Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and given
them food.7 So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. 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.
Let me set for you a theological Brainteaser: We of course realize that our obedience is not optional. All the times we read, If you walk in obedience, if you
do not turn to the left or the right…(David, Solomon, and the kings, over and over again).
And when they didn’t walk in obedience there were consequences…But even then in the Judges, when they cry out to the Lord, God cannot help but deliver them!
God is clear about how we are to live…or else! BUT AT THE SAME TIME, again, haven’t you wondered, why God continues to be so merciful to you, not only BEFORE
you were a Christian, but AFTERWARDS…Why is his love new every morning? Why does He continue to pursue you…Because God loves His people no matter what…His is a stubborn love.
Do you see the puzzle? Commentator Paul Miller calls it, “love without an exit strategy”. Love that has no escape plan, love that burns the boats and effects
change in the object of that love.
I know of a pastor who his entire ministry has kept a different occupational door open in case things don’t work out. He has an exit strategy…he has a plan on how
to bolt in case he tires of loving and serving God’s people or perhaps they tire of him. I am not so sure about such a strategy.
Today we have all kinds of exit strategies:
Physically, we just literally exit…we walk away; To love is too costly, so we don’t.
Emotionally, we check out, we are there but we are not there.
Fantasy, we either dive into false worlds or we create distractions to overcome the world we live in, sometimes those distractions are quite destructive.
When our children were quite small, one evening Dana and I were discussing my biological father and how he left my mother and me when I was 3. Just walked out the
door and never came back. As we were talking we heard sobbing from the bedroom. One of the boys had heard us talking about a dad who didn’t want to be one and so left. My son was frightened that I would do the same…that I would leave him. I assured him, his
dad has no exit strategy.
We talked about feelings last time and how they cannot be our guide. HESED acts on its commitment, acts in light of what it has bound itself to and the feelings at
times have to play catch up.
HESED does not care about “fairness”, not as man cries out for.
HESED, while acknowledging change is not affected adversely by change.
HESED is not put off by moodiness…it just keeps moving toward the person.
These are Naomi’s words to her daughters in law. May the Lord HESED you. May He just keep coming at you, for you, to bless you.
Now notice the second part of verse 8. Naomi recognizes that Orpah and Ruth have loved her,Naomi, in that way! She says, may the Lord hesed you as you have
hesed me!
But there is a second blessing, verse 9: “The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband.” The word “rest” means a place of
settled security. Isn’t it true that this is what everyone is searching for? Security, settled security, where we have shalom, peace. A place in life where fear subsides to give way to an enduring rest and peace.
An aside about the ANE. The gods of the nations were considered territorial. In other words, the gods of Moab were considered mighty, the boss, in Moab.
But if you get outside of Moab, then their gods weaken and the gods of that new place have the upper hand.
Naomi doesn’t buy that at all. Yahweh can bless her daughters in law, in Moab. He is not beholden to any other god. We must underscore the love that Naomi has for
the two young women. She commands them, “..go and return”. Her life has been devastated and these two young women were all she had left, and they HESED Naomi.
But from her perspective, they do not need to be tied to an old woman who has nothing to offer them. They don’t need to leave their home, the only home they had ever
known. God can bless them, right in Moab and that is what is best for them. At least that is how she sees it.
Naomi wants Ruth and Orpah to be free to marry and have children and not to embrace her life that is hard, broken, lonely and seems to be drifting toward poverty.
She is concerned for their future even if she had to deepen her own death for that to happen.
This kind of exchange that embraces death that others might live, anticipates the Messiah. Paul Miller says that the reason we are allergic to true HESED is that we
sense that death is at the center of it. But he adds,
“When you realize that death is at the center of love, it is quietly liberating. Instead of fighting the death that comes with love, you embrace what your Father
has given you and a tiny resurrection begins in your heart.”
In one of the school shootings that have littered our landscape one of the dads of a child who was killed asked the question. “How are we supposed to get through this…”
We can certainly understand the question.
How do we relate to people who are overwhelmed with grief?
1. Stay away from them…
2. We don’t know what to say…so we say nothing.
3. Try and make it better with our ‘words’…
4. Many today simply medicate through doctors or worse yet, they self-medicate.
What about you and me? How do we respond to those overwhelmed with grief? How do we respond when we are overwhelmed with grief? The answer: Go to where God is!
Prayer: Father, I would go where You want and do as You desire. I pray that this day You would slow me down, that I might proceed with wisdom. I pray that Your
Word would saturate my thinking and therefore, my doing. Keep me in a state of prayer throughout the day and bring to me true friends who desire Your honor and glory and help me to attain it. Father, all of this is Your doing and Your gift, I receive all You
have with joy and thanksgiving, through Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.
Song: Amen