Where You Go I Will Go

“But Ruth replied, ‘Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried.’” Ruth 1:16-17.

This is one of the most beautiful passages in the Bible. Two things struck me in reading this passage, the first being Ruth’s pursuit of something better. As we remember, Ruth came from a land full of false gods that beckoned the worship of anything and everything. This pursuit of many gods was her normal in a land that dictated numerous offerings to many gods. It wasn’t until she was introduced to Naomi and joined their family that she experienced the one true God. Finding intimacy with God is like opening the blinds – you cannot ‘un-see’ Him once His splendor has been shown. You know the beauty of the 'Son-rise' once you have witnessed it. Ruth had seen faith in action, and measured against her old life, wanted to move ahead in her faith in God instead of turning back. Once someone has intimately found God they will be committed and resolved to follow their faith in Him into unchartered lands.

The second revelation is that Ruth’s statement to Naomi should be our passionate declaration to Christ. He will lead us into foreign lands creating circumstances that are beyond our earthly vision. We will travel the path with Him believing that where He goes we desire to go with Him. When He stays silent or keeps us in a waiting season, we will stay with Him. We will surround ourselves with His family and His Father becomes our Father. When we have died to self we join Him in life, and when we bury our will we resurrect into His purpose.

Many times, the pain for which we experience creates a temptation to leave our faith and turn back from our trust in God. It beckons us to return to the false gods in our lives in search of the old, the familiar and the ‘devil(s) we know.’

We must commit ourselves to God that no matter where He takes us and what our future holds, we will hold onto Him.