MERRY MONDAY- Parris Bailey
RUTH 1:16 “And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.”
There is nothing worse than making a wrong decision and not being able to get back to the right one! Sin always keeps us longer than we ever wanted to stay! In the book of Ruth, Elimelech felt the need to sojourn in the land of the Moabites when Bethlehem had a famine. I can understand this but the verse continues saying “they continued there”. That’s one thing that we need to be careful of—–continuing in the land of compromise. Naomi paid a heavy price for it, not only did she lose her husband but her two sons as well. Jesus says, “those who seek to preserve their lives will lose it”. After ten years, Naomi arose because she heard “Bethlehem had bread”. I believe many of us stay too long in a situation that is bearing no fruit for us in the spiritual realm. I am glad she begin to bestir herself to hunger after God and left that environment of sorrow, carnality and hopelessness. “Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee.” SOS 6:13. I pray you too can leave the pleasures of Egypt and head on back to the Promised land! When I think of Orpah I realize that He will test the love I have for Him. Twenty years ago, The Lord told me my religion wouldn’t sustain me for the years to come and to turn off all the faucets of my life and let Him teach me His love. I have not ended that journey yet! Our decisions effect time and eternity! The Lord will shift out the Orpahs and they will eventually return back to their homeland of worshipping false gods! Yikes! Ruth chose the best part, as Mary did! She saw the emptiness of her wayfaring and hungered for something more. David yearned for the one thing and Paul exclaimed, “this one thing I do!” Such awakenings of the spirit are supernatural works of the Holy Spirit drawing and wooing us back to him. Unfortunately many times He will use the circumstances of life to get our attention. Whoever has tasted Him can never again live without him, there is no going back to the “beggerly elements of the world”.
“Those that go in religious ways without a steadfast mind stand like a door half open, which mocks a thief, but resolution shuts and bolts the door. Worldliness is pursuing the world which is, to the forgetfulness and exclusion of that which to come, it is a sacrificing of the future to the present, the enjoying of earth’s mess of pottage at the loss of the heavenly birthright.”
(Preacher’s Commentary) Just like the rich man we will walk away sorrowful if we choose the wrong path. I believe Ruth stands as a prophecy, our kinsman redeemer waits for us in the field of harvest.