Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. When they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Chilion also died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.”
NL Daily Devotion for Monday, August 15, 2022
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Tragedy can strike any of us at any time. We see it happen to others and secretly hope it doesn’t come our way. I’ve heard it said countless times by those affected by tragedy that they never thought it would have happened to them until it suddenly did.
I’m sure that when Naomi went with her husband to Moab to escape the famine in Israel it was with a sense of hope. Surely she would find security there. She had two beautiful sons, which, in her culture, guaranteed that she would be cared for should anything happen to her husband. They would have enough food, her family would thrive, life would be good.
But that’s not how it turned out. She lost her husband and both of her sons, leaving her completely vulnerable and without resources to survive on her own.
As familiar as the story of Ruth is to most of us, it would be easy to think about how the story ends as some consolation for how it begins. But let us put ourselves in the place of Naomi exactly where she is, and know that no amount of hopeful platitudes and reassurances would be enough to assuage the incredible grief—and fear—she would have been feeling at this point in her life. Just as we ought to do with those in our own lives who are experiencing tragedy, let’s not try to make things better, but just hold the other’s grief with them, and allow them to be. This is what God does for us, also.
Have I experienced tragedy in my life or known someone who has? How does tragedy make me think about God’s presence in life?
