Not the End of the Story

I was just reading the beginning of the Biblical story of Ruth. I have never read it in portions before because it is a short book. But today I stopped when Naomi, Ruth's mother-in-law, is at her low point. She is living in a foreign country in the middle of a famine; she has lost her husband; and now she has lost both sons. She has no family to lean on except for two daughters-in-law she now feels responsible for. How can she take care of them when she can't even take care of herself? She tells them they should return home to their parents.

I cannot imagine how hopeless she must feel. Alone. Fearful. Grieving to the point of despair.

But that is not the end of the story. I know that because I've read it before. I know she is not alone. I know God blesses her and takes care of her in ways she could not have imagined. What she saw before her was a dead end, but that was not the end of the story.

How often we are in the midst of a trial and cannot see past the muddy pit we are sitting in. We cannot see that this is not the end of the story.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28)

"Therefore we do not lose heart.... We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen in eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:16, 18)

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." (Ephesians 3:20-21).