Honor Your Parents???Sýnishorn

We dive back into the Ruth story today. We see an industrious Ruth eager to help out. She says to her mother-in-law: “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.”

Ruth was fully capable of taking care of things. She was an extremely resourceful woman.

But that doesn’t preclude her from seeking Naomi’s wisdom in this situation.

She consults her mother-in-law and then she goes out with Naomi’s blessing.

Ruth didn’t listen because she didn’t have a mind of her own or because she was incompetent. She listened because she was honoring Naomi.

Friends, the world feeds us this idea that just because we’re independent, it means we don’t need the input and the insight of our parents.

But here’s the thing: Our independence shouldn’t preclude us from seeking the input and insight of others, especially our parents. 

Can we honor our parents by hearing them out not because we are forced to but because we trust that God has sovereignly appointed them in their role and given them wisdom that comes with experience?

Of course, this doesn’t mean blind obedience. I’m not advocating becoming followers of our parents. But can we honor our parents by seeking their counsel rather than discounting it?

Even Jesus looked to His Father and listened to His voice. We see in Scripture how He got up early and withdrew to a quiet place so He could pray and seek His Father. Jesus was equal with the Father – and yet He sought His Father.

Can we humble ourselves as Jesus did? Can we seek the wisdom of our parents? But we cannot do this on our own. We need the Holy Spirit and so we pray:

Lord, by the power of the Holy Spirit, transform my bent to self-sufficiency into a heart that seeks godly wisdom