Scripture
"Look," said Naomi, "your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her." 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. 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 1:15-16)
Observation
Right out of the blocks, I'd be awfully suspicious of this family combination. Think about it. All the males that married into this family are dead in a span of a dozen years. First it was Naomi's husband that met his end, then Orpah's and finally Ruth's. I think I'd investigate.
The matron, Naomi, suggests they disband the fatal combination and try again elsewhere. She urges them both to leave and return to their people and their gods in Moab. This just isn't working.
But Ruth is different. To her, it didn't matter. "We've lost everything," she said. "Even though our husbands are dead and our house is gone, I'm not done yet. Over a decade, we been rewarded with three dead men and a famine, but I am not going back to Moab. I am not going back to my former gods. I have no more baggage. I can travel light now. It is time to move forward with the Lord God as our Guide."
Now this was a woman who refused to give up!
The matron, Naomi, suggests they disband the fatal combination and try again elsewhere. She urges them both to leave and return to their people and their gods in Moab. This just isn't working.
But Ruth is different. To her, it didn't matter. "We've lost everything," she said. "Even though our husbands are dead and our house is gone, I'm not done yet. Over a decade, we been rewarded with three dead men and a famine, but I am not going back to Moab. I am not going back to my former gods. I have no more baggage. I can travel light now. It is time to move forward with the Lord God as our Guide."
Now this was a woman who refused to give up!
Application
There have been, and will be, times where the results will not be spectacular. The rewards may be famine instead of plenty. The results may be loss in stead of gain. But I cannot leave what God has called me to do. I must stick close. The journey is not over, I may need to glean for a season, but it will be a lack of humility alone that will keep me from that ... not famine.
It happened to me in 2001. A major crisis hit the church. People were leaving and there was more loss than gain. But I couldn't leave what the Lord had called me to do. And over time,
I did come upon the 'field of Boaz', and my future as well as the future of my church began to change. But I could never have found that future in Moab, had I left.
Each of us has his Moab, a place that seems comfortable... our default. But we cannot be transformed unless we change our default system... and Moab is the old operating system that will never accomplish what will be best for me.
And what Ruth doesn't yet know is that her journey will carry her into the New Testament. Mathew 1:5 lists her in the genealogy of the Messiah... a woman who refused to give up.
It happened to me in 2001. A major crisis hit the church. People were leaving and there was more loss than gain. But I couldn't leave what the Lord had called me to do. And over time,
I did come upon the 'field of Boaz', and my future as well as the future of my church began to change. But I could never have found that future in Moab, had I left.
Each of us has his Moab, a place that seems comfortable... our default. But we cannot be transformed unless we change our default system... and Moab is the old operating system that will never accomplish what will be best for me.
And what Ruth doesn't yet know is that her journey will carry her into the New Testament. Mathew 1:5 lists her in the genealogy of the Messiah... a woman who refused to give up.
Prayer
Dear Father, what a great reminder for me in this season of reflection. I will not give up. I will stick close to You and my calling. Thank you for transforming me and making me new. Thank you for the hope of still a great future ahead.
