In the book of Ruth, we learn more about dealing with disappointments. We also see God’s grace and new hope after what seems like a dead end. In this devotional series, I’ll be going through the book with you as well as some other relevant passages. The plan is to post twice a week.
Ruth 1:1–22 (NIV)
In the days when the judges ruled, 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. 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.
Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.
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. 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.
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. 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 aloud and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”
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? 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—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!”
At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.
“Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”
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. 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.” When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
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?”
“Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. 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.”
So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.
Reflection
In this story, we see two women who experience grief, and two very different reactions. First of all, there is Naomi. (We’ll look at Ruth’s initial reaction in the next blog.) Naomi and her husband left Bethlehem and their homeland and the temple of God in Jerusalem. They went to the land of idol worshipping enemies, Moab. In this land, Naomi lost her husband and her two sons.
You could say that this is another tragic example of emigration gone wrong. People leave their homeland for a better future, and all they seem to find is a worse one. Maybe you’ve experienced the same thing in your life, a seemingly repeating series of disappointments that does not seem to stop.
And that is how Naomi came to see her life. She said “Call me Mara”, which meant bitter. She felt that the LORD had brought affliction on her. She looked at her life, and what she saw was emptiness and deadness. And this feeling of bitterness not only affected her own life and well-being, but changed the way that she treated those she loved most.
Her two daughters-in-law wanted to accompany her to Israel, the land where God dwelt with his special presence. But Naomi tried to stop them. She told them to stay in Moab, because at least they could find a husband there. She had a point as very few Jews would probably be willing to marry Moabites. Moabite were Israel’s enemies and had been banned from the presence of the Lord in the temple up to the 10th generation (Deuteronomy 23:4). She didn’t really see a future for these Moabite women in the land of Israel. It seems to be a very reasonable point view from a human standpoint.
But possibly, Naomi’s advice was coloured by her bitterness toward God. She recommended that these women find security in human husbands rather than in the God who created the universe. She even encouraged Ruth to return to her idols, like Orpah! Disillusioned with life, Naomi didn’t seem to trust God anymore. Instead, she felt they must do what seemed best: to look after themselves in a bid for survival.
Yet, Naomi had not lost her faith completely. She still wished to return to Bethlehem and blessed her daughters-in-law in the name of the Lord. She had some hope amid her bitterness. It was a small flame, but God never snuffs small flames out (Isaiah 42:3).
Questions
How do you see the disappointments in your life?
Have they coloured your view of God?
How have they affected the way you treat others?
Feel free to comment & also share any feedback on this post and what could be improved. Blessings!
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