But Ruth said, “Don’t force me to leave you; don’t make me go home. Where you go, I go; and where you live, I’ll live. Your people are my people, your God is my god; where you die, I’ll die, and that’s where I’ll be buried, so help me God –not even death itself is going to come between us!” Ruth 1:16-17 MSG
Welcome back to The Fire Place. Today, we shall be wrapping up our series on “Fear no evil” by discussing the fearless story of Ruth in the Bible. We have been made to access great depth of truth about living in this world without being afraid of evil. In this final episode, we shall be learning from the life of Ruth. Life inside Christ is a life based on trust; our trust is in the person of God. Although, our physical eyes might not have ever beheld God, yet His actions and impacts on earth are glaring to a fault! So, when we surrender our lives to Christ, we yield to God and start to trust Him for daily living.
Jesus did not promise us a “challenge-free” life in Him. He only promised to be with us at all times. He gave us His word that He will send us the Comforter, who will teach us ALL things and will tell us all that we need to know about Him and the Father. However, it is sad how we are always quick to forget this truth of God’s word when faced with serious challenges that tend to shift our gaze from God. The story of Ruth displays to what extent God is ready to reward whoever will trust His ways and be loyal to His principles even when the going gets very bad! Are you ready to learn some much more? Welcome to the Fire experience!
By allowing God’s process to find its workings in you, you are subscribing to a life of possibilities and a lifestyle of renewable results, because you have walked through the process.
Ruth was given an idolatry background when she was being raised in Moab. Worshipping idols was the order of the day in that sinful Nation. One important pattern that can be drawn from the lifestyle of idolaters in ancient times is loyalty to their gods. Although, they served gods that are powerless and fake, yet there seemed to be loyalty born out of consistency in worshipping the idols.
So, when Ruth agreed to marry one of the two sons of Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, it was not just about getting married to an Israelite, her object of worship changed as she moved to worshipping the God of Israel. How did we know? Ruth mentioned the Name of the Lord while making her sacrificial vow to Naomi in verse 17 of the first chapter of Ruth. That couldn’t be a coincidence or mistake; it was a well thought speech that was given from the heart. Also, the Bible made it clear that the children of Elimelech and his wife, Naomi lived for ten more years before Mahlon and Chilion died, which suggests that Ruth was not a babe in her relationship with God. She must have learnt quickly how best to live her life in loyalty, integrity and total trust in God through the season she was with her husband before he died.
All that we spend our time doing in each season of our lives will become our life’s testament in a matter of time.
Whatever Ruth did to engage God all through this first ten years of her living as a Jew built her up in God and turned her into a strong-willed follower of God. It is good to note here that, we all must become responsible stewards of times and seasons. All that we spend our time doing in each season of our lives will become our life’s testament in a matter of time. So, if we never prayed, fasted, or participated in spiritual exercises, our results would be predictable; full of fear of tomorrow, lacking key directions in life, on a quest to find fulfillment through worldly means, without knowing that the true key to fulfillment is what was left behind.
There is always enough time to seek God because that is when He can be found!
It is true that no matter how good life is for anyone, there will always be the appearance of the season of plenty and the season of famine in our lives. The seasons of plenty are always filled with opportunities to draw closer to God. There is always enough time to seek God because that is when He can be found. God intentionally opens doors of blessings and advancement in all ramifications in this season. All of these happenings give way for proper contingency planning and preparing for the rainy days in form of bonding with God, building prayer altars and covenants with God, intense study of God’s word so it can become a true defense.
No matter how good life is for anyone, there will always be the appearance of the season of plenty and the season of famine in our lives.
The same way the season of plenty flows silently, the season of famine unveils itself through series of challenges and change in the formerly known atmosphere of comfort and rest. Scattered in our journeys through life will be seasons in which, it would seem like the gates of heaven are locked on all sides, due to how difficult it would seem to handle the tangible presence of God. Whatever was learnt and well archived in the season of plenty will now become golden and priceless due to the change in the spiritual climate of that season. Believers that fail to prepare for this unfamiliar season will definitely pay dearly for it. These Believers are not hard to recognize through their running around, running for cover from one Church to another, in search for quick solutions that are no longer available, which would have been very easy to access in their season of plenty.
Your life’s result will tell us if you truly prepared for the days of challenges and tribulations through the fruits your life shows forth.
