Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age; for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has borne him.”
NL Daily Devotion for Friday, June 26, 2026
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
This is a profound declaration. That Ruth would be more to Naomi “than seven sons” is no small thing. Sons validated a wife’s position. They announced God’s favor. They guaranteed her long-term security. And this one woman, a Moabite, no less, proved more faithful, more resourceful, and more boast-worthy than half a dozen male offspring. How beautiful to lift up this “foreign” woman as an example of what it really means to follow the will of God—a life of sacrifice, of willingly caring for a widow, of adopting a new culture and in so many ways being a better practitioner of the faith than many of the locals!
And now, grandma Naomi (who is probably only in her 40s at this point) gets to live to old age knowing that the total loss of her family in Moab is redeemed, a true heir to her departed husband and son will carry on the family identity, and she will be cared for by the most loving woman she can imagine. This story isn’t just a happy ending for Ruth, but for her wonderful mother-in-law, too.
Have I ever had to change a tradition to incorporate someone else’s? Was I willing? Was it a good thing?
