Read Ruth 1:1 through 4:22
“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” (Ruth 1:16).
After Naomi’s husband and sons all died in the land of Moab, she needed to return to her hometown of Bethlehem in search of a kinsman to provide for her. Since women in biblical times were unable to earn a living, she’d be destitute without such a provider.
As Naomi departed, her two daughters-in-law clung to her, and begged to go along. She was able to discourage one of them, and the young woman decided to return to her Moabite family. The other, named Ruth, pledged to stay with Naomi forever and to worship Naomi’s God, rather than return to the idolatrous gods of her people.
God greatly honored the faith and dedication of Ruth. The young Moabite woman became the great-grandmother of King David—a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22).
PRAYER SUGGESTION: Lord, please grant me strength like Ruth’s to rise above difficult circumstances and stand firmly in faith, resisting all idols.
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