The Story of Ruth

God doesn't consult your past to determine your future!!!

Moab was considered a "cursed" of Lot, and his two daughters They hid out in the mountains after Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed they were the only people left alive; the daughters got their father drunk on two successive nights and each had sex with him, they became pregnant by him. One of the children born out of this incest was named Moab. His descendants were the Moabites.

Ruth,was a Moabite. Moabites worshipped a god named Chemosh. Part of this very lewd form of worship involved the sacrifice of young children. The mentality of all the Moabite people was distorted by idolatry. A society that sacrifices young children is a society that had very little value for life and family. The atmosphere of her childhood and teenage years that Ruth was exposed to was highly perverse culture and the worst forms of human behaviour.

Ruth, who had lived under the shadow of death all her life, had encountered even more death. She who has known bitterness and dissappointment now found herself living with her Mother In Law who was bitter and dissappointed.

All of these things (idol worship, child sacrifices, death of her family, her husband, her father in law). Experiences such as the ones she had, and the atmosphere of the environment in which she lived, must have had an impact on her psyche. Although, in light of her past and the events of her present, there was something great about Ruth - she rose above her past. She had an ability* to look at her past and present and say "I want no more of this. I want something better. I want something more."

*And you do too! Greater is He who is in You than he that is in the world!!

After the death of the men in this family, Naomi (her mother in law) heard that the famine was over (was no more) in Bethlehem, and she decided to return home. She began her journey with both her Daughters in law by her side, but along the way, she stopped and told them to turn around and go back to Moab - to return to their people and their gods. One daughter in law agreed. But Ruth loved Naomi and "clung to her" (Ruth 1:14) Naomi told them "I am going to a place that is unfamiliar to you, go back to your traditions and customs."

Here is the good part!! Here is where you are in your life. 1) Go back to how you always do things. Go back to your customs and traditions and past. OR.... 2) Go to a place you have never been to create something you've never had....

Ruth said "INTREAT ME not to leave you...." Ruth recognized that she had already experienced her past, and she didn't like it. There was nothing left that had any value to her. She made a choice. Her tomorrow didn't have to look like her yesterday. Too many people today are predicting their endings based on their beginnings. In life the MOST important thing is not where you start, but where you finish! God can interrupt your life and change your life.

God does not use your past to determine your future....SO WHY SHOULD YOU?? It is a tragedy to plan your future by comparing it to your past! Ruth made a decision to leave her past, and it was the most important decision of her life. It's one of the most important decision you can make too.

Leave and Cleave**. Its a biblical principle that applies to every part of your life. You must leave your past and cleave to what God has for you today.

Leave your yesterday and cleave to today.
Leave your failures and cleave to Gods Promises.
Leave your old sin and cleave to the forgiveness God gives you.

You can't look backwards and forwards at the same time. God had a plan and a purpose for Ruth....Ruth married Boaz and Ruth gave birth to Obed, Obed was the father of Jesse, Jesse is the father of David, David is the direct bloodline of Jesus! Which means Ruth is the direct bloodline of Jesus. Ruth - the heathen born woman from a place that murdered babies - became the ancestor of Jesus, who died to give "born again" life to the heathen! Ruth - who was marred, scarred, stained, tainted, distorted and warped by her environment - lived out her life in greatness!!

God will do in your life too what he did with Ruth! You must allow God to do His work, His changing in you. You must be willing to disconnect from your past adn move toward the presence of greatness in your future.

You are not a product of your past.
You are not a product of your environment.
You are not who other people say that you are.
You are NOT what people says about you.
You ARE who God says YOU ARE!
You ARE who God is calling you to be!!

God says you can succeed. God says you have a future that is a blessing and fulfilling and eternally rewarding. God loves you completely. God knows you completely, everything you have done, haven't done, will do, will say, think....and he loves you completely, wholey, created you and chooses to be in relationship with you anyway.

** CLEAVE: to cling, stick, stay close, cleave, keep close, stick to, stick with, follow closely, join to, overtake, catch
(Qal)
to cling, cleave to
to stay with
(Pual) to be joined together
(Hiphil)
to cause to cleave to
to pursue closely
to overtake
(Hophal) to be made to cleave