Grace in Temptation

Now the tension was great. It was almost more than they could bear. Naomi, who sincerely loved her daughters-in-law, wanted them with all of her heart to make the right decision, but her faithfulness in the Spirit caused her to appear hard and cold. When the tension was at its highest, she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. She could not go further in this matter, for their free choice was most precious to her. She had no desire to take two slave women with her to the land of Judah. In the meantime, the aim of her work was to loose their hearts from Moab. Of course they did not understand that. They most likely thought that she wished to get rid of them.

Naomi exercised wisdom in her ministry. She did not only use the letter. She understood to loose the bonds of the yoke and give the one who is being tormented his liberty. How to fulfill this task was a matter that she herself had to decide. She knew how to treat her daughters-in-law in such a way that they clung to her in love. She tested them severely on the basis of the strength of these excellent bonds of faithfulness and love, even to the extent of asking them to return to Moab. If they wanted to do that, then they were free to do so. However, her sincere desire was to elicit Peter’s response to the Savior from them: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

Naomi kissed them, and they wept. It was not easy to tear themselves away from love.