Episode 1: Embracing Freedom and Faith: Lessons from the Book of Ruth

In this episode, we explore the remarkable story of Ruth, focusing on her loyalty to Naomi and the bold choice to embrace a new identity in faith. Through Ruth’s journey, we reflect on the significance of shedding old identities and stepping into the transformative freedom offered by God.

• Discussion on the origins of the podcast’s vision and mission
• Overview of Ruth's historical context and the tension between Moabites and Israelites
• Examination of Naomi's personal losses and their impact on her relationship with Ruth
• Analysis of Ruth’s loyalty and commitment to Naomi despite cultural pressures
• Exploration of Ruth’s arrival in Bethlehem and the significance of this step
• Reflection on the theme of identity and what it means to follow God
• Encouragement for listeners to identify what they may need to let go of in their lives
• Invitation to join the community for continued support and engagement

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:09

Hi everyone and welcome to the Freely she Could podcast. This podcast is a platform where stories, advice, insight and experiences will be shared for women to grow in their relationship with Jesus and others. I'm your host, soli, and I'm excited to be here with you On this podcast. We'll talk about faith, family, health, work and relationships, and so much more. The goal is to create a community of women who are encouraged, inspired and empowered to live out their faith in the world. I believe that when women come together and share their stories, we can make a difference. So, whether you're new here or you've been walking with Jesus for years, I hope you'll join us in this journey and I'm so glad you're with us. Hey y'all, so my name is Soli and I'm so glad to be here with you on Freely she Could podcast.

Speaker 1: 1:09

There's been so much behind the scenes of how we got to where we are today, a lot of stumbles and failures and trying to figure out is this the direction that the Lord wants, or is this the best way to communicate what we're trying to communicate? How do we want to communicate what we feel God has been putting on my heart? And there was a lot of trial and error and there was a lot of failures and there was a lot of falling on my face and then getting back up and saying Lord, here I am. Okay, here I am again. I surrender. What is it that you want to do? What is your will in all of this? And we come to hear Freely, she Could. Podcast, freely, she Could. That was actually a phrase or a word that I felt the Lord press on my heart when my grandfather, a few years ago, shared a picture with me of this woman running through the field of wildflowers and I was looking at that picture and I just thought, wow, look at her, she's just freely running. And I felt the Lord say, because freely she could, because of who I am and because of what I've done on the cross, freely you could as well run with whatever it is that God has put on your heart and that he will be with you through every step of the way. And so I'm really excited Again.

Speaker 1: 2:34

The goal is to just create a community of women to be encouraged, inspired and empowered to live out our faith in the world, to be like Christ in this world, and not because we're perfect or we have all the answers, or I have all the answers or I'm perfect, but it's because of the mercy and grace Jesus has shown on me and I'm sure has shown on you, that we want to be able to show on to others in this world as well. So I want to start with this book in the Bible, the book of Ruth. Now, when we think of the book of Ruth, I know we go right to Boaz and the redemption story of how God, even though he wasn't outright written throughout the book of Ruth, we know that his hand was in it through every step of the way. But before we get there, I actually want to just take a pause on literally Ruth 1. Now Ruth, just a little historical background on Moabites and their relationships with Israelites.

Speaker 1: 3:36

Moabites history goes way, way, way back and the relationship between the Israelites and the Moabites were quite complex. There was a lot of tension in the relationships amongst these two people groups for a lot of reasons. One, a lot of Israelite men actually married Moabite women. However, that was more looked down upon during those ancient times because of Moabites' ancestries and that their worship was on to pagan gods like Baal and so forth, and so to the Israelites. That was something that was looked down upon. If you were to intermarriage between the two people groups. And then also that Moabite women, specifically, were often depicted negatively in Numbers 25, 1 through 5. They were blamed for causing Israelites to worship Baal, the god of Baal. And so, as you can see, there's a lot of animosity between these two people groups and especially towards Moabite women, because the Moabite women were the ones who were marrying into the Israelites family, because the Moabite women were the ones who were marrying into the Israelites family.

Speaker 1: 5:02

But imagine being a Moabite woman. You already have these challenges because of your historical background, because of your family lineage and generations and so forth, and you're marrying into a generation or into a community of people group that have a vast difference of view and of religion and values. And so that's kind of the historical context of what Ruth, as a Moabite woman, is facing when she is married into Naomi's family and to her sons. And so when we go into Ruth one to Ruth one we see that Ruth and her, her sister in law, orpah, are married into Naomi's sons, and so they go into the country of Moab.

Speaker 1: 5:42

Naomi comes and is confronted with huge losses in her life. First it's her husband, which is a huge loss, and then you see the loss of her two sons, and so she is now with her two daughter-in-laws and she tells them listen, I have nothing to offer you. Even if I were to have children again. What are you going to do? Wait for them to grow up and then you're going to marry them. She's like that's ridiculous. You go back to your homes. You're still young, you can still be married off, and so don't stay here with me, because your life will be wasted in a sense, right. And so Orpuk says all right, love you, but you're right, I'm going to go and go back to my family. And so she heads off.

