“But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.” (Ruth 1:16 NIV)
Ruth can show you how to follow God. Ruth was a Moabite. The Moabites were considered foreigners, they did not worship the same God as the Jewish people. The Moabites came from Moab, who was the son of Lot and his oldest daughter:
“Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.” (Genesis 19:30 NIV).
Ruth’s heritage included incest. Her story begins when she marries one of Naomi’s sons, which one we don’t know. Naomi is in Moab because her husband moved his family there when famine hit Bethlehem. After Naomi’s husband and sons die, all she has left is her daughter-in-laws. One turns back, but Ruth refuses to leave her side. When Naomi decided to go back to Bethlehem, Ruth went with her.
Ruth didn’t go with Naomi because of her great love for Naomi, she went with her because of her great love for God. Ruth was following God when she moved to Bethlehem. Ruth can show you how to follow God.
Ruth can show you how to follow God.
For Ruth to follow God, she had to leave everything she knew. She left her family, she left the land she had known her entire life. Ruth followed God to a strange land where she was not welcome. She followed Him to a place where she would depend on charity to live. And because she did, she is named in the lineage of Jesus (Matthew 1:5-6 NIV, Ruth 4:13 NIV). How did Ruth fall in love with God so deeply, she would go through all of that? The answer is simple, Naomi.
Naomi is who introduced Ruth to God. Through her example, Ruth saw God’s glory. During the time Naomi lived in Moab she watched her sons marry, her husband die, then each of her sons die. I am grateful I did not have her life. The pain and heartache she endured is unbearable to think about from my perspective. But not only did she go through such trying times, she did it in a way that made Ruth fall in love with Naomi’s God. Ruth wanted to know Naomi’s God so much, she would follow Him anywhere.
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou
Naomi followed God. Ruth followed Naomi. Ruth knew the right people to follow in her quest to follow God. Ruth can show you how to follow God.
Question of the Day:
How can Ruth show you how to follow God today?
Further Reading: Judges 21:1-Ruth 1:22 NIV, John 4:4-42 NIV, Psalm 105:1-15 NIV, Proverbs 14:25 NIV