But Ruth said: “Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, And there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, If anything but death parts you and me.”
– Ruth 1:16-17
This dialogue made Ruth the great grandmother of King David and
an ancestress of Jesus Christ. I grew up in a culture where women followed
their husbands in almost everything including their religious beliefs. But
Ruth's husband's family was a disaster. Every male person died including her
husband. Furthermore, they were strangers in Ruth's country. Now, her
mother-in-law Naomi had to return to Bethlehem. She wisely counselled Ruth not
to follow her because Ruth can be with her people (and her real mother) and
their gods, and possibly marry again. Her sister-in-law Orpah had taken the
counsel, but Ruth refused to go back to her people and their gods.
In other words, Ruth had forsaken the lifestyle of a heathen and
false religion. She decided to worship Yahweh, the God of Israel, Naomi's God.
No matter how hard the journey may be; how uncomfortable the place may be; how
strange the people may be; how demanding God may be; how solitary life may be;
how death may come; she chose to follow the life Naomi had modelled for her. She
promised to follow even after the death of Naomi. What a role model she had in
this woman Naomi! But what a greater model of conversion and decision-making we
see in this young woman Ruth!
Ruth had literally given up her world for God and God's people,
in particular for Naomi. Thus, God did not only bless her with a rich godly
husband, but also chose her to be the ancestress of our Saviour Jesus Christ,
and the Holy Spirit had recorded her story of faith in the Scripture. Is there
anything we cannot leave behind to follow God? Are our careers and our comforts
more important and grandeur than what God has promised to those who obey Him?
Would you, like Naomi, choose to love not only God but His people (the church)
too?