A Mother's Care

Introduction:

Some of our problems are because of our own choices, some are thrust upon us. That is where are today with the coronavirus.

We need to think clearly about our circumstances. How we think about our situation determines our response.

Ruth 1:1–5 NASB95

1 Now it came about in the days when the judges governed, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons. 2 The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi; and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah. Now they entered the land of Moab and remained there. 3 Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left with her two sons. 4 They took for themselves Moabite women as wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. And they lived there about ten years. 5 Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was bereft of her two children and her husband.

Naomi’s situation started bad, living through a famine and got worse. She ended up in a foreign country, a widow, childless without anyone to carry on the family line, far away from family and friends. Her name means “pleasant” but she renames herself “bitterness.”

It is easy in our current situation to feel like she did. Financial problems, health problem, isolation from family and friends, and uncertainty about the future.

1 Naomi’s Faith

Ruth 1:6–9 NIV84

6 When she heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, Naomi and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7 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. 8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show kindness to you, as you have shown to your dead and to me. 9 May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.” Then she kissed them and they wept aloud

She heard that heard that the Lord visited his people. 1:6 We aren’t told how she knew that. Her faith in God was challenged but she didn’t give up on it. She could have stayed as a widow in a foreign land, but she made a choice. She headed home.

She was bitter but not selfish. She wanted the best for her daughters-in-law. 1:8-9

2. Naomi’s Heart

She was in the most difficult of situations but she her concern wasn’t primarily for herself. It was for her daughters-in-law. She had no one else to look after her in her old age yet she wasn’t selfish.

Even though Orphah and Ruth had left their families and were now her only family, her concern for them outweighed her own. If they were to go with her they would be separated from their families and their cultural backgrounds. It was unlikely that they would remarry, so their lives would be spent taking care of her.

Her care for them went even further. She not only released them from their obligation to go with her, she pray’s God’s blessing upon them.

She is in a most desperate situation yet it is not her well-being that is foremost on her mind. She was the most caring a mother one could ever be. Isn’t this what good mothers always do, care more for their children than they do for themselves.

Ruth 1:10–14 NIV

10 and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.” 11 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? 12 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—13 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!” 14 At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.

Ah, it is to their credit that these young Moabite women didn’t immediately return. They tried to dissuade her. They knew what it meant for a woman to be a widow, after all they were widows, too. They would stick together. Truly they loved her as she loved them.

But she would have none of it. She refers to something that was a practice in ancient Israel that is unfamiliar to us today, the practice of levirate marriage. If a man died without children, his brother had to marry the widow to continue the family line. The first-born son of such a marriage would then be considered the dead brother’s child and heir. Naomi dismisses the idea because of her age and the time Ruth and Orpha would have to wait for it to happen. Then she says

Ruth 1:13 NIV

13 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!”

She is in pain but has not given up on God. She is bitter but she faced her circumstances with acceptance. She knows God is in control and nothing happens by chance.

Many people are suffering now through complications of the coronavirus. People are sick, many have died. More people lost their jobs in the last two months than at any single time since the great depression of the 1930’s. There are many throughout the world who don’t have enough food. That doesn’t surprise us to hear that in other countries but we don’t expect to hear that here in the US, yet we are hearing it.

We have to face our hardship like Naomi, acknowledging God’s control. We use the word sovereignty to describe it. God has supreme power and authority over everything. If we don’t believe that then there is some other force or power that is greater than God. That is a scary thought because who is that power.

If we do believe God is in control, when something tragic happens, we turn our focus to the love and wisdom and justice of God. We may be hurting but we are not hurting alone or for no purpose. Paul says this so well in Romans 11:33-34.

Romans 11:33–34 NIV

33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! 34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”

It was out of this confidence that Naomi demonstrated one of the most important principles of how to get through a tragic time. She focused on helping others.

Naomi’s care for her daughters-in-law helped her. Helping others helps us, too.

There are many reasons why this is true.

When we look at others we stop looking at what is causing us pain. Our focus is changed.

That change of focus gives us a change of perspective. We aren’t the only one hurting right now. Often we feel like we are but we aren’t.

It enables us to reframe what we are experiencing. When we reframe something we see it differently. When we reframe a problem we don’t pretend the problem isn’t there, we see it in relationship to other things that we didn’t see before. It helps to see that others have problems, too, and often worse problems than we do. And even if we were experiencing the worst problem anyone ever experienced, God is with us. We must learn to frame our problems with the perspective of God’s love and care for us.

3. Naomi’s Reward

What happened next surely had to surprise Naomi.

Ruth 1:14–15 NIV

14 At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. 15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”

Orpha left but Ruth wouldn’t go. Once again Naomi urged Ruth to leave. Then what happened next was unexpected blessing in the midst of the worst time of her life.

Ruth 1:16–17 NIV

16 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. 17 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.”

Ruth wouldn’t leave her. Ruth knew Naomi and loved her. She saw her devotion to her God and wanted what Naomi had. Ruth was a Moabite, an idolatrous people who didn’t worship the Lord. She choose Naomi and her God, with all the uncertainty of the future, over the godless life she new in Moab.

She knew Naomi had a relationship with God. She said, “Your God will be my God.” He wasn’t before, but he would be now.

Naomi’s faith in God, lived out by her care for Orpha and Ruth won Ruth over.

In our day we call this compassion evangelism. I don’t think Naomi thought she was evangelizing. She was living her faith which touched the lives of her daughters-in-laws for God.

Summary

So here we find ourselves on this Mother’s Day of 2020. There are many others who are discouraged they are alone, unable to be with family. It is a bummer for mothers and kids. You may feel bitter or angry or discouraged. Those are the normal responses. But let’s not live there. That is a dark and unpleasant place to be.

The antidote, the prescription for this problem is to find someone to care for in whatever way you can. You can call or video chat. You can write a note of encouragement. You can go shopping or help with other needs a person has. You can give money or food, if that is what is needed. And you can pray. Pray up a storm. Pray for others like you’ve never prayed before.

And if you’ll do this, you will be rewarded. Most importantly you’ll be rewarded eternally by our Father in heaven. I think you’ll be surprised at the reward you get now. You’ll be rewarded with peace and joy and fulfillment.