SCRIPTURE:

Proverbs 27:17 (ESV)
17 Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

Proverbs 13:20 (ESV)
20 Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.

DEVO:

We’re three days into studying Ruth’s story and we’ve yet to really discuss Ruth herself. I’ve done this on purpose. I want you to understand that layered within the first five verses of Ruth, there is immense tragedy. I don’t want us to gloss over the situation at hand when we are finally introduced to the main character. I’m doing this in hopes that it will encourage you, because we still have three and a half more chapters of this story to read. There are 80 more verses that distill to us the redemptive story God begins to write in Ruth’s life. When I was walking through the darkest season of my life, I needed to be reminded of this, that as dark and all-consuming as my situation seemed to me at the time, it only represented a few verses. There was (and still is) so much more of the story to be written. There are “80 more verses'' in your story that God wants to pen, documenting His faithfulness. He is preparing a manuscript with a gripping plot line to pull you up out of the miry clay. But again, the decision to align yourself with His narrative is within your power. The ball is in your court.

The way in which we are introduced to Ruth is profound. Scripture tells us that Naomi (Elimelek’s wife), having faced the devastating loss of her husband and her two sons thus having now found herself both widowed and childless, receives word that God indeed came through and provided for His people back in Judah. So she sets out to return to Betheleham, no doubt full of shame and guilt for their cowardly decision to abandon their community and align with the King of Moab. Intending on not dragging her daughter-in-laws into what could prove to be a paltry existence of being shoved to the margins and ostracized for the remainder of their days, she implores them to stay in Moab.

Her first daughter-in-law, Orpah, immediately takes Naomi up on this offer. She seems to wittingly and without a qualm turn back to plant herself permanently in Moab. Remember at the beginning of this week we talked about the significance of Biblical names and their meanings? Orpah’s name means, “the back of the neck.” In this moment, she literally turns her back on God, His direction, and His promises in order to head back to Moab. The last Ruth and Naomi see of Orpah is the back of her neck as she disappears into the desert haze. Something to note is this: there is no book of the Bible called Orpah. You’ve never heard a preacher say, “Today we’ll be studying Orpah Chapter 3. If you’ll turn in your Bibles, we’ll begin in verse 6.” Orpah seems to slip into anonymity just as quickly as she turned her back on God’s redemptive narrative. There is some conjecture and even ancient rabbinical teaching of what eventually became of Orpah, but we’ll get to that in a couple of days.

For now, let’s zero in on Ruth’s response, because it’s what makes all the difference . . . and afterall, this book of the Bible is called Ruth. Scripture tells us that as Orpah was leaving, Ruth clung to Naomi. I think this is a powerful expression of a determination in Ruth’s heart. She was not going to let go until she saw a reversal of this plotline. Though, at this point she wasn’t quite sure whether it was God, Naomi, or the cosmic-forces-that-be who could satisfy this request. She did know, however, that if Naomi was still standing after all she had lost, there must be something to this God she kept touting. Naomi turns to Ruth and tells her to go the same way as her sister-in-law and again, Ruth refuses, this time saying, “Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God (Ruth 1:16-17).”

I think what’s so profound in this statement is that Ruth didn’t know anything about the living God other than what Naomi may have told her here and there. She had never experienced firsthand God’s love and grace, yet somehow she sensed that the first step to finding this God that Naomi made so irresistible was to align herself with the people of God at the places of God. I’ve heard it said before that the first step away from God is the step away from the people of God. And this is so true. Often when something bad happens in someone’s life, before you see them completely abandon their faith in God, you’ll see them make slight compromises and subtle steps, slowly slinking away from the very Christ-centered environments and relationships that could bring about true healing in their life. I certainly wouldn’t blame Ruth if she had done this. After all, for all she could surmise, God had caused this tragedy in their life. Why would she want to align herself to His purposes? They seem cruel and inhumane -- so her experience told her. Not only that, people turn on you. They hurt you. They leave you. They betray you. They abandon you. Didn’t her sister-in-law just prove that? 

Yet with all this internal discourse ping-ponging in her thoughts, there must have been something about the countenance, humility, and resolve of her mother-in-law that drew Ruth in. So if the first step away from God is the step away from the people of God, couldn’t the opposite be true? Couldn’t the first step toward God -- and subsequently toward His redemptive purposes -- be the step toward the people of God? Couldn’t this be perhaps the most catalyzing decision one could make in the aftermath of their personal tragedy -- to cling to the people of God and not let go?

There is something powerful about surrounding ourselves with the right people who are going to speak the right things into our lives that begins to galvanize our redemptive pathway. All too often I see people, for whatever reason, begin to align themselves with people who are not speaking life and hope and purpose into them. Whether it’s because “misery loves company”, shame has caused them to shove away, or callousness has clouded their perspective, pain has a tendency to provoke us to imbue ourselves with the wrong people. Make no mistake about it, those who are snarky, cynical, negative, and gossipy will always drag you into their toxicity. Those who feed you victim language have adopted a victim mentality themselves and will never rise above their situation. Those who slander and spew hatred will effectively deconstruct what God is trying to build in you.

The key to walking into the redemptive story God desires to write in your life is to surround yourself with Spirit-filled people who can speak words of life to you -- God’s Word. Saturate yourself in the company of those who speak potential and hope to you. Walk with people who will celebrate when you’ve reached another milestone on your healing journey, not those who envy or resent the work God is doing in you. Steep yourself in a life-giving, purpose-charged, and soul-edifying community. Gathering around you people who love you, not what you can or can’t do for them. People who will tell you what you need to hear, not just what you want to hear. If you don’t feel refreshed when you leave your time with the community you’ve chosen, find another community. This is imperative to your healing. You’re at a critical juncture and the people you surround yourself with make all the difference.

Whether she realized the fullness of it in that moment or not, this is exactly what Ruth decided to do when she clung to Naomi. And by doing so a door is opened to her to not only surround herself with other edifying people, but she is eventually introduced to the man who would become the hero of her redemption narrative -- Boaz. 

Boaz’s name means “strength.” He was a wealthy landowner in Bethlehem and one day Naomi suggests that Ruth go out and work in his field. This was a common way among God’s people that widows, orphans, and foreigners (Ruth is all three) were cared for. They were allowed to gather the gleanings from the edges of the field at harvest and by doing so they aligned themselves under the protection of the landowner. 

So Ruth sees Boaz, a man of strength, building a culture of strength, employing workers of strength, and essentially says, “I don’t know how all this is going to play out but I want to be inoculated with a community of strength, one that will put me in the best position to have my story redeemed.” Ruth may have thought she would quietly blend in with the rest of the workers in Boaz’s field and live out the rest of her days content with being taken care of as a servant. Little did she know that God had even bigger plans for her. Little did she know that she had caught the eye of the very man who could restore to her a home, a right-standing in society, and a future.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND JOURNALING:

1. Who has God brought into your life that has helped point you to hope in your story?

2. What decisions have you made when it comes to community in the midst of your pain? Have you moved towards the people of God or have you made compromises as to who you are surrounding yourself with? 

3. Who do you need to spend more time with in order to edify you? Whose faith can help strengthen your own? Who do you need to move away from because they are leading you away from the purposes of God in your life? Make a decision to align yourself with people who can lead you into healing and hope rather than more pain and destruction.

PRAYER:

Lord, I pray that you would surround me with the people who can see the redemptive story You have for my life. Remove negative and toxic people from my life. Help me to discern the difference between the people who would propel me toward my future with you and people who would hold me back from it. As you bring the right people into my life, may I also be a safe “person of strength” for them as well.