Ruth 1:16—But Ruth replied, “Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.”
James 1:6-8—But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
Julius Caesar led his army across a short river of north central Italy in 49 B.C. to launch a civil war. The name of the river was Rubicon a name now synonymous with irrevocable commitment. When Caesar and his men crossed the river, there was no turning back. They were determined to fight to death if that’s what it took.
A Jewish woman named Naomi lost her husband and her sons while living in the land of Moab. When she heard that the famine besieging Judah had ended she decided to return home. Her two daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth, followed but she tearfully told them to go back to their own land, kissed them and tried sending them away. Finally Orpah relented and bade her goodbye, but she left alone. Ruth was not turning back! She uttered the gutsy words written in the verse above and Naomi gave up trying to dissuade her. The two of them pressed on, crossed the Arnon River and followed the road that would lead them to Naomi’s hometown--Bethlehem.
God rewarded the Moabite maiden with a wonderful husband Boaz. Ruth became the great-grandmother of King David, from whose lineage Jesus would one day be born. She was blessed for being faithful and persevering. You can read her marvelous story in the Old Testament book of Ruth.
Are you still wandering in Vacillation Valley? Why! What will it take for you to get serious about following God? When will you cross the river? When will your neck not tire from turning left and right at the expense of FORWARD MARCH! Jesus bought you with His life and He means for you to get serious serving Him. There is no glory in wavering. There is no fruit in half-hearted limbs.
At the core of vacillation is liquid fear—unstable and nauseating! Get rid of it! Trust God. Set your eyes on Jesus. Don’t take the winding way back when faced with challenge and difficulty. That way swerves with every shift in the wind. Be like Rubicon Ruth and cross the river! You won’t regret it! Now get going before you miss the boat.
Inspiration
Vacillation in a crisis is the sign of an unabandoned nature. An abandoned nature cannot vacillate because there is nothing to weigh; it is completely abandoned to God.—Oswald Chambers in Not Knowing Where
