Ruth: 1:8-22
8 But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. 9 The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. 10 And they said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.” 11 But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? 12 Turn back, my daughters; go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, 13 would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me.” 14 Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
15 And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” 16 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” 18 And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.
Naomi and Ruth Return
19 So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. And the women said, “Is this Naomi?” 20 She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?”
22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.
The Difference of Emergency and Choice
There are emergencies that come from out of nowhere in our lives. These emergencies can knock us off track and require us to make quick and even split second decisions. If you get a call in the middle of the night and the nearby hospital is asking you what they should do to save your loved one who has been hit by a drunk driver you will have to act and make a decision. This emergency has to be delt with quickly, and you will not have the time to think through every step.
There are stressful times that come into our lives that can rock our world. The unexpected death of a loved one. The loss of a job unexpectedly. Finding out you have a life-threatening disease. Some of these may cause us to make quicker decisions. However, there is a difference in making an educated rational choice and choosing to act simply out of fear or excitement of the moment.
Fear Can Paralyze or Blind Us
Fear and anxiety are rampant in our world today. It seems more of us are on anxiety medication than ever before. Many of us truly need some help and should get help to get back on track. Yet, fear can paralyze us and cause us to be unable to make needed decisions and for some it can keep us from even doing the simplest tasks. Fear is a debilitating force that can overwhelm and control us.
Sitting in front of the computer screen with lesson plans prepared and copied lessons sitting next to me. I sat with the lights off, alone in my classroom hoping no students would come to the locked door. I knew there were presentation points to finish before the early students arrived in 15 minutes. I just couldn’t focus on what needed to be written. The blank presentation glared in my face.
What I really wanted to do was leave and go home. I knew that wouldn’t be a real good choice either, because once the students came in at least the noise and need to get something done was going to be better than sitting alone with my thoughts.
Part of me wanted to scream, part of me wanted to run, and a big part of me just couldn’t move. Thousands of thoughts of recent false attacks, the plans the students needed, worry over what my colleagues were going through, concern for what colleagues and friends were really thinking and believing, and wondering why I just couldn’t leave in my car to drive and never stop.
This was one of the worst days I’ve ever had, healing from major situations take a long time. In the midst of bad things and extreme stress we can freeze, simply sitting and feeling that whatever you do failure awaits. We sit in a cycle of thoughts, fear, and failure. Anxiety builds. Breathing becomes harder. Worst of all you are in a fear and flight moment inside your brain, but life around you is calling to be done. Simple functions become huge chores. Anxiety fills our mind and heart, and seeing God seems difficult.
We can freeze up from fear in other ways besides shutting down. Sometimes it is that we can concentrate or get back into the swing of things. Sometimes we will make choices to see ways to cover or hide the pain in vices. Seeking a temporary break from reality. Some will bury themselves in binge watching movies or T.V. programs, others in binge playing of video games. Some will seek relief in a bottle of pills, alcohol, or other drugs to relieve the pain. Some may even have the opposite effect at work and bury themselves in extra work, so they do not have to face what is going on deep within.
We need to first realize in times like this we are not alone. We are not the first to face pain, attack, loss, or injustice like this. We also have a loving and caring Savior in Jesus, who experienced rejection, betrayal, and injustice. We can tell Him anything. He promises to lift our burdens and make our load light” (Matthe 11:29-30). Jesus is promising, if we will give our deepest pain and hurt to him, he will carry them because he knows and understands.
Naomi had lost everything, and she easily could have hidden within herself and hid in some little hovel in the foreign land of Moab. She likely had made a few friends. She was probably able to continue as her husband had been living.
It wouldn’t be easy to go home to Bethlehem. She didn’t know who would be left there. Even if there were friends what would they think about her now that everything she had was stripped away by life and suffering. Her mind easily could have froze up and kept her from making any decisions. Fear could have prevented her from advising her daughters-in-law in what was best for them. Fear could also have caused her to be harsh and cruel as she pushed them away instead of truly seeking what was best for them.
It isn’t that those going through pain or suffering mean to push others away, or to be mean toward others. Having your life filled with such overwhelming pain and suffering can cause us to shut down or to lash out in effort to push others who mean well out of our lives. Often this creates the opposite of what we need. Instead of seeking others to help bear our burdens, we are buried and alone. We are frozen.
The way out is to return to Christ. It is to trust him with our burdens again. In some cases we will need to seek help of professionals to break this power of anxiety as well. We should surround ourselves with supportive and wise counsel.
