Family and Rest

Ruth 1:5-9 And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband. Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the LORD had visited his people in giving them bread. Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters in law with her; and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah. And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, Go, return each to her mother's house: the LORD deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me. The LORD grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice, and wept.

Ruth and her sister-in-law Orpah were in a really terrible situation. Their husbands and father-in-law had just died and were left alone to fend for themselves. Of course it was much different for women in these days and there just were not a whole lot of options for widows to provide for themselves without father or husband. Naomi, a Jewish woman, was going back to the land of Israel and back to her home country.

Naomi wanted her precious daughter-in-laws to have rest and peace in their lives and knowing that they would not have much hope in Israel, being Moabite, gentiles, she urged them to go back to their families and find husbands and rest in a family.

In those days, and even today, there is rest in family. For Ruth and Orpah, a family would have been provision and shelter for them so they would not be forced live on the kindness of others; if they were fortunate.

Even today, the family is a place of rest and love and peace and beauty. Men and women hope to have husbands and wives, and for most, the ideal life would someday include a family to come home to and night, a spouse to love and a place of rest from the stresses and worries of life. Yet it is not a place of eternal rest of the soul. Some Christian families are turning the family into and idol. They find rest and comfort in the family MORE than they do with God.

Proverbs 21:19 It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman.

Proverbs 21:9 It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.

But is it not true that it is better to live in the house of an angry, brawling contentious woman that to be without Christ? Any measure of peace and rest that we might find in this world is tainted by sin and imperfect; yet in Christ Jesus our Lord there is perfect peace and rest for our souls.

Family is blessed and wonderful, and I love my family; but it cannot provide rest for my soul. Don’t make your family your god or an idol.

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Douglas Newell IV