Is it Possible for us to have Sacrificial Love like Ruth?

Ruth’s husband was dead.

Not only that, but her brother-in-law had also recently died. Her father in law died before she could meet him, ten years prior to her husband’s death. Full of grief, her new family was now a heartbroken family. The three widows clung to each other, tears streaming down their faces.

When she had married her husband, Ruth had left her family. It would be easy for her to return to them now that he was dead, but then her mother in law would be all alone. No, she thought, returning is unthinkable. 

She thought back over the past few years. She had been married to her husband for ten years, ten wonderful years, before he died. Her heart hurt. Tears filled her eyes. She missed him terribly.

Ruth was concerned for her mother in law. After all, her husband and two sons were dead. Ruth knew the pain that dwelt within her own heart. She couldn’t stand to think of the pain her mother in law was facing.

So she watched her mother in law each day, carefully observing her, trying to help her in any way she could.

One day, her mother in law announced that her homeland wasn’t devastated by a famine any more, and she wished to return. Ruth and her sister in law helped her pack up the house, and then they began the journey from Moab to Bethlehem.

Ruth often glanced at her mother in law as they walked. Ruth could tell she felt burdened. She didn’t know what she could do to help.

When they reached the borders of Moab, her mother in law stopped walking and said, “Go, return each of you to your mother’s house. May the LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The LORD grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!”

Ruth was speechless.

She loved her mother in law so much; how could she leave her? Her mother in law kissed her, and she instantly began to weep. “No,” she whispered, her voice cracking. “NO! We will return with you to your people!” she emphasized.

Her sister in law echoed her plea. Ruth looked at her and saw tears streaming down her face as well.

Her mother in law protested. “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? Turn back, my daughters; go your way, for I am too old to have a husband.” She continued to tell the young women that even if she were to give birth to sons this year, she could not expect her daughters in law to wait until her sons were grown.

“No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the LORD has gone out against me.”

The three of them wept and wept. Ruth saw her sister in law kiss the elderly widow. Then she turned to leave.

Ruth, however, clung to her mother in law. She did not want to leave her.

“Look,” her mother in law said. “See, your sister in law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister in law.”

Ruth’s lower lip trembled. She shook her head fiercely. She drew a breath and replied, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay.”

Her mother in law’s eyes filled with tears and she began to protest.

Ruth silenced her, her voice gaining strength, “You people shall be my people, and your God 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 parts me from you.”

Ruth stood there. Determined. Her mother in law saw her determination, and said no more.

So the two of them continued on their journey until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived, everyone in the town heard about it and they came to meet them. The women of the town saw Ruth’s mother in law and they squinted their eyes at her. “Naomi? Is that you?”

Then her mother in law uttered the following words: “Do not call me Naomi (which means pleasant); call me Mara (which means bitter), for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the LORD has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?”

Ruth bit her lip. It broke her heart to hear her mother in law reject her name like this! She desperately hoped and prayed that God would bring joy back into her mother in law’s life.

So Ruth and Naomi returned to Bethlehem. Ruth never returned home to Moab; when she left with Naomi she completely turned from her heritage and adopted Naomi’s as her own.

~Based on Ruth 1

I grew up in the church, so to speak. I heard the story of Ruth more times than I can count.

Typically, the lessons were focused on Ruth and Boaz, how they meet and fall in love and marry. (It’s a great love story, see Ruth 2-4.)

But I’ve always found Ruth and Naomi’s relationship interesting. Especially the fact that Ruth loved Naomi so much that she was willing to leave everything she had ever known to go with her back to her homeland. She displayed an amazing, sacrificial love.

More importantly, by leaving Moab and returning with Naomi to Israel, Ruth confirmed Naomi’s God as her God. I think Ruth had seen her in laws’ faith and perhaps began to believe in God while in Moab.

Regardless of when she started to believe in Him, His love gave her the courage she needed to love her mother in law unconditionally, the strength she needed to leave her homeland, and the stamina to provide for Naomi in a new land.

And so the question is raised:

Is it possible for us to have sacrificial love like Ruth?

And I think the answer is a resounding: Yes, it is possible.

God’s sacrificial love empowered Ruth to sacrificially love others.

And His love can enable us to love others as well.

God’s sacrificial love empowered Ruth to sacrificially love others.

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Think of it this way: God loved us when we were unlovable. He sacrificed EVERYTHING for us. And now His Spirit lives with in us. So we can rely on His strength to love the unlovable. To love when we feel tired. To love when we think we can’t.

Ruth demonstrated a sacrificial love towards Naomi, and because of this her life was forever changed! She met her husband. She had a son. She eventually became the great-grandmother of King David and an ancestor of Jesus Himself.

God included Ruth in the lineage of Jesus. She gets to be a part of the greatest love story ever told- Jesus’ death on the cross for imperfect people.

God can use our love to make a difference in His kingdom as well. We just have to be willing to follow His lead.

Because here’s the thing: Ruth could have stayed in Moab like her sister in law. She didn’t have to display sacrificial love towards Naomi. If she had stayed, God would have used someone else to bring about the lineage of Jesus.

God’s plans cannot be thwarted. But because she obeyed His call to love, she was a part of His master plan.

I don’t know about you, but I sure want to included in God’s master plan. I want to obey His call to love…. even if it’s super hard and means giving up everything.

What about you?

Posted by Kara Beth & filed under Devotionals. This post has 5 comments.