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I would guess that everyone reading this knows somebody who is a widow. What is a widow? Simply put, it is a woman who has lost her husband to death. Regardless of the circumstances of the husband’s death, this puts the widow in a difficult place in life. She may need to get a job, or a better job, as the sole income for the household; she may now be the only parent to their children; she has lost her emotional companion; etc.

In the book of Ruth in the Bible, we meet three widows. Naomi was living in the land of Moab when her husband died. Her two sons also died, leaving behind widows Ruth and Orpah. In the culture at that time, a widow was completely dependent on others. She would have no way to make an income, outside of prostituting herself, without the help of a man. Having no husband or sons, Naomi has nothing. She encourages her two daughters-in-law to return to their own families and remarry. Orpah does that, but Ruth continues on the journey with Naomi until they reach their new life in Bethlehem.

Naomi is very bitter at her life situation. She’s so bitter, in fact, that she asks people to call her by the name Mara, which means “bitter” in Hebrew. Ruth, however, desires to make a living for her and Naomi. She goes out to glean wheat, which was basically picking up the leftover stalks that the harvesters missed. It just so happens that God has a plan for her, and Ruth meets a man named Boaz who owns the field she’s gleaning in. Boaz redeems their family by marrying Ruth, and one of their descendants (many years later) is Jesus. I would encourage you to read the entire book of Ruth for yourself (it’s only 4 chapters), since there’s so much more to it than this brief overview.

So what is my point in telling you this story? If you are a widow yourself, or if you know one, God can and will still use that situation for His glory. If Ruth had taken the easy route and gone back to live with her family in Moab, she never would have met Boaz in Bethlehem and become an ancestor of Jesus, the savior of the world! God took what looked to be a miserable situation, where these three women had no men to take care of them, and used it for His glory in a mighty way. He can use your life too if you let him, regardless of your circumstances.