Family,  Marriage Moments

Marriage Moment: Wherever You Go

With Beloved’s job ending at the end of this week, there are feelings of “what’s next” lingering around in our minds. This is not the first time we have had to consider what’s next in our lives. Most days that a person is granted the priviledge of waking up they can typically open their eyes and have some idea of what is expected to happen within the day. But nothing is certain in life. Sometimes half way through your day something happens that changes the course of your future as you know it. This is what happened 5 weeks ago when my husbands company announced that they were closing his division. This coming Friday at 12:30 p.m. his position within that division will come to an end. We are left with “what’s next.”
He has applied and interviewed with several positions. Some are not local to where we currently live. That too brings uncertaintly. Relocating is never an easy decision because it means letting go of what you know for what you do not know. As we discuss this amongst ourselves my answer keeps coming back to the same passage of scripture. It isn’t a passage between a husband and wife, yet I believe that we are taught the same concept elsewhere in scripture.

“Entreat me not ot leave you,

Or to turn back from following after you:
For wherever you go, I will go;
And wherever you lodge, I will lodge:
Your people shall be my people,

And your God my God.
Where you die, I will die,
And there will I be buried.
The LORD do so to me, and more also,
If anything but death parts, you and me.”
Ruth 1:16-17

Here Ruth is telling Naomi, her mother-in-law, that she will not depart from her but rather will follow her and remain with her until death. Naomi’s husband had died as did both of her son’s, one daughter-in-law returned to her own people but Ruth refused declaring that Naomi’s God would be her own God. This concept of a widow staying with the husbands family is not unusual in scripture. The Old Testament is filled with such teachings. In fact, a widowed woman was to be married to a man’s brother so that his lineage would not be wiped out from the earth.

Following one’s husband seems like a no-brainer. But, in our culture today people divorce for far less than the taking of a job in another location. Marriages seem to end for any mere uncomfortable situation. Following your husband to the location of a new job requires choosing to follow. We see this type of commitment in the Story of Abram and Sarai. God called Abram forth from the land of the Chaldeans, Mesopotamia, to a land of promise, Canaan. Genesis 12. For the longest time, I imagined that this land that he was called from was a desolate land, a desert with not much to keep him there. I imagined that God was calling him to a better land, Canaan because it was physically better for him and his family. In teaching Little Man history from the The Mystery of History text book by Linda Lacour Hobar, what I have come to learn was that Mesopotamia was a filled with cities that were thriving. They had libraries and schools and even a form of running hot and cold water, houses and cultural centers. But they also had idol worship and temples called ziggurats that was filled with worship to false gods. God called Abram out of a spiritually desolate land, and led him to a promised land where He would eventually build His temple and true worship could occur. Abram and Sarai gave up many earthly comforts to live in tents because God told them to do so. Abram obeyed God and Sarai obeyed Abram. Hebrews 10 & 1 Peter 3.
Sarai wasn’t the only wife to follow after her husband though. Rebekah left her home to be married to Isaac. Leah and Rachel left their home to follow Jacob. Zipporah left her father to live with and follow Moses through the desert as he led the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery for a land promised but then due to the peoples sin, they were required to wander in the desert for forty years. Abigail left the family she knew after her evil husband died, to be married to David. So you can see that a married woman being in subjection to her husband must learn to set aside her own desires, trust in God to lead her husband and willingly follow along, just as  Ruth willingly followed Naomi.



Where will the road lead us?



So as my Beloved considers jobs that are available throughout the country, my prayer has turned to the Father. “Lord, I pray that I can be your willing servant. I pray that you will lead my husband to a job where he can provide for his family but that also brings honor and glory to You. I pray that I will encourage, and obey him and not be a stumbling block for whereever it is that you have set before us to go. May my fears be kept away as I strive to trust only in You. I know that perfect love casts out fear, so may I abide in love for You oh Father as I remain in love with my Beloved husband. It is with humility of heart and thankfulness of Spirit that I pray in the name of Christ Jesus my Lord, Amen”

What about you? What is your marriage moment for the week?

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