July 21 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Ruth 1:14-22

¹⁴And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother in law; but Ruth clave unto her.
¹⁵And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law.
¹⁶And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:
¹⁷Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.
¹⁸When she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her.
¹⁹So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi?
²⁰And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.
²¹I went out full and the LORD hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the LORD hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?
²²So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter in law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.

Devotional

We have grown used to hearing the words of Ruth at a wedding:

Intreat me not to leave thee,
Or to return from following after thee:
For whither thou goest, I will go;
And where thou lodgest, I will lodge:
Thy people shall be my people,
And thy God my God (1:16).

These are utterly appropriate words for the Christian couple to employ as a pledge of fidelity to each other on the day of their marriage.

But the speaking of these words by a widow to her husband's mother is a moving and even strange phenomenon. And yet, should it be strange? Naomi and Ruth both loved the same man. In adversity they were drawn closer together. And they had the same God!

It is an ugly thing for jealousy to exist between a man's mother and his wife. It is foolish of them to vie for his affection and time, and to compete for his admiration of their cooking! Jealousy is both ugly and pernicious, a source of tension and unhappiness for the two women and for the man himself.

The mother must pray for grace to see another take first place in her son's life. She must remember her own husband and the need they had to build a separate unit early in their marriage. She needs to remember God's plan: two people made one. She needs to find new ways to express her affection to her son, quiet, unobtrusive ways that do not threaten his wife.

The wife needs to be patient, humble. She needs to admit it if her mother-in-law makes better pie-crust! What a 'big' person she would prove herself to be if she were to become pupil of the more experienced cook and so improve her skills and please her husband! And the wife needs to project herself into the day when her own son will go away with another woman.

As for the man, he needs to be a real diplomat, tactfully dealing with these two women in love and firmness. He needs to be strong. And he needs to be sure that his priorities are right so that he protects his chosen one against anyone who might attempt to usurp her place-"even his own mother, or hers!