- We must be wise in the choices of whom we trust for spiritual direction while recognizing the power of godly relationships.
In the aftermath of Thanksgiving, many Christians turn their attention towards the approach of Christmas and the observance of Advent. “Advent” — from the Latin adventus, meaning “coming” or “arrival” — is the brief season that encompasses the four Sundays preceding Christmas, as both a celebration of Christ’s first coming (His incarnation) and an anticipation of His second coming.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, while in a Nazi prison in 1943, wrote, “A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes, does various unessential things, and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent.”
This year, in search of a biblical text that would offer a fresh approach to the Advent season yet still accentuate this “complete dependency” that Bonhoeffer stresses, I landed on the book of Ruth.
The story begins in desperation. Naomi loses her husband as they reside in a pagan land called Moab. Her two sons die, leaving both herself and her daughters-in-law bereft of spousal support in a region where a man is a necessary lifeline to the future. The last phrase of the opening paragraphs: “…the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.”
As Ruth turns her face to return to Judah, she urges her daughters-in-law to leave her and find husbands. The daughters are reluctant, but Orpah finally acquiesces. Not Ruth: “Ruth clung to her.” My meditation this week examines her reasons. Why? Why did Ruth “cling” and thus become a significant player in the genealogy of Jesus?
First, Naomi strongly encouraged her two daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah, to remain in Moab, where they might remarry and make a new start (Ruth 1:8-9). This was generous on Naomi’s part; it would cost her their help and companionship. Naomi placed their good above her own. My hunch is that Ruth found this selflessness attractive.
Ruth seemed to appreciate a woman with a sure direction. Naomi knew what she had to do and set her face in that direction. The Israelites had learned from the wilderness wanderings that the pursuit of God’s indisputable direction was more compelling than squeezing sand between their toes waiting for the decades to pass by.
Naomi was clear about her bitterness toward her situation but still acknowledged the sovereignty of God (Ruth 1:20-21). People who ultimately place their confidence in God, despite their circumstances, present a compelling example to those who are seeking. Ruth had her eye out for the abundant life (the promise of harvest – 1:6, 22)
Could Ruth have merely wearied of the idolatry and emptiness of Moabite culture and longed to escape it? The Hebrew word hebel — used in Ecclesiastes to denote that which is vain, empty, temporary — could here be used to describe the vacuous worldview and practice of paganism. Naomi leaves a pagan country to return to the promised land, and Ruth holds on.
I have to wonder, beyond that, if there was something winsome about Naomi’s character. Could it be that she had never lost touch with the God of Israel and his love and providence… and Ruth found that captivating? Was it that the Promised Land represented hope to Naomi, and Ruth wanted to experience that herself?
Ruth recounts a particular event from a particular point in time. But there are several considerations that might be instructive for those of us who read and reflect on her story.
First: Whom or what are you clinging to? The obvious answer should be…God. To Him and Him alone do I cling! But God often places people in our lives — teachers, mentors, pastors, fellow believers — to lead us toward Him. We must be wise in the choices of whom we trust for spiritual direction while recognizing the power of godly relationships. Ruth needed to turn her heart towards Yahweh, but clinging to Naomi was a first move in that direction.
Second: Am I a person whom God might use when someone else reaches out to spiritually “cling” to me? Like Naomi, am I selfless in a winsome kind of way? Do I have sure direction to His cause? Do I embrace the sovereignty of God? Do I understand the abundant life and am I pursuing it, rejecting all that is empty and vain for that which is full and complete?
I am spending the Advent season in the book of Ruth. As the final genealogy suggests, it will lead me straight to Jesus.
Matt Friedeman
