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Naomi and Ruth returned to Bethlehem with nothing. Naomi told the women to call her Mara — 'bitterness' — because she had gone out full and come back empty. She named her condition without pretending it was fine. What came next was Ruth's work in the fields, Boaz's unexpected kindness, and the redemption of everything Naomi thought was permanently lost. The book of Ruth does not begin with provision. It begins with destitution and bitter honesty before God. And then the story turns.
Get These Verses Daily — Free“LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:”
God is described as specifically attentive to the humble and displaced. The desire of the person facing eviction — for shelter, for dignity, for the crisis to resolve — is described as something God hears. His ear is turned toward the one who has been pushed out.
“He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.”
The Hebrew ger — 'stranger' — is the person displaced from their land and community. God's love for the displaced is described in practical terms: food and clothing. Physical provision is specifically within the scope of what he does for those without stable home.
“When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.”
The Hebrew asaph — 'take me up' — means to gather, to receive, to take in as a resident. When the most foundational shelter fails — housing, family, stability — God is described as the one who gathers and receives the displaced person.
“It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.”
This was written from inside the ruins of Jerusalem's destruction — total displacement, everything lost. The author does not construct a theological argument. He holds onto one thing: not consumed. The mercy that prevented total destruction is still present in partial destruction.
“And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.”
Naomi named her condition without pretending. She came back empty and said so to God. The book of Ruth does not begin with provision — it begins with honest destitution spoken before God and community. And then the story turns.
Psalm 10:17–18 addresses the specific condition of the displaced and oppressed: "LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear: To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress." The God of the Psalms is described repeatedly as an advocate for those who have been pushed out and displaced by the power of others. Eviction is a legal and economic power structure. The God who takes up the cause of the oppressed is not neutral about unjust displacement.
Deuteronomy 10:18 places God's care for those without home or family at the center of his character: "He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment." The stranger — ger in Hebrew — was the person who had been displaced from their land and community. God's love for the displaced includes food and clothing — physical provision, not only spiritual comfort.
Commentary is from a charismatic Protestant perspective, drawing on KJV text and public-domain sources including Spurgeon, Andrew Murray, and Matthew Henry.
Lamentations 1:1 opens with Jerusalem herself as an evicted person: "How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations." The city that had been home to God's temple and God's people is now desolate, sitting in the ruins of what it was. Jeremiah does not rush to consolation. He describes the desolation honestly. And then in chapter 3 he finds his way back to "It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed." The path through housing crisis in Lamentations is honest grief followed by the discovery of mercy in the ruins.
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