Very
early in their journey Naomi had second thoughts about the responsibility of
these two young women accompanying her to her homeland. They weren’t slaves, they could have decided
to stay in Moab without Naomi’s permission.
Their marital obligations ended when their husbands died and there were
no sons available for these young women to marry to keep the family lineage
alive, but there must have been something special about Naomi that caused them
to want to stay with her even though she clearly had nothing. She was pretty much destitute, yet they were
willing to stay with her. With mixed emotions and through tears of bitterness she
acted unselfishly and told them they were free to return to their families and
the young women said no, they were going to stay with her, which is where we
left off.
Naomi
said it again but firmer this time. “No,
I’m serious dear hearts, go back to your families!! I have nothing to offer
you! I’m too old to get married and have more sons and even if I did by some
miracle have more sons would you wait for them to grow up and marry them? My life is over, God is punishing me, for
what I don’t know. This is a bitter time
for us all but more for me than you. So
go before you are cursed like me.”
All
three of them stood in the road and cried but Naomi’s cries of anguish were
more severe than her daughter-in-laws: “God! Why?!!! What have I done to deserve this? How could you forsake me? How could you leave me without a husband and
children? My life is over! There is
nothing worth living for!!! Why don’t
you just kill me right here and now!!! God,
what do you want from me?!!! God, do
you hear me? How long will you ignore
me?” She cried and yelled until her
voice was gone and she could only talk above a whisper.
Tania
Not Tanya moment: Hold up. Naomi is the mother-in-law to Ruth and Orpah,
there are no blood ties yet all three of them seem to have some type of bond
that goes beyond the “normal” in-law relationship. It’s no small fete to make a decision to
leave your family, cultural and everything familiar and travel to a foreign
land. Remember there is no Instagram,
FaceBook, Google Maps or anything other than what people say to get an idea of
their new home. The flip side is that
Naomi seems to love these young women just as much as they love her. She included them in her plans to re-locate
until she realized she really didn’t have the capacity to care for them once
they got to Bethlehem. I realize that as
a whole mother-in-laws get a bad rap, but not every mother-in-law is a witch
sent from hell. I can testify with
certainty that I have an amazing mother-in-law. She has always been supportive,
offers great advice when asked and stays in her place as a loving caring woman
who loves God with all her heart and can pray you through what-so-never you’re
facing. Let’s get back to Naomi’s story.
I
imagine that Orpah was trying to be brave but quiet is kept she really didn’t
want to go in the first place. When
Naomi pulled her power move, Orpah was like:
“You ain’t gotta tell me twice; Love yawl, but I’m out. Holla at a sistah once yawl get there.” She
kissed and hugged them both and Orpah bounced.
She didn’t even wait to see if Ruth would accompany her. Probably because deep down inside she knew
Ruth wanted to be Naomi’s lifetime companion no matter where she went or what
it cost her (Ruth).
Ruth
couldn’t believe that Naomi was flip floppin’ on them. She had already settled in her mind that she
would not allow Naomi to live out her years alone, she didn’t care about
re-marrying or having children, she knew in her heart that she was assigned to
Naomi. She fell into Naomi’s arms and
said:
Don’t force me to leave you; don’t make me go home.
Where you go, I go; and where you live, I’ll live. Your people are my people,
your God is my god; where you die, I’ll die, and that’s where I’ll be buried,
so help me God—not even death itself is going to come between us!” Ruth
1:16-17 (The Message).
When
Naomi saw that Ruth was being just as stubborn as her, she gave in and they
headed for Bethlehem. When they finally
reached their destination, the entire town was buzzing about her arrival. As they celebrated her return, complimented
her, etc. she did what many of us do when someone compliments us, she made
excuses about what wasn’t, except in this case, Naomi’s bitter was on such
large display she corrected her friends and said: Don’t call me Naomi; call me Bitter (Mara). The Strong One has dealt me a bitter blow. I
left here full of life, and God has brought
me back with nothing but the clothes on my back. Why would you call me Naomi?
God certainly doesn’t. The Strong One ruined me.” Ruth 1:20-21 (The
Message). Talk about killing the
moment.
In
all honesty I don’t think Naomi was rude by any means. She I am sure was
grateful that God blessed them to reach Bethlehem safely, but it was bitter
sweet. All of the memories of her life
before Moab came flooding back when she returned, having left one way – full –
and returning empty, or so she thought.
I’m sure everyone who heard her story could identify and there were
probably a few who added their own hot sauce to it assuming that she committed
some terrible sin that God was punishing her for. Shoot, Naomi even believed
she was being punished.
I
am out of time but I want to close on this and pick it up again tomorrow. We must stop assuming that because we go
through trials and tribulations that we are being punished. I know it sounds like a cliché, but we cannot
have a testimony without a test. I’m
gonna say it again, there is no way that God would go through all of the
trouble that he did to get you to this place and then leave you hanging. That would be absolutely asinine, regarded,
stupid and God is not any of those things.
Do you realize how much he has invested in you, in us? Can you even begin to count the cost? Of course you can’t. You have no idea what he has done to get you
to this place of preparation. The fact
that you should be stuck, locked up, in a mental health facility, homeless,
paralyzed, earning minimum wage, on medication, and/or dead but you’re not, is
a PURPOSE. Don’t take it lightly.
I’ve
gotta go, but we’ll pick it up next week.
In
His New Excellence,
Tania
Not Tanya
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