Lessons From Ruth: Choices, Choices, Choices.

We all make hundreds or perhaps even thousands of choices every day. We choose from the most mundane to the very important. For poor Naomi, she was faced with some very difficult decisions. After the death of her husband, then her two sons, she was confronted with the stark reality of a very desperate choice, how best to survive. In those ancient days, a woman in Naomi’s situation would have been in direr straits. She was a woman without means of support and even worse, she had two daughters-in-law who were in her care. I’m absolutely certain, Naomi loved those two young women. As she was preparing to return to Bethlehem and an uncertain future, she made the decision to send those girls away. Her love for them, I’m sure, prompted this difficult choice. “Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May the LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The LORD grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!” Naomi kissed each girl and, “they lifted up their voices and wept.” It is a heartbreaking scene. Every time I read these verses, I too feel my eyes tearing up. Deep in despair, at that moment, there in a foreign land with no one to counsel her, this desperate woman chose to think of someone else’s best interest. It is so easy to get lost in our own misery and misfortune, when all seems dark and our pain is great, to think only of ourselves. It is easy to do that even when things aren’t bad. But when I am suffering, for whatever reason, emotionally, physically, or even spiritually I might get so caught up in myself that I forget there are others around me. Yes, they may not know or understand what I’m going through, but like Naomi, I must not ignore those whom I love most or forget their needs. Remember, in JESUS’ horrible moments of tremendous pain, the likes of which I can barely grasp, HE thought of others above HIMSELF. “FATHER, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

Russell Ashby