Studies in Ruth - Self-Denial and Discipleship

There is only one requirement that Jesus has for those who wish to become His disciples: it is to deny the self and take up one's cross and follow Him. It implies that everyone has his own cross, but they aren't able to carry it because of a lack of self-denial. The cross is the mission that one has in his own life; it is that which he needs to bear, to carry when following Christ.

My Lord is there and He’ll show me
The cross to take, the path to go.
The cross is the mission that He gives me,
The meaning of life He lets me know.

As long as one is holding on to self, one cannot carry the cross. And, if one can't carry the cross, one cannot follow the Lord.

There are many things that we keep holding on to and wish that the Lord will not take away from us, things that we are not willing to part with; they are the idols of the heart. It might be a job, a material asset, a relationship, an earthly dream/wish, or even a ministry. As long as we have not given them to the Lord in a real way - not just verbally, not wishing that He would not take it away and after the test give it back to us - as long as we have not denied attachment with these and given it all to the Lord, we can't be His disciples.

We study today again Ruth. In Chapter 2, Boaz has this to say about her:

"It has been fully reported to me, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know before.
"The LORD repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge." (Rut 2:11-12 NKJ)

Whatever happened in Ruth's life was no longer an accident after she denied herself, took up the cross - it was her cross (Naomi might die after a few years, but the young Ruth would have to bear her own cross for an entire life). That she came to Boaz's field was divinely arranged, though she perhaps never felt it that way. She had no expectations, no plans, no more dreams. She only thought about fulfilling her duty towards her mother-in-law. But, Boaz saw that and he knew that the Lord would repay and fully reward her, because she had left everything completely and come under the wings of God.

Ruth and Naomi had nothing so she had to go and glean the leftovers from the harvesting. The Law of Moses instructed that one should leave the ends of the field for the poor and should not go after what has fallen behind; they should be left for the poor to glean.

`And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am the LORD your God. (Lev 19:10 NKJ)
"When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. (Deu 24:21 NKJ)

It might have looked very humbling for a young woman like Ruth to come to such a position. There could be rational questions. Was it necessary? She was young, should she waste her life like this? And, even Naomi would have no problem if she went away and had a better life. But, such thoughts didn't find place in her mind. She had denied herself and taken up the cross.

What had Ruth let go off?
1. She let go off her old family-ties. She didn't consider the attachment to parents or siblings as greater than the cross and the pursuit of Naomi's God. It didn't mean that she rejected them; it only meant that she let go off her old family-identity. She had found a new family when she married Naomi's son; now, Naomi was her mother. The same thing applies to the Christian life. Jesus said that "everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life." (Mat 19:29 NKJ) When someone told Jesus once that His mother and brothers had come to see Him, He turned to His disciples and said, "whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother." (Mat 12:50 NKJ) Volumes can be spoken on this theme. It is a sad sight today to see some Churches built on "Family-name". In India, earthly family-name is idolized very much. This then extends to caste. In the South, especially, I've heard of churches that are caste-oriented. They may call Jesus as their Lord, but they have not even learnt the first step of discipleship: to deny self and take up the cross.

2. She let go off her old nationality ties. She was a Moabitess. That couldn't be changed. However, she didn't allow Moab to come along with her. She left it and let it go. With regard to Christianity, the New Testament Church took some time to get out of the hold of its Jewish-ties. It took many years. The New Testament churches were never divided on the basis of language, culture, or nationality. The Church at Jerusalem was not divided into Greek Church and Hebrew Church, for instance. Language was not the idol. Neither was it the uniting factor. They were united in the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Greeks and the Hebrews worshiped together and were in the same fellowship of one body. Sadly, in modern times linguistic and cultural nationalistic divisions prevent the Body from being a true witness of the Lord. The salt is useless as long as it stays with salt and in the salt bottle. It must go out and fulfill its meaning of existence by spreading the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

3. She let go off any personal dreams and vision of her own. It might be natural for any young girl to have dreams that she deeply cherishes. With the death of her husband, perhaps all dreams came crashing down. Still, there were other rational possibilities in which her dreams could become real again. There was time. Her sister-in-law Orpah had taken that earthly chance. But, Ruth didn't need any such chance, because her dreams were already laid on the altar. They no longer belonged to her. She had no dream of her own. She had denied her self. It aches the heart in modern days when preachers talk and testify of personal dreams, not in the sense of glorifying God, or at least saving souls for the Kingdom of God, but with regard to buildings and projects and pursuing the pleasures and luxurious excitements that the world invents for the seekers of pleasure. On the contrary, our Lord Jesus wasn't enamored by the things of the world. When the devil offered to give them to him, He rebuked him to go away. He said to one that foxes had holes and birds had nest but He had no place to put His head. The earth didn't have a place for the Owner of it. Man had converted land into a material asset, amassing as much land as he could, more than sufficient for a single human and claiming them by name and buying or selling them. Jesus didn't have half a denarius to pay His tax; buying a land was out of question for Him. But, He didn't need any land either. The same is said about Abraham in Hebrews 11. The Promised Land for him actually was not the geographical area in Palestine. He lived in tents all his life. The Bible says that He looked to a city in heaven. One can't deny self unless one has a clear vision of heaven.

4. She let go off any right to comfort or easy life whatsoever. The Bible tells us that she worked till evening. She was hard working and diligent. She was not someone who'd be satisfied with the little. She was not task-oriented or target-oriented, to sit back after the target was reached. She worked as long as it was day. She kept working as long as there was time. Jesus said about Himself, ""I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work." (Joh 9:4 NKJ) There is no retirement age for the disciple. There is no vacation time for the servant of God. He must work while it is day.