Speaker 1: 6:26

But then Ruth stays behind and she clung to her, and that, to me, really just exemplifies loyalty. She clings to Naomi and she said in verse 16, do not urge me to leave you or 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. When I read that, that blew my mind, because it would be crazy to say that Ruth was not aware of her historical context. Right, you wouldn't be able to say that Ruth is unaware of the tensions between Moabites and Israelites, and she's saying she has an opportunity, naomi gives her an out and says listen, you can go because I get it.

Speaker 1: 7:25

But still, ruth was like I don't even care about the history or the generational challenges within these two communities, like I am still going to honor and be loyal to the covenant that I made when I said yes to your family and to your son, right, which meant that she was also going to surrender all the different pagan gods and worship of her family and of her community and say, but I'm going to follow in the God that you serve because I have seen him be faithful to you. That blew my mind. And so when you skip ahead all the way to Ruth 119, it says here so the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem and when they came to Bethlehem my sticky note is stuck on my bible. Here it says the whole town was stirred because of them.

Speaker 1: 8:40

Now they're stirred because Naomi's back and I'm sure back in that time word travels fast and she's lost her family and so she's returning right and she's like don't even look at me, don't call me a woman who is plentiful or fruitful, like. Call me Mara, for I am been dealt bitterly right, god has dealt bitterly with me, and so, before even that because that has so many other things we can go into but the fact that Ruth decides, no, I'm gonna go, even though, as a Moabite woman, I'm, I know the challenges that I'm going to go, even though, as a Moabite woman, I know the challenges that I'm going to face, going into in a community of people that already have animosity against one another. She says, yet your God will be my God. And so my question when I read that was why would she go back? Why would she go back? That really shocked me.

Speaker 1: 9:39

Because, again, think about in the worldview of Ruth and Naomi. Ruth was young, she had an out technically to be able to go back and be remarried and have kids, and you know, there was no guarantee. We read this book and we see, oh well, boaz is going to come into the picture, but Ruth and Naomi had no idea that was not guaranteed for her, but yet she still chose to go back with Naomi. It just shows the character, I think, of Ruth's loyalty to Naomi, but ultimately saying, even beyond you, naomi, I will take on your God, I will take on your people, where you stay, I'm going to stay. And so she was fully ready to assimilate herself into a community that was so opposite of how she grew up or what she was used to, and that's mind blowing right.

Speaker 1: 10:41

Growing up as a Korean American, I mean, I can understand that tension of being Korean, being American, but not necessarily being too Korean. When I go to Korea or when I'm in America, I'm too Korean to really be fully American. And growing up there was a lot of confusion in my identity because I'm like, well, who am I? Right? I don't want to necessarily assimilate to one culture and negate another, but what does it look like to have both Right? And so Ruth goes in and she's like I'm going to go, I'm going to go with you.

Speaker 1: 11:16

And when I thought back to this, I think the reason why she decided to go back is because she was fully ready and prepared to take on her new identity when she took that covenant and that yes to the marriage to Naomi's son. Because when I look back again in Ruth 1, 16, I mean she, she was not under the covenant anymore of the marriage to the son because he had passed, but yet she still said I'm still going to show up to this, to this promise, to this covenant I made. And so, when she goes back, it just blows my mind, because the Lord revealed to me a couple things. One, when she took on the new identity, she wasn't one foot into her past identity and one foot into the new. What do I mean by that? Well, she could have easily walked in to Bethlehem and said, yeah, I'm a Moabite. What you going to do about it? I am going to be a Moabite and you're going to make sure you know that I'm a Moabite. And, yeah, we have tension, but whatever, right, she could have powered up in a sense and said make her status known. Or she could have fully rejected that identity as a Moabite and said no, no, no, I'm not going to be a Moabite, I'm not going to be a Moabite, right. But no, she went in and yet she still Embraced her new identity and saying I'm going to, even though there's animosity and tension, I'm still going to step into this new identity of your God will be my God.

Speaker 1: 13:06

And so when I think about this story, especially just chapter one story, especially just chapter one, is stepping into your full identity, even when you don't know the outcome. In Jeremiah 29, 11,. It says For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you future and a hope. And so when Jesus invites us into a new identity with him because of what he's done on the cross, he's giving us an invitation to leave behind our old identity and embrace the new. That doesn't mean that you forget your old identity in the sense of memories and things like that, but you see it now from the lens of mercy and grace that was given because of Jesus and what he's done.

Speaker 1: 13:59

And so my challenge to you, or my question to reflect on, is what identity are you holding on to that God is inviting you to let go of? When we think about Ruth and how she said your God is going to be my God, right, she didn't say well, your God will be my God and Baal will still be my God and I'm going to carry the two in my hands and we'll figure out how we go, how we're going to balance these two together. Right, she was like no, I am going to fully embrace your God to be my God. So that means pagan practices that she's been growing up with she's letting go. And so what identity or what is it that maybe you're holding on to, and I pray the Lord reveal that to you. What are you holding on to that God is inviting you to let go of?

Speaker 1: 15:09

Thank you for listening in and supporting Freely she Could podcast. Before we end today's episode, I encourage you to invite other trusted people in your life to help process thoughts that come to your mind as you listen and make sure you follow and share. I hope you join us on Freely she Could Instagram and stay tuned for the next episode, where we will go deeper into creating space for God to continue to form our identity in him. Thanks y'all. See you next week.