Disappointment, loss, and hardship can leave us unfulfilled hopes and shattered dreams, When we can't make sense of God's plan we can easily end up in a place of doubt, confusion and bitterness. In the midst of it we need to remember that God’s ways are not our ways, and he is often working behind the scenes for our good and his glory.

As the narrative of Ruth begins, we find three characters at a crossroads. Each faces very significant, very real decisions that will affect the trajectory of their lives. But God is at work in and through those decisions, weaving something the characters can't even see.

Where is God when life gets hard? When the dark and difficult providences of life threaten to overwhelm us, where is God? The opening to the book of Ruth presses that question on us. In a mere five verses, a woman's life is stripped bare. The events of her life leave Naomi a ruined woman. But in the midst of it there are glimmer's of hope. God is working in the darkness in ways Naomi can't see. Ways she won't see until the end of the story. Naomi's experience reminds us that God is always working, even in the darkness and difficulty of life, to restore and redeem.