Driven: Compelled to Missions by Christ’s LoveSample

“Your God” Will Be “My God”

Naomi had not only lost her husband, she’d lost him far from their family back in Judah. In the time of the Judges, when life in the land of Israel often looked grim, Elimelek had moved with Naomi and their sons to Moab. Then Naomi watched Elimelek die, followed by her two married sons. As hard as widowhood is today, widows suffered even more in much of the ancient world, as they had no source of income. Naomi thought she’d be less likely to starve back in Judah and prepared to leave her daughters-in-law in the land of Moab.

That’s when Ruth, Naomi’s daughter-in-law and a native of Moab, revealed her heart for her mother-in-law and her in-laws’ God. Maybe Ruth had learned about God’s compassion from her late husband and his family as they lived as outsiders in Moab. Perhaps she felt that a young widow could better thrive in an adopted land than in her own homeland. She may have felt deep compassion for her mother-in-law. We don’t know why she stuck with Naomi while Orpah stayed behind, but Ruth showed rare courage.

Determined to follow Naomi to the west side of the Jordan River, Ruth left all she’d known to commit to Naomi’s God as her own God. Ruth’s chosen course would lead her to care for Naomi, marry a kind man in Bethlehem named Boaz, give birth to a baby named Obed, and so become great-grandmother to King David, part of the ancestral line of Jesus.

Elimelek and Naomi may not have considered themselves missionaries, sent from Bethlehem to Moab. But God used them to bring new life to a young Moabite widow. Naomi’s friends were correct when they praised Ruth, better “than seven sons,” and the Lord, whose love for Ruth provided both her and Naomi with lives far better than either could have asked or imagined.