by John O’Malley
“Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have an husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should have an husband also to night, and should also bear sons” (Ruth 1:12).
Naomi knew her sin had cost her more than she ever thought she would have to pay. The guilt overwhelmed her as she spoke to Orpah and Ruth. She faced the surging tide of guilt due to her husband’s name being extinguished. She held great empathy for Ruth and Orpah’s loss of their husbands.
She perhaps blamed herself for the loss of her three men, and now, her daughters-in-law's potential separation from their families in Moab. She saw herself as too old to be able to secure a husband and bear children. She saw herself as going into her golden years not having grandchildren to hold and help along in life. Guilt certainly reigned in her heart.
It was overwhelming when she contemplated her future by the dilemmas of that difficult day. She saw herself as too old to have a husband; too old to have children; too far past hope to have hope for anything. Yet today’s dilemmas must not interpret the future. Today and tomorrow are both held in God’s hand.Little did she know that sixty-seven miles away was a place to live, a husband for Ruth, restoration of her husband’s name, friends who would love her, and a grandson she would hold and nurse.
Are you guilty of governing your life with Naomi’s nature? Do you interpret the future by today’s dilemmas? I urge you to cease this fruitless, fearful, faithless way of living and look at today and the future as being in God’s hand. He is able to make them work together for good!
Think about it...