The Journey Back

After experiencing such tragedy, Naomi decided to return home. The Lord had attended to His people by giving them food. I am also sure she was longing for the comforts of home and extended family.

She left Moab with her daughters in law. On the way, Naomi encouraged them to return to their family homes. She wished them kindness and blessings. She wished that they would go and find husbands to care for them. However, Ruth and Orpah insisted that they would return to Bethlehem.

At this point, Naomi tells the women she could not fulfill the levirate marriage custom [Duet. 25:5:10]. She was too old to have children and even if she could have children, it would be years before the sons would be old enough for them to marry. Naomi asks them,"Would you wait?"

All of the women were sad because of the circumstances. Reality dawned on them. The only choice for Ruth and Orpah seemed to be to return back to their family. Choices needed to be made. There were two different responses to this choice. Orpah kissed Naomi and left. Ruth clung to Naomi and would not leave.

Orpah, though tearful, disengaged from her existing relationship to Naomi and any realization and loyalty she might have developed to God [God Behind the Seen, pg. 39]. Ruth chose the better part. Ruth wanted to be with Naomi and her God. For she states: And Ruth said, "Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me."

Do I have that kind of commitment to the Lord? Have I given everything to follow Him? If I were to be honest, I would have to say no. One moment I can be like Mary sitting at at Jesus' feet and then as busy as Martha [Luke 10:38]. I can be like Peter who declared that he would go to prison and even die with Jesus and then the next minute denying that he never knew him [Luke 22]. Is that the fickleness of human nature?

 I love the Jesus. I want to serve him. I want to follow Him and never leave him. Unfortunately, the hymn 'Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing' hits the nail on the head. For it states -
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.