Seeing the Big Picture When Praying (Ruth 1.8–9)

May the LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The LORD grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!

Background

The book of Ruth is the story of a mother and her daughter-in-law who show great love and devotion to each other. It is a story of losing and finding, humiliation and exaltation, despair and joy. The book has been the subject of many plays, literary works, and films—a testament to its message and its timelessness.

Teachers and pastors often cite Ruth as an example of devotion and perseverance. Yet, those themes are not the primary reason why the story is part of the Bible. Some of the more troubling moral aspects of the characters’ behavior are typically swept under the rug in sermons and books.

Another aspect frequently overlooked relates to prayer. There are many prayers in this short book (nine or ten, depending on how you define “prayer”). Why did the writer include so many more prayers per text than any other book? What does it teach us about prayer?

The story begins with a married couple living in a foreign land (outside of Israel). They have two sons who grow up and marry local women. The father dies, and ten years later, both sons die. The mother, Naomi, is now a widow in a foreign land without any family except two foreign daughters-in-law, who are also widows. This created a more serious problem at that time than it would be today. With no male and no family, she has no one to provide and protect her.

She decides to return to her homeland of Israel, where she might find some long-lost relatives. She tells her daughters-in-law that they should remain in their own land, the land of their gods. They are young; they can find new husbands. Naomi is too old, and she does not expect the girls’ new husbands to care for her—an old woman to whom they owe no obligation either by blood or law.

Naomi prays, asking God to deal kindly with the girls, just as He has dealt kindly in the past with Naomi, her husband, and their sons (1.8–9). She also asks that God help the women find husbands and security. It is likely that the girls’ mothers and fathers are still alive. They could return home in safety and with the possibility of remarriage. Naomi does not have those options.

Meaning

Naomi’s prayer is noteworthy because the words seem to contradict the situation in which she finds herself. In ancient cultures, women were provided for by their father, husbands, sons, or surviving brothers. There was no welfare or retirement; there was no State aid. If a woman had none of those people in her life, she had few choices. The best she might do was to find work as a lowly servant in someone’s household. Worse, she could sell herself into slavery or become a prostitute (this would not be an option for Naomi at her age). The only other possibility was to become a beggar. So Naomi’s best hope was to return to her homeland of Israel, where some distant family members might be alive and could to take her in. If not, she would at least be among her own people.

Who would begrudge Naomi a prayer for God’s protection? Who would criticize her for asking the two women to pray for her? Yet, she does not pray for herself. Not only does Naomi ask God to help the two young women, she even hopes God will take care of them like He has taken care of Naomi and her family—all of whom are dead, leaving her in a foreign land alone.

What an impressive attitude in prayer! Naomi steps back from her trying circumstances—circumstances that could lead to starvation, abuse, and death—and focuses instead on God’s past care. She notes how these young women have a whole life ahead of them and need to make secure decisions.

If we could speak to Naomi today and ask her why she prayed like this, I suspect she would say, “I lived a good and full life with a wonderful family. Tragedy has struck me, but that is the way of things. The next generation is what matters now, and I need to make sure my daughters-in-law are taken care of. It would be selfish and short-sighted of me to insist that someone comfort me to the disadvantage of the younger generation. I prayed as I should have.”

Application

It is natural for our prayers to be self-centered. We often pray alone and in silence. What if, before we began our prayers, we considered our circumstances (good or bad) in light of the larger picture of our life? What if we could shift from seeing ourselves as the main character in the story, and instead see ourselves as one of many characters in a vast novel being written by God. How would that viewpoint change our prayers?

Write down some specific intercessions or petitions you might usually offer in prayer this week. Look at that list, and imagine yourself as a great Director standing above your life and the lives of your family, your friends, and your community. Envision it as a complex story with many characters. The plot is the larger purpose of God. Does this perspective give you a different view of the requests you wrote above? How might you remember to practice this exercise more often before you pray?