This is Mother's Day weekend, and we're always glad to honor our Moms.  I got a newsletter last week that contained some comments from kids.  Children were asked about their Moms and here are some of their answers:  Q: Why did God make mothers?  A1) It was the best way to get more people,  A2) Mostly to clean the house,  A3) She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.  Q: What kind of little girl was your mom?  A1) My mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff,  A2) I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess is she was pretty bossy,  Q: Why did your mom marry your dad?  A1) My grandma says that mom didn't have her thinking cap on,  A2) She got too old to do anything else with him.  Q: If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?  A) I'd make her smarter.  Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.

          All of us have a life story of some kind.  Most of our stories are interesting and some even helpful.  One of the greatest of all stories involves two women who discovered life in all its sweetness, but first it was all bitterness.  These women were survivors, which meant they were resourceful.  This is the story of Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth.

          Motherhood is a blessing from God, but it isn't always sweetness and joy.  There are some women who want to be mothers but can't.  Some are and wish they weren't, and most of them have a lot more troubles than they let on.  But first and foremost, mothers are women.  So let's look at a story of two women who met life at its best and its worst, met it head on and experienced something special from God.

          Naomi was married to Elimelech and they had two sons.  They were from Bethlehem at the time of a great famine.  Now a famine in those days meant no rain and there was no way to deal with it but find another source of water yourself.  Naomi and her family decided to move to Moab, about 100 miles east of Bethlehem.  Water was plentiful there.  Moab itself was founded by survivors.  After Sodom and Gomorrah had been destroyed by fire and brimstone, the Bible says Lot and his daughters started a new tribe called the Moabites.  Because of their questionable heritage, nations around didn't trust them, especially Jews.  So when Naomi and her family went there, it was perceived as an act of desperation, one that perhaps earned them more scorn than admiration.

          Most of us know the story.  While there, the two boys, Mahlon and Kilian, married Moabite women, named Ruth and Orpah.  In a short period of time, the father and both sons all died, leaving the three widows.  They were at the mercy of a culture that had few choices for single women - either live off your family, get married, or sell yourself.  Naomi chose the first option and had to return home to do it.  As she got ready, she urged both the younger women to stay in their native land.  Orpah did, but Ruth did not.  You get the sense that she loved Naomi, and chose to stay with her.  So the two came back to Bethlehem and were welcomed.  "Can this be Naomi?" the people said.

          Naomi's name means "sweetness," but she was anything but sweet.  "Forget Naomi!  Call me Mara (bitterness), for God has made my life bitter.  I left here full and have returned empty.  God has afflicted me and I am bitter." (Ruth 1:20-21)

          Life has its twists and turns.  I doubt that any of our life stories would be devoid of some kind of trouble.  And when your culture has tight rules about what you can and can't do, the twists of life can be cruel and require us to be very resourceful.  Either face the problem that way or become a slave to people or immorality.  Naomi took the first step; she faced her own people.  Maybe there she could get some help.

          It is so difficult to face one's own family when in trouble.  I had to do it once, and though they didn't fix my troubles, at least they shared the load.  And it helped me to know they were willing to help.  We all need help now and then, and God has ways of providing it.  But it usually means we need to swallow our pride.

          And young Ruth was the first to do so.  She knew of the law that required farmers to leave a little grain in the fields for the poor to glean.  She also knew of the Levitical law that required families to take care of their own.  It said that the next of kin must help the widow and the orphan.  So Ruth decided to glean for grain.  She was young and strong.  She was also a bit naive, because gleaning left her open to the attention of the young men, and they don't always think with their heads.  Ruth was an attractive stranger and that could mean big trouble.  But in the midst of all this, God was working.  The story of Ruth and Naomi isn't just about cleverness.  It's really about God's providence.  Ruth and Naomi is a story of redemption, about how God turns bitterness into sweetness, and how He accomplishes His purposes.

          Ruth probably asked around was told to glean from the field owned by Boaz, an old confirmed bachelor.  Boaz had heard about Naomi and her daughter-in-law, so when he saw her, he warned his men to stay away from her, and even leave a little extra grain for her to pick up.  Gleaners could either eat the grain they found or even sell it.  Ruth took her grain home and told Naomi of her success.  "Blessed be the man who took notice of you," she said. (Ruth 2:19)   When Ruth said his name was Boaz, Naomi all but shouted, "The Lord bless him!"  There was hope!  She who had tasted such bitterness now praised God.  She hadn't stopped believing in God, but she had been blaming.  That's what believers will do.  We still believe, but we also blame.  And so God has to prove He is still there, that He is not out of touch.  And when God shows His presence so readily, we call that a "God thing."

          I saw a "God thing" this week.  One of our new families has to move away due to work, but they want to rent their house so they can return to it.  They are leaving at the end of this month and have been praying for a good renter.  Last Friday I got a call from a former Epiphany member who moved away two years ago and is now returning.  "Do you need a house to rent?" I asked.  "Yes," she said, "we really do, at the beginning of next month!"  I think they're going to make it work - and if so, both will have their prayers answered.  However He does it, God does fix our problems, and He often does it by a "God thing." He reminds us He's still around, still providing, still loving.  And we forget that far too often.

          Ruth meeting Boaz was a major "God thing," not just because it's a nice love story, but because of the results.  Ruth and Boaz were blessed with a son, whom they named Obed.  And Obed was blessed with a son, Jesse, and one of Jesse's sons was David, Israel's greatest king.  And, of course, through David's family the Savior Jesus was born.  Through the bitterness of loss and death, God blessed not only Naomi and Ruth, not only Israel, but all of humanity.  It was a tremendous gift, the greatest gift, but it had to come through bitterness first.

          One of the tender verses of Ruth comes in the last chapter where it says, "Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him.  The women living there said, 'Naomi has a son'." (Ruth 4:16-17)   God does remember us in our darkest hour.  He can see beyond our present troubles, whatever they are.  He knows our wants, but He also knows our need - salvation from sin.  And He provided that for us through Naomi and Ruth.  Jesus, the Savior of all people, came to us through bitterness and sweetness, through death and new life, through a Moabite mother and a Jewish father.  He came to us because of sin, and now He is the Lord who redeems us all.

          When Boaz told the people of Bethehem he was taking Ruth to be his wife, she and Naomi were officially "redeemed."  That means they were bought with a price.  And so are we.  We were bought with a price.  "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin." (1 John 1:7)   When Jesus died on Calvary, He redeemed the whole world.  He paid the price for our sins, and now He lives so that we, too, might live.  God never promised that life would be all sweetness.  When the bitterness comes, may you too have a special "God thing" in your life.  Amen

Copyright © 2006 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.