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Day 11: The God Who Makes Us Family
Scripture:
But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.
Ruth 1:16For many of us, there’s no one like family. Even when the world crashes on us from the outside, we still have our family to love and care for us. But for some, family is complicated. Some have been pushed out. Some have been ignored. Some have been treated as less‑than. Some carry wounds from the very people who were supposed to protect them. Naomi knows this pain. She isn’t sure what she has to offer anyone anymore, and believes it’s better if she faces her future alone.
Naomi doesn’t tell Ruth and Orpah to go back once. Or even twice. She tells them four times. She is so convinced that they would make the worst mistake of their lives if they came with her. She believes she knows their future the best. But again, God has some other plans.
Ruth stands in the valley of decision between her beloved and familiar home and uncertain, unfamiliar place and life that awaits her. Would she choose her Moabite family she was born into and the god of Moab, or would she chose Naomi’s family and Yahweh, the One true God? Our passage today picks up with the decision that Ruth makes, and the God who makes us family. Her loyalty makes our hearts rejoice, “Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”
Now, we’ve said that there is no one like family, but what happens when you don’t have family? Or the family that you have has cut you out? I don’t need to tell you that there is a particular hard with this kind of pain. And this could be where you are at. You’ve been pushed out or ignored. You’ve been treated less than family, and the pain you are experiencing is unbearable. It’s in these places that we need the God who makes us family to remind us of our place in it.
Ruth is going to choose covenant over comfort. Nothing is going to stop her from making this journey. She is willing to face discrimination and possibly intimidation as a Moabite widow, knowing too that she is traveling with a bitter woman. Even in the face of the unknown’s and “what if’s” about her future, Ruth makes it clear that she is part of the family and will act that way.
Ruth’s promises even go beyond her lifetime. She doesn’t make a temporary promise to stay as long as Naomi lives, and then to return to Moab. She renounces everything from her past and promises even to be buried where Naomi is. In doing this, Ruth is affirming that Naomi’s people and family were now hers forever, for even in death she would “sleep” with them, not her Moabite ancestors. Her commitment involves great risk, because if she was rejected by her new community, she might face a disgraceful burial, which was a shameful tragedy at that time.
In the first and only time in the book, Ruth swears a covenant by the name of Yahweh. From now on, whether in life or in death, she is part of Naomi’s family. Even death won’t part her. Unlike Abraham, who had a promise from God of offspring, a name, and a tremendous blessing, she makes a commitment with no promise except the challenge of life with a difficult woman. Given such a tremendous act of faith and commitment to Naomi’s family, is there a great work that God will bring from her story as well?
We know the answer to this question. God will bring a great work from her obedience. God welcomes her into the family, showing to all of us who are outsiders that all are welcomed. We know from the New Testament that God doesn’t simply put up a welcome sign on the door. He pursues the outsider. He breaks down the barriers that have separated them, and the obstacles they have faced. He brings them in, not as second class family members who have to watch as the more loved children get to eat the most and first, but as equal sons and daughters.
Now, some of you know the ache of not belonging, and the sting of being cut out. Some know the loneliness of feeling like an outsider, even in your own family. Others of you know the pain of being overlooked, forgotten, or unwanted. You know how family can hurt.
And in those moments, the enemy whispers, “You don’t belong. You’re not wanted. You’re on your own. And You’re certainly not part of the family.” But Ruth’s vow is God’s answer to those lies. Jesus reminds us that where earthly family has failed you, God has not. Where others have pushed you out, God brings you in. Where others have withheld love, God pours out His own. And where others have treated you as an outsider, God calls you His child.
So as good as Ruth’s love and loyalty is, Jesus is better. He leaves His home to make you part of His, and binds Himself to you with an unbreakable covenant. He takes on your future and gives you His own. He faces rejection so you can be welcomed. He dies and rises so you can belong forever.
Today, your story may include family wounds, relational losses, or deep loneliness. But your story does not end there, because the God who makes us family has written you into His household. Not as a second‑class member. Not as someone barely tolerated. And not as someone who has to earn their place. But as a beloved son or daughter, fully welcomed, fully wanted, fully His.
Naomi had no idea that Ruth’s vow would lead to King David and ultimately to Jesus. And you have no idea what God is weaving through your pain either. But this much is certain, that you belong, you are wanted, and you are family. Jesus is the Redeemer who turns outsiders into sons and daughters.
Are you ready for His love today?
Pastor Josh Gerber |
