Hatred stirs up conflict,
Proverbs 10:12
but love covers over all wrongs.
During 2026, Peachtree Church is inviting everyone into Cultivate, a churchwide discipleship plan centered on the fruit of the Spirit and the kind of life God longs to grow in us. Throughout the year, we’ll explore how love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control take shape in everyday life through the Spirit’s work. Cultivate brings together worship, Scripture, group guides, and meaningful practices designed to meet you where you are and support growth in ways that fit your season. These twice-weekly devotionals are one way to stay connected, offering reflection and grounding for daily life with God. Whether you engage in many ways or just one, you’re invited to be part of this shared journey of becoming more rooted in who God has created and called you to be.
Devotional
As you read the book of Ruth, you will notice that Naomi starts out totally miserable. And who can blame her? She has endured famine, a relocation of her family deep into Moabite territory, the deaths of her husband and both her sons. She has come home totally bereft. She is pretty sure who is at fault. It’s God, and she is so angry with Him. She says in Ruth 1:20, “‘Don’t call me Naomi,’ she told them. ‘Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.’” She feels singled out by God for undeserved tragedy. She moves back into her old family home in Bethlehem, and I picture her sitting in the dusty old place, curtains pulled to shut out the sun, feeling between furious and heartbroken. It’s important for us to know in this case that Naomi means “pleasant” and Mara means “bitter.”
But it just so happens that she does have one or two things going for her. (“It just so happens” is always a sign that God is at work)! One thing she has in her favor is that her daughter-in-law Ruth has come back to Bethlehem with her. She is a go-getter, loyal, cheerful, and hard-working, and the whole town approves of her. The other thing Naomi has going for her is that it’s the time of the grain harvest, and this, after all, is Bethlehem, the “house of bread.” Soon there will be plenty of food to eat. So maybe things are looking up. Maybe Naomi will feel her bitter, angry heart thaw.
If Ruth had looked at Naomi’s sad and angry face and turned her feet towards home in Moab, that would make sense. But she remains loyal. Ruth goes out to glean behind the reapers in the fields, and she attracts the notice of Boaz, a good and reputable man who turns out to be a kinsman of Naomi’s husband.
As we read, we see from God’s perspective that the love and trust between Ruth and Naomi brings them home to Bethlehem. There, they just so happen to meet a man who is legally perfectly suited to marry Ruth and give her and Naomi a new home and a new future. Love and respect begin to grow, and a future begins to come to life.
As you read their story, you can’t help but feel that the Lord heard Naomi’s bitter words and thought, “Have I got a surprise for you, my dear.” And it all happened because Ruth was willing to love and follow Naomi back to Bethlehem. If Naomi had come back alone, as she planned to do, she might still be sitting, furious, in that dusty house. But love has overwhelmed and covered the sorrow, grief, and tragedy of the past, making a new life possible. That kind of love is God’s specialty. And if you read to the end of Ruth’s story, her love for Naomi and Boaz just so happened to put her in the family tree of King David, and of Jesus himself. God’s plan of love, when we pursue it as Ruth did, has no end and brings blessings we can’t even imagine.
For Reflection
- Have you ever felt like Naomi, bitter and angry at God?
- How did Ruth’s love open a new way to live for Naomi?
- Why do you think that our Scripture includes this story of a spiritual move from bitterness to joy?
Prayer
Dear Lord, I want to be honest with you and tell you when I am angry, bitter, wounded, even raging at what my life has become. It’s hard not to feel you’ve done that to me. But I know somewhere inside my wounded heart that you love me, and that you’ve put people around me who care about me. Help me not to become so bitter that I miss what You just so happen to be doing in my life. And Lord, help me to be a Ruth whose love and loyalty make life good for all who are around me. Lord, make bitterness become sweet, and the good life roll out into the future. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
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Devotionals