A Godly Role Model
Study Text: Ruth 1: 8 - 10
“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. 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 and said to her, ‘We will go back with you to your people.’” — Ruth 1:8–10
Introduction:
When we think of role models, we think of those who we look up to, admire, and respect. We think of those that set an example for us to follow. We think of those that portray values and virtues that should be imitated. We live in a culture and society where there is a desperate need for good role models.
- Who are the role models who have inspired you during your life?
- Who has influenced you on a personal level?
- Who helped you to overcome obstacles and encouraged you throughout life?
- Who did you want to be like when you grew up?
- Everyone, regardless of age, needs good role models. Role models are an important part of our personal development.
- They are the people who come alongside us, give us guidance, and offer encouragement throughout our lives.
- Maybe you’ve been fortunate to have several of those types of people in your life. It’s a blessing to have one.
1. Naomi: A Godly Role Model:
- If you’re familiar with the biblical story of Ruth, then you know that Naomi and her family left Bethlehem during a famine and went to the land of Moab, where her husband and two sons died.
- Naomi’s two sons had married Moabite wives, so the three widows decided to head back to Bethlehem because God had blessed the land with fertility again.
- Childless widows usually returned to the home of their parents (see Genesis 38:11; Leviticus 22:13), but Naomi’s godly character must have impressed her daughters-in-law because both young women wanted to go with her.
- Although Naomi urged them to return to their families, her daughter-in-laws initially refused.
- Naomi was the type of woman — a role model — that they would follow anywhere, even to a foreign land.
- Eventually one of her daughter-in-laws returned home. But Ruth remained steadfast in her desire to follow Naomi.
- Ruth even left behind the Moabite gods of her culture and accepted Naomi’s God by converting to her God.
- In a beautiful statement of loyalty and love, Ruth told her mother-in-law: “Your people will be my people and your God my God” (Ruth 1:16).
- As you think about the godly influence Naomi had over these two young women, it is important to remember being a role model doesn’t always have to look flashy.
- Naomi was a mother and a wife. She kept the household running. Yet, in carrying out her responsibilities and duties, she had exerted an influence over all who knew her and observed how she lived.
- Who are the people in your life right now watching you? What is your life teaching others?
2. Hannah: A Godly Role Model :
- It's Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel, an emblem of the grace of womanhood. You can read all about her in 1 Samuel 1 and 2.
- Hannah became a mother by faith. In the opening verses of 1 Samuel, she is introduced as a childless woman. But God granted her a precious gift and she became the mother of one of the greatest men who ever walked the earth.
a. Devoted to Her Husband
- Contrary to popular opinion, the most important characteristic of a godly mother is her relationship, not with her children, but with her husband.
- What you communicate to your children through your marital relationship will stay with them for the rest of their lives.
- By watching you and your husband, they are learning the most fundamental lessons of life--love, self-sacrifice, integrity, virtue, sin, sympathy, compassion, understanding, and forgiveness. Whatever you teach them about those things, right or wrong, is planted deep within their hearts.
- That emphasis on marriage was very evident between Elkanah and Hannah. They were dedicated to the faithful worship of God (1:3), and they were dedicated to loving one another (1:4-8).
- Their situation--being unable to have children together--was like an open wound. But it was an experience that drew out of Elkanah tender expressions of love for his wife.
- At a particularly low point in Hannah's discouragement, Elkanah comforted his wife with these words: "Hannah, why do you weep and why do you not eat and why is your heart sad? Am I not better to you than ten sons?" (1:8).
- That may not seem like a tremendous comfort to you, but he was appealing to the satisfaction they enjoyed in their marriage. Notice the effect: Hannah was encouraged--she started to eat and drink again (1:9), and she went to the temple to seek the Lord (1:9-11).
- That's the kind of marriage to which a godly mother is devoted--dedication to loving God, dedication to loving one another.
b. Devoted to Her God
- Hannah struggled through acute pain and adversity. She was barren, she had to share her husband with another woman--one who could produce children, and she had to endure the pain of that woman's cruelty (1:6-7).
- And though Hannah was tempted to despair (1:8), she received the encouragement of her husband, turned to the Lord, and poured out her heart to Him in humble devotion (1:9-18).
- Like many women today, Hannah struggled with the pain of infertility. She wanted God's best, to be a mother. In her sadness, Hannah didn't complain to her husband--there was nothing he could do about it--and she didn't fight back when Peninnah tormented her. Instead, Hannah trusted God through prayer.
- Her distinctive virtue was her constant faith. First Samuel 1:12 says, "It came about as she continued praying before the Lord". Her prayers were constant. She stayed there praying with a broken heart, pouring out tearful prayers. Hannah knew where to go with her problems.
- Hannah was willing from the start to give the child back to God, for life (1:11). It wasn't about her. It wasn't about getting what she wanted. It was about self-sacrifice, giving herself to that little life to give him back to the Lord.
- After coming to that place in her heart, after expressing her desires to the Lord in prayer, she experienced the peace of humble devotion to God. She "went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad" (1:18).
c. Devoted to Her Home
- According to His perfect will, God gave Hannah a son--Samuel. And Elkanah had relations with Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. It came about in due time, after Hannah had conceived, that she gave birth to a son; and she named him Samuel, saying, "Because I have asked him of the Lord." (1:19-20)
- Hannah named her son in remembrance of God's goodness, and she devoted herself to her motherly responsibilities--she was fully committed to her home.
- The time came for one of the annual trips to Shiloh, and Elkanah came to Hannah to prepare her for the trip. Then the man Elkanah went up with all his household to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and pay his vow. But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, "I will not go up until the child is weaned; then I will bring him, that he may appear before the Lord and stay there forever."
- She was totally committed to stay in the home until that little life was trained. She had important work to do--nursing, loving cherishing, instructing. Hannah understood how vital those early years are, when 90 percent of personality is formed. She prepared him in those formative years for a lifetime of service to God--such a high calling.
- For those of you who are mothers, think about Hannah this day. Be devoted to your husband; be devoted to your God; and be devoted to your home in the fear of the Lord. That's your high calling and your greatest joy.
Conclusion:
For better or worse, Godly women are the makers of men; they are the architects of the next generation. That's why the goal of becoming a godly mother is the highest and most noble pursuit of womanhood. God has specially equipped women for that very purpose, and in Christ, women can experience profound satisfaction in that divinely ordained pursuit. They can be who God created them to be.
