Viktor Frankl survived four Nazi concentration camps. He was an Austrian Psychiatrist and Neurologist and Holocaust Survivor who wrote the best-selling book Man's Search for Meaning. In it he describes that what was essential to surviving the concentration camps was a positive attitude. Pastor Chuck Swindoll has been quoted as stating that "Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it." He emphasizes that our attitude is more important than our circumstances. Each of us have our own stories: our family, our upbringing, our heritage, our education our circumstances, our experiences, etc. Though these factors play a part in who we are and who we will become, they do not and should not identify us. We are not victims to our circumstances. God has given us all free will and the ability to make choices, including what we become. No matter what has happened we can choose Jesus and experience the power of the Holy Spirit while on Earth and secure eternity in heaven through the power of what He accomplished on the cross by shedding His blood for us.
The backdrop of the story of Ruth was during the time of Judges. It was a time of moral and spiritual depravity. But that doesn't mean that everyone simply had to follow the dictates of this backdrop. Here we find beauty and love during these tumultuous and degrading times. Ruth was from Moab, which means she is a member of a cursed race of people. We read that she married a man named, Mahlon, the son of Elimilech and Naomi. But at a young age, her husband dies in Ruth 1:5. Not exactly great circumstances for her life. Yet we read in 1:16-17, after Naomi tries to convince her to leave her and return back to her Moabite family, "But Ruth said, "Entreat me not to leave, Or to turn back from following you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, And there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, If anything but death parts you and me." Ruth found the One True God and would not leave Him. Though Naomi came back to Israel bitter, even wanting her name changed to Mara in 1:20-21, we see nothing but a positive, loving , and obedient attitude from Ruth. Her attitude is exemplified in her first meeting with Boaz in 2:10, "So she fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, and said to him, "Why have I found favor in your eyes that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?" Expecting nothing and thankful for everything she found joy in the arms of her Goel or Kinsmen-Redeemer, Boaz.
Each of us who know Christ as Lord and Savior have our own testimony describing our journey into His arms. Ruth did not define herself by her circumstances, we should not either. In fact, though our background might be interesting, what is most important is the moment we adopted that humble and obedient attitude, like Ruth, and sought security in the only One who could give it to us. Like Ruth, living with Naomi, they were totally incapable of making things right on their own. We due to our sinful natures are totally incapable of paying for our past, present, and future sins. Ruth and Naomi found in Boaz, their kinsmen-redeemer (Deuteronomy 25:5-10), one who could provide what they were incapable of. We have Jesus, our Kinsmen-Redeemer, who has offered the same thing for us. He has offered payment once and for all, to free us from the bondage of sin and death and free us. He has entered heaven before us and has offered each of us a ticket for entry upon leaving this earth. But this relationship only occurs if we, like Ruth, are willing to submit ourselves and lie below His feet as Ruth did in Ruth 3:6-8. Each of us has a choice. We can accentuate our personal stories and justify our discontent and bitterness at how we feel that we have been cheated in life. Or we can realize that we deserve nothing, should expect nothing, but instead be thankful for everything in our lives, realizing that our God loves us more than we love ourselves and gives us what we need, not what we greed.