Lessons from Ruth - Part 1

RUTH 
Thoughts on caregiving

Intro: We were on the airplane, leaving Japan, the country where my husband and I have been missionaries for 20 years, heading back to the United States in order to live with my mother and provide her with extra care. I pulled my kindle out of my backpack and considered where to read in the Bible that day. The Holy Spirit drew me toward the book of Ruth. As I read through the four chapters, I realized that Ruth and I share some similarities in our situations! That led me to look more closely at the story as God laid it out centuries ago. I am finding it to be relevant for me today!

BACKGROUND:
Elimelech and Naomi, with sons Mahlon and Chilion, left Israel due to famine to move to Moab, a foreign land. While there, Elimelech died. Naomi’s two sons took wives from that country, and perhaps 10 years later, these sons died, too, leaving Naomi with no living immediate family. Unless you count her daughters-in-law. Which apparently she didn’t! Naomi makes the huge decision to leave Moab – her home for at least a decade – and to go back to her home country of Israel.

What we see in this story so far is a lot of stress for Naomi.
– Famine (an unstable food source)
– Huge move from familiar to foreign (Israel to Moab). This could also have the stigma of leaving  God’s umbrella of provision. Guilt feelings? Anger? Naomi might not have had a say in it.
– Death of a spouse
– Death of two (and only) children
– Learning to accept new family members (daughters-in-law, at that!)
– Huge relocation to “back home” (reverse culture shock), without her husband’s help this time.
– A personal load of bitterness, directed toward God
– Had to deal with all the questions and attention when she returned home.

NAOMI – A closer look
Left Bethlehem, her home, her friends, her people, her God?
Left the difficulty of famine behind
Her husband “left” her in death; 1:3 “she was left with her two sons.”
Her sons left her, too; 1:5 “the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.”
Perhaps she felt “left” by God, too; she felt “that the hand of the LORD has gone out against me” 1:13.
 
Here’s how she felt:
1:13 “It is extremely bitter to me for your sake (daughters-in-law) that the hand of the LORD has gone out against me.” Felt jinxed? Cursed?
1:19 “The Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.”
1:21 “the LORD has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me.”
She told her old friends not to call her Naomi (pleasant) but Mara (bitter).

She is obviously speaking out of her emotions. This is what it felt like to Naomi – that God was against her, had it in for her, was her enemy. Yet, the truth was that God was setting the scene to honor her in a way that few women would! Today, we know the end of her story, that she would become the great-great-grandmother of King David! 

The lesson I learn from this is this:
** Though our feelings present themselves as FACTS, they aren’t reliable as truth. We can’t let our minds be controlled by our emotions. We must refocus on truth within every situation. Naomi didn’t know that God was against her. She assumed this, because life wasn’t going the way she though it should. It felt to her like God was against her.

(Chloe’s song – We believe something’s real, but it’s only believing “real lies.” That’s one of Satan’s methods. Ask Eve! We feel something’s true, so we believe it is.)

1:21 Naomi said, “I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty.”
First, she didn’t go away full. It was a famine! She left starving! But she did leave “full” of family.
Sometimes we glorify the past, and vilify the present or future. “I used to have it so good; I’ll never have it that good again.” Are you God? Do you know that for certain?!

“I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty.” I wonder if Ruth heard Naomi say this, and what she thought? Naomi’s basically saying, “God’s brought me back with NOTHING.” What a slap in Ruth’s face! But we’ll see later that even this attitude didn’t affect Ruth’s commitment to her mother-in-law.