We can’t see what God sees. But we can hope for what God is doing
By Dean Collins
God can help in an instant, but he might just heal our wounds and meet our needs over time and use our situation to bring eternal outcomes for others. From our narrow and sometimes urgent view, an instant resolution often appears to be the better resolution. But when we consider that God has a wide-angle lens with an expansive view of time, we realize God also uses time to his advantage and ours as he answers our prayers. We pray expecting a response. What we sometimes cannot see is that God may well have answered our prayer in ways that ultimately bring help and comfort not just to us but to others and will impact a generation or more.
Love and loss
The story of Elimelech and Naomi and Ruth illustrates my point. When Elimelech married Naomi, life seemed to be going well. They were in love, and their love produced two sons. Life was good for the young couple, and the future looked bright. But then famine struck, and Elimelech made what seemed like the responsible decision. He moved in order to find food for his family. Their travel led them to Moab where their immediate needs were met, and once again things seemed to be going well.
But Elimelech fell ill, and it was a shock for Naomi to watch her husband die. Grief is hard and especially so when family is at a distance. Fortunately, Naomi had the distraction and joy of watching her sons grow to manhood. Both sons married, and hope was rekindled for Naomi and her family. But in a way similar to the story of Job, Naomi experienced another layer of sorrow. First one son died and then the other, leaving Naomi with her daughters-in-law away from relatives and without income or an estate to secure a future.
Naomi told her daughters-in-law that she was headed back home. The women were fiercely loyal to her. After numerous conversations Oprah chose to stay put while Ruth left with Naomi.
When Naomi and Ruth arrived in Bethlehem, the locals did what locals everywhere do; they began to discuss her difficult situation. One of them asked, “Is that you, Naomi?” But grief had changed Naomi to the point that she no longer wanted to be called by her name, which means pleasant. Naomi wanted to be called by the name that now defined her situation. “Mara, bitter, is my name ,” she said, “because the Lord sent me away full of life and hope and now I am empty.”
Our grief, his work
Those of us who have experienced great loss and suffering know all too well how easy it is to slip into a sense of hopelessness. We see ourselves as empty, without hope, and are sure others see us the same way. We take on the weight of the words we’re convinced others use when they think of us: failure, loser, bankrupt, divorced, widow, widower, or terminal.
What we often cannot see is that God is at work even in our sorrow and grief. He is acting on the prayers others have spoken on our behalf when our prayers were merely groans of desperation. We cannot possibly see and know the story God has begun as the page turns to a new chapter of our life.
God has no limits as he plants seeds of life in the hearts and minds of others he will use to bring new life and new possibilities. Our view of what is possible is finite, but God’s view is eternal. God will often use the determination and love of those around us to germinate the seeds he has planted in the garden of hope.
Our persistence, God’s plan
The book of Ruth reminds us how God moves even when at first we cannot see or imagine the way forward. Ruth’s focus on survival and on providing for her mother-in-law would not only change Naomi but cascade all the way into our lives, too.
God used Ruth’s daily humility and determination to find food for herself and for her mother-in-law to extend not just their lives but change the lives of generations. In the process of survival, Ruth met Boaz. Was this mere coincidence? Is it simply luck when we bump into a stranger or when someone introduces us to their friend who will help us write the next chapter in our story?
God can and will use whatever we lay before him. Naomi brought her sorrow. Ruth brought her love. Boaz brought care and responsibility. God used all of these people and their situation to weave a tapestry of redemption not only for them but for the world. From the union of Ruth and Boaz would come a king named David just a couple of generations later. And from the line of David would come a king named Jesus, the light and hope of the world.
Where do stories of redemption begin and end? Solomon wrote that the path of the righteous shines as bright as the sun. David wrote that goodness and mercy follow us all the days of our lives until we dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Neither Solomon nor his father David would have written anything if not for Ruth’s insistence to find a way forward.
Our moment, his movement
God sees you and me today. He knows our pain and has already heard our prayers. He was at work before our whispers came to his ear and is moving around us, sowing seeds of love and hope that we will one day see and understand.
It might just be today or a day soon that we will see bitterness turn into joy. In 2 Corinthians the apostle Paul reminds us that this heir of Ruth who is now Lord and King always leads us in triumphal procession. There is no situation where God is not moving. It may be hard to imagine now, but our desperate moment might just be paving a highway of hope for the next generation.
Your time with God’s Word
Ruth 1:20-22; 4:13-17; 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 ESV
Photo by Matt Heaton at Unsplash
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