“When Naomi saw that Ruth
was determined to go with her,
she said no more to her.”
-Ruth 1:18
I can’t help but think Ruth was a very special woman who possessed a very special faith.
Verse 18 tells us she was so determined to follow after Naomi that Naomi threw in the towel and gave up trying to persuade her otherwise.
Can you imagine how hard it must have been to make such a decision in a patriarchal society where men dominated pretty much every aspect of a woman’s existence?
Let’s not forget this was a period of time when any woman’s hope of protection, comfort and even mere survival depended on other men.
Yet Ruth chose to forsake everything to follow after and help a woman who had no such hope available to her.
From an earthly perspective, Ruth had chosen a suicide mission.
And speaking of “suicide mission”, that would also be an appropriate way to describe the journey back to Beit-Lechem in Judah.
We’re talking about a tiring journey extending up to 75 miles!
From Moab to the hills leading up to Bethlehem, the journey would have been on a downward slope…
But from that point onwards it was the opposite.
After crossing the Jordan River (where I imagine they stopped and rested up for a couple of days), that’s when the real nightmare would have begun.
Because from there, it was all uphill baby.
If anyone has been to this part of Israel, you’ll know exactly what I mean.
There’s a long and winding highway that starts from Jericho (about 1000 feet below sea level!) and then extends upwards to the hills of both Bethlehem and Jerusalem.
The area is mostly desert with zero water or food sources!
I can’t imagine how Naomi would have survived the journey without the much younger Ruth by her side to help her.
Yet by the Lord’s grace, somehow they arrived at their destination safely.
The incredible takeaway I’m getting for today is of course the AMAZING and DETERMINED faith of Ruth.
It was this faith that led her to make what from an earthly perspective was a most absurd decision.
However, from a divine perspective, it was the right and proper thing to do.
How often in our life are we presented with such decisions?
Do we toss the money we earn into our retirement account?
Or do we give it to charity or organizations that funds missions to spread the gospel?
Or how about missionaries who leave family, friends and every semblance of a secure life to head off to a foreign land to spread God’s Word?
The challenging decisions we’ll inevitably face will be as varied as the many situations we encounter in life…
And when we come to these “forks in the road”, we need to ask ourselves…
Is the decision I’m making driven by faith (like Ruth’s choice)?
Or is it a decision fueled by fear?
And like Orpah will I choose to return back to “my people and their false gods”?
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