A Loyal Friend Through & Through
“But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you;
(The Book of Ruth 1: 16 NASB)
for where you go, I will go,
and where you lodge, I will lodge.
Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.”
- She urged them to go, to leave her presence, knowing that she would grieve, but now, she would grieve alone.
- She spoke the truth to them, knowing what she said was true and unchanging.
- She encouraged them both to return to what they knew, to leave this foreign place they did not know or call their home.
One listened.
One disobeyed.
Yes, one did NOT obey her bidding and even begged her to NOT send her away but to allow her to stay.
“Return, my daughters! Go, for I am too old to have a husband. If I said I have hope, if I should even have a husband tonight and also bear sons,
(The Book of Ruth 1: 12-15 NASB)
would you therefore wait until they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters; for it is harder for me than for you, for the hand of the LORD has gone forth against me.”
And they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
Then she said, “Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; return after your sister-in-law.”
- Who do we know who needs a loyal friend?
- Who do we know who is walking through heaviness of life?
- Who do we know who seems to be walking through their sorrow all alone?
- Who do we know (who seems like Naomi & has lost everything)?
How can we respond to them & be a loyal friend?
How can we put aside our agenda for the day & walk instead with them through their day?
How can we go where they go—sit where they sit—hug them when they hurt—& maybe even be in quietness right beside them?
We live in a world where hurt comes in battalions every single day!
- Cancer treatments march into a person’s life.
- Death knocks suddenly on their heart’s door.
- Marriages end in what seems unexpectedly.
- Loneliness sits heavy upon a person’s heart.
- Children go wayward despite our best efforts.
- Work seems more heavy, more demanding, more EVERYTHING today than yesterday.
“God, where are you?” our friends may cry.
- Maybe that is why God gave us the friends we have come to know.
- Maybe God gave us our friends because in His omniscience, HE KNEW they would need us!
- Maybe God gave them to us because in His All-Knowingness, HE KNEW we would need them!
Today, may we (like Ruth) be A Loyal Friend Through & Through.
&
Today, may we (like Ruth) see how OUR FATHER’S WILL is more necessary than our own.
& if we just happen to be the one in need—
Today, may we (like Naomi) accept the Loyal Friend the LORD has brought to our door.
“But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you;
(The Book of Ruth 1: 16-18 NASB)
for where you go, I will go,
and where you lodge, I will lodge.
Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.
Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried.
Thus may the LORD do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me.
When she saw
[When Ruth’s mother-in-law saw]
that she was determined to go with her,
[When Ruth’s mother-in-law saw how Ruth, her daughter-in-law,
was determined to go through whatever with her, then]
she said no more to her.”
As God’s children, we are called to fulfill the deepest needs of others. We are to see those who surround us with the eyes of Jesus, and we are to respond as the Holy Spirit leads. The world is hurting. Life is so heavy for someone we know. God has given them to us, placed them into our lives ON PURPOSE—HIS PURPOSE!
- May we not walk on, too busy with our own daily plans.
- May we not move past them to the other side, turning aside our eyes.
- May we stop, kneel down, see their needs, pray, asking God: “Father, what would You have me do to help this one in need?”
- May we be—A Loyal Friend Through & Through!
Jesus speaks these words to His disciples,
(John 15: 12-14 NASB)
“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
You are My friends if you do what I command you.”