Your life’s result will tell us if you truly prepared for the days of challenges and tribulations through the fruits your life shows forth. The actions of Ruth after the death of her husband showed that she prepared adequately for this sorrowful season of her life. Unlike Orpah that kissed Naomi and said her goodbyes, Ruth could not let go! Why? Man can be bounded by truth! It is possible that it will be too late for you to engage in some activities and dealings again in life, all because of the information you have been exposed to, consistently. Ruth chose the hard path of fearlessly following her Mother-in-law back to Bethlehem and starting a new life there. Can you keep journeying with God when the road becomes invisible and entirely blank?
It is a form of reckless faith to think it is possible to receive things from God without having to commit to the things of His Kingdom
Man’s faith in God will always be tested through life’s situations. Life’s situations will always test man’s faith in God. One day, you will have to stand to defend every conviction you have held close to your heart at one point or the other. This is why being lukewarm is totally forbidden in the way of the Cross. The church in Laodicea was rebuked in the book of Revelation for this reason; “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.” Rev.3:15-16. It is important to go for the true process of God! By allowing God’s process to find its workings in you, you are subscribing to a life of possibilities, a lifestyle of renewable results, because you have walked through the process.
The concept of something for nothing is not from God! It is a form of reckless faith to think it is possible to receive things from God without having to commit to the things of His Kingdom. No! It doesn’t work that way. The Church of Christ was called out of the world to be separate unto God and to bear fruits! A fruitless tree is a useless tree. How is your life fulfilling the eternal counsel of God to bring down His Kingdom on earth? How are you consistently yielding to God’s training, His love and intimate fellowship with Him, which is capable of making you fear no evil and fearlessly defending His interest in all that you do?
God’s agenda will always be achieved with or without you, just that you will cut yourself out of the plan and ruin your destiny.
Eventually, Naomi and Ruth returned to Bethlehem and adjusted to the new lifestyle of living there; Two Widows now left at the mercy of fate for survival. It was at this point that Ruth further displayed her fearlessness. At the point where there was no means of livelihood, no work, no salary and no life support pension from any company, Ruth did not stop trusting God or start playing the blame game with Naomi like most of us would have done. A lot of us still have the mentality that we are doing God a lot of good by following His path for our lives. That is a blatant lie! The bitter truth is; God can never run out of options. Statistically, four babies are being born into the world every second. God’s agenda will always be achieved with or without you, just that you will cut yourself out of the plan and ruin your destiny. It is important to allow this sink into our soul so we can resolve to stay with God as a matter of survival.
Berean Study Bible highlights John 15:4 this way: “Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me”. Ruth demonstrated strength by going all out to ensure her Mother-in-law was well taken care of. In Ruth Chapter two, Ruth began to work in fields where she could glean the heads of grains to have something to eat. She wasn’t waiting for manna to fall from heaven. She worked with what she could handle around her for that moment and God blessed it.
When we follow His ways without questions, in trust and fearlessness, His strength becomes activated in our lives and we start to journey beyond what our human strength can carry us.
God in many cases, always seem to have a special way of compensating those that go the extra mile in trusting and displaying their complete loyalty in Him. Ruth entered this special list of God, as we saw that God orchestrated her steps to the field of Elimelech’s kinsman, Boaz who commended the good character of Ruth and eventually became the man that married her. The result of this special union between a descendant of Judah and a Moabite widow was the birth of the grandfather of the greatest King of Israel of all time, David. God ensured the name of Ruth was immortalized in Israel forever by allowing her to be part of the descendants of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ though being a foreigner. God is not a respecter of man! He does as He wills. When we follow His ways without questions, in trust and fearlessness, His strength becomes activated in our lives and we start to journey beyond what our human strength can carry us.
To round up this special series, one important lesson we must take home is that, God is ever willing to help us at our lowest points, in every circumstance. All we need to do is to call on Him and ask for strength for our feeble state. Men that overcame fear and truly feared no evil were men that learnt to wait on God and draw supernatural strength from His all-encompassing presence. He keeps calling on man to come to Him. I hope you will respond to Him today as we see this passage: “He energizes those who get tired, gives fresh strength to dropouts. For even young people tire and drop out, young folk in their prime stumble and fall. But those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, they run and don’t get tired, they walk and don’t lag behind” Isaiah 40:29-31 MSG. I believe this series has imparted you, and I can’t wait to hear your testimony. God bless you!
We’ll done sjr