Witnesses of God’s Redemptive Passion

After several weeks in Bethlehem, Naomi and Ruth’s lives had stabilized, and their activities assumed a familiar routine. Much of their earlier anxiety had lifted and their modest accommodation brought them a novel feeling of home. While Naomi still harbored deep sadness, disappointment, and anger within her heart, the relatively smooth reintegration into Bethlehem’s community had soothed her conscious fears and exceeded her unspoken desires. During this relative calm, she recalled how the Lord God had led the Israelites in the desert for forty years and had humbled them to test the substance of their hearts. They experienced difficulty and hardship, but despite their discontent and grumblings, God faithfully supplied manna to sustain them. Manna had become their daily provision of food which required no human toil or planning. It was a gift of God’s grace. Its mysterious appearance was a clear testimony of an essential spiritual truth, a reality that Israel had sadly ignored. They were the chosen people of the Lord. Therefore, their sustenance and vitality would not come from the bread of Egypt which molds with time, but instead it comes from the Bread of Life, the God of revelations, who is eternally life-affirming. Was the Lord in his wisdom testing her, as he had tested Israel? Hadn’t she just experienced a season of her own spiritual wilderness just as Israel had grown weary of wandering in the desert for forty-years? In her return to the land of promise, was she not welcomed home with joy? Had God not provided for her every meal? Was she not silently reveling in a new hope which had graciously entered her previously hard and bitter heart? Naomi began to cry. The years of inner pain and uneasy emotions spilled into the room. Her heart, like a liberated spring, released its pent-up emotions. The suffocating weight of the lies and illusions, which had once extinguished her life passions, was lifted. As she stepped firmly into her emotions, she caught a glimpse of the vibrant woman that God had called her to be. She embraced anew her true inner identity. This animated vitality gave new vigor and life to her deep hopes and dreams. Then, after a long period of silence and solitude, she confessed her heart to the Lord. For the first time in many years, she experienced the glow of true peace. Naomi unconsciously smiled, and lifting her head and hands to the heavens, began singing praises to her Lord God.