But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back 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. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me.”
—Ruth 1:16
To be in the church life without someone to follow is to be a wanderer. It does not matter how poor your church appears to be; I can guarantee you that it has at least one person who is ahead of you spiritually. The young people in particular have to learn to attach themselves to such brothers or sisters.
This is how Ruth began following the Lord—by following an older sister. Why did she choose to follow Naomi? It was because of Naomi’s firm faith in Jehovah, and because of the high humanity she exhibited. How decisive Ruth’s declaration was! She trusted in Naomi’s God—Jehovah—to accomplish her desire and to carry out her vow. Apart from Naomi, Ruth could never have made such a consecration. It was Naomi’s experience in the Lord that made it possible for Ruth to follow Him in the same manner. The God of Naomi attracted Ruth both through Naomi’s humanity and because of the evidence of His faithful hand upon her.
Adapted from Ruth: Growth Unto Maturity, pages 24-25.
Tomorrow: “A Ministry of the Spirit”