God of the Ordinary: A Study in RuthSample

THE VALLEY OF DECISION

“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.’” RUTH 1:16 (ESV)

There are moments throughout life that demand a decision. And as pastor and author Rico Tice says, “We are the choices that we make.”[1]

After being struck by the triple tragedy of burying her husband and her two sons in Moab, Naomi decided to go back to her hometown, Bethlehem. Yet instead of forcing her daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah, to return with her, Naomi urged them to remain in their homeland of Moab, return to their families, remarry, and live full lives (Ruth 1:8-9). Ruth and Orpah were suddenly faced with a life-altering decision.

The lives of these three women were interwoven. They had lived with one another, experienced loss together, mourned together, and wept together. Ultimately, Orpah chose to remain behind, and Ruth decided to journey to Bethlehem with Naomi. Essentially, Orpah did what was expected and sensible. Ruth, on the other hand, abandoned the known for the unknown. She gave up the likelihood of remarriage to cling to her aged, helpless mother-in-law.

Ruth understood that her decision should not be guided by familiarity, security, or relational prospects. This moment would shape her life and her destiny. Remaining in Moab would mean remaining with the false gods of her upbringing and turning her back on everything she had presumably discovered from Naomi about the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Naomi’s God had become Ruth’s God. That is why she decided to stay by Naomi’s side.

Ruth’s decision on the road to Bethlehem points forward to the valley of decision that Jesus calls each of us to stand in: Do you want to be my disciples, or do you want to return to the life you’ve known? Who is there who will forsake his or her father and mother and everything they know—all that represents stability and security—for my sake? (see Luke 14:26). Can we confidently say to Christ, “Where you go I will go”? Can we declare, “Though the way ahead is unfamiliar and unpopular, still I will follow”?

This is not a decision we make just at the moment of salvation. We make it every day of our lives: Will we go back to our old, sinful ways, or are we going to follow the way of truth? Will we make sacrifices and take risks to follow God and serve His people?

Ruth’s bold, faithful response to this pivotal choice sets an example for us as we consider what degrees to earn, what careers to pursue, how we spend our time and who we spend it with, how much money we have, and how we’re going to steward it, or where we’re going to live and serve. Such decisions, made rightly, will mark us out as different—as unreservedly committed to following Jesus Christ, the one in whom we truly find abundant life (John 10:10).

• How is God calling me to think differently?
• How is God reordering my heart’s affections—what I love?
• What is God calling me to do as I go about my day today?

Further Reading: MARK 8:27-38

[1] Faithful Leaders and the Things That Matter Most (The Good Book Company, 2021), p 83.