A decision that moved the heart of God

"At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.” 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.” When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her." 
Ruth 1:14-18

The book of Ruth is a reminder that God's will always overrides the will of man, no matter how far a society may fall from God. When the famine ended and the time came for them to return to Bethlehem, Ruth's sister-in-law returned to Moah, the house of her father. But Ruth chose to stay with Naomi. Perhaps she found a sense of belonging among the people of God, but no matter her reason, the decision to remain loyal to Naomi moved the heart of God.


Naomi had become bitter because she lost her husband and both sons. She returned to Bethlehem empty handed and filled with sorrow, thinking God had dealt harshly with her. Through her pain she did not see that God was in the midst of the tragedy, placing another foundational stone in His plan of redemption. Nor did she know that Ruth would be the key to making it all happen.