Today let us consider the story of Ruth and her loyalty to her mother-in-law Naomi.
Scripture tells us that Naomi, her
husband Elimelek and their two sons left their home and went to live in Moab as
a result of a famine in Bethlehem. Then we are told that Elimelek died and the
sons married two Moabite women called Ruth and Orpah. When ten years had passed
the two sons died leaving all three women widowed.
When Naomi heard that the famine
was over, and that the Lord had provided food in Bethlehem, she decided to
return home. Both of her daughter in-laws decided to go with Naomi but while they
were travelling to Bethlehem she tried to persuade them to return to Moab and
find new husbands for themselves.
Orpah eventually agreed to return
to Moab but Ruth refused to.
'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. Ruth would go on to marry a man called Boaz and they had a
child called Obed who is the grandfather of King David.
Let's now, as we watch the ice and
snow melt today, consider some of the words of Job, a man of great faith and who
was found to be blameless and upright in the eyes of the Lord. As many of
you may know Job was greatly afflicted by Satan who had been permitted to
test his faith in God, but who was not permitted to take his life. During his
trials Job said:
People who fail to be loyal to
their friends have also failed to respect God Almighty. But I cannot depend on
you, my brothers. You are like a stream that has no water when the weather is
dry but is flooded when the rains come.
In the winter, it is choked with ice and melting snow. But when the weather is
hot and dry, the water stops flowing, and the stream disappears.
You may or may not be able bring to
mind people in your life that are loyal and kind, like Ruth was to Naomi, and
perhaps there are some like the people Job was referring to who are
undependable or inconsistent. But the question we maybe should ask ourselves
today is which of these are we like?
(Job 6 v 14-17 as well as Ruth chapters 1 and 4)
