The Road Back To Judah

"They took the long road that led them back to Judah…” – Ruth 1:6-7

Naomi once left her home in Bethlehem, where she knew her God, Yahweh, and journeyed to Moab to build a life with her family. But her time in Moab was marked by deep loss. A famine struck the land, and over time, she lost her husband and both her sons—her greatest sources of earthly security. Stripped of everything, Naomi made the difficult decision to return to her roots in Bethlehem, to the place where she first came to know God.

Sometimes, God allows us to be brought to the end of ourselves, to the humblest and lowest points, so He can guide us back home. For Naomi, this journey was not only physical but deeply spiritual. When she returned to Bethlehem, the town was stirred with her arrival. Her old friends, shocked by how much she had changed, asked, “Can this really be Naomi?” (Ruth 1:19).

In her pain, Naomi no longer wanted to be called by her name, which means "pleasant." Instead, she asked to be called Mara, meaning “bitter,” saying, “The Lord has dealt bitterly with me” (Ruth 1:20). However, this name change was not a rejection of her faith. It was an honest acknowledgment of her suffering. Naomi was not hopeless; she was human. And sometimes, admitting that we are at our lowest point is a powerful act of faith—it’s saying, “I need God to meet me here.”

Naomi told her people, “The Lord has brought me home empty” (Ruth 1:21). Yet in that emptiness, God was beginning to write a story of redemption. Her loss of physical security pointed her back to the truth of Proverbs 3:26: “The Lord is your security; He will keep your foot from being caught in a trap.”

What’s striking is that although Naomi asked to be called Mara, the author of Ruth never refers to her by that name again. It’s as if to remind us that, even when we feel defined by our bitterness or brokenness, God still calls us by the name He gave us. To Him, Naomi was still “pleasant.”

Despite her pain, Naomi’s faith left a lasting impact. Her life and her God so deeply inspired Ruth, her Moabite daughter-in-law, that Ruth declared, “Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God” (Ruth 1:16).

Naomi’s journey back to Judah reminds us that, though we may feel empty and broken, God is still at work. Sometimes, He allows us to lose what we thought we couldn’t live without so we can come back to Him in humility, hands open to receive His greater blessings.

The road back may be long, but God is faithful to meet us there.