“Intreat me not to leave thee,

or to return from following after thee:

for whither thou goest, I will go;

and where thou lodgest, I will lodge:

thy people shall be my people,

and thy God my God:

Where thou diest, will I die,

and there will I be buried:

the LORD do so to me,

and more also,

if ought but death part thee and me”.

(Ruth 1:16-17)

 

And so promised Ruth, a young Moabite widow, born from a people established through incest—to Naomi, her widowed and bitterly disappointed-by-life mother-in-law.

With this poetic declaration, Ruth set herself apart from her own idol worshipping people, and moved into an amazing historical position…the direct lineage of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Ruth couldn’t have known the eternal significance of the choice she made on the road leading to Judah. But at the core of her promise were the words that would define the rest of her life:

…and thy God will be my God…

And the daily defining prayer of my heart:

 

You are my God,

and I will praise you;

you are my God,

and I will exalt you.

Psalm 118:28

 

 

 

(bold/italics mine)