The faith to leave the Old for the New Part 4

Let’s consider the life Ruth courageously left behind. 

​The cost of leaving familiarity

Ruth did not merely leave a location. She left a world she understood.Moab was predictable. Its language, rhythms, clothing, and social codes were familiar to her. Bethlehem was not. Stepping into Judah meant entering a different culture, different worship, different expectations. She would have sounded different. Her accent may have marked her. Even her dress and mannerisms could have set her apart. Anyone who has walked into a new environment knows that quiet feeling of being “other.” Her journey echoes that of Abraham, who left his country “not knowing where he was going” (Genesis 12:1; Hebrews 11:8). Faith often begins with geographical and emotional dislocation.

More than culture shifted for Ruth, covenant did. She aligned herself with the God of Israel (Ruth 1:16), yet she would not have fully understood the Mosaic laws, the customs of gleaning (Leviticus 19:9–10), or the regulations concerning redemption (Leviticus 25:25; Deuteronomy 25:5–10). She entered a system she did not grow up in. Every field she stepped into required trust.

When she gleaned behind the reapers (Ruth 2:2–3), she depended on a law she was not familiar with. When Naomi instructed her to wash, anoint herself, and go down to the threshing floor (Ruth 3:1–5), Ruth obeyed without argument. The threshing floor scene was culturally layered and potentially misunderstood, yet she trusted Naomi’s wisdom and submitted to this unfamiliar process. Obedience in unfamiliar territory is rarely comfortable but it is often transformative. And the unfamiliarity did not end in instability.

Isaiah later records the Lord saying, “Do not remember the former things…Behold, I will do a new thing” (Isaiah 43:18–19). Ruth lived that reality centuries earlier. Here is the deeper contrast: Moabites were restricted from entering the assembly of the Lord “even to the tenth generation” (Deuteronomy 23:3). Historically, Moab had opposed Israel (Numbers 22–24). By every cultural and historical measure, Ruth stood outside. But she not only lived among Israel; she married within Bethlehem’s community through the kinsman-redeemer, became the mother of Obed, the grandmother of Jesse, and the great-grandmother of David (Ruth 4:17). Her name appears in the genealogy of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:5).

Leaving familiarity exposed her to uncertainty but it also positioned her for unprecedented inclusion. No other Moabite woman is recorded as entering Israel’s royal lineage. When God calls us out of the familiar, it can feel destabilizing. Identity feels stretched. Security feels thin. But often the unfamiliar ground becomes the birthplace of covenant blessings we could never access while staying comfortable.

Ruth stepped into a land she did not know and discovered a destiny she could not have imagined.

Turning from compromise

The decision of Elimelech’s sons to marry Moabite women reflects the subtle influence of prolonged dwelling in a foreign environment. Israel had been clearly instructed not to intermarry with surrounding nations, not because of ethnicity, but because of spiritual preservation. “You shall not intermarry with them… For they will turn your sons away from following Me” (Deuteronomy 7:3–4). Moab’s history with Israel had already exposed the danger of cultural and spiritual compromise (Numbers 25:1–3). Even later, Nehemiah would remind the people that intermarriage had previously led Israel into sin (Nehemiah 13:23–27).

Ruth 1:4 tells us they lived in Moab “about ten years.” Ten years is not a temporary stay. It suggests settlement. What may have begun as a survival decision during famine (Ruth 1:1–2) gradually became rootedness in foreign soil. They likely built routines, relationships, and familiarity. Outwardly, they may still have worshipped the God of Israel but environment shapes appetite. Over time, compromise creeps in which is rarely dramatic but gradual.

The irony is striking: Bethlehem means “house of bread,” yet famine drove them away (Ruth 1:1). Scripture does not record God instructing Elimelech to leave. In contrast, when Abraham went to Egypt during famine without clear direction, it brought complication (Genesis 12:10). Sometimes pressure pushes us into decisions that appear practical but cost us spiritually. And what do we see in Moab? Loss. Elimelech dies (Ruth 1:3). Then Mahlon and Chilion die (Ruth 1:5). The chapter closes with three widows and emptiness. Moab represents not immediate judgment, but gradual depletion.

Yet the turning point comes with one decision:”Then she arose… that she might return from the country of Moab” (Ruth 1:6). The moment Naomi turns toward Bethlehem, movement toward restoration begins. We no longer see only loss. We see guidance, provision, protection, and ultimately redemption (Ruth 4:9–17). As Naomi left a lifestyle of compromise, Ruth declared, “Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried,” she was not making an emotional statement. She was sealing a decision. She was cutting every exit route. Even if Naomi died, Ruth would not go back to Moab. No retreat. No return visit. No backup plan. That is what a true turning looks like.

Even in seasons of compromise, grace waits for repentance and return. When Naomi turned back, God restored her. What began with graves ended with genealogy. God was indeed working all things together for good (Romans 8:28) not by endorsing compromise, but by redeeming those who chose to return to Him completely. 

I do not know what the Lord is asking you to leave.Have the courage to turn fully.

When you do, you will slowly and steadily begin to see Him open something new within you.

What looks like loss today may become legacy tomorrow.