October 23, 2020

Today’s Reading
Ruth 1:6-18

Last time we looked at one of three mistakes made in chapter one that we need to avoid in our lives. The first mistake was the sin of unbelief: trying to run from our problems. We found out that we can’t run from them, at least we can’t and have the blessing of God on our life.
Mistake number two: Deception: Trying to hide our mistakes. Verse 6 is a sad verse for Naomi. God had visited His people in Bethlehem Judah, but not his disobedient daughter Naomi. Naomi only got to hear about the blessings of God, she did not get to experience them. Naomi wasn’t in a place where God could bless her. How sad that thought is. When we sin, how important it is that we confess and forsake that sin and return to a place that we are blessable (not sure that’s a word but it is now) to God.
Naomi now turns her attention to her two daughters-in-law. She wants to go home, but she doesn’t want to take them with her. If it were good for Naomi to go back to the land of the true and living God, it would have been a good idea to take Ruth and Orpah, her two Gentile, unbelieving daughters-in-law with her. Right? Instead, Naomi tried to influence them to go back to their unbelieving families, and their false gods. Why would a believing Jewish woman try to influence two unbelieving women to go back and worship false gods? Now I may be wrong, but I get the impression that Naomi knew if she took them back with her, they were living proof that she and Elimelech had allowed their two sons to marry pagan women. In other words, Naomi was trying to cover up how deep her families sin went. There still has not been true repentance on the part of Naomi. True repentance involves confession, and brokenness. We see in verse 13 that Naomi is blaming God for what has happened. Because of her sin, and the fact that she is trying to cover it up, she is reflecting God in a negative way to two unbelievers. Are we guilty of doing the same sometimes? Do we reflect our Savior in a negative light because of unconfessed sin, or holding a grudge or blame toward God for things we caused? If Naomi were right spiritually, she would have tried to win Orpah to the Lord and brought home two daughters instead of one.

Frank Newsome