Loyalty
There is much to be said for loyalty. Our society needs more people who are loyal to family, community, church, and their jobs. God is loyal, and He wants us to be loyal to the right things, too. Ruth is a beautiful example of loyalty in the Bible. (Ruth 1:16) God richly rewarded her loyalty to her mother-in-law, Naomi, after both of their husbands had died and Naomi returned to Bethlehem after her sojourn in Moab.
Ruth was a fairly young lady, so she could have married again and had a very stable life. Instead of seeking her own well-being, she committed herself to go to a strange land and start over with Naomi. I am not sure what she had seen in Naomi that inspired this loyalty, but it was very heart-felt and genuine. Ruth was willing to leave her land and faithfully go wherever Naomi went. She would lodge where she lodged, and she would adopt her people as her own. However, it was her last commitment in this verse that may hold the key to her loyalty. Ruth told Naomi that she would take Naomi's God as her God. That is amazing, isn't it? Ruth must have seen Naomi's faith in the One true God. She must have seen something different in her than what she saw in her people and her god. Therefore, not only did Ruth confess her loyalty to Naomi, but to God. When we have that kind of loyalty, God can and will bless us. As we read the rest of the book of Ruth, notice how God acted on her behalf to bless her loyalty to Naomi and Him.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Ruth 2-4.
Ruth was a fairly young lady, so she could have married again and had a very stable life. Instead of seeking her own well-being, she committed herself to go to a strange land and start over with Naomi. I am not sure what she had seen in Naomi that inspired this loyalty, but it was very heart-felt and genuine. Ruth was willing to leave her land and faithfully go wherever Naomi went. She would lodge where she lodged, and she would adopt her people as her own. However, it was her last commitment in this verse that may hold the key to her loyalty. Ruth told Naomi that she would take Naomi's God as her God. That is amazing, isn't it? Ruth must have seen Naomi's faith in the One true God. She must have seen something different in her than what she saw in her people and her god. Therefore, not only did Ruth confess her loyalty to Naomi, but to God. When we have that kind of loyalty, God can and will bless us. As we read the rest of the book of Ruth, notice how God acted on her behalf to bless her loyalty to Naomi and Him.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Ruth 2-4.