Defining Moment

Defining Moment

Orpah And Ruth

Read: Ruth 1:8

While traveling down the road that led to Judah, Orpah and Ruth came to a crossroads in their lives. Naomi began to have second thoughts about taking these young Moabite women to live in Israel with her. Maybe it wasn’t fair to take them away from their families and the opportunity to remarry among their own people. Even after Orpah and Ruth tearfully insisted that they wanted to go with Naomi, she urged them to go back, explaining why it would be better for them to stay in Moab. As the three women stood crying, Orpah and Ruth faced a defining moment in their lives.

The road ahead stretched to a distant, unknown destination. They didn’t know what life would be like in Israel. Looking down the road behind them, the women could see the land of their birth. But Naomi and her sons had shown them something better than they had known. Naomi worshiped a God of love and compassion, totally different from the gods of the Moabites. Still, the easiest choice would be to return to the security of their familiar lives. The road Orpah and Ruth chose to follow would determine the direction of their lives.

We all come to crossroads at different times in our lives. God leads us in new directions, but he always lets us choose whether to follow him or not. We get stuck between the pull of the familiar and the urge to forge ahead toward the unknown. Should we really quit a job to enter full-time ministry? Can we really find the courage to end an abusive relationship? If we share our faith with a neighbor, will it ruin the friendship? Our willingness to follow God down a strange road to an unseen destination reveals our level of trust in him.

What new direction does God have in mind for you?