“So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. Now they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.” (Ruth 1:21)

• The return.

When the two returned to Bethlehem we read that they came in the beginning of barley harvest. This was in the month of April. The one who had just said, “‘The Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me’” (v. 20), spoke with her eyes utterly blindfolded to the wonderful nlessing God had in store for His returning prodigal daughter. It was not long, though Naomi knew it not, before her lap would be filled with blessings from on high. If she could only have seen the picture with which the Book of Ruth closes where she took Ruth’s child and laid it in her bosom she would have said, “the Lord has dealt marvelously with me.” If she had known that child was to be the father of Jesse, who was the father of David, she could not have contained her gladness.

• The prodigal’s return.

When the prodigal son came home, was the fatted calf not killed, and was there not joy and dancing? The father had the robe and the ring all ready to bestow. This has ever been the case.

In one of the cemeteries of Winnipeg, Manitoba, is a tombstone marking the grave of a man who not until late in life became a Christian, and on the stone is this inscription: “Here lies ——- ———. He was a poor wandering boy, but he came home at last.”

• Leaving all.

On the other hand Ruth was coming to God, leaving all - her home and her native land. God saw her willingness to suffer loss, and to count everything that had been dear to her as refuse.

This was why God enriched her. “‘And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life’” (Matthew 19:29). “‘For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal [perfect] to Him’” (2 Chronicles 16:9).

Guard your heart. Teach your children. Watch and pray.