There are many other things that we can learn from Ruth's life. The above four in the list is just a small part of what she possessed in her character. One can go and look at her life and would find the thing that he/she needs to deny today. Ruth chapter 2 is an account of a whole day in the life of Ruth. It was a day filled with surprises, blessings, and a full basket in the end. It was a day of filled with the favor of God, because it was a day that a girl entered with self-denial and when God saw that this vessel had emptied herself totally, He poured into her all that He had in overflowing measures. It was a day with the Lord.

Studies in Ruth: Orpah and Ruth - Between Reason and Faith

The book of Ruth recounts a powerful story that illustrates the power of faith. In the first chapter, everybody appears to be quite rationally disposed (after the natural man, psuchicos) in their actions. They act according to visual observation, risk calculation, and wager decisions. Thus, when famine hits the "Promised Land", a godly family goes to Moab, a gentile nation, because the survival possibilities are better there. It was a rational choice. However, they didn't survive though they reached a "greener" territory. It reminds me of the story of Death in Tehran and Jesus' parable of the Rich Man who wanted to build new stores. Reason creates the illusion that one can control one's fate; however, we need to remember that only that which is in God's control is under control; and nothing under God's control can be out of control. If one thinks that the chances to die as a missionary in a hostile country is great, he makes the same mistake. The chances of being persecuted and dying a martyr in America are as greater as dying as a martyr in Asia or the Middle East. But, the rational mind only looks for mathematical certainties; and life offers none of them. Jesus made it clear, "whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it." (Mark 8:35). His rule was simple: "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you" (Matt 6:33).

Both Naomi's husband, Elimelech, and their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion died in Moab. They escaped from famine only to fall by sickness; but, they fell and human wisdom suffered a severe set back. It reminds of the era of Modernism and Enlightenment when mankind believed that it had finally arrived, that God could be safely banished by science, and that utopia was not far away. However, the two World Wars shook human confidence so hard that the modern world soon gave in to the genre of the absurd, nihilism, and distrust in the absolute. But, there's no point in being bitter and complaining about meaninglessness when the fault has been our own: “Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.” (Ruth 1:20-21). Evidently, the more rational we seek to be apart from the faith of God, the more bitter our life becomes.

"When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered,
I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you." (Psalm 73:21-22)

A heart not protected by faith falls severely to the fiery darts of the Enemy.

Orpah fell in line with the rationalism of the age. She did follow her mother-in-law to a distance and did assert, along with Ruth, that she will follow her to her people (1:10). However, she broke down and relented in face of the rational arguments that Naomi offered. Naomi did her best to prove why there were less prospects for them with her, that their chances of getting married were low, that their patience might break in time, that she had no strength to get husbands for them, and on and on. So, Orpah succumbed to the voice of reason and went back. She did weep and the emotional attachment was strong. However, the voice of human reason prevailed. We don't know if Orpah ever got to get married, or if she did, she got married earlier than Ruth - the history of her faith ceased there. God had nothing interesting to tell us about her anymore.

But, Ruth was different. She was distinct. She refused to listen to the bitter voice of reason. She decided to disregard the negative arguments of reason because they had no appeal for her. She decided to walk by faith and love. She decided to follow Naomi and the true God. Reason (Naomi) tried to show that Moab was positive and the Promised Land was negative. Naomi even tried to persuade by showing a visual example, a testimonial of reason: "Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law." However, Ruth only humbly pleaded: "Entreat me not to leave you, [Or to] turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people [shall be] my people, And your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, And there will I be buried. The LORD do so to me, and more also, If [anything but] death parts you and me." Volumes can be written just on these few lines; because they encapsulate the history of faith. Ruth wasn't concerned about the things and the prospects that Naomi had been talking about. Her focus was different. She is an example of the person who seeks first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Ruth requested, entreated, to be allowed to go with Naomi. She didn't need motivation. There was no preacher to preach a motivating message there. There was no music to stir the emotions to action. In fact, there was only discouragement all around. There was every worldly reason to not do what she was doing. The only possible person who could be supportive in this instance, Naomi, wanted her to leave. But, her decision was not a decision of worldly reason, but a decision of faith that operates by love (Gal.5:6). That is where Orpah failed and Ruth prevailed. It is faith, not intellectual sharpness, that overcomes the world (1Jn 5:4). The modern world with all its intellectual brightness is only increasingly darker and utterly consumed with moral failure and monstrous evil. The sharpest minds engage in the most brutal and nefarious acts of human wickedness. On the contrary, God uses instruments that the world regards as fools, because the foolishness of God is greater than the wisdom of men. 

Ruth didn't need to argue or justify her decision. That she was right in God's sight was evident; "faith is the evidence" (Heb. 11:1).

It is interesting that the Bible mentions here that when Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she "stopped speaking to her." The voice of reason fell silent before the determination of faith. When faith resolves to obey the will of God, reason has nothing more to say; it falls silent, because faith cannot be persuaded by arguments or rationalizations; its meat is to do the will of God - God' will is its primary drive.

We know the rest of the story. Ruth helped Naomi find the right perspective in life. Faith brings meaning into life and drives all bitterness of godless reason away. It brings reason into right perspective with God. Later, it was Naomi who would take the lead to tell Ruth the steps she had to take, in accordance to the instructions God had given in the Law. The Bible doesn't downplay reason. However, it is not reason, but faith that creates history; because, only the things that bear the stamp of God's approval will last forever.

Ruth married Boaz, and in their line was born our Lord Jesus Christ, whose Kingdom shall never end. She sought God and God incarnated in her bloodline. The first chapter of the New Testament proudly records her name among the few women who feature in the Genealogy of Jesus Christ.

"By faith we understand the ages to have been prepared by a saying of God..." (Hebrews 11:3, YLT)