"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 1:15-18

I'M GOING WITH YOU

This "Song of Ruth" is a beautiful example of the kind of relationship we normally think of when a man and woman become husband and wife. This passage is often used as a wedding text. Ruth’s pledge to Naomi reminds us of the commitment and faithfulness that a man and woman pledge to each other in their marriage promise.

Ruth commits herself to stay with Naomi and also to faith in God. Even though her sister-in-law, Orpah, had decided to take Naomi’s advice and return to her family, Ruth continued to insist on returning with Naomi to the Land of Judah. Why? Perhaps it was what Naomi had said about returning to her people and to her gods. Naomi had given Ruth something far greater than a son to marry; she had told her about the true and living God. Through the witness of Naomi, God had brought Ruth to faith in her Savior. Her relationship with God meant everything to her. She was determined to go with the one who had first shared her faith with her so that the two of them could continue to be mutually encouraged in the Word. National ties and family ties meant nothing if they came at the expense of her tie to God. Her confession of faith to Naomi said as much.
 
So many things in life demand our attention. So many things demand our time. We have obligations and commitments and responsibilities that we must honor and keep, but may we not do so at the expense of honoring God’s Word, reading it daily, studying it regularly and gathering around it weekly. In the end, the only thing that matters in life is having a right relationship with God.  Through Jesus’ blood, we have been purchased to be God’s very own so that we might live him forever.