Ruth 1:16
And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: 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:
I know often the dogs are used as subjects for these devotionals but often times I have to seek out some value for these furry beings and right now is one of those moments.
About 2 months ago, I had the brilliant idea to look for another dog (because I really NEEDED one. Yeah! ) Note to self, if I don’t want another pet, stay off Craigslist or other adoption sites to avoid temptation of little fuzzy faces.
While the new dog has shown great potential in doing several tricks, her discipline when it comes to staying in her place when bring her up into the den to let her hang out while I watch television is highly frustrating. Every time anyone gets up, she wants to tag along or see where they are going. It gets to be such a nuisance I have latched her leash to a chair to keep her in place. Cleaver, I thought, until she stated moving the chair with her! “Bark” is determined to go wherever we go. She is very loyal.
We see this in Ruth. She has committed herself entirely to Naomi. . Because of her predicament, she was free to go her own way, but she accepted her position and honored her husband through dedication to his family, even after his death.
Can you imagine this young lady, exposed to strange places and faces, just trying to adjust the best she could; then her husband, the only one who somewhat knew her, the SOLE connection to this environment, died!
I tell you, I’m pretty sure my first instinct would be “Just send me back home”. I believe my comfort zone would have been returning to my own people and land! Not Ruth! With bold acceptance, she adapted to where the Lord placed her and accepted His calling for her life.
My husband’s sister-in- law reminds me of Ruth. Five years ago, My brother in law passed away, yet his wife still takes wonderful care of Mrs. C by devoting with exceptional patience, time and effort to take her to appointments, the grocery store and help her in whatever way she can; meanwhile caring for her own aging mother.
Mrs. C does not get substandard treatment because Jenny is busy with her own mom, Jen just finds creative ways to manage caring for both AND her grandchild as well!
There are few people in this world I have found that are so willing to surrender themselves to serving others in this way. What a tremendous testimony these few, special people are to those they minister to and others who witness their sincere generosity and compassion.
Ruth 2:12 The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.
Prayer
O Lord Our God
When we took, or are considering taking the vows of marriage
Please give us a genuine concern and love for our in-laws
We ask that the covenant we make concerning our spouse or future partner, regarding compassion and giving of ourselves
Extends to parents, siblings and those our sweetheart loves
May we show them the respect we desire to be shown toward our own family.
Marriage is such a tremendous step and it can be a long journey
There are so many people who move in and out of our lives throughout the years.
Ruth took her commitment very seriously, even to the point of adopting God who was foreign to her own land and relatives at the risk of alienating herself from them. You rescued her, Almighty God, and set her feet on solid ground.
She was ready and willing to go, do and be what You wanted. Her desire truly conformed to Your will, O Lord, and what a fantastic testimony this has been to women, to wives, throughout time.
As Sarah called her husband ‘lord”, You provided such lovely testimonies throughout Scripture of how we are to conduct ourselves within the institution of matrimony.
Lord, You are our God and We, Praise Jesus, are Your People
Let All God’s children say
AMEN
Songs:
“I WILL FOLLOW”
“ON EAGLE’S WINGS”
