It’s Time To Draw Closer To God

We live in a world and a time where we are flooded with all manner of strife.  Daily, the news we hear is of local, national and international conflicts.  Not to mention the conflicts that we wrestle within our own personal lives.  In Ruth 1:6-18, 22, Naomi, a wife and mother faced with personal family tragedy and the national moral tragedy that resulted in a famine in Israel, decided that the circumstances called for a return to God.  She decided it was time to draw closer to Him.  Because of her faith and trust in God, her daughter in law, Ruth, also committed her life to God.  And ultimately God would turn the tragedy in Naomi’s life into generational blessing for her and her family.  I pray that during this season of Advent, you would look to Christ, who came to be a light for us in the midst of any darkness, desolation and despair in our lives.  May we ever draw closer to Him.  Amen. 

Listen to Marvin Winans sing “Draw Me Close To You”

When Naomi heard in Moab that the LORD had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah. Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the LORD show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.” Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”  (Ruth 1:6-10) Verses 1-5 outline the fact that Naomi, her husband and her two sons had moved from Bethlehem to Moab (a pagan land)  because of famine in the Promised Land.  Ironically, although Bethlehem means “House of bread”, God had caused a famine in the land because of the disobedience of Israel.  So, the result was a lack of bread for the people of God to eat!  In Moab, first Naomi’s husband died, then her two sons (who had taken Moabite wives) died also.  This was a terrible situation for the continued existence and sustenance of these three widowed women in a male-centric culture.  But, things turned for the better, and beginning in verse 6, Naomi heard that God had provided relief from the famine in Israel.  So, she made plans to return to Judah.  She initially started her return journey accompanied by her two daughters in law, but eventually urged them to return to their father’s households in Moab where they would be taken care of and not have to live destitute.  

But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD’s hand has turned against me! ”

At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.” (Ruth 1:11-15) Naomi prevailed upon her daughters in law for a second time, after their protest, to go back to their family homes.  She told them that she was too old to have sons to take them as wives (in keeping with Levite law. see Deut. 25:5) and it would not benefit them even if she did.  Naomi said that it was “bitter” for her because the Lord’s hand had turned against her.  The word bitter is in stark contrast to the name Naomi which means “sweet”.  Naomi’s attitude about the setbacks in her life, also failed to recognize the turn of events that God had already begun to orchestrate.  But even so, in faithfulness and trust in God, Naomi was returning to back to her land and God.  At Naomi’s insistence, Orpah turned around to go back, but Ruth refused. 

But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.  (Ruth 1:16-18, 22) Ruth in her refusal to turn back, offered one of the greatest speeches in the Bible on faith and faithfulness.  Ruth pledged that not only would she be faithful to remain with Naomi unto death, but she would be faithful to Naomi’s God to make Him her own.   Naomi’s despair and bitterness regarding the hand she has been dealt by God, did not diminish Ruth’s conviction to serve the God of Israel who despite Naomi’s losses had opened up a ray of light by lifting the famine in the Promised Land.  Even in the midst of despair and setbacks, if we look to God and are faithful, we can see the hope for a brighter tomorrow that He has already prepared for us. 

The book of Ruth begins with tragedy, but ends in great blessing.  It is a great example faith and faithfulness.   It shows that the faith of God’s people in Him is met with His never failing faithfulness to us in response.  Even when circumstances look their worst, returning to God in faith is rewarded.  God has already put His blessing into motion for your good, even when (like Naomi early on) you can’t see it yet.  The faith and faithfulness of Naomi is an example for us all.  She trusted in God and returned to Him from Moab.  In the process, she led Ruth to trust in God and establish a relationship with Him too.  And Naomi’s faith set in motion the blessings she would eventually receive.  God proves through Naomi and Ruth’s story that even in our trials and setbacks, He is our provision, He has not forgotten us and He has blessings in store for us greater than we even imagine….  If only we will draw closer in our faith and trust to Him.  

Blessings, Rev. Glenn