Life Choice | Ruth the asylum seeker

Bible: Ruth 1 to 4 

We all have to make choices. Life constantly requires us to make decisions. What are we going to do today? What will we eat tonight? Which course of study will I choose? What kind of work do I want to do and where? Which school will I send my children to? Is this the man or woman of my life? Not every choice is equally important, but there are choices in life that are a matter of life and death. In the Bible, we read about two women who also had to choose. Their names are Orpah and Ruth, and they live in Moab. 

One day, refugees from the land of Israel arrive in Moab. They are Elimelech and Naomi, with their sons Mahlon and Chilion. They have left the land of Israel because of war and famine. As strangers, they try to build a new life in Moab. Soon, great sorrow comes. Elimelech dies. Naomi is left as a widow with her two sons. They meet women from Moab, and before long, both sons marry. One marries Orpah and the other marries Ruth.

Ten years pass, until sorrow strikes again. After Elimelech, Mahlon and Chilion also die. Naomi is left alone with her two daughters-in-law. These are profound events in her life. Then news comes from Israel, her homeland. Naomi hears that the LORD God has once again provided food. Naomi can no longer stay in Moab. She wants to return to her own land, the land the LORD has given them and where she can serve Him.

The Bible is the Book of God. In the Bible, God uses different names for Himself. That depends on the attribute of God that is emphasized in that passage. When the name Jehovah or Yahweh is used, it indicates that God is the unchanging God. In Dutch, this name is translated as LORD.

There she goes. Back toward the border, together with Orpah and Ruth. She leaves three graves behind, with a heart full of sorrow and thoughts full of bitter grief. Orpah and Ruth walk with her; they love Naomi and want to go with her. The border comes closer. Then Naomi stops. She looks at her two daughters-in-law and says, “Return now to your mother’s house. I wish that the LORD will care for you, just as you have cared for me and my sons. May the LORD give you rest with a new husband.” Then Naomi kisses them both as a sign of farewell. Orpah and Ruth begin to weep and say to Naomi, “We will certainly go with you as you return to your people.” But Naomi shakes her head and again says, “Return, my daughters. Go, for I am too old to have a husband and to give you sons.” Again, Orpah and Ruth burst into tears.

Naomi does this to test her daughters-in-law. Orpah and Ruth must make a choice. Go with Naomi to a new life in an unknown land, or return to their old life. Orpah looks at her mother-in-law and kisses her. Then she turns around and goes back, as her mother-in-law has said. Ruth remains standing and clings to Naomi.

Naomi notices and says to her, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her own gods. Return as well, go after her.”

But then Ruth says very firmly, “Do not urge me to leave you or to turn back from following you… for where you go, I will go, and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD do so to me, and more also, if anything but death separates you and me.”

Naomi falls silent. She realizes that Ruth is determined to go with her and that Ruth’s choice is not just a superficial one. No, Naomi hears that Ruth has made a well-considered, good choice. A life choice. Ruth has chosen for another, for a new life. A life with Naomi’s God, a life with the people of God. She no longer wants to live without God; she has seen and heard in Naomi’s life that the God of the Bible is the only true God. Her choice is a choice of faith.

What a difference between Orpah’s choice and Ruth’s choice. Orpah had come to love Naomi, but in the end, she did not love Naomi’s God. She returns to Moab to pick up her old life again, a life in which the LORD has no value for her. Ruth goes with Naomi. Like an asylum seeker to an unknown land, to an unknown people.

How did the lives of these two women continue? We read nothing more about Orpah. The path of her life ends. That is still the case for lives in which there is no place for the LORD. Life without God ends in death. But we do read how Ruth’s life continues. The path of her life takes a wonderful turn and ends in eternal life. Which of them truly has a future?

Listen to the life of Ruth. Together they arrive in Israel: Naomi and Ruth. They have nothing to live on. But the LORD provides for them. Every day, Ruth goes to the field, the food bank of that time. There she is allowed to glean grain, as was prescribed in the Bible. The owner of the land, Boaz, notices this foreign woman. He hears that Ruth has left her country to live in a land that is strange to her. He hears of her love for Naomi and Naomi’s God. Boaz makes sure that Ruth receives extra food. It does not take long before Ruth even marries Boaz. Together they have a child, his name is Obed. Years later, from the family of Boaz and Ruth, the Lord Jesus is born.

Jesus is the Son of God. Mary was His mother; through her, He also became human. He is the Savior, the One who redeems this world from sin and evil. He also redeemed Ruth and made her blessed, which means completely happy. He is the one who gave her a new life. The Spirit of God convinced Ruth that she had to make that rich and good choice. That is why she could do it. It is the Holy Spirit who changes lives. He did it then, and He still does it today. For that, He uses the Bible, His Word. In the Bible, we read about the God of Naomi and Ruth. There we read what eternal life is! New life, which He also wants to give you, so that you may make the same choice as Ruth. A choice you will never regret, but will be eternally happy with.

John 17:3
And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.