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. 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. 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. 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 and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.” 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? 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— 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!” At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.

During the time after my mom had passed away and I was living at home, when my dad had remarried and life was very difficult for me, I still trusted and believed in God. I was, in those years, 14-17 years old, and I had been through a good amount of life compared to my peers. While some in my family had rejected God through the loss of my mom and my dad’s remarriage (and the difficulty these had created), I had not. I had committed my life to God and would always follow him. However, I felt the weight of life and did not enjoy some of the things a high school boy would normally enjoy. It was said of me I had the weight of the world on my shoulders, and maybe I did. Life was difficult. And I had my younger brother to think about and try, as a young man could, to protect and love.
I share this deeply personal story with you because my hope is that some of you will understand and relate to having a heavy weight in life.

All three of these women lived under a heavy weight. Naomi had lost her husband and her two only sons. Orpah and Ruth had lost their husbands and could not bear them any children. Being childless back then was a very bitter pill to swallow for a woman. In an agricultural-based society, children meant more workers to bring in more food. They were all widows. They were likely very poor. And Ruth and Orpah had an obligation to take care of their elderly mother-in-law.

So Naomi does two things that are very interesting: 1) She finds out that her people have food and knows if she goes back she will be able to survive. And so, by announcing her plan to return home, she lifts the weight of providing support for her from her daughters-in-law. Support will be provided by her people. 2) She encourages them to leave her and go back to their people. To move on with their lives. Maybe she felt if this life that seemed to curse her was her lot, it did not need to be their lot in life too.

So after much pleading, Orpah, released from her obligation, returned to her people, but Ruth clung to her mother-in-law. One daughter was living and serving out of obligation. But to the other, there was something more holding her close to Naomi.

When I stayed faithful to my faith and my family, initially it was out of obligation to my commitments and what I knew was true and right. Over time this grew into something more … something with staying power that lasted. Like Orpah, I was faithful as required, but I had not yet, in my youth, become faithful like Ruth. We will find out more about her faith tomorrow.

So what drives your faith in God? Is it a sense of obligation? This is good. Is there something more? What would your choice be if, like Ruth and Orpah, you had to choose between family and freedom from obligation vs. your faith and loyalty to a loved one? Between what was the easy road, and one that could be much harder?

Lord, thank you for this story in Ruth. This age-old dilemma that most of us will face between choosing the road that is easy and choosing the harder, but potentially more rewarding road. Help me to make a righteous choice!