Ruth 1:16–18 (ESV) —
16 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from
following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge.
Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do
so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” 18 And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no
more.
NOTE: This is Ruth's
classic confession of faith. It is both a commitment to Naomi, and a commitment
to God. I'm convinced that Ruth made her original confession of faith before
she married. She renews her faith statement here. And it is much more than a
commitment, it is a surrender. She is surrendering to God--she will die before
she will change her oath. God now owns her life completely. She is not trying
to be a believer, she is a believer who has surrendered everything (her home,
her people, her nation, her friends) to follow Naomi to the land of promise.
Elimelech probably should have never left the land, but Naomi did the right
thing by supporting her husband. Naomi suffered greatly for Elimelech's lack of
faith, but she walks out with spiritual fruit, a daughter surrendered in faith
to God. Little does she realize how her sad story would form the backdrop for
Israel's greatest human king, David. That story will unfold well after her
death, but her faith was key in establishing the dominoes that would soon fall.
Sometimes the story of our life is not finished being written until well after
our earthly life ends.
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