RUTH 1:16-18

In the phenomenal book of Ruth we find these inspirational words “Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was and her two daughters in law with her’ and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah” (Ruth 1:7). This was Naomi, with her two outstanding daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah. Just like the prodigal, she came to the conclusion, “I will arise and go . . .” (Luke 15:18). She made up her mind. Naomi had stayed in Moab long enough. It was time to go home. There comes a time when you urgently feel the need to return home.

She could have allowed shame to stop her. However, she remembered how comfortable home was. There is no place like home. Moab might have appeared appealing and satisfying for a while, but Naomi had heard that “. . . the Lord hath visited his people in giving them bread” (v. 6). Whilst she fled from adversity in her homeland of Bethlehem – Judah, adversity also visited her in Moab. So often, that from which we are fleeing, catches us up with us. Life seemed much harsher to her now in Moab than in her homeland. God’s people must know when to leave and also when to return. It was time to return home. Why stay there and die. It’s cold out there!

Unlike her sister-in-law Orpah, Ruth refused to be talked out of following her mother-in-law. For Ruth, there was never a question of ever turning back. Her mind was so fully made up that when she was done speaking Naomi realized it was a lost cause even attempting to try to stop and to dissuade her. These words were spoken with such explosive force and intensity “And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest I will go and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: for thy people shall be my people and thy God shall be my God . . .” (Ruth 1:16-18). These words are not just poetic and sentimental, they depict the heart and mind of one fully convicted to make good of their avowed intentions.

Ruth found a better way and she was recklessly determined to stick with it. She was resolute. She was resolved to give up everything to follow her new-found faith and religion, to follow this heart-felt religion so powerfully exemplified in the life of her mother-in-law. No demon in hell could stop her! She left the comfortable and the easy to become a decided pilgrim. The future did not really look that bright, but by faith she committed. Orpah, understandably turned back, but there was something that caught afire in Ruth’s soul. She gave up country, kin and culture to follow an old woman and her God. She gave up the familiar for the unfamiliar. She traded the old for the new and in the end received so much more than she could have ever dreamed (Ruth 4:13-17). Brethren, this is the kind of devotion, it will take to follow Jesus. Happy Mother’s Day!