“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’s sister in law, Opha, was given the same opportunity and chose to stay in her homeland. Both of their husbands had died and their mother in law, Naomi, being a jewess, was returning to Bethlehem in Israel. What made a Ruth want to go?
Ruth had probably come to love Naomi, her husband’s mother. She would have been exposed to Naomi’s beliefs and probably seen her in worship. What she had seen had impacted her as true and what she wanted, and so she stated she would go and worship Naomi’s God. God had a plan for Ruth and she was in the process of responding to Him.
As a missionary in Nepal I’ve seen many American women married to local Nepali men. Each has seen something in the other that they wanted in a marital partner. Ruth, however, had chosen to follow an older woman into an unknown land. There was no promise of wealth. In fact Naomi had lost her husband and two sons in Moab, she was not blessed in being there. What guarantee as there that Israel would be better?
The only explanation would be God. God was calling Ruth. Ruth would meet and marry Boaz and be the grandmother of David. David’s line would produce Jesus, and so Ruth was certainly chosen by God.
When we say “yes”, to God, amazing things can happen. Choose His adventure today! Amen!
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