“…Ruth replied, “ Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.”
Ruth 1:16 (NLT)
God’s faithfulness to restore an empty life to fullness is revealed in the account of Naomi in the Bible. In the book of Ruth, Naomi and her husband fled to Moab because of a famine in Israel.
Suffering from a threefold tragedy, Naomi refused to hide her sorrow and bitterness. However, she believed in God’s sovereignty and attributed her suffering to His will. But as she fixed her mind on circumstances, both past and present, she became hopeless (Ruth 1).
Being a kind and loving mother-in-law, she inspired unusual love and loyalty in her daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah. This made it very difficult for the three women to part company. After intense persuasion by Naomi, Orpah returned to her mother’s home. With tears streaking their cheeks, the three women embraced. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye.
Ruth, however, clutched Naomi and whispered fiercely, “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. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me (Ruth 1:16-18 – NLT). The older woman’s stubbornness was no match for the younger woman’s love. And so Naomi and Ruth continued on to Bethlehem, where a new life for them began.
All that Ruth did was done in love for her mother-in-law and for the love of Naomi’s God. She made a promise on the road to Bethlehem that she was determined to keep. Ruth had no way of knowing that her way of blessing Naomi would eventually become a blessing in her own life. That’s just the divine irony of our God, Who delights so much in seeing us love and bless others that He turns that love and blessing back on us in double measure. Be loyal to your family.
Read: Proverbs 11:25; Matthew 5:7-8
Bible Reading Guide: Psalm 38:1-12; Luke 7:11-35; Numbers 23:27-30; Numbers 24; Numbers 25; Numbers 26:1-11
