More Than Seven Sons

My dear friend Bev knows something of the heartache Naomi knew.  Late in 2004, Bev’s grandson Sebastian was hit by a car and killed while bike riding.  He was fourteen.  It was the first funeral I presided over in that community.  Sebastian’s dad Darryl was raising him on his own, with his mother Bev’s help.  The loss tore deep into their hearts and lives.  Do you ever recover?  Darryl didn’t.  He couldn’t.  Darryl took his own life three and a half years later, in 2008. 

Bev, the mom and grandmom, and one of the sweetest, most serene human beings I have ever known, was dealt a blow that rivals Naomi’s.  She has every human reason to claim Bitterness as her name.  But I could name her Pleasant and it would be the truth – there is no bitterness in this dear woman who has known such heartache.  She has found it in Jesus Christ. 

Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel! He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.” Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse.  And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.”

 – Ruth 4

Naomi has come full circle hasn’t she?  In a fallen world we are not exempt from heartache and pain.  There is no guarantee about the details. But God, himself a Father, can restore the wounded soul and heal the bitter heart.  And he can heal your heart too. 

Ruth and Boaz are conspicuously absent in these closing moments with Naomi.  Instead, it is as if a spotlight shines through the darkness to where Naomi sits, bouncing baby boy on her lap, and the women look on.  And this really is Naomi’s story, isn’t it?  In a culture so dependent upon sons, the Lord provides a woman in Ruth who means “more to Naomi than seven sons.”  

Sebastian told Darryl that if he went first,

he would send him a sign from heaven,

to let him know he was okay.

Naomi’s grandson is her redeemer.  “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you without a redeemer.”  With Obed comes the promise that he will be the restoration of Naomi's soul and her provider into old age.  Naomi is no longer the bitter Mara – she is Naomi – Pleasant – whose circumstances have brought her to pleasant places. 

Imagine the gratitude, the fullness that filled Naomi’s heart, the joy and peace as she dandled this little baby on her knee, this child who represents everything she thought she could never have on that dusty road back in Moab.  Obed alone is beyond anything Naomi could have hoped for. 

Ruth’s baby represents the end to Naomi's bitterness, and her healing and redemption, even as God’s Son (& Naomi’s descendant) represents ours. 

By his wounds we are healed.

The summer before Bev’s grandson Sebastian died, he and his dad had a conversation about death.  Sebastian told Darryl that if he went first, he would send him a sign from heaven, to let him know he was okay.  And if you knew Sebastian well, you might have known that his favorite foods included Christmas oranges, shepherd’s pie (or potatoes), honey garlic chicken wings, and pizza. 

One day shortly before Sebastian’s funeral, someone brought by food for the family.  Here’s what they brought:  Christmas oranges, shepherd’s pie, honey garlic chicken wings, and pizza. 

Darryl and Sebastian are together again. 

God her Father has done an incredible work in his daughter Bev’s heart.  And the Father can heal your heart too.  Almighty God, who lost a Son himself, can restore the wounded soul and heal the bitter heart.  In a fallen world we are not promised exemption from tragedy. 

We are however promised that we don’t need to go it alone.