But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where 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. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”
—Ruth 1:16-17
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.”
—Matthew 6:9b, 13
“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
—Luke 22:42
Naomi and Orpah and Ruth may have been standing at the edge of town. They might have been standing at the border between Moab and Israel. They might have been standing at a fork in the road. Whether literal or not, it was a fork-in-the-road moment.
In our time and place, when many voices tell us to "look out for number one" and commercials reassure or appeal by saying, "you deserve...", it is easy to read Psalm 71 as focusing on self and just asking the Lord for help in trouble. That's certainly there, but is that all there is? Or is the song also about enduring relationship and about praise to the one who is always present? In the spirit of Jesus' teaching about right eye and right hand, or James' reference to the “perfect law of liberty” as a mirror, can we also read that song as a request? "Don't let my hand be wicked; don't let my grasp be unjust." Not just an emergency call for roadside assistance, but declaration of love and loyalty to the One who provides the road.
Ruth's beautiful declaration of love and loyalty to Naomi is framed as a request: "Don't ask me to leave you." Ruth didn't know where the road ahead would take her, but she chose to walk it with Naomi.
The model prayer that Jesus taught His disciples has relationship woven all through it, beginning with the address to “Our Father...” And I believe it is appropriate to understand the request at the end to include, "Don't let us be tempted to leave you." We don't know where the road ahead will take us, but we know the One with whom we need to walk.
The prayer of Jesus on the Mount of Olives echoes "your will be done". It contrasts with the self-will that humans displayed in the Garden of Eden. It reveals the Son as fully human and fully divine.
Requests
In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame!
Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.
—Psalm 71:1, 4
But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where 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. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”
—Ruth 1:16-17
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.”
—Matthew 6:9b, 13
“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
—Luke 22:42
Naomi and Orpah and Ruth may have been standing at the edge of town. They might have been standing at the border between Moab and Israel. They might have been standing at a fork in the road. Whether literal or not, it was a fork-in-the-road moment.
In our time and place, when many voices tell us to "look out for number one" and commercials reassure or appeal by saying, "you deserve...", it is easy to read Psalm 71 as focusing on self and just asking the Lord for help in trouble. That's certainly there, but is that all there is? Or is the song also about enduring relationship and about praise to the one who is always present? In the spirit of Jesus' teaching about right eye and right hand, or James' reference to the “perfect law of liberty” as a mirror, can we also read that song as a request? "Don't let my hand be wicked; don't let my grasp be unjust." Not just an emergency call for roadside assistance, but declaration of love and loyalty to the One who provides the road.
Ruth's beautiful declaration of love and loyalty to Naomi is framed as a request: "Don't ask me to leave you." Ruth didn't know where the road ahead would take her, but she chose to walk it with Naomi.
The model prayer that Jesus taught His disciples has relationship woven all through it, beginning with the address to “Our Father...” And I believe it is appropriate to understand the request at the end to include, "Don't let us be tempted to leave you." We don't know where the road ahead will take us, but we know the One with whom we need to walk.
The prayer of Jesus on the Mount of Olives echoes "your will be done". It contrasts with the self-will that humans displayed in the Garden of Eden. It reveals the Son as fully human and fully divine.
Jesus knew where the road ahead would take Him.
But He walked it anyway.