Not Left Without a Redeemer

Ruth 4:14. When the child is born, it is the women of the town who speak. They bless the Lord, who has not left Naomi without a kinsman-redeemer, and they pray that the boy's name will be famous in Israel.

The blessing is worth reading carefully. Naomi had said the Lord brought her back empty. Now her neighbours say the Lord has not left her without a redeemer. Same God, same woman, opposite verdict. What changed was not God's character but the point in the story from which it was viewed.

The women's prayer was answered more literally than they could have guessed. The boy's name, Obed, does appear in Israel's story, in the line of David and then in the genealogy of Jesus. The redeemer God provided for one grieving widow became part of the way he provided a Redeemer for the world.

If you are somewhere in the middle of your story today, remember that the verdict at chapter one is not the verdict at chapter four. God has not left you without a redeemer. The women of Bethlehem would tell you so.