View Site Map

“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

      Just to give a short summary of the book of Ruth, it is such a beautiful story of Love and Devotion from a widow woman, by the name of Ruth to her beloved mother-in-law Naomi and to her dedication to God. The story goes that Naomi, her husband and two sons had to leave their land of Bethlehem, Judah in the midst of a great famine to live in a foreign country of Moab, it was during this time in Moab, the two sons married Moabite woman, Ruth and Orpah. Over time, Ruth’s husband, father-in-law and brother-in-law had all passed away leaving her alone with her mother-in-law, Naomi and sister-in-law Orpah.

     Now I would imagine Ruth and Orpah felt comfortable in their country of Moab, as they were in the land they were from. This is what they have always known. However; let us imagine how Naomi felt. She was in a strange land and had become older without any blood family. In Ruth 1:12, Naomi tells Ruth and Orpah, she was too old to have another husband or to have any more sons for them. She was in a foreign land, so when Naomi learned the Lord had come to the aid of his people back in Judah, Naomi felt the need and desire to return to her home land.

     I have always felt Naomi was not a selfish woman as she instructed both daughter-in-laws to return back to their own Mother’s home, she prayed for God’s blessings on them for their love and devotion to her and her sons and encouraged them to remain in the country they were from so they would find another husband. However; to the surprise of Naomi, Ruth was very adamant she would never leave Naomi, she was going to return with her, that Naomi’s God was now her God. Orpah decided to remain in the land Moab. Now times was not easy upon returning to Judah as Naomi now had nothing but she trusted God and Ruth followed in that trust.

     It is often times in our lives, we become complacent in our surroundings such as Orpah and Ruth did. Regardless of how good or bad things are, it is what we know. We pray for God to lead us out of our demise and often times we miss the opportunity he is giving us to make things better because of perhaps our thoughts are all the ‘what if’s’ things could be worse, we often think “the situation I am in now is bad but I know what it is? Right? But then all ‘what if’s’ come into play, this is when Satan tries to intervene in the plan God has for us by telling us if I take the step to go through with this opportunity and it could be worse.

     Orpah chose to remain in what she knew. At this point of the story, you will find this is when God’s divine intervention comes into play. Ruth could have chosen to have stay in Moab just Orpah did, however; she chose to follow God. Now Ruth and Naomi both suffered greatly in the loss of their husbands, but I feel God seen into the heart of both Ruth and Naomi and he later blessed them dearly for their time of suffering. Later in the book of Ruth, she becomes favored by a wealthy man named Boaz and it was through Ruth’s love for her mother-in-law and God that she was humbled by it all.

     Ruth was a different person through her trials and because of her trust, love and devotion to Naomi and God. God blessed her probably beyond her wildest dreams because of the his plan for Ruth, she is in the direct lineage of the birth of Christ, our Lord and Savior. We all can learn so much from this beautiful story that it is through our trials that God can and will bless us if we learn to trust him and ask him to open the doors he wants us to go through. It may be hard because it is the unknown but God will never fail you. He has a life for you that are beyond your wildest dreams such as Naomi and Ruth, Naomi believed her life was over but God also blessed her because of her love and devotion. Naomi gained a beloved daughter, a son Boaz and a new grand-son, Obed as it tells us in Ruth 4:13-17.

Never underestimate the power of prayer to our Heavenly Father. Never underestimate the trials we go through. We have to learn not to focus on our misery but our blessings and know when the time is right, God will put his plan together for us.