Ruth 1:16
But Ruth
said: "Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after
you; for wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your
people shall be my people, and your God, my God.
Bible Reading for a Year [bible]psalm110[/bible]; [bible]ipete2[/bible];
[bible]ezeki29:1-16[/bible];
Wise men say
that life is about choices, and many times we have to deal with difficult
choices. All of them seem important to do and need to be resolved soon. And
later after we decide, we still have no idea whether the choice is right or
wrong, favorable or unfavorable, a solution or a new problem, and many more.
And the decision is usually about our future and our closest people.
And so it is
with Ruth and Orpah, the daughters-in-law of Naomi, after both of them lost
their own husbands. As a mother-in-law, Naomi let them choose their own future;
they might return to their hometown to find new partners. Orpah agreed with
her, but Ruth took the opportunity to start a new life in her mother-in-law’s
hometown. Orpah’s choice was for her future, but Ruth’s choice to follow after Naomi
was for taking care of her in her old age.
What an
amazing love. Ruth’s future was at stake yet she pushed away her own business.
Did Ruth know how risky her choice was? Of course! By heading to Naomi’s
homeland, she might not have any opportunity to find a man to marry. In Jewish
tradition, very few people who married the gentiles. But the Bible wrote that
this Moabite woman met Boaz, a man who married her later. God has set Ruth’s
difficult choice to be a part of Jewish’s history, and she was included in the
genealogy of Jesus Christ.
Making a
choice is difficult in the beginning. And we do not know the consequences of what
we have chosen. But God is omniscient, and He will guide us while we make a
choice, even when we know we have to return to point of zero by choosing.
To choose means to be ready to take a
risk and return to the point of zero.