I'm With You

I've been enjoying this song for months now, sung by Amy Grant and Nichole Nordeman, and recently discovered that it's from a new album called "Music Inspired by the STORY."  It's a compilation of new songs written in the first person about the main characters in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.  You really have to check this out at http://www.thestorycd.com/.

So this week's song is called "I'm With You" and it's written from the perspective of Naomi and Ruth.  Do you know this story?  I hadn't read this story until earlier this year...it's really short and sweet.  It's a great testament of loyalty, redemption, and love.  This story is found in the book of Ruth.  The story begins with a Jewish woman named Naomi and her family who are living in Moab, a non-Jewish land.  Her two sons marry Moabite women.  Unfortunately, Naomi's husband dies and later her two sons die.  Naomi becomes a very bitter woman and decides to return to her homeland of Bethlehem.  She tells her two daughters-in-law(Ruth and Orpah) to go back to their families.  Ruth refuses to leave Naomi and says:

Where you go I will go,
and where you stay I will stay.
Your people will be my people
and your God my God.
Where you die I will die,
and there I will be buried.

Naomi and Ruth travel together back to Bethlehem.  Ruth is later rewarded for her loyalty and faithfulness by meeting Boaz who helps her find food for herself and Naomi.  Ultimately Boaz and Ruth are married and give birth to a son, who ends up being the grandfather of David. What a sweet happy ending!

Imagine the love that these two women must have had for each other as you listen to this song, "I'm with You."

One of my favorite lines in this song is:

We could shake our fists
In times like this
When we don't understand
Or we could just hold hands

Ooh...that's a good lesson there.  When things are going wrong instead of getting mad and frustrated, maybe even taking out our frustration on the people around us, we should cling to the ones that love us and accept their support.

My other favorite set of words comes towards the end:

In the way you've always loved me
I remember He does too

I really do believe that God puts people in our lives to show us or remind us of His love.  The love that we show each other can be a reflection of God's love.  This makes me wonder about whether I am showing God's love when I interact with my family, friends, strangers....

Go ahead and read the book of Ruth this week, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.  I hope you are inspired by the love and kindness that Ruth shows Naomi, and may it refresh your ability to show God's love to others. I pray that you have someone like Ruth in your life who will stick with you through thick and thin, and keep you from becoming bitter during the dark days of your life.