Ruth 1

1. The line that is broken. One of the themes of the book is the lineage of Christ - the book ends with the line of descendants leading to King David. Naomi has suffered more than the loss of her sons - she has lost their sons, and their sons, and so on. This is at the core of her suffering. She says 'The Lord has brought me back empty' - yet she had Ruth with her. Her emptiness was not that she was without family, but that she would have no continuing line of descendents. She could not see how the Lord could bring life to this dead line - 'Am I going to have any more sons?...' There are two types of plan - one that anticipates, and one that assumes. We can and ought to prepare in anticipation - we should only assume that 'God works all things together for the good of those who love Him.'