Group Guide: Ruth 1:14-22

The more we read the book of Ruth, the more we can relate to the story. Hopefully we can see that the story of Ruth is a story about us. We can all relate to the story—a little recap of what we have seen so far. There is no food in the “house of bread,” in the promise land. They travel to a foreign land, away from God, to survive. While being in Moab, Naomi loses her husband and her two sons to death. Naomi is bitter and thinks God is to blame for that. The famine is over, and in her bitterness, she decided to take a positive step to go back to Bethlehem.

We are going to look at verses 14-22. Naomi has heard that God has visited Bethlehem, and there is food again in the house of bread. Naomi has decided, in the midst of her suffering, to take a step a positive step. She has decided to go back to Bethlehem. It's important to understand that in the times of Ruth, salvation was in a place. There was a link between God and his land. So, in a sense, Naomi, Orpah, and Ruth found themselves at a crossroads.

Crossroads

Naomi had made her mind up about returning to Bethlehem, and it was Orpah and Ruth who had to make a decision. Naomi let both of them know that there was nothing in Bethlehem; the only thing that was in Bethlehem was God. Or stay in Moab and have everything except God. Verse 14 says that Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, and verse 15 says that Orpah decides to go back to her people and her gods. Ruth makes a different decision and decides to stay with Naomi. We see Ruth´s powerful words, “ your people will be my people and your God will be my God.” Ruth saw God and was willing to have nothing but God. We all have a decision to make, just like Ruth and Orpah, we all sit at a crossroads and have to make a decision. Would you say “I´d rather have everything but God, or I´d rather have nothing but God”

Conversion

Verse 16 says, “Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.” This confession from Ruth reveals her conversion. She vows to leave all the things that once gave her identity and unite herself with Yahweh God and His people. She has seen God, she has seen His greatness and goodness. She is willing to give up everything to follow God. Her commitment is not to Naomi only, but to Naomi’s God! She has decided to follow God. The words of Ruth left Naomi speechless, and they both headed to Bethlehem.

In the last verses, we still see that Naomi is bitter. She even says her name has changed from Naomi to Mara, which means from pleasant to bitter. She says that she left full, but has now come back empty. Naomi doesn't realize that God is working in her life, that at this point in the story, she is more full than she has ever been. Amid her pain, she is confused, but still is willing to take a step towards God. The same is true for us in the midst of pain. Our pain can draw us to God or drive us away from God. May we take rest and know that God is graciously working in our lives in and through our pain.

But it should also be noted that Ruth’s conversion experience was brought about in part by the suffering of Naomi.God used the pain in Naomi’s life to bring salvation to Ruth’s life. We should never forget that the difficulties we go through might be God’s way of bringing salvation to another. It really isn’t all about us!