She Went Down

Ruth 3:5 And she said unto her, All that thou sayest unto me I will do.
Ruth 3:6 And she went down unto the floor, and did according to all that her mother in law bade her.


Ruth is an unusual person. Naomi had given her some very specific instructions. These instructions were not only detailed, but required a combination of boldness and humility. Yet Ruth merely replies, All that thou sayest unto me I will do. How many of us would be able to do that? Do you remember another time when that sentence was used?

Exodus 19:7 And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him.
19:8 And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD.

How many who made that statement actually kept that promise? We can be full of promises, and many times we have very good intentions when we make them. Yet how many end up in the pile labeled, unfulfilled? It is good not to make very many promises, as the history of the human race is filled with broken ones: and we are humans. Someone has said that the smallest deed is better than the grandest intention. Now there is something worth remembering.

If Ruth could be marked by one character trait, it might be faithfulness. Ruth was good on her word. What she said, she did. She fulfilled her purpose. But mark this as well: the purpose that became hers was not of herself. What moved her to do what she did came from someone other than herself. She was moved by her love for old widow. She did what the old widow told her to do. How small and insignificant is that?

People talk of having vision, and move to fulfill their vision. They work hard, and move others as well, to enable their vision to become a reality. Entire cities have been built. Empires have risen. Armies have been raised. And much of it in the name of God. How mighty and awesome they appear to the human eye!

Of cities, we are told that they will be thrown down. Of this world's armies, they will be defeated. The empires and kingdoms of this world will crumble. And Jesus praises an otherwise unknown widow, who tosses two mites into the coffer. God tells the story of an othewise unknown family, whose men died, leaving their women destitute. And out of death and despair, He elevates some woman of a people not chosen. God glorifies Ruth.

Ruth 3:6 And she went down

In order to carry out her promise, Ruth had to descend. She had to go down. Lowering one's self is normally not a desireable thing. Yet it is a requirement. One who magnifies self cannot be said to be truly submitted to the Master.

Philippians 2:3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
2:4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

How much has been done, and proclaimed to be for the glory of God? How much has been done, and proclaimed to be for the glory of Jesus Christ? Yet all of it through strife and vainglory. Not too very long ago one claimed that in a vision, Jesus Christ Himself told him to build a city of faith. It closed down before it was completed. The buildings are there, but they belong to someone else now. Vainglory.

How great the vision! How awesome the buildings! And Jesus says, Do you see that widow? (Luke 21:2-3)

Ruth not only saw the widow, she served the widow. And in doing so, she had to descend a little lower than most of us would be willing. Do you see Jesus?

Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Ruth 3:6 And she went down unto the floor, and did according to all that her mother in law bade her.