My thoughts for the Itty Bitty Bible Study group on Facebook.
First is the background for the Story of Ruth!
Ruth 1:1-2
1 In the days when the judges ruled,[a] there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 2 The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.
- Famine.
- With two sons.
- And no hope.
- This was not supposed to be a permanent decision! “For a while”.
- But the plans did not happen as they had planned!
3 Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons.
How many mothers plan for their husband to die before them, much less, leave them with 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.
TEN years – this is such a drop in a bucket in a life. Yet, so much happened so fast in Naomi’s life! Famine, Husband dies, two sons die – and in the middle of this, her sons marry outside of the faith! Nothing is looking right for Naomi!
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.
About now, I’d be thinking – “Now what if I’d stayed in Bethlehem in the first place??? Would Elimelek still be here? What about my two sons? Would I have righteous daughters-in-law?”
I would be scared to take the road back to the land of Judah, but, I’d be scared not to! I’d be thinking I need to start all over, and maybe I can find some family that will help me out. There’s laws in Israel that take care of widows!
The thing is, she had 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.”
These girls had been her daughters for about 10 years. They shared grief. They apparently did not provide children for her sons, but, they loved her. And she loved them enough to want to set them free, free to their own homes, with their own families, with their own faith. Free to have a new life.
Orpah said ok, but Ruth said NO WAY!
Ruth’s Song!
16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you.
Where you go I will go, and
where you stay I will stay.
Your people will be my people and
your God my God.
17 Where you die I will die, and
there I will be buried.
May the Lord deal with me,
be it ever so severely,
if even death separates you and me.”
18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
Why was Ruth so determined? Did she not have a home to go back to? Or had she seen the faith of Namoi, and decided to hook her wagon to Naomi’s God? This verse has been used in marriage ceremonies for generations, and yet, it is the statement of a young woman for her MOTHER-IN-LAW! One that may not have approved of her in the beginning. One that had nothing to offer her, and yet, Ruth devoted herself to the care of her mother-in-law. This is beautiful. This was my standard for my relationship with MY mother-in-law, though things didn’t work out as I’d hoped. This is a beautiful example of Love…selfless love(and I don’t mean that I was an example!). This should be our example, our goal, for our relationship with our mother-in-law. Or, just to be like Ruth!
19 So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”
20 “Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. 21 I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”
Depression takes on many forms. Grief can lead to depression, and grief upon grief upon grief is hard to overcome. In addition to her husband and sons, she had also lost a daughter, even though she’d given her the freedom to go. She returned to Bethlehem with nothing to show for leaving. The famine in her heart was far greater than the famine that was in the land when they left.
22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.
Famine – is it WRONG to go somewhere else during a famine?
Abraham when to Egypt – to escape a famine.
Joseph called his family to come to Egypt during a famine.
Is it wrong to try to get away from trials? We are promised a way of escape. (1 Cor 10:13)
Why are there famines?
In several instances, famine is a judgement.
Even in Judgement – famine is utilized by God to MOVE people!
Psalm 33:18-22
18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, On those who hope for His lovingkindness, 19To deliver their soul from deathAnd to keep them alive in famine.
20 Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield. 21For our heart rejoices in Him, Because we trust in His holy name.
Psalm 37:18-19
The LORD knows the days of the blameless, And their inheritance will be forever. 19They will not be ashamed in the time of evil, And in the daysof famine they will have abundance.
In this case, whether Ebimielech was lacking in faith, scared, or actually heard from the Lord to go to Moab – this choice laid into motion a Moabitess as a the grandmother of King David, and an ancestor to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jeremiah 29:11 says
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
And
Jeremiah 29:12 says:
Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
It would seem that in my life, sometimes God allows famines to move me to my knees!
He has a plan for me.
- But I need to get on board,
- call upon HIM,
- come to HIM,
- pray to HIM –
- humble myself….
1 Peter 5:6
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time
James 4:7-10
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
- Naomi is humbled.
- Naomi has cried out to God.
- Naomi has returned to the place of her birth, and the place of the birth of her faith.
- God will lift her up!
Here is what I hear about my responsibility if I am in a famine:
James 1:2-8
2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
If I truly believe what this book talks about, I believe that God has a plan, and that HE will orchestrate whatever needs to be done in order to help me make the proper choices for HIS good will in MY life.
Thanks for joining me in this journey,
In His hands and under His wings,
~Christi
Ps 63:7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.
“The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear.
If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation.
If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself.” – from My Utmost for His highest
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