20220524

lost everything?

Ruth 1:1-5 (JDV)

Ruth 1:1 It happened in the days of the judges, there was a famine in the land. A man left Bethlehem in Judah with his wife and two sons to stay in the territory of Moab for a while.

Ruth 1:2 The man’s name was Elimelech, and his wife’s name was Naomi. The names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They came to the fields of Moab and settled there.

Ruth 1:3 Naomi’s husband Elimelech died, and she was left with her two sons.

Ruth 1:4 Her sons took Moabite women as their wives: one was named Orpah and the second was named Ruth. After they lived in Moab about ten years,

Ruth 1:5 both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two children and without her husband.

lost everything?

Upon returning to Delco North Carolina from a vacation/ministry trip last year, I discovered that one of the families in our community had been ravaged by COVID-19, losing several family members in a short time. How dreadful it is to suddenly lose so many loved ones.

Naomi knew that pain. She had gone to Moab because of loss, and all she experienced there was more loss.

But back up the truck a minute. That’s not completely right. In her sorrow, Naomi might have felt like she had lost everything, but she still had Orpah and Ruth. Ruth would make the decision to travel with her “back” to Israel. Her loyalty to Naomi and love for her would be one of the major ways God reveals himself in this book.

LORD, thank you for the kindness and love you show to those who feel like they have lost everything.