Lesson 12: Series of deaths

Read Ruth 2

Ruth could not have been married to Mahlon very long before he died. We are not told which of Naomi’s sons died first, or if perhaps they died together. But Naomi and her two daughters-in-law were left without anyone to care for them.

Culture was different in those days. Women did not get jobs so they could earn money to even buy food. We read in the Bible in many places where God told people they needed to take care of widows and their children. But Naomi, a foreigner in Moab, would probably not have received the same kind of care other women would have received. She had no way of taking care of herself or her daughters-in-law.

Things happen in our lives too, situations over which we have no control, and things we cannot change. How many times do these difficult circumstances coming into our lives cause us to question God’s love for us? What is God asking of us during such times?

Walking by faith in Jesus, trusting Him to know what is happening, and that He will take care of us can be difficult in times like this.


We live, trusting in Jesus, by first taking our trouble to Him. Do we need to tell Him because He does not know? No, He knows everything that is happening to us. We take it to Him so WE know we have done so. Then we begin looking for how He will take action for us. Taking our situation to Jesus does not mean we tell Him what to do – we do not want to limit Him to only those things we can see as possible answers. He often has answers for us which we could never have imagined as possibilities. Also, we often want solutions that are only good for us rather than good for everyone involved in our situation. For example, if Ruth had asked God for another husband where they were living, she would have left out what was good for Naomi.

When we have taken our situation to Jesus, we need to leave it in His hands. This means we go about our life as usual, but we keep looking to Jesus to see how He will answer our request. It is good to ask Jesus to help us watch for His answer. We do not wait hopelessly; we wait with expectation for His answer. We pay attention to everything that happens to us, carefully looking to see if it is His answer for us.

But we do not wait only for ourselves. Jesus promises to make everything into good for us. If, like in Ruth’s situation, it means the death of someone we love, we know Jesus will not bring this person to life for us, so the answer will involve other people. We must ask Jesus if there is someone else He wants to help through us. We wait by taking every opportunity He gives us to help someone else who is also in trouble.

*Think about a time you were in trouble. Whom did God help through you?