Ruth 1:20 (NIV)
"Don't call me Naomi," she told them. "Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.”
Mothers-in-law are sometimes viewed as demanding, impatient, and ungrateful women who favor their own child over the child’s spouse. At first glance, today’s reading is in line with the reputation. Naomi seems to fit the description of a whiner and complainer.
Ruth 1:16 (NIV)
“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.”
Naomi has a loyal daughter-in-law at her side. Ruth’s love for Naomi is obvious to us, giving up a possible future with another man from her own country, to accompany her dead husband’s mother to a strange foreign land. A Moabite woman taking up residence in Israel is not the most pleasant prospect for a bright future. But Ruth adopts Naomi’s country and her God. Your people will be my people and your God my God.
Naomi may have shared her faith with her daughter-in-law for it seems from the Scripture above, that Ruth embraced her new God. That is the thing about idol worship; it can be easily replaced for another. If the one currently before us isn't doing the job, or a new trendier statue appears there is nothing to keep us faithful. But, once we are exposed to the real thing and experience a God who is real, a being we can feel in our hearts—well it is not so easy to reject that God with a clear conscience.
Naomi found herself alone in a foreign country. She had it rough, losing her husband and then her sons, something a mother never considers will happen. But God provided for this woman. He provided Ruth.
It is difficult to tell what was going on in Ruth’s heart and mind. For a Moabite widow to follow her mother-in-law to Bethlehem, in an unfriendly foreign land was incredible. But God provided for this woman too. Keep reading to see the rest of The Story.
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