In the Bible, the book of Ruth could just as easily have been called the book of Naomi.
Naomi is the main character throughout the book.
It is true, that Ruth is one of the major characters, as is Boaz.
But Naomi is the first female character mentioned in the book, she is the predominant driver of the activities in the book, and she is the last female character mentioned in the book.
Naomi starts out in verse one as a woman who has everything she could possibly want in her day and age.
She's married, and she has two children, specifically boys.
This was as good as it gets for a woman living in Israel in those times.
Then, Naomi was emptied.
Her husband died, and her two boys, who had married Moabites, also died.
This left the woman with no hope.
She was not in control of her situation.
She was in a strange land, she had no relatives, she had no family with whom she could relate.
She was alone, lonely, scared, and hurt.
She returned to Bethlehem, her home, when she realized that the Lord's favor had returned to Israel and He had ended the famine that drove her to go out in the first place.
When her friends see her, they ask if it could possibly be her, because she is so changed from when they saw her last.
She is no longer the pleasant Naomi, but is a very sad woman.
Naomi does not stay sad throughout the rest of the book.
Instead, she stoically goes about the business of trying to protect her daughter-in-law, Ruth.
She protects Ruth from strange men, by suggesting that she gleaned only in Boaz' fields.
She gives Ruth good instruction about how to woo Boaz, and win his heart.
Everything that Naomi does is what she should be doing.
In the end, of course, Boaz and Ruth are married and Naomi's lineage is continued through Boaz and Ruth.
We see that at the end of chapter 4 when Ruth has a baby boy and is placed in Naomi's lap.
So we see the main character, Naomi, come full-circle from extremely happy, very unhappy, back to happy to get.
There are two levels of activity in the book.
There is the heavenly sovereign activities, and there are the earthly activities, of a woman just doing her job.
We see God created famine that drives her to Moab where she can meet Ruth.
Then we see God end the famine after Naomi loses her husband and sons so that she can bring Ruth back to Bethlehem.
We also see the "coincidence" of Ruth gleaning in the fields of Boaz.
These are all activities that are clearly initiated by God.
Then we see all of Naomi's activities here on earth.
The decisions that she makes are right ones as a mother-in-law who cares about her daughter-in-law.
Wonderfully and mysteriously, we see the workings of God in heaven intertwine with the workings of the woman here on earth to bring about the ancestral lineage of King David and ultimately of Jesus Christ.
There are lessons for us in this book.
There are many, however one lesson we can learn from this is to trust in the sovereignty of God.
But, we should also be doing our best.
Someone said, "pray like it's all up to God and to work like it's all up to us.
" That might not be 100% correct, but it is close.
Because in the book of Ruth we see God doing his part with Naomi doing her part and it all works out together for good.