We need the big picture. Without it, we lose heart. Naomi did. She moved to a foreign country with her husband and her two sons, because they couldn’t make ends meet at home. And then her husband died. Then one son. Then the other son. She was left alone with her daughter-in-law, and she lost heart. Despair crept in. Life was over. The family was dead. Hope was gone. But she couldn’t see the big picture. She couldn’t see the day she would hold her grandson. She couldn’t see the day that her grandson would hold his grandson, who would be King David. And she couldn't see that, generations later, from her family -- King David's family --would come the very Son of God. The darkest part of the night is often just before dawn.
“The Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. . . . The Almighty has afflicted me.” Ruth 1:20-21.
“God, who . . . calls into being that which does not exist.” Rom. 4:17.