Now Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They married Moabites women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Kilion died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.
But Noami 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 gone out against me !”
At this they wept again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye, but Ruth clung to her.
“Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”
But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”
I bless the Lord for another wonderful opportunity to share the truth of His word on this blog site. I pray continually that the word of God will never be scare on this blog site in Jesus Name. It appears the Lord wants us to continue on the issue of marriage, because as I was trusting God for a word to share, the Holy Spirit laid on my heart to read the book of Ruth in the Bible. And just as was the case when the Lord opened up the book of Esther to me, I had thought I didn’t see what to share in the story of Ruth until God opened my heart to some hidden truth in that story. The message today will focus on intending couples and those who carry out marriage counseling in any organization, be it in their churches or otherwise.
Noami was a woman who moved to Moab with her husband and sons on account of the famine in Judah. After the death of Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, her sons decided to marry Moabite women. The tribe of Moab happens to be those who waged war against King Jehoshaphat in the book of 2 Chronicles 20. They can be regarded as an enemy of Judah and so in that respect they can be seen as a tribe that Judah should not intermarry with. But the young women who took care of Naomi when she was old and grey and grieved where the women from this alien tribes to whom her sons were married. These two women where themselves grieving the loss of their husbands, but didn’t focus on their own grieve, but rather took care of the old woman who was their mother-in-law, who had lost husband and sons while on self-exile.
In our own generation we still have tribal differences seen as genuine reasons why parents and guardians disallow their children and wards marry their God ordained husbands or wives. And from the story of Ruth we see a truth that in the midst of the negativity of Moab still resides a virtuous Ruth who was willing to go all the length for her late husband. And so I ask this question, is tribal differences good enough reason not to marry that man or woman whom you have prayed to God about and you are sure that God had given His nod of approval to your union? As a parent or guardian I wish to ask that is tribal difference any obstacle in a marriage that has the approval of God in it? Is the plan and purpose of God for the child or ward worth distorting for reason of tribal difference?
I have once written in one of my previous post that LOVE as what exist between two opposite genders is not enough reason for a man to take a woman to be his wife, or for a woman to accept the marriage proposal of a man. But that a genuine consultation with God and ascertaining that God approves of your union is the only assuring reason for a man to go ahead to marry the woman he desires and for a woman to accept the marriage proposal of a man he desires. In today’s discussion we seeing that tribal differences and/or ethnic differences is not enough reason for a man not to marry a woman if the Lord has so permit.
When we read on about the woman named Ruth, we will find her in the genealogy of our Lord Jesus, yet she was the same woman of the tribe of Moab.
We will notice that both Orpah and Ruth were good women. They were both dedicated to their mother-in-law, but what distinguished Ruth from Orpah was Ruth’s willingness to accept and cling to the God of Noami. Orpah went back to her gods, but Ruth was willing to stay on to the God of Noami and she never regretted the decision. From the moment Orpah turned back and returned to her gods, her name phased out from the Bible and nothing was heard of her again. But when you look through the lineage of Jesus, the name of Ruth will always be mentioned. In fact a whole book in the Bible was written to give account of Ruth.
As a man, if you have received the consent from the Lord to marry that woman who though is from another tribe, then it is important that such a woman is willing to leave all else to serve the God you serve. She is to move along with you and worship the God of heaven and earth, the one and only true God if she has not been doing so before, and not you backsliding on account of you taking a wife. Although tribe or ethnicity is not enough reason to marry or not to marry, but the woman is to move along with you to worship the living God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
As a woman the story is slightly different. Though tribe and ethnic differences are not good enough reason to marry or not to marry that man, but because you need to submit to him and worship the God he worships, then you need to be careful. You need to run from a man who will not allow you worship freely the Lord God Almighty. Your marriage should strengthen your worship of the Lord and not weaken it. You cannot afford to loose heaven on account of marriage, so this matter needs a lot of care and prayers.
.png)
No comments:
Post a Comment