Now Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. Ruth 1:3

Naomi followed her husband to Moab with their two sons. Not long after, death stole him away, leaving her in a foreign land with only her boys. She was far from home, cut off from family, and surrounded by strangers. Death is always a mountain to climb, and its grip feels colder when no hand is there to steady you. Naomi was alone.

I know what it is to follow someone’s lead and end up stranded in a barren place. To defer, only to discover that another’s choice has carried me into storm and shipwreck. When the path bends toward loss, bitterness whispers: “Look what you’ve done to me.” Shame echoes back in self-talk: “How foolish I was to trust.” Did Naomi wrestle with such thoughts? Scripture is silent. But human hearts are not and I am well acquainted.

You and I both have scars from trusting when we should not have. If life offered a rewind, we would choose differently. Yet here is hope: God is never stranded when we are stranded. He is not bound to a single road. He builds highways in wastelands, carves paths through thorns, and surprises us with streams of water in the desert. What feels like the end of the story is often only the beginning of His.

When I see no way of escape, my eyesight is simply limited. You will not only lead me out, but whisper wisdom in my ears while on the journey. Thank You, my Lord. Amen