A Mother’s Love For Those Dark Days Of Life
Ruth 1:18
“In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab.”
It was a time when the judges ruled. Those were the days of sin and debauchery for the nation of Israel. It was a time in history not unlike our time for it is within these dark days of history that we find the story of how a people of God turned to idolatry and moral corruption. But, it is also within this time that we also find the story of a mother’s love
and how God blesses and sanctifies that love.
Our story is over 3,000 years old. And yet, it is as fresh and new as any story that you might find. The tensions between races of people and a drifting away from the laws of God are exactly as we find them today. Their shattered dreams, the rebuilding of hope,
the communication between men and women, the fears, the prayers, and the frustrations are familiar to us all. And when we see how God works in the lives of
others, when we hear the stories of redemption, we hunger for God. And when we see how God responds to a Godly mother, we see that all is not lost. There is hope for our nation and for our people.
Let’s turn back the pages of time. Let’s travel back to the time of the Israelites. Now, you’ll remember that the nation of Israel had, at one time, been enslaved to the nation of Egypt. The blood of God’s people was being mixed within the mortar and dirt of the pyramids. And so, the chosen people of God began to cry out for mercy. And in his mercy, God saw their tears and heard their cry for redemption. In an act of infinite love and grace, God redeemed them and brought them into the Promise Land. And what a great land it was. And you would think that the people who had known the pain of slavery would love and serve God. But, they didn’t. In the days when the judges ruled comes the sordid story of God’s people worshiping idols and living a life of sin and lust.
You know, as I read the wonderful stories of the Old Testament, I can’t help but notice how God writes these stories of salvation upon the backdrop of sin and corruption. And this is one of those stories. But in the days when the judges ruled is also the story of a mother who comes from Bethlehem in Judah.
And the place is significant for the meaning of Bethlehem Judah is significant. Bethlehem means house of bread and Judah means praise. And so, our Scripture
family, will be leaving the house of bread and praise to live in the land of Moab. Now, you would think that Moab would have to be a wonderful place in order to draw someone from the house of bread and praise? But it’s not. God says in Psalm 108:9 that “Moab is my washbasin.” So, our family of God is going to live in a land that God refer’s to as his washbasin.
This morning, I would like you to get acquainted with our Scripture family. They are a very ordinary but interesting family of God. But, I want you to pay particular attention to the mother of this family. This being Mother’s Day, I want you to appreciate the
sacrifices that a Godly mother is willing to make for her family. And I want you to appreciate how special mother’s are in God’s eyes, for this is the story of Naomi and her family.
“The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.”
Let me introduce you to our family. First, we have the father Elimelech whose name means “My God is my King.” Next, we have his wife Naomi whose name means “my
pleasantness.” What a wonderful name for a wife and mother. And then, of course, let’s not forget the children. We have Mahlon whose name means “unhealthy” and we have Kilion whose name means “puny”. Two beautiful people with two sickly children. It’s a
real shame, isn’t it?
O, how the women of Bethlehem must have talked. “Look. Here comes Miss Mary Sunshine. I don’t see what she has to be so cheerful about. I mean, look at those two
sickly sons of hers. If those two puny things belonged to me, I sure wouldn’t be so cheerful. And did you hear? She and her husband are dragging those poor boys off to Moab to live. Why, no self respecting Jew would live in Moab. I’m sure glad I’m not married to her husband.” Yeah, I’m sure those people of Bethlehem had a field day talking about this family.
But there was a famine in the land and Elimelech was just trying to take care of his family. Yet, Scripture warns us that “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death (Prov 14:12). This is certainly true of Elimelech’s life. The thing he sought to escape was the very thing that he encountered by fleeing to Moab. My friends, there
was a better way.
The writer of Proverbs tells us to “Trust in the Lord with all of our heart and to lean not on our own understanding.” You see, if we allow the Word of God to direct our daily ives, then God’s Word will be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our paths. But just
listen to what happens to the men in our Scripture family when they stray from God’s Word.
