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Naomi and her husband Elimelech lived in Bethlehem (where Jesus was born). Food and work became scarce in Bethlehem, which ironically means “House of Bread.” Elimelech made the decision he was going to pack up his family and move to a place called Moab. Why would he move there??!! He had heard there was food and work there. In a different translation it said Elimelech went to sojourn in Moab. Sojourn means temporary stay. During their stay, Naomi’s two sons married Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. Moab was not a place filled with people who loved God. They worshipped a false god named Chemosh. After living in Moab about 10 years, Naomi’s husband and two sons die (Temporary decisions can have permanent consequences).
When both of their husbands died, Naomi planned to return to Israel from Moab and encouraged Ruth to return to her mother’s family. During those dark hours, Ruth sacrificed everything to stay at Naomi’s side. To care for her aging mother-in-law, Ruth set aside hope of remarriage as well as ever having the possibility of having children. She packed her bags for a foreign country and swore to follow Naomi’s God!
Wow! Ruth offered Naomi 6 vows...she’s not messing around! Ruth sacrificed mightily for her mother-in-law, and as a result, God gave her the very things she thought she’d forfeited—a God who loved her, a home, a husband, and a son named Obed who became grandfather to King David.
God is calling you to be loyal to the person He has put in your life; first to him, then to the person He put in your life to help you be all that God has called you to be in Him!
The following are practicals to have loyalty like Ruth:
Let us never forget that by our loyalty to God and His people, we are setting in motion the promises of God’s blessings on our lives and the life of others.
Heavenly Father, help me to be loyal to You above all else. Teach me to be faithful in the relationships You have placed in my life, especially to those who guide me in my walk with You. Give me the courage to stay committed even when challenges arise, and remind me that my loyalty to You will always lead to blessing. May my faithfulness reflect Your love and bring glory to Your name. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Ruth 1
1 In the days when the judges ruled,[a] there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 2 The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was 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. 3 Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband. 6 When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7 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. 8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. 9 May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.” Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud 10 and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.” 11 But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? 12 Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— 13 would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!” 14 At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. 15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.” 16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. 19 So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?” 20 “Don’t call me Naomi,[b]” she told them. “Call me Mara,[c] because the Almighty[d] has made my life very bitter. 21 I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted[e] me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.” 22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.
1 Thessalonians 2:8
8 so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.
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MyJourney
MyJourney is a devotional program designed to encourage, strengthen, and challenge you as you take real steps in your faith and grow in your journey with Jesus.
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