The Steps
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. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” Ruth 1:16-17, NIV
Don’t try and change the way your path is moving. When you make plans keep them, it is so easy to put off our family. For example: you made plans weeks in advance to go with family to an event, but the same day of the event you get invited to a party to meet a person who might be very influential in advancing your career. It is a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity and you are tempted to change your plans. God said for me to tell you, “That moment is a test.” He is checking your character to see how committed you are to your word.
God knows everything that is happening in the world. He has ordained who you will meet and at what specific moment. When we are walking and obeying his word, he brings to us what we need. He gives us instructions on what we are to do because he has already made a way. I am reminded of Ruth the Moabite in the book of Ruth. When her mother-in-law Naomi told her to turn back and go home, Ruth refused. Even though Ruth had no idea where she was going, or what would come of her life, she had determined that she would not leave her mother-in-law Naomi.
I’m sure that it would have been better and felt safer for Ruth to stay in her own county with her family, but God had placed in Ruth’s spirit a love for Naomi that no matter what happened she would not leave her. Naomi was concerned for Ruth’s future and she did not believe that she had anything to offer Ruth, so she was encouraging her to leave. God had a plan for Ruth that no one could see. But he placed deep within her spirit the willingness to follow his steps. When Ruth and Naomi arrived in Bethlehem they had no money. Scripture says that Ruth went and gleaned behind the harvesters so that she could get food for her and Naomi. As God would have it and without Ruth knowing it, she picked grain in the field that would later become her husband’s. Because of Ruth’s obedience to the spirit that was leading her she became one of the wealthiest women in Bethlehem. She married Boaz and gave birth to a son who became the grandfather of King David.
The future looked bleak for Ruth, but she trusted the Spirit of God that lead her to the fulfillment of her heart’s desire. The way God leads us to our destination is never the way we expect. It will always come with challenges and shadows of death, but he leads us right through them. Amen!
Key Points:
Stay true to the vision God has given you.
Your character will always be tested.
The worst moments always brings victory when you stay the course.
Affirmations: Matthew 10:20; Luke 24:32; Ephesians 6:19, Isaiah 55:11
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