"Taking Chances"
November 11, 2008
After a short while on the road, Naomi told her two daughters-in-law, "Go back. Go home and live with your mothers. And may God treat you as graciously as you treated your deceased husbands and me. May God give each of you a new home and a new husband!" She kissed them and they cried openly. They said, "No, we're going on with you to your people." But Naomi was firm: "Go back, my dear daughters. Why would you come with me? Do you suppose I still have sons in my womb who can become your future husbands? Go back, dear daughters—on your way, please! I'm too old to get a husband. Why, even if I said, 'There's still hope!' and this very night got a man and had sons, can you imagine being satisfied to wait until they were grown? Would you wait that long to get married again? No, dear daughters; this is a bitter pill for me to swallow—more bitter for me than for you. God has dealt me a hard blow."….Naomi said, "Look, your sister-in-law is going back home to live with her own people and gods; go with her." But Ruth said, "Don't force me to leave you; don't make me go home. Where you go, I go; and where you live, I'll live. Your people are my people, your God is my god; where you die, I'll die, and that's where I'll be buried, so help me God—not even death itself is going to come between us!" When Naomi saw that Ruth had her heart set on going with her, she gave in. And so the two of them traveled on together to Bethlehem.
And Boaz married Ruth. She became his wife. -Ruth 1: 8-19, 4:13
"What do you say to taking chances? What do you say to jumping off the edge? Never knowing if there's solid ground below, a hand to hold or a price to pay? What do you say? What do you say?"- Celine Dion (Taking Chances)
For a time, I didn't like this biblical book. It seemed that every single's service, conference or retreat pushed the story of Boaz and Ruth down your throats. It was supposed to be a symbol of waiting (being in the right place at the right time) for God to send your matrimonial blessing. At one time, it became almost comedic. I couldn't get away from this text. I would sit in a service, hear where the message was coming from, lift my head towards Heaven and say "you're kidding me, right? You can not be serious." Oh, but He was. And to come to this point of and to be in the Book of Ruth, I lift my head towards Heaven and say "you're kidding, right? You can not be serious." Oh, but He is.
A little disappointed because I assume this devotional would take the form of the many "Wait on God" sermons and sermonettes I've heard down through the years, I reluctantly pull out my Bible and "handy dandy notebook (this is what happens when you watch Blue's Clues with kids)" and prepare myself for the message. But it doesn't take the shape I thought it would.
Just as sure as I'm sitting here, I heard these words: "Candice, it's not that you don't like Ruth. It's that you're so much like her." Am I? As I begin to look at her, we do have distinct similarities. In deciding to go with Naomi, Ruth followed her heart. It would have made sense to go back home and regroup. She may have even remarried, but would she have been truly happy? Throughout the entire book, you never hear Ruth question her decision to stay with Naomi; she knew she made the right one. And then came Boaz- the man who helped fulfill the purpose of God in her life. I'm realizing more and more that it's not so much that Ruth followed her heart that bothers me, it's that she trusted where it would take her that always keeps me thrown.
Ruth lost her husband, was separated from her family and lived in a foreign land but somehow believed that, despite those circumstances, making a heart-led decision was in her best interest. How is it possible to experience such loss and believe that you can still gain? How do you convince yourself that going out on a limb is safer than standing firm on the ground? If we genuinely believe Romans 8:28 when it says that all things work together for our good, we can appreciate a Ruth-like mindset. It's not just the happy times that lead to happiness. The sad ones inspire you to realize that it won't be like this always.
This devotional goes around the world- it reaches Spain, South Africa, Italy and of course the US. The readers are married, single, widowed and divorced. They're young, old, and somewhere in between. Some go to church every Sunday and some see a pew only during major holidays and events. But deep down inside, we're all longing for better days. We want our great moments to be eclipsed by even greater ones. And so we take a chance- like Ruth did. We take a chance at living, knowing that is the only way to experience true happiness.
We take a chance and go back to school.
We take a chance and switch careers.
We take a chance and open a business.
We take a chance and treat ourselves better.
We take a chance and open ourselves to possibilities.
Chances do not matter if you don't take them. Thank you Ruth.
©BirthRight, 2008
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