What kind of friend are you? Are you as good a friend as Ruth was to Naomi? Naomi’s husband had died. She needed a friend! Both of Naomi’s sons had died. She needed a friend! But, Naomi didn’t see it that way. And, Naomi was more concerned about others than she was for herself. She told her daughter-in-laws, Orpah and Ruth, “Go, return each to her mother’s house. The Lord deal kindly with you” (Ruth 1:8). When they resisted, she insisted, “Turn back…Turn back…go…” (1:9-13). When Orpah left, Naomi told Ruth to “return” after her (1:15).
Ruth gently responded: “Entreat me not to 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” (1:16-17).
God says, “A friend loves at all times” (Prov. 17:17). Do you love at all times?