About Ten Years

“And they lived there about ten years.” (Ruth 1:4c)

What a difference ten years made. As they began Naomi was happily married and the mother of two grown sons; at the end of those years she was a childless widow facing a bleak future.

We all live in a world where a nice little family story can quickly become a tragic tale of sorrow and struggle. In a moment hard times can descend and drive away every memory of ease and peace and comfort. Prosperity has often become a faint memory in only a few short days. The world being what it is, we must beware of finding our comfort in princes or presidents or economic good times—they all eventually change on us. God’s people must brace themselves against this uncertain world where famine and death and trouble come. But how?

“Trust in the Lord,” “Delight yourself in the Lord,” “Rest in the Lord,” and “Wait on the Lord” (Psalm 37). He alone must be our ultimate trust, our chief delight, our soul’s peace and our hope for the future.

Anyone who has lived for very long has experienced disappointment when hopes and dreams seemed to be dashed and destroyed forever. Thanks be unto God that our pains and disappointments are not ultimate. Neither are they permanent. Yet, we cannot always think or see or believe beyond the present darkness that overwhelms.

Naomi felt that her world had ended. The life she had known was now over. All alone, the whole world had tumbled down around her. Reflecting on those last ten years, she must have wept. Feelings of utter loss must have crashed over her soul like a flood.

Something amazing and wonderful may begin with a season of devastating loss, as it did in Naomi’s life. Unknown to her, the covenant-keeping God of Israel in whom she trusted was, even then, working all things for her good. But she could not see any of that at the moment. If the next ten years were anything like the last ten, how could she bear to live at all? –TSA