Ruth 4:14-16 New International Version (NIV)
14 The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! 15 He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”
16 Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him.
Tues. November 24
More “normal” stuff is happening. After her marriage to Boaz, Ruth has a child. But the women of the town offer up praise and blessings for what God has given to Naomi. Why? Because God had turned the bitterness (“mara” - Ruth 1:20) of death that hung like a gray cloud over Naomi into the blessing of new life. God did this through the gift of a child. That child is the link to a king further down the line named David. Then, hundreds of years later, another child was born in that same family line. That baby was also born in Bethlehem and named Jesus. Naomi still does not have a husband and her two sons are still dead, but now Naomi has a redeemer through the child, the heir, that God has provided. Death will not have the final word. God’s promise of blessing will prevail. This is no fairy tale. God used real, normal people with real, normal struggles in His plan of salvation and redemption.