God of New Hope, Restorer of Shattered Dreams - Ruth

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ruth+1&version=NIV

Today we read the book of Ruth. In the midst of a time filled with moral and religious decay, we find a remnant of true faith and piety and a glimpse into the private lives of God’s people. It is this type of glimpse that allows us to see real people dealing with real life and all of the struggles and disappointments, joys, hope and victories that life on this earth entails. We watch real people walk with God through a valley and back to the mountain top. We watch God take people on a journey of healing, hope, and redemption – a journey that he still leads people on today.

As the curtain is pulled back, we find Naomi facing a destitute life of loss and shattered dreams. Her husband died, followed by the death of her two sons – and Naomi is left. Her life is emptied of husband and sons. This is the beginning of a literal journey back to her people to whom she returns declaring, “I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty.” Ruth 1:21.

More importantly, her emptiness marks the beginning of a spiritual journey that will turn her emptiness into fullness, her destitution into hope. Her spiritual journey of healing and hope is rewritten by God over and over again in the lives of his people. I’ve been on the journey. My best friend has been on it as well. My sister has been on it several times, as has my mother, my father, my friends – not by our own choosing. As I work in the counseling office, I’ve had the privilege of walking with many as they go on this journey. The path looks a little different for each person – but the results are the same – a person whose life and very being are refined by fire into a reflection of the glory of God.

Despite the difference in each individual’s journey, there are certain legs of the journey that are evident in each one. We find these in Naomi’s story and can hold onto the promise that when God sets us on a journey through a valley, he will lay a path that will lead us to encounter each. I have a story from one of my clients (I’ll call it Hope’s story – not her real name – she is a teenage girl) that also demonstrates the same legs along the journey that I’d like to share. Read their stories and hold onto her healing, hope, and redemption of a shattered dream as your hope that God will work the same into your journey.

The beginning of the journey: Emptiness

We’ve already read about Naomi’s. Hope’s emptiness begins at age 14 when she says, “trying to fill my emptiness, I gave myself away to someone who did not deserve me, leaving me feel worthless, unbeautiful, torn broken, and far more alone. I tried to fill the hole up with alcohol, drugs, and sex. I was on a steady path to destruction”.

Those who walk with you along the way: Authentic Christian Community

In the midst of this journey we will see God work healing in the context of authentic Christian community, beginning with the sweet devotion and self-giving love of Ruth, who has nothing to gain but sharing in Naomi’s desolation. Then we see God set Naomi in the midst of Naomi’s people.

Hope’s story continues with God placing her in a healing community. She writes, “Thankfully, I am blessed with the most amazing parents who have provided counseling, therapy, doctors and love.”

God provides along the journey: Emptiness is Filled

We see God give Naomi a kinsman-redeemer (Boaz). He provides food to fill her and then protection and redemption as he marries Ruth, bring both Ruth and Naomi under the protection of his home. “He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, ‘Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed”. Ruth 3:17

In Hope’s journey, God himself steps in and ultimately what fills her as she writes, “One night I went on a run, and as I ran, I prayed and prayed that God would life my heartache and my feeling of unworthiness…tears were pouring down my face and I could feel God’s strong embrace holding me so tightly. I could feel him telling me how beautiful I am and how much He loves me, wants me, and cherishes me.” Hope also told me that God gave her gifts as he healed her. She said she received the gift of a forgiving heart and the gift of a heart that was not judgmental.

In the end is a life transformed: Security and New Hope

At the end of the Naomi’s journey we find Boaz and Ruth bringing a son into the world. The women say to Naomi: “Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a kinsman redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel. He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age’…Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him” – Ruth 4:14-15. What an amazing picture – a woman without hope, without family, with old-age making family seemingly hopeless, is given new family – new hope. But more importantly, she’s given a picture of God’s unfailing love, faithfulness, and the ability to fill our emptiness with new hope that she would never have seen on the journey.

Hope’s story ends much the same. She told me that used her depression to heal her of things she did not even know where broken, and now he continues to heal her depression. She writes, “As I write with tears pouring from my eyes, I will tell you that God is real and that He is my deliverer, my stronghold, my father, my strength, my refuge, my smile. I praise the Lord for everything I have been through because every single bit of pain is worthy what he has shown me. I will forever praise Him with every ounce of talent He has given me; I will praise Him through pain, sorrow, heartache, and trials for he has made me into a strong being. God is my pride.”

I’ll end with a phrase I often find myself telling my clients as they begin this journey from brokenness to hope and healing. “I know that where you are right now is a hard place and that this journey is not one you would choose. There are times when it will feel like the pain is not worth it. You will want to pretend it isn’t there or try to find something to make yourself feel better even for just a moment. But here is what I want you to know – if you allow yourself to feel the pain, to even sit in it for a while if that is what it takes, I promise that God will come and sit with you. Then he will take you by the hand and he will lead you down the path and at the end of the journey, you won’t even recognize the person that you are. You and the things in your life will not return to what they where before the journey began. Instead, you will be a new person, your life will be made new, and your faith will be stronger then you ever imagined it would be. Be willing to walk the road - there will be people who will walk with you along the way, and God will be your constant companion. The destination will beyond what you imagine.”

Praise God that he is a God of new hope and a redeemer of shattered dreams!