Better Than Seven Sons

The women of the town said to Naomi, “Praise the LORD, who has now provided a redeemer for your family! May this child be famous in Israel. May he restore your youth and care for you in your old age. For he is the son of your daughter-in-law who loves you and has been better to you than seven sons!” Ruth 4:14-15

SO MUCH HAD CHANGED since Naomi returned to Bethlehem without her husband and sons. She told those friends who barely recognized her, “Don’t call me Naomi. . . . Instead, call me Mara, for the Almighty has made life very bitter for me. I went away full, but the LORD has brought me home empty” (Ruth 1:20-21). Nothing about Naomi’s family had worked out the way she wanted it to, and she found it impossible to believe that God could actually be working out a plan for her life that was better than her own.

Now Naomi’s friends gathered around her to celebrate the birth of a baby to Ruth and Boaz, a child who would perpetuate the name of her late husband, Elimelech, in the land. As they celebrated, they deemed having Ruth as a daughter-in-law better for Naomi than having seven sons. “Seven sons” was another way of saying “the perfect family.” They were telling Naomi that God’s plan for her family and her life was better than any plan she might have had. God gave the women around Naomi the eyes to see that he was doing something much bigger than just the redemption of her own little family. Through this baby would come a greater Redeemer who would make this blessing available to all the families of the earth.

Whenever we’re tempted to become bitter and see ourselves as cheated by God because our family is not living up to what we had hoped and dreamed, the story of Ruth reminds us that God is at work behind the scenes of our disappointments, working out his good plans.

Praise you, Lord, for providing a Redeemer for your people, which includes our little family. Throughout Scripture, I can see that you are committed to accomplishing your work in the world through less-than-perfect families. You work in and through situations filled with heartache and need, disappointments and difficulties. Help us to believe that we don’t have to have the perfect family to enjoy your perfect peace.