The Testimony of One Life

​When we think about the book of Ruth, we usually focus on the main character, Ruth, and her powerful statement of faith:

“But Ruth said, ‘Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.’”
~Ruth 1:16

​However, without the life and testimony of another woman, Ruth would never have gotten to know the Lord and become a part of David’s lineage.  That other woman is a background character and one who wanted to be overlooked and forgotten about because her life had become bitter.  Can you guess who she is?

​Naomi had what we would call a hard life.  Her husband moved the family away from the native land and into a foreign country.  Thus she was removed from her family and all she was familiar with.  Then her husband dies along with her two sons, leaving her widowed with no male figure to take care of her.   And to be widowed in biblical times meant one either had to remarry or starve, and Naomi was beyond the age to remarry.  So no wonder she asked to be called Mara!  And like all hardships, this brought out the best and worst aspects of Naomi’s character.  So we’ll first look at and learn from the good things Naomi did, and then next time study the not so exemplary aspects of her character.

1. She was close to her daughter-in-laws.  Both of Naomi’s sons took wives from the unclean, foreign nation in which they were living.  This was something strongly spoken against by God and one rule Jews were mostly careful to follow.  However, both Mahlon and Chilion took Moabite wives, Ruth and Orpah.  So Naomi, being a devout Jewess, could have easily shunned and rejected the Moabite young women, but she didn’t.  She welcomed them into her home and treated them as daughters, building a close relationship with both of them so that neither were willing to leave her when she journeyed back to Israel.  This is huge!  It’s hard for us to imagine this situation, but Orpah and Ruth were not only of a different nationality than the family they married into, but they were also of a different culture, religion, and nation that was at odds and at constant enmity with Israel.  Thus, by extending love and acceptance to both Orpah and Ruth, Naomi did something unusual, culture defying, and, as we’ll see next, extremely powerful, and because of it both Moabite women became very loyal to her and were willing to follow her back to Israel.  Now remember we just read that Moab and Israel were constant enemies.  So for these Moabitesses to be willing to move to Israel, away from their families and cultures, and face the possibility of being shunned and looked down upon, reveals a very close relationship and love for Naomi.  
2. Her life testified to the God of Israel.  How do we know this since it’s not explicitly stated in Scripture?  It is evidenced by Ruth 1:16.  Now we often read Ruth 1:16 (quoted at the top) and think Wow!  What faith Ruth had!  But we don’t realize that Ruth would never have had the courage to step out in faith and follow Naomi to the ends of the earth if Naomi hadn’t shown, through her life, the character and nature of God. 

 
So now the question is…would these things also be true of us?  Would people looking back at our life and be able to say, “She testified and showed the love of God through her life” or “He loved and extended relationships to those looked down upon by society, local culture, and even many Christians.”  Do our lives reflect and testify to the love and grace of God so that others would be willing to follow us to the ends of the earth as we follow Christ?  Because of the way we live our lives, would non-Christians looking on be willing to say along with Ruth, “Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”? 
 
Evangelism is a popular topic in our current church culture, and we are given a lot of advice on different techniques to use whether it be street witnessing, mission trips, VBS groups, or “Good Person” tests.  However, the one method most commonly overlooked is what Naomi did.  She didn’t go out canvassing all the Moabite women in her neighborhood and sharing the Torah with them.  Nor did she go on a mission trip to Edom.  Rather, she took the people God brought into her life, loved them, built a relationship with them, and lived out her life before them in faithfulness to the God she served.  And this was all Ruth needed to declare, “I want all that you have.”
 
So in closing, I am not advocating that people stop evangelizing.  No!  Sharing the gospel is clearly mandated in Scripture as Paul wrote:

“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?”
~Romans 10:14a​

​Nevertheless, I would also add “And how can they know God unless they see Him in the lives of the people who follow Him?”  So I challenge you…how is your life’s testimony going?