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 aloud ¹⁰ 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-lawgoodbye, 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.”

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.
(Ruth 1:6-19 NIV)

As we pick up Naomi’s story where we left off yesterday, we see Naomi ten years later as a widow and two widowed daughters-in-law, and no grandchildren.  Nothing but shattered dreams and a broken heart to show for her time in a foreign land that is hostile to her and her people.

Naomi gets word that God has come to the aid of the Israelites and provided food.  She decides that life can’t be any harder there than here in Moab, so she decides to go back to her home in Bethlehem.  She tries to talk her daughters-in-law into staying in Moab among their own people.  At first, both girls oppose her, telling her they will go with her and be with “her people” (the Israelites).

Naomi tries a second time to get them to stay in Moab.  This time, Orpah decides to stay, but Ruth is determined to go with Naomi.  Ruth tells Naomi that she will even change her “religion” to the God of Israel.  Naomi sees the determination in Ruth’s eyes and does not try to dissuade her any longer.

Do others see the Lord in our life like Ruth saw God in Naomi’s life?  Are they willing to follow Jesus because of what they see in our lives?  May God have the freedom to show Himself to others through us – may we get out of the way so others can see Him shining in us.

Blessings,
~kevin