Naomi set out to return to Judah, for word travelled that the Lord had found favor on His people and provided them with food. Without her husband or sons, who had all died while in Moab, she stood at the crossroads with her two daughters-in-law.
Go back to your homelands, she urged them. Start a new life with new husbands for, I have nothing to offer you. While Orpah chose to return to her people and her gods, Ruth stayed with Naomi. And not just as a companion, but she committed herself to Naomi, her people, and her God.
What a life Naomi must have led to have influenced Ruth to make this choice. Naomi, whose life was full of hardship in famine and loss of husband and sons, did not live a lavish life, nor did it seem that this God she worshiped had favor on her. Yet, she lived so faithfully and what must have been a life filled with compassion and kindness that Ruth knew this to be the life for her, thus giving up her old life to live a new one, faithful to this new God.
Sound familiar? Friends, there is no doubt that hardship will come and our faith will be tested. But here is the question: Are we living our life faithfully through the hardship with an attitude of kindness and compassion? And as we continue to live in faithfulness, does our relationship with God encourage others to move towards him as well?
You see, Naomi did not tell her daughters to follow her. In fact, she tried to send them away back home. But Ruth saw the relationship, the faith that Naomi had in her God, and she longed for that too. So she stayed. And moved toward God.
Don’t we want that for our friends? Let us move not with our words, but with our actions. Let your faith be seen so that others might choose to know the love of our mighty and loving and merciful God. Especially in the hard times.
“your God will be my God.” Ruth 1:16
This mini-blog post was originally published on Instagram on January 20, 2018, as part of my study on the book of Ruth. You can follow me on Instagram by clicking here!