“Now Elimelech, Naomi’s husband died, and she was left with her two sons.”
Now, this is bad but it’s not tragic. After all, Naomi has her two sons to take care of her. In their grief, the sons try to find a little happiness. They find a partner with whom to share their lives. But things quickly go from bad to worse.
"They married Moabite women, one name Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.”
These two boys found themselves wives to love them and take care of them. That’s not so bad, is it? My friends, once Elimelech died, these two boys broke Mosaic Law by taking wives from the women of Moab. I don’t care how you justify it, when you knowingly break God’s law, you will be punished. We want to believe that there a grey areas in God’s laws. We want to believe that we can bend God’s laws and get away
with our transgressions. We want to believe that there is path to escape God’s judgement without asking for forgiveness. Let me assure you that there isn’t. Those two boys are punished for picking Moabite girls.
But are these two individual girls so bad? No! Let’s look at these two Moabite women. First, we have Orpah which means deer or fawn. She would be the slender and athletic type. She was married to Kilion. Walking down the road, we would see puny and toothpick walking side by side. But I’m sure that they loved one another.
Next, we have Ruth which means beauty of face and personality. She married Mahlon, the son known as unhealthy. Now, why would such a glamorous woman would marry such a sickly person? It seems to be hard to understand. And yet, as we will see, the beauty of Ruth is more than skin deep. And we will see that Ruth is searching for God.
The problem, you see, is not the individual people. The problem is that these Moabites worship Cushman the god of nature. And our God is a jealous God. The deaths of Elimelech, of Kilion and of Mahlon, was the result of their walk away from the will of God. They die and Naomi is left behind to deal with the reality just like so many mothers before and after her.
Naomi loses a husband and her two sons in a land that is not blessed by God. Naomi finds herself in a far away country. No way to earn a living. She as a Jewish woman, by law, cannot own property nor own any material things. Destitute and full of grief, somehow Naomi has to take care of herself and her two widowed daughters-in-law.
“When she heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, Naomi and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road
that would take them back to the land of Judah.”
Naomi hears that the famine is over in the Promised Land. There was bread again in the house of bread and praise. Naomi knows that she must take care of what’s left of her family. Instead of ranting and raving about how unfair life is, Naomi looks after her daughters-in-law. So, Naomi prepares to head back to the land of her people and the land of her God.
“Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, ‘Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show kindness too 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.’”
Suddenly, Naomi realizes that she cannot take her daughters-in-law with her. The Moabites and the Israelites just don’t have anything to do with each other. Only those people who worship the One True God are welcome in the Promised Land. So, Naomi tells them the situation that they would be facing in Bethlehem. She tells them that they would probably live in perpetual widowhood and poverty for the rest of their lives. So, in order to save them from suffering and even death, Naomi sends the girls back home.
She knows that her actions may mean that she will eventually starve to death. Two young girls would make it easier for her to survive in this male dominated society. She knows that she’ll never find a new husband. Naomi is too old and too worn. It is a tough
decision to make. But Naomi is a mother. And true mothers, Godly mothers, are the caretakers of the family and the care givers of the world. Godly Mothers always put the needs of others before their own.
I think that the moral of this story is found in the 34th chapter of Psalm 34. Listen to the word of the Lord.
“The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry; the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. The righteous cry out , and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
My brothers and sisters in Christ, God reigns in the providence of men and women. Sometimes his providence is hard, but all His purposes are for the good and happiness of his people. Who would have imagined that in the worst of times, the period of judges, that God was moving quietly to prepare the way for Jesus, the King of Israel. And who would have imagined that God was using a righteous mother to open the paths for the
Savior of the World.
My brothers and sisters in Christ, the fact that you are here, the fact that you are blessed, has been made possible by a God of love and grace who brought about a
revolution through the love of a righteous mother. During this Mother’s Day, remember to pray for your mother and your mother-in-law. For who know what God purposes through their lives. To the women of the church, to those righteous women everywhere, I say, “God loves you and so do I. Happy Mother’s Day. Amen.
