07-21-20

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
July 21, 2020
Scripture: Ruth 1:15-16
So Naomi said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” But Ruth said, “Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”

Thought for the Day: Both Ruth and Naomi’s grief must have been debilitating. Unless you’ve walked that journey, it is impossible to even fathom what that must have been like. Yet Ruth’s well known declaration aligning herself with her mother-in-law suggested a belief that her future would be found alongside Naomi. In the moment, Ruth would have been unable to picture how it could happen or what it would look like, yet there seems to be the belief that her restoration would be found with Naomi. At the time, Ruth had no relationship with God, yet it was as if she trusted Naomi’s relationship to God. The story doesn’t tell us this, but I envision that somewhere earlier in their life together before all the tragedy, Ruth saw something in her mother-in-law’s faith. To be a young widow and to commit to traveling to Bethlehem that was recovering from a famine with another widow would have been insane. Yet between trusting Naomi, and what I could imagine to be some nebulous sense of hope, she chose the path no one else would have chosen. I am not suggesting it as a model for everyone, but my one take away for all of us is, on occasion, to trust the faith of someone else when we don’t currently have the needed faith ourselves.

Prayer: Give me friends, a few faithful saints, whose lives I can trust. Holy God, provide me a few generous souls who I can trust even when I’m not too sure why I am trusting them. Amen.

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