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Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons—would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!” (Ruth 1:12-13).

As Pastor Anthony pointed out yesterday, Wilderness Wanderings editions of Lent 2021 will explore hope. Where to begin? How about a search for hope in the Bible? Its first occurrence in the NIV is here in our text, Ruth 1:12.

What a place for hope to show up!

Here’s the story in a nutshell. Naomi and her husband fled famine in their hometown of Bethlehem, Judea. It was an act of disobedience to the God of Israel. Famine was understood as an act of judgement. God had said through both Moses and Joshua that obedience would lead to flourishing and disobedience to judgement, famine being close to the top of the list of God’s punishments.

However, judgement and punishments were also God’s call to his people to return to him. But Naomi and her husband, instead of returning to God in obedience, ran away from him. They landed in Moab where their two sons married Moabite women. Also acts of disobedience, because non-Jewish people were bound to lead their Jewish spouses away from God.

Naomi’s husband and her sons die. They are buried in Moab. According to her cultural norms, Naomi has nothing left. When she hears that there is food again in her homeland she decides to return, destitute. As she says, “Don’t call me Naomi, which means pleasant, but Mara, which means bitter” (1:20).

As she leaves Moab, her two daughters-in-law decide to trek along. But she discourages them with the words of our text. ‘There is no hope for me,’ she says, ‘don’t pin your future on me, because there is nothing for me.’

Hopeless.

Maybe we wouldn’t put it as strongly as Naomi, but many of us have had such feelings, especially in this past year. We have a sense of what Naomi is expressing.

But Naomi had it wrong. Her life was not hopeless. Why not? Because God was still around. The beauty of Naomi’s story is that God is in the shadows. He doesn’t do anything on page. He is only referred to in the common greetings among the Israelites: “The Lord be with you!” “The Lord bless you!” Its like he’s hiding in the corners, hidden by shadows.

But he is there. And he’s at work. At the end of the story Naomi bounces a grandson on her lap. And that grandson becomes an ancestor of Jesus Christ. God saved Naomi from bitterness and made her laugh. Jesus is our Saviour: he takes our bitterness and fills our mouths with laughter. He is our hope.

In Lent, we usually focus on our mortality. ‘Dust to dust and ashes to ashes’ is Ash Wednesday’s refrain.

This year let’s look in the corners and shadows and see God at work. Let’s see how God is our hope. Let’s already now reach out for Easter