This is a picture I took from the top of an ancient stone fortress, standing tall on a rocky mesa called Masada in the southern Judean Desert. It’s an impressive sight carved out and built upon cliffs made up of chalk, dolomite and marl strata about 1,300 feet (400 meters) above the Dead Sea. With the mountains of Moab in the background, this desert climate and the surrounding area is virtually uninhabited and undeveloped.
It’s highly likely this is the region Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth would have traveled through as they made their way back from Moab to Bethlehem, in the Promised Land of Israel, Naomi’s people.
Naomi first arrived in Moab with her husband Elimelech, and their two sons, Mahlon and Kilion. It was in the days when there was a severe famine in the land of Israel in which they decided to relocate to Moab.
However, after they arrived, the Bible tells us that…
† Then Elimelech died, and Naomi was left with her two sons. The two sons married Moabite women. One married a woman named Orpah, and the other a woman named Ruth. But about ten years later, both Mahlon and Kilion died. This left Naomi alone, without her two sons or her husband.
Ruth 1:3-5 NLT
But then Naomi heard that the LORD had started blessing His people again with good crops, so she got ready to leave Moab and head back to Bethlehem with her two daughters-in-law, most likely through this desert region pictured above.
However on the way, Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law to go back to their own mothers’ home. Orpah and Ruth didn’t want to. They cried and wept together. Naomi kissed them good-bye and Orpah left, but Ruth refused to leave Naomi’s side.
† But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!” When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more.
Ruth 1:16-18 NLT
The situation was horrible for this family. All three of these women lost their husbands. Naomi lost not only her husband, but her two sons as well, and she was very bitter about that.
While Orpah decided to return to her family in Moab,…
Ruth refused to let her circumstances define her future and the kind of person she wanted to be in life.
Ruth didn’t want a future in Moab, but in a land filled with promise! She didn’t want to leave her mother-in-law to become a person connected with the false gods of her ancestors. She wanted to live the rest of her life with the mother-in-law she loved dearly and become the kind of person in whom she could have a relationship with the One true God, the God of Israel.
Ruth more than trusted God for the outcomes of her circumstances, she devoted her life to Him.
What’s the difference between trusting God and devoting yourself to Him and His leading for your life?
We tend to trust God for outcomes, but devotion changes us and leads us to becoming the kind of person God calls us to be regardless of the circumstances.
Ruth entrusted her future to the God whom Naomi’s people served. As she committed herself to becoming a humble servant of the LORD, by devoting herself to staying with Naomi instead of abandoning her, Ruth took steps to follow His leading for her life as He was leading Naomi back to her Promised Land.
And not only that. As Ruth took steps to follow His leading for her life, she would also learn to take delight in it.
When God is leading your life, your problems are His problems; your challenges are His challenges. When you feel weak and overburdened, He is your strength and burden-lifter. When you are battling fear, worry and self-doubt, He is your courage and your peace; the One who lifts your soul to remind you that you belong to Him and that He is sovereign over all things and over any threat that would ever come your way!
It’s worth repeating and expanding upon.
Ruth not only trusted God to lead her life, she would also learn to take great delight in it and devote herself to Him!
When you are devoted to God and His leading for your life, it changes you. God changes you! In the process, God fills you with new dreams and vision for your life; shaping you and preparing you for a future you could have never thought possible or imagined. Along the way, He further provides opportunity to become the kind person He is calling you to become in order see those glorious dreams He has birthed in your heart come to pass.
Let me encourage you today with Psalm 37:5-7:
† Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.
Psalms 37:3-5 NKJV
You can trust God for what you’re facing today. But your devotion to Him will change you and make you better, regardless of your circumstances.
Learn to not only trust in His leading, but to take delight in it! Let Him truly take the place of honor in your heart above all things in heaven and on earth; over all your fears and concerns, your pain and losses, and also your hopes and dreams.
When you devote yourself to God and His leading for your life, you can trust Him to shape you, prepare you and provide you with multiple opportunities to become the kind of person He is calling you to become in order see those glorious dreams He has birthed in your heart come to pass!
Let me PRAY for you!
Almighty God, Abba Father, I am blown away at the kind of God you have revealed yourself to be. You are a gracious God, loving and merciful in all Your ways. I know there are people listening in today with circumstances they are trusting You to deal with and take care of. And that they don’t want their adverse circumstances to negatively shape them into the kind of person they don’t want to become.
So I ask today, by the power of your Holy Spirit, grant unto us the grace and strength to fully devote ourselves to You and to following your leading for our lives. Teach us to not only trust in Your leading, but to also take delight in it. Even right now, help us to not leave this time of prayer the same way we began it. But change us, transform us and help us to become more and more each day who You are calling us to be. Help us to live like Jesus! In your mighty name, we pray. Amen!