Aging With Grace: Week Eight

​Join us for our Summer 2022
​Book Club-Style Bible Study

We are using the book Aging With Grace
​by Sharon W. Betters and Susan Hunt.

“Where we look determines what we worship, and what we worship determines what we become.” —Aging With Grace

How would you like to learn how to age with grace with us this summer, friend? I have done this study, and let me tell you, it is not just for older women! We are all aging, even if you're 18 years old, you're aging, and we all want to do it with grace, right? Join me here or eight weeks this summer on Tuesday mornings at 9:00 est beginning June 7 through July 26.

If you can't join us on Tuesday mornings at 9:00 est, join us when you can.
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Whatever season of life you’re in, God has equipped you to flourish—to live in the transforming power and beauty of His grace. As we age, we can easily lose sight of this message as cultural ideals glorifying youth take center stage.

In the book, Aging With Grace, Sharon W. Betters and Susan Hunt offer present-day and biblical examples of women who rediscovered Gospel-rooted joy in their lives. Equipped with a biblical view of aging, Aging with Grace will help you encounter afresh the Gospel that “is big enough, good enough, and powerful enough to make every season of life significant and glorious.”

Aging With Grace: Naomi

When someone mentions the book of Ruth, I think of the beautiful love story between Ruth and Boaz. That’s what makes it a favorite of so many. But there is another love story in that book that is just as beautiful, and it has to do with Naomi and God. The story of a love that takes a bitter widow and brings her to a place of flourishing.

Naomi lived during a dark time in history. It was at the time of the judges in Israel when everyone was doing that which was right in their own eyes (Judges 21:25). Naomi and her husband, Elimelech, were apparently no exception. A famine had swept through the land, and we can only assume that out of desperation and hunger they headed for the ungodly country of Moab with their two sons. Maybe they had planned to return when things got better, but that’s hard to do when your sons marry wives from that area. The family’s decision to remain in Moab led to a string of devastating events. Elimelech died and then Naomi’s two sons died as well.

In the midst of unimaginable pain, Naomi felt her life was now useless and had reached the point of hopelessness. The root word for widow in the Hebrew means “unable to speak.” In her eyes she had nothing good to contribute to this dreadful world, but God had a bigger plan that Naomi would never fully know this side of Heaven. Her family would be in the birth-line of the coming Messiah. Amazingly, her story of redemption would be told for generations to come.

Naomi’s life had unraveled, but God was about to reweave it into a beautiful tapestry. This remaking began with remembering. Naomi remembered when her world had changed. Perhaps she remembered being planted in the house of the Lord in her younger days. God had blessed during those years. As she faced the reality that she was alone and empty, she made the decision to go back to her home land. “The Lord has brought me back empty” (Ruth 1:21). She had two daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth, but they were Moabites. So, she would kiss them good-bye and take the long journey to die alone in her homeland of Bethlehem.

The dearest word in the Hebrew language is hesed. It has been translated in our Bibles as “enduring love,” “everlasting love,” “faithful love,” “eternal love,” “mercy,” and “kindness.” It is a hard word to translate because of the depth of its meaning. It is “a voluntary commitment and unbreakable pledge to act for the good of another in spite of emotions, often at great personal sacrifice.” —Sharon Betters

Hesed appears 3 times in the book of Ruth, but there are examples throughout. We see it demonstrated by Ruth as she promises her loyalty to Naomi…

"…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.” (Ruth 1:16-17)

Orpah chose to be practical and stayed behind. Ruth, on the other hand, made her decision based on faith, and her pledge…her demonstration of hesed…became a new beginning for Naomi. Ruth was God’s gift to Naomi when she felt that God had forgotten her and left her destitute.

In our darkest hour we must look for God’s hesed. It is there if we just open our eyes. For Naomi it was in the form of Ruth. But Ruth had ironically learned it from Naomi. In fact, Naomi showed hesed to her two daughters-in-law when she prayed for them at her departure in Ruth 1:8.

Where and in whom have you seen God’s unfailing love lately? It is critical that we do see it, because without the eyes to see, we will never age with grace.

“I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.” (Psalm 27:13-14)

“'For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but My steadfast love shall not depart from you, and My covenant of peace shall not be removed,’ says the Lord, who has compassion on you.” (Isaiah 54:10)

The greatest example of God’s hesed was the cross. As we follow His example of faithful love and kindness, we are demonstrating the Gospel to the world. God never quits on us, and we should not quit on others. This is a relentless love.

“God created us as His image bearers. When we voluntarily commit ourselves to extend loyal love to another, a love generated by God’s grace and driven by our commitment not emotion, others catch a glimpse of God’s hesed. This is not about outward behavior. This is an inner transformation accomplished by God’s Spirit. When hesed flourishes in our hearts, it flows out to others.” —Sharon Betters

Naomi showed this hesed to Ruth through her encouragement and advice to move forward with Boaz. Though Naomi grieved, she did not let that deter her from the ministry of prayer and mentoring the next generation.

“God does not mean to touch only our lives by what He does in us; He has the lives of others in view – even those yet unborn. That is why life can seem so untidy for the people of God. He has not yet finished His business. There may be many loose ends. The tapestry is only partially complete. He still has much weaving to do in which He will bring these loose ends together, perhaps in someone else’s life in the future – long after we are gone.” —Sinclair Ferguson

God has sent us to His people to be His promise keepers. We are demonstrating His everlasting and faithful love when we tell them, “He has said, ‘I will never [under any circumstances] desert you [nor give you up nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless], nor will I forsake or let you down or relax My hold on you [assuredly not]!’”  (Hebrews 13:5, AMP)

When we receive this kind of love from God ourselves, and then demonstrate it as Naomi did, we are aging with grace.

Be grounded in His unfailing, everlasting love, and...

Age Gracefully!

How have you seen hesed love demonstrated, and how are you aging with grace today, friend?

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