Ten years had passed since Naomi left Bethlehem. Three bereavements had taken their toll and when she arrived home with Ruth, her friends barely recognised her. The first thing they would say would be, “How’s Elimelech?”

“Oh, he died shortly after we arrived in Moab.”

“Oh, Naomi, we are so sorry. You were left with the two boys… How are they doing?”

“Both of them died too.”

No wonder the whole town was stirred. In Naomi’s response, we will gather three truths for navigating sorrow, as well as a strategy for growing in faith. Here is the first truth.

“Call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me” (1:20). When Naomi began the journey back home, it seemed that she was doing well. But in Bethlehem, she was hit by a new wave of sorrow. This was where Elimelech had courted her. This was where the boys had been born. Memories flooded back and she was overwhelmed with sorrow.

Everyone who endures trauma or loss knows what this is like. You think you have got through the crisis, and then something triggers a new wave of sorrow. To your surprise, your loss feels even more painful than before. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. Waves of sorrow will come and go in the wake of shock, trauma, and loss.

Is there a sorrow or loss you are dealing with today? What comfort do you find in the experiences of Naomi?

Ruth makes a marvellous commitment to Naomi, and we see three marks of this loving commitment in her words.

Love commits to God. “Your God [shall be] my God” (1:16). Ruth is saying, “I have watched you love your God through three losses. I have felt His love through your love. What I have seen, I want for myself. So, your God has become my God.”

Love commits to God’s people. “Your people shall be my people” (1:16). This would not have been easy for Ruth. Naomi was going home to her own people. Ruth would arrive as a foreigner. But Ruth was determined to embrace the people of God.

Love commits forever. “Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried” (1:17). Ruth’s faith does not depend on Naomi. Ruth’s faith is her own, and she is saying, “God will be my God, even when you die.”

Where does this kind of love come from? It comes from Jesus. He committed Himself in love to God’s will. He committed Himself in love to God’s people. And He committed Himself in love to us forever. He said, “I’ll come and live where you live, and die where you die.”

But it did not end there. He rose from the dead and He says to us today, “Wherever you go, I will go. I will never leave you. I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

What do you know of this kind of love? If you want to know more of it, look to Jesus.

Orpah is a sad example of temporary faith. Ruth and Orpah had come under the influence of Naomi, and there is good reason to believe that they had made some profession of faith. But while Ruth persevered, Orpah turned back.

Naomi says, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods.” Notice Naomi does not tell her to go back to her gods. A godly woman would never do that. But Naomi discerns Orpah’s heart: She is going back to what she loves most—her people and her gods.

Jesus spoke about this in the Parable of the Sower. When the farmer sowed his seed, some fell in shallow soil, and it grew for a while but then withered because it did not have deep roots. Some sprang up quickly but it was eventually choked by weeds.

Orpah had a genuine love for Naomi. She had set out on the journey, ready to make great sacrifices. But she found herself of two minds. Part of her wanted to believe and follow. Part of her wanted to turn back. She was torn, but she made her decision.

Scripture says that in the last days people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, and lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. They will have “the appearance of godliness, but [deny] its power” (2 Tim. 3:2-5).

Here are people who look like Christians and talk like Christians, but they have never really experienced the lifechanging power of the gospel. Somewhere along the line, they will turn away from the faith.

Love chooses, and we all choose what we love the most. What you choose reveals what you love.

What are some things that might keep you from choosing God?