“When she heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, Naomi and her daughters-in-law had prepared to return home from there.” Ruth 1:6
Read Ruth 1:3-15 Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.
6 When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7 With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.
8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. 9 May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.”
Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud10 and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”
11 But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? 12 Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— 13 would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!”
14 At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.
15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”
Naomi was in a terrible spot. Her husband had died. She was alone with her two daughters-in-law, grieving the loss of her God-given family.
Her heart so burdened, when she began to go where “the Lord had come to the aid of his people,” she actually tried to discourage Ruth and Orpah from coming.
Have you ever hit hard times, only to emotionally decide, ‘I’m not making this any harder, I’m going back to what I know?’
After succeeding in discouraging Orpah, she said to Ruth in verse 15, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods.” Effectively, she’s returning to what she knows.
Pause for a moment and consider what the future held for these women, none who had a husband. Poverty and precarious plights must have plagued their thoughts. Life would now be extremely difficult, with the assumption their physical needs might often go unmet.
Yet Ruth determined not to leave Naomi. Reading verse 16 makes me think Ruth took her marriage vows seriously, and her devotion to her husband extended to his family, even after he was gone.
She would not return to her family of origin, forsaking her family by marriage. She would not return to the gods of her youth, forsaking the one true God.
Could she envision a future with hope? Did she believe they would thrive? She probably had no idea.
But what she did know, was, she was not going back.
How about you? Are there ‘gods’ you once served, vying for your attention yet again? Are you strong enough, day by day, to go where ‘the Lord has come to the aid of his people?’
While not always a specific geographical location, like Moab, I imagine you know that specific spiritual location in your heart.
Allow yourself to be carried where He is leading you, and don’t give those other gods a backwards glance.
Reflection:
What encourages you on a journey you’ve been called to, but is filled with unknowns?
Thanks for reading! Please return by Thursday, June 6, for the next post.