Ruth: Loss, Love and LegacySýnishorn

Weeping Forward

Even though I’ve read this story many times, for some reason I always thought Naomi urged Ruth and Orpah to stay in Moab before they set out on their trip. 

Note that Naomi, Ruth, and Orpah had packed their bags, left their homes, and had gotten down the road when Naomi started urging them to go back. It’s sort of like being a kid on vacation, stuffed in the family station wagon, six hours from home when you start fighting with your siblings and your dad promises he’s not afraid to turn this car right around if everyone doesn’t shape up. 

Naomi realized she had two very determined and committed in-laws on her hands. When they didn’t take her hint, she kicked up her argument a notch as if to say, “The only reason you’re following me to Bethlehem is because I’m your only hope for another husband. Even if I got married and pregnant with another son tonight, you’d have to wait 20 years for him to grow up, and that might be a little sketchy anyhow. So your best bet is just to cut me and your losses and find another husband your own age in Moab who can take care of you. Oh, and also, the Lord’s hand has totally gone out against me—just in case the other stuff I mentioned wasn’t convincing enough."

One of my closest friends moved from Boone, North Carolina, to Nashville three years ago. She had lived in Boone for 20 years and had made a home whose roots held almost as firm as the surrounding Appalachian Mountains. Leaving was not really an option until the Lord opened up a very specific job for her in Nashville and the Holy Spirit’s leading became even stronger than those mountains she awoke to every morning. Through months of tears and grief, she packed her bags, made the journey, and dug a new foundation in Tennessee. Fortunately for me, she landed about a mile down the road. My friend wept, but she wept forward. 

Verse 14 is one of the most meaningful verses to me in all of Scripture because it poignantly reminds me that although there will be weeping in this life, the direction in which we weep is what truly matters. 

Be encouraged. God sees your tears. Cry them, wipe them, feel them, but don’t let them stop you. It’s possible to cry and walk.