◄ What Does Ruth 1:16 Mean? ►

Despite the discouraging words of her mother-in-law who was blaming God for her misfortune and wanted to change her name from Naomi (which means pleasant) to Mara (which means bitter), the young widow Ruth, who had experienced the self-same difficult problems and tragic loss, clung fast to Naomi and her people. Ruth remained devoted to the God of Israel in Whom this young Gentile woman had placed her eternal trust.

"Entreat me not to leave you, or to return from following after thee," have become words of distinction which have graced the lips of many a devoted follower or friend down through the centuries. However, the roots of Ruth's earnest entreaty reached far deeper that a close 'woman-to-woman' affection, for her desire was to know and to follow the true and living God, Creator of heaven and earth. Her yearning was to worship at the feet of the one and only God Who had proved His faithfulness to her despite her many misfortunes, and so she firmly rejected forever the idols of wood and stone that she had grown up with in her childhood in Moab.

What a glorious confession of love and devotion we see in Ruth's words to Naomi: "For whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God." Not only did she love her mother-in-law with a deep and tender love, but confessed her inner longing to unite with the people of Israel and to forsake all so that she might follow after the God of Abraham, Isaac, Israel, and Naomi.

Ruth no doubt knew of God's divine law that permanently excluded all Moabites from the congregation of Israel, and yet she threw herself on God's mercy. By grace through faith in Him, Ruth became one of the most exquisite 'types' of the Church we discover in the pages of Scripture, and found herself elevated to be grandmother to the great king David and a descendent of the Messiah of Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ. And Boaz, her own kinsman-redeemer was to become a glorious 'type' of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Yes, Jesus is the Kinsman-Redeemer of His own beloved Bride, the Church which is His Body, for we were bought with a price, the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus died to free us from our own slavery to sin, returning us into glorious fellowship with our Creator God. Let us like Ruth, in humility of heart and self-confessed love and devotion for him, follow after the perfect Kinsman-Redeemer Who loved us so much that He gave Himself for us.

Heavenly Father, thank You for using Ruth to demonstrate such devotion to You, leaving every trace of this world behind in order to seek after the one true and living God. Keep me low at the Cross so that I may worship You in humble devotion all the days of my life. Thank You that You loved me so much that the Lord Jesus became my Kinsman-Redeemer and bought me back from slavery to sin into the family of God. In Jesus' name I pray, AMEN.