Title: The Faith of the Three Women
Contents Everyone, today is Mother's Day. Let's talk funny first. Who was the happiest woman in the world? Eve was Adam's wife. why? Because she didn't have a mother-in-law.
A couple was talking in a house. A wife asks her husband. “Who do you like in this world? Number them.” The husband answers. “Yes, number 1 is my baby, number 2 is my daughter, number 3 is my mother-in-law who gave birth to someone as pretty as you, number 4 is Mary my dog, and number 5 is my mother.” But my mother-in-law heard the story. The next morning, my mother-in-law left the following note on the table and left. “Look once. I go out five times.” Is your home also numbered like this?
Dear brothers and sisters, we live in an aging society, where more than 14% of the population is over 65. In the near future, we are looking at an ultra-aged society with over 20%. Living a long life is a blessing, but at the same time, the problems associated with aging, poverty, loneliness, and caring for parents are given as challenges. Especially in an industrialized society, one or two children have to take care of their parents and have to take care of them for a long time. In this realistic situation, I want to think about the issue of respecting parents through the Word of God.
There are three women, Naomi, Orpah, and Ruth. Naomi is the mother-in-law and Orpah and Ruth are daughter-in-law. As we look at them, I hope you will take a look at our hearts toward our parents and our parents' hearts toward our children.
Naomi moved to the land of Moab with her husband Elimelech and her two sons, Marlon and Kirion. It was moved at the time of the famine in Bethlehem. However, Elimelech left the promised land of God and emigrated with his family to a foreign land where idols were worshiped. This was an unfortunate immigration. Her husband Elimelech died. Naomi became a widow. After some time, the two sons married Moabite women. Both sons also died childless. Naomi was left with her two sons in the land of Moab. Three widows live in one poor and lonely family.
Dear brothers and sisters, this is where the text begins.
1. Naomi wanted to leave Moab and return to the land of Judah. The immediate reason was that “they had heard that the Lord had counseled his people and gave them food.” But Naomi knew it was wrong to leave the promised land of God and emigrate to a foreign land, Moab. Look at the last part of verse 13. “The hand of Jehovah was against me,” says Naomi. Verses 1:20-21 are the same. “The Almighty has afflicted me very badly. The Lord has chastised me, and the Almighty has afflicted me; why do you call me Naomi?” Naomi accepted what happened to her as a providence of God, not by chance. That's right. God loved Naomi. He did not want Naomi to leave the promised land of God and live in the heathen Moab. You have dealt with Naomi through the environment to bring her to the Promised Land. Naomi saw the hand of God through what happened to her. I was experiencing God touching me. Naomi accurately recognized the work of God working on her.
Dear saints, the God who deals with Naomi is working in you and in your life even at this moment. Do you know the work of God working near us? One of the greatest tragedies of modern Christians is the fact that we do not realize that God is with us every moment. May you experience and discover the hand of God.
So Naomi and her two wives set out to return to the land of Judah.
2. On the way back, Naomi gives this advice to her two daughters-in-law. Verses 8-14. Naomi told her two wives to go home (verses 8-9). In verse 8, she praised the self-confident saying, “You have done good to the dead and to me.” She prayed for them in verse 9. And Naomi kissed them goodbye. It is the heart of a beautiful mother-in-law who thinks about her two self-esteem.
So what is the reaction of the two self-confidents? How would you act if you were them? Even if you follow your mother-in-law back to Judea, you do not have any money. I don't even have a husband to make money. There is no such thing as a good home to sleep in. In other words, it is a life full of suffering. In such a situation, their mother-in-law's suggestion to return to their home is the gospel for them. It's a chance for a second life. But did the two self-confidents think that the opportunity had come? no. The two sons raised their voices and wept. Then he said with great emotion and strong determination that he would go with Naomi. Verse 10. "no. We will return with you to your people.” How beautiful are you guys? Although Naomi's family is poor and lonely, it is not 1 2 3 4 5 numbered family, is it? It is a beautiful family where the mother-in-law thinks about her self-esteem and the self-esteem thinks about her mother-in-law.
Naomi again persuades her two daughters-in-law. They persuade them with strong reasons to return to their homeland (vv. 11-13). Why does Naomi want to let them go? At that time, Judea had a marriage law of succession (Deuteronomy 25:5-10). When a married person dies without a son, the wife cannot marry another person, and the brother marries his brother-in-law and has a son, so that the name of the deceased brother is inherited. If they return to Judea with Naomi, they are unlikely to remarry according to the marriage laws of this passage. Naomi felt sad about this. “My heart aches all the more for you.”
Here's a different opinion on Naomi. Some people rate it positively and some people rate it negatively. It would be negative to think that human affection was given priority over faith. However, I would like to acknowledge the heart of my mother-in-law who cares about her two self-confidences. What do you think?
3. At Naomi's persuasion, Orpah weeps loudly, kisses her mother-in-law and weeps goodbye and returns to her people and her god (verses 14-15). Orpah truly honored and loved her mother-in-law. She showed pure affection for her mother-in-law. She was a person who did everything humanly possible to her mother-in-law. He was a good and kind person who did his best. But she eventually returned to his people and to his god. When I left Naomi, I left God. This was the limit of the good and good Orpah.
4. But Ruth was different from Orpah. Despite the same situation, Ruth made a completely different decision. What made Ruth different from Orpah? Was it because Ruth was more good and kinder than Orpah? Was it because Ruth was more affectionate than Orpah? Ruth was good, and Orpah was a good and good woman. I don't think it can be found in the differences in human nature. Then why?
Because Ruth saw clearly in Naomi what Orpah could not see. Look at verses 16-17. These words of Ruth to her mother-in-law, Naomi, are so beautiful that they are often used in wedding ceremonies to replace mother with you. Let's read it all together. “And Ruth said, “Do not compel me to leave you and not follow you and return. Where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God, and where you die I will die and be buried there. One.”
What do you see in these beautiful words? These words contain Ruth's affection for her mother-in-law, Naomi. But there is more to this saying than about affection for your mother-in-law. Ruth's confession of faith in God. Through Naomi, Ruth saw exactly God that Orpah had not seen. Therefore, Ruth made her choice out of human affection for her mother-in-law and out of faith.
A true believer deals with the issue of respecting parents with the eyes of faith. Doing it with the eyes of faith means not only the relationship between parents and children, but also the relationship with God. God made husbands and wives meet. God also created the parent-child relationship. God is working specifically in our circumstances and situation. If we are convinced of this, there must be a way God wants us to in the midst of difficult problems. Ruth chose the path of faith and became a woman blessed by God. Gentlemen, respect for your parents is a matter of faith. “Honor your father and mother, for this is the first commandment with a promise, that it may go well with you and that you may live long on the earth.” May you be blessed with faith.