Ruth: A Woman of Faith
No-one knows what tomorrow holds’ is a fatalistic saying which assumes that something random is in control of the future. It sounds true because often our experience leads us to believe that ‘life’ throws up the unexpected. Ruth didn’t know what her future held when her husband died and her mother-in-law decided to pack up and go back home to Israel. She hadn’t expected events to turn out so badly and she had no guarantee of safety or security for the future.
Ruth responded to the crisis in her life by clinging to the one whose life was a demonstration of God’s wisdom and strength, her mother-in-law, Naomi. What an unusual affection! There was no hint of animosity, jealousy, insecurity or mistrust between this daughter-in-law and mother-in-law. Instead, we read about a devotion so powerful that no worldly wisdom could defeat it. Even though it made sense to go home to her own mother with her gods, even though it offered more prospects to return to her own people, yet Ruth chose to cling to Naomi and her God. She trusted that her place was to be with Naomi in the presence of her God. She turned her back on the world and its gods and turned her face toward the one true God.
If the ship sinks what do you cling to? How do you make your way safely to the shore? Single mothers, divorced or single women, abused women, you who are old, lonely or neglected by family and friends, embrace the example of Ruth, our mother in the faith! Have faith that God is your provision. He is your provider, your ever present help in trouble. Cleave to the one who has given His all for you, and will walk with you into your future.
Tomorrow is not a mystery to our Heavenly Father. Like Ruth, we can trust that in Him our future is secure. Our God has a perfect plan so, for the Christian, life is not random. Jesus commanded: “Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on” Matthew 6:25. Can we be obedient to this? This was the spirit of Ruth when she abandoned her life to follow her good mother-in-law, Naomi.
Let’s sing with joy: “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back, I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back no turning back.”