Ruth and Naomi Weep Forward to Bethlehem

Are you weeping forward or backward? Sometimes, we must weep, but we must also go forward trusting God is leading us. Join the podcast today, where we focus on Naomi’s blessing and Ruth’s words, “I will go where you go, and your God will be my God,” as the two weep forward.

Finding Joy in Tough Times is a seven-part series. Today, we will cover these points:

Last week, we met the family – Elimelech, Naomi, sons Mahlon and Chilion who made the decision to leave Bethlehem to escape a famine. They left their faith community and their family and even overlooked God’s warning about living among those who worshiped idols. Soon, Elimelech died. The sons married Moabite women, and within ten years, they also died. So Naomi was left with the two daughters-in-law in Moab and they wept forward to Bethlehem. Today, we cover the following points:

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• So, who are the Moabites?
  
• All Moabites were descendants of Lot, Abraham’s nephew.
  
• In Genesis 18, Abraham asks God to refrain from destroying Sodom and Gomorrah.
  
• God heard Abraham’s prayer and brought out Lot and his family before any destruction.
  
• Lot’s daughters became convinced they would never marry and have children.
  
• So, after getting Lot drunk, they seduced their father, and the relationship produced a son Moab and another son named Ammi.
  

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• Moab became the father of the Moabite nation and Ammi the father of the Ammonite nation; both nations soon worshiped other gods that even required child sacrifice.
  
• God remembered the prayers and, in His providence, brought one of Lot’s descendants—Ruth—into the ancestral line of David, the line of Christ.
  

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• Somewhere en route, Naomi’s thoughts turned to what problems the daughter-in-laws would face in Bethlehem. The levirate law would provide them NO security or future..
  
• This law assured a widow that a brother or relative of her dead husband would marry her and raise up children in her husband’s name and for his estate.
  
• Naomi realized it was too late for her to marry again and have more sons. She begged them to return.
  

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• Naomi blessed the women with the words in v 8-9,  the first of seven blessings in Ruth, where blessing becomes a strong theme.
  
• A blessing can be a simple prayer asking God to share his loving kindness, guidance, and favor on another.
  
• Naomi asked the Lord to “deal kindly with them.” Kindly in the original Hebrew is “hesed.”
  
• Hesed involves kindness, covenant-type love, faithfulness, and mercy – a deep commitment, devotion, and care. God himself, throughout Scripture, is the model for hesed.
  
• God’s loving-kindness was sent to us through his Only Son, Jesus Christ, who died for our sins.
  

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• Orpah returned to Moab, but Ruth clung to Naomi
  
• Ruth showed hesed “Don’t ask me to leave you! Let me go with you. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and that is where I will be buried. May the Lord’s worst punishment come upon me if I let anything but death separate me from you” (v. 16-17, Good News translation).
  
• Ruth used Yahweh, the covenant-keeping God of Israel in Hebrew, which means “I am who I am,”
  
• Her profession of faith put her story in the Bible and give her a place in salvation history forever.
  
• Together, they wept and walked forward to Bethlehem.
  

What impacts you most from Ruth 1: 6-18?

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• Weep & Walk Forward. Sometimes, we must weep, even cry our eyes out over loss and disappointment.  Share your tears with trusted friends and family and keep going forward. Keep looking for God to open doors. Psalm 56: 8-9 is a comfort: “O God, You have kept count of my tossings [wonderings]; [you] put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your record? … This I know, that God is for me.“God sees and remembers all your tears and the sufferings you. Rely on Isaiah 41: 10.
  

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• Speak Blessings. The Hebrew word for deep devotion and compassion is hesed, Even in great trial and pain, we can pray a blessing of God of God’s loving kindness for others. Naomi blessed her daughters-in-law simply by asking God to show his kindness, guiding love, and favor to them. For example, you can bless with others Numbers 6: 24-26 and bless the Lord with Psalm 104.
  

Seven Part Series Ruth: Finding Joy In Tough Times

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• Part 1 
  
• Part 2
  
• Part 3
  
• Part 4
  
• Part 5
  
• Part 6
  
• Part 7 
  

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• Consider hosting a weekly one-hour Cup of Joy small group study with your friends,  It’s free and I will send you a study guide for  discussion and Scripture reflection that accompanies each podcast.
  
• Click here to read about hosting a CUP of JOY Women or Gathering small group and to sign up.
  
• Download Bookmarks from the podcasts: WrapYourselfinJOY.com 
  
• Check out more podcasts here!
  
• Find my books:
  
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  • Wrap Yourself in JOY: Find the Joy and Fight the Fear
    
  • Esther for Such a Time as This: Prayer, Reversals & Joy
    
  • Nehemiah: Rebuilding Hope & Joy in Your Life
    
  
  
  

[1] Pope Francis:

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