 17Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me. (Ruth 1:16‑17). It was not merely the company of Naomi she had chosen, but Naomi’s God, whom she had learned to trust. She loved Naomi, too, because “everyone that loveth Him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of Him.” 1 John 5:11Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. (1 John 5:1).
How marvelous is the grace of God; surely it was greater than all Naomi’s failure, for “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” Romans 5:2020Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: (Romans 5:20). Yes, God had overruled this whole sad story, to bring blessing to a daughter of Moab, and to introduce her into the royal line of Israel, of which Christ was afterward born as man (Matt. 1:55And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; (Matthew 1:5)). Such things bow our hearts in praise and thanksgiving, do they not? This is the grace of God indeed! Dear reader, have you tasted of the grace of God? Have you ever acknowledged yourself as a lost sinner in your sins, and placed your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Saviour? If you will, there is salvation for you, as there was for Ruth the Moabitess.
Encouraged, no doubt, by this token of God’s goodness, Naomi went forward with Ruth all the way to the land of Judah. When they had come back right to the very place Naomi had left ten years before, the whole city was moved about them, saying, “Is this Naomi?” It is a fine thing, when one has wandered away, to get right back to the point of departure, but one cannot just slip in among the people of God again unnoticed. There must be a public as well as a private restoration.
Naomi had come back to God’s land now, restored in her soul, but a confession of her self-willed departure was necessary. Naomi means “Pleasant,” but she had learned the evil of her own failure under the dealing hand of God, and she did not expect to return as though nothing had happened. When one who has wandered away, wishes to be received back by the people of God as though nothing has happened, it makes one question his restoration. Naomi felt she could not lay claim to her old name of “Pleasant” any longer. Could the Lord really find any pleasure in an erring child like her? She suggested they call her Mara, which means “Bitter,” for she said, “The Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.” God had been working in her heart, and now she had acknowledged her wrong; she had submitted to God’s hand, but as yet she had not fully entered into God’s grace. Did He call her Mara? Oh, no! As soon as one has taken his or her true place in repentance, either a lost sinner, or an erring child of God, God delights to manifest His grace. Indeed He will find His eternal joy in the trophies of that grace, and so here the Spirit of God, ever after this, called Naomi by her old name meaning “Pleasant.”
ML 02/14/1954