Part 15

---The series on Ruth began in Part 10---
“I will give you treasures of darkness and hidden riches of the Secret Place, that you may know that I, the Lord, Who calls you by your name, am the God of Israel.”  Isaiah 45:3

Ruth 1:16-18 is one of the most well-known Scriptures of all in the Word of God, and we are going to explore it for the next couple of teachings.

Orpah has made her exit from our story.  She chose to stay in familiar territory, in her comfort zone, and we never hear from her again.  And one more time, Naomi urges Ruth to stay back with her people and her gods. “’Look,’ said Naomi, ‘your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods.  Go back with her.’”  Ruth 1:15

“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 anything but death separates you and me.’  When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.”  Ruth 1:16-18

“…fear God and shun evil.”  Job 1:1

 “Submit yourselves, then, to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Come near to God and He will come near to you.  Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”  James 4:7-8

“Be self-controlled and alert.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  Resist him, standing firm in the faith…”  I Peter 5:8-9a

I am not, by any means, going to suggest that Naomi was the devil or evil in any way.  On the contrary, Naomi was a Godly woman, a woman who had so much Godly influence in her home that her two daughters-in-law were drawn to her, never wanting to leave her.  “It should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.  For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful.”  I Peter 3:4-5   As I stated in Part 14, Naomi meant well.  She thought she was doing the right thing by encouraging her daughters-in-law to go back to their mothers’ homes. 

But the enemy will stop at nothing short of the Blood of Jesus to devour us and keep us from coming into the Kingdom of God and into fullness of relationship and intimacy with God Almighty. 

“Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?  But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.  You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.”  Romans 6:16-18

At ALL times, we are following one of two voices:  the Voice of Truth and Life or the voice of death.  At ALL times, we are speaking from our mouths:  Truth and Life or death.  At ALL times, we are traveling down one of two roads:  The Road to Truth and Life or the road to death.  At ALL times, we are either slaves to sin, which leads to death, or slaves to obedience, which leads to righteousness.

 At ALL times, because our God is such a Gentleman, He lets us make the choice.  He sends His Holy Spirit to blow through us and around us.  He sends His messengers, His angels, to minister, to encourage and to protect.  He never stops “wooing” us into His presence, but He will not barge in uninvited.  Our God does not expect, nor demand, that we “have our act together” before we surrender to Him.   He has an open invitation to come to Him.

And at ALL times, when we submit ourselves to God and when we stand firm in the faith, the devil, the enemy of our souls who hates us with a passion, WILL flee.

Oh beloved child of the Most High God, choose to follow the Voice of Truth and Life, not death; choose to speak Truth and Life, not death; choose to travel the Road to Truth and Life, not death; choose to submit to God, choose to stand firm, and above all, choose Jesus Christ as your Lord and as your Savior, the Gate to Truth and Life. 

“Most blessed…(know you are) favored…and let Him bathe (your) feet in oil.  The bolts of your gates will be iron and bronze, and your strength will equal your days.  There is no one like God, who rides on the heavens to help you and on the clouds in His majesty.  The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.  He will drive out your enemy before you, saying, ‘Destroy him!’ So (you) will live in safety alone; (your) spring is secure in a land of grain and new wine, where the heavens drop dew.  Blessed are you…who is like you, a people saved by the Lord?  He is your Shield and Help and your Glorious Sword.  Your enemies will cower before you, and you will trample down their high places.”  Deuteronomy 33:24-29

Glory!  Hallelujah!  Amen!