Day 5: Ruth 1:15-18 - Where you go I will go.

15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”
16 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. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

Naomi is now urging Ruth to go back to the people she knows and grew up with, as well as the gods her fellow Moabites worship. Going with Naomi would mean a huge change in Ruth’s lifestyle and culture. It would mean worshiping the God of Naomi’s religion and living the lifestyle of a poor widow.
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Naomi assumes Ruth likes the idea of showing kindness towards her, but will not be up to the sacrifices of following through. But this isn’t the case at all.

Ruth is set on traveling with Naomi and comforting her in this time of loss and need. She knows what the right thing to do is and she does it!

Ruth is determined to leave her home, people, gods, and lifestyle to comfort and serve Naomi. Even in Ruth’s current environment steeped in false gods, she knows of the Israelite God. I wonder what her father-in-law spoke about Him; what her husband spoke about Him. I wonder if she participated in worship of the One true God during happier times when the much larger family of six gathered together. I wonder if there was laughter and joy. I wonder if she memorized Scripture about God along with her new Israelite family. I wonder if she saw something special in this God Naomi’s family prayed to. A seed was planted. Perhaps deep down, God was giving her a peace about stepping out in this new territory with Naomi. I wonder if He was wooing her to Himself. Ruth doesn’t have all the answers, but she believes Naomi’s God – our God – is BETTER than anything she would leave behind.

With nothing but each other and an unknown future, Ruth joins Naomi on the journey back home. She is in through the bitter end…whatever that might look like.

Has anyone ever stuck with you during a hard time in your life, even when it required a sacrifice on their part?
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Do you think that Ruth, living with her husband’s family, was introduced to their God (the God of Israel…our God)?

Do you think God has the power to draw people to Him, even in the “foreign” lands of difficult circumstances, a culture and world that tends to reject Him, a time when following the One True God is not very popular?