Emotion & Passion vs. Decision & Commitment
Luke 14:28-30
28 “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 29 For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ [1]
On more than one occasion Jesus challenged his followers to count the cost of following. He didn’t want people to become followers out of mere emotion or excitement. He wanted them to educate themselves and think through what following meant.
Emotion and passion are awesome experiences and can even cause us to act on needed things in life at times. They can open us up to new ideas, as someone shares their heart and passion, and we get motivated by their story or call to help. Passion can be a part of making commitments, as we become driven to act in our own lives; however, passion can not and should not lead our reasoning in any serious decision we make.
On one occasion Jesus had a rich young leader come and ask him what he had to do to follow Jesus. Jesus told him to obey the commands. The young man said he was already doing that. He likely felt that he was on the right track and like many of us was likely feeling good at hearing he was doing a good job. Then Jesus challenges him to go sell everything and give it all to the poor and then follow him.
Now we know that to follow Jesus meant to live with nothing, as he said in Matthew 8 when one religious leader asked about following him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Jesus never hid that those who were following him had left their normal lives, their jobs, their families, and their comfort to follow him.
This may sound like a great and high calling. It may seem inspirational. But, few people today likely think that following Christ really means giving everything up. Yet, in Jesus’ time to be a disciple meant you left your home and everything behind to follow and imitate whoever it was that you made your teacher and master. Few of us today seriously make such thought about seeking to follow Christ. We want a ticket out of hell, or blessings for the journey. However, nowhere in Scripture does Jesus ever stop calling us to put him first above all our personal desires, to follow him.
Returning to our main theme of Ruth. We see a commitment just like this in Ruth. When Naomi first begins the path back to her homeland, both her daughters-in-laws are walking with her. Naomi knows the journey to living life back home had no promises. She knew well that there may be no or few family members to rely on, and no promise of close relatives (kinsmen) to marry. This meant they, like herself, would likely be left on the outside of society as a poor widow living off the leftovers of others.
She tells both of them her heart’s desire would be that they return home, so they can remarry and have families and a solid future. Oprah is sad but listens and returns. Ruth continues to follow. Naomi urges Ruth to go back, as Oprah had. Now we see Ruth’s commitment and dedication rise to the surface.
Ruth 1:15-18: 15 And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” 16 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” 18 And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.
Notice Ruth doesn’t make some flippant statement or some empty promise. She makes it clear that she knows exactly what she is getting into. “Where you go, I go,” she states. Anyone can say something in the spur of the moment. They can say they will go with you on a journey, but something said on the spur of the moment may not last. How often to people say empty promises they do not really mean. ‘I’ll stay at this job until I die.’ ‘I’ll pay this new boat off in a year.’ ‘I’ll love you forever if you’ll just stay the night.’ These are empty promises. This is what Jesus was warning people against when he called them to take following him seriously. So, Ruth saying she’d go might not say a whole lot.
Ruth doesn’t end with those words, she goes on to say much more to show her commitment was made in clear decision and commitment. Her commitment includes a far deeper promise. A promise to not only live with Naomi, but to become a part of her people, her community, and to stay until death. Not the flippant statement of an impassioned person, but a calculated decision to stay with her, realizing that there could be no turning back.
Ruth also makes a clear statement of loyalty beyond Naomi, as she says “Your God will be my God.” The Moabites were distant relatives of the Jews and even held belief in the God Yaweh, but they also often continued to hold to their community and family gods. Sometime in a future study we will discuss this more. Here we should not that Naomi knew this and even told them to go back to their family and their gods. Ruth wasn’t just promising to leave her family and to stay with Naomi. She is committing to becoming faithful Jewish widow, just as Naomi was. She was stating her own belief in the only God, not merely a God among gods.
This is a huge commitment, because she likely had agreed to some level of this in marrying Naomi’s Jewish sons. However, the fact that Oprah turned away from any marriage commitments in favor of a new husband shows she lacked the willing heart to seriously follow. Naomi was good with that and was releasing the younger women from this commitment. Ruth in turn chooses of her own will to make the full commitment to God for herself. She became in essence a Jewish convert in making such a commitment. This will be brought to completion in her remaining to marry again into the family of the Jews.
So, What About You? How are You Doing with Commitment?
We should regularly exam our own hearts and minds and see if we are in need of recommitting to Christ, our family, and the values that make us who we are. There may be things we need to let go of or to set aside in order to commit more. Some of those things may even seem good. As I’ve heard it said, sometimes we need to give up on the good and seek the better. So, where might you need to grow this week?
May God bless you on the Journey,
Dan Shipton
[1] The Holy Bible: New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1984), Lk 14:25–30.
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