when the night has come and the land is dark

     Where you go, I’ll go and where you stay, I’ll stay comes from one of my favorite stories in the Bible.  If you don’t know the story behind it, let me tell you…

     A long time ago there was a woman named Naomi.  She was married to Elimelek and they had two sons named Mahlon and Kilion.  The lived in Bethlehem, Judah but went to live in the country of Moab after a famine struck the land.  Unfortunately, Elimelek died, so Naomi was left alone with her sons.  They each married Moabite women.  These ladies were named Orpah (not Oprah) and Ruth.

     After ten..ish years, Naomi’s sons Mahlon and Kilion also died.  At this point she was left with only her daughters-in-law.  Around this time, Naomi heard that God had aided the people of Judah by giving them food.  She planned to return to Judah with her daughters-in-law.

     As they set off to go, Naomi said to her daughters-in-law 

“Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home.  May the LORD show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me.  May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.”

     Hearing this, they cried and reassured Naomi that they would go with her.  But, Naomi said “Return home, my daughters.  Why would you come with me?  Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands?”

 

     The girls cried again.  Orpah kissed Naomi and said goodbye.  But Ruth didn’t.  Naomi urged Ruth again to go.  Ruth turned to Naomi and said...

“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.”

At that Ruth and Naomi walked on to Bethlehem.

As the story continues, Ruth goes on to marry again.  She marries a man named Boaz and has a son.  Her son is Obed.  Obed becomes the father of Jesse and Jesse becomes the father of David.

This leads me to the About Me section of my blog.  As I said, I want the kind of faith and loyalty that Ruth had.  She refused to turn her back on Naomi, which ultimately lead to her becoming the great-grandmother of King David.

She didn't do what was easy.

She wasn’t afraid to do what she felt in her heart was right. 

 

She didn’t allow the pursuit of her own happiness to get in the way of what God called on her for.

   

She put someone else before herself.  

I hope to be that strong.