a changed path ...

Following God often means changing our path ... oh don't I know that.  I think my path has changed so many times that sometimes I don't even remember which path I am on!  So with Ruth and Orpah.  They are Moabite women who have married into an Israelite home.  How foreign their customs must have seemed at first ... or maybe they didn't.  Maybe they had lived in Moab so long that they just kind of blended in to this foreign land.

Regardless, their paths had now changed.  Their husbands, along with their father-in-law had died and they found themselves in a band of widows.  Probably still very young, maybe early 20's, no doubt they hoped to marry again, if for nothing else than survival.  When their mother-in-law announced her intent to return to the comfort of her own home, Judah, the young women rushed to her side.  She begged them not to go.  She knew what an unsure future they would have there.  Would an Israelite man choose to marry a foreign widow?  unlikely.  Choosing to go from Moab to Judah with Naomi meant leaving behind the path they had chosen, packing up dreams of motherhood and marriage and leaving them at the station.  It seems a no brainer, but there was a lot at stake in deciding which path to choose.

But Naomi 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-by, 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."

Priscilla Shirer says, "Wben we are ready to make a change, it may be required that we be willing to leave behind some of the things that we want the most in our lives.  Being transformed means that no matter what we desire, we are still willing to press on toward what God wants for us because of our commitment to Him."

she goes on to say ...
"you and I cannot be burdened with the expectations we have for our lives ... when God calls us away from Moab, we must be willing to leave behind all of our goals, ambitions, aspirations, and longings in anticipation of what He has in Judah ..."

WOW!  She is absolutely RIGHT!  We cannot CHANGE and keep everything the same.  We will never be transformed if we let our expectations keep us in a holding pattern.  But how hard it is for us creatures of comfort to lay aside our expectations ... because really we are laying them on the altar ... living sacrifices.