Brave Ruth

I was so excited to get to this part of the Bible. I’ve always loved the story of Ruth. It’s such a beautiful story of faith and redemption.The thing that stands out the most to me is Ruth’s faithfulness. After the death of the men in their family, Ruth’s mother-in-law Naiomi tells Ruth that she can go back to her own people and worship her own gods. This is Ruth’s memorable response:

“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. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.’" (Ruth 1:16-17).

Ruth is willing to leave everything she knows behind, in order to follow her mother-in-law into a foreign land. What a display of agape love she showed here! She obviously view Naomi as someone who deserved her love and respect. And she was willing to do anything to prove that.

As I read these verses above, I wondered if I have ever displayed such faithfulness and love in my own life. The first person that came to mind was my husband. When I married Him, I promised to follow Him wherever his career would take us. I promised to stand next to him in the easy and rough times. I promised to put God first and foremost in my life. I made a life-long-vow of devotion, much as Ruth is doing in these verses above. I promised to always love and cherish my husband, even when it’s not so easy.

What do you think of Ruth’s promise? Would you be able to make such a promise?