|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
Ruth: Submission is Sexy and Spiritual? July 30, 2007 By Adeyinka Wyse
But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. I will go wherever you go and live wherever you live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. I will die where you die and will be buried there. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!” (Ruth 1: 16-17).
Wow, what devotion! How many of us can say that to anyone, let alone our mother-in law? Before I came to the Lord, my mantra was “the best mother-in-law is a dead mother-in-law!” And then the mother of the guy I was dating at that time died…go figure, right? I stopped saying that (but still thought it).
But this is not about mothers-in-law, and you know we could all have something to say on that subject. In fact, when I read this scripture, I thought “What an attitude to have toward your spouse, your life partner.” And here I mean ‘life partner’ in the strongest sense of the word—the biblical sense. Not as the world views or defines it for their purpose of the perversion of the institute of marriage.
God meant marriage to be for life, thus your partner in marriage is for life, hence a life partner. I thought that if I could just have that kind of attitude toward my husband, what a blessed marriage that would be. And how awesome it would be if he could have that attitude toward me. After all, God commanded the man to “…love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her to make her holy…” (Ephesians 5:25-26).
For me, He commanded: “…submit to your husband as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the Church, His body, of which He is the Saviour. Now as the Church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything” (Ephesians 5:22-24).
The Dirty Word Submission tends to be a dirty word to the independent, liberated, women’s lib ladies out there, but it is a word of promise and protection to the daughters of the King. It suddenly hit me—submission was what Ruth’s response to her mother-in-law was all about. She was submitting herself to Naomi, and in the end reaped the benefits of that submission. If you’ve read the story of Ruth, then you know that Ruth eventually gained the attention of a rich bachelor, who just happened to be her mother-in-law Naomi’s cousin. Because of the submission that shone through the beauty of her character, Ruth caught his attention and made him want to know more, and eventually he married her.
Ladies, reality check: submission is not about giving up our independence or will, but about being strong enough to set it aside for the good of all involved. Can anyone tell me Ruth wasn’t independent? She did have a mind of her own, and she was determined not to give into Naomi’s request to turn back. I’ll even go so far as to say she was stubborn. Picture this: three women are on a dusty and probably deserted road, a sad and pitiful bunch of women, weeping and carrying on as only we know how. Naomi finally turns to both her daughters-in-law and tells them to turn back. There is a bend in the road up ahead, and here’s where they must make their final goodbyes.
Naomi has no idea what lies ahead for her—she does not even know if she’ll have a roof over her head and food to eat. Her family had left in the midst of a severe famine, and who knew whether she would be able to get their land and property back. And here she was with two people in tow, strangers to the land at that.
Perhaps a level of self-preservation kicked in for Naomi. After all, wouldn’t it have been better for her to arrive alone rather than with two other people included in the package? One of the daughters-in-law, Orpah, latched on to the phrase about going back to Momma and all those gods she grew up worshipping, but may have had to stop because she’d married into a good Jewish home where they worshipped one God. Now she was being given the opportunity to go back to all that was familiar to her and that she had missed these past 10 years married to Naomi’s son. Likely she wanted to marry again, and from the sounds of what Naomi was saying, there seemed to be little possibility of that happening.
Orpah tearfully made her goodbyes and headed back for home and familiar territory. Naomi then turned to the remaining daughter-in-law. Ruth had a fire of determination in her eyes and emotionally talked about not leaving her (Ruth 1: 16-17) and that Naomi’s God was now her God, and she would die where Naomi died, and so on. She would not be deterred from her decision. She put her foot down and went head to head with her mother-in-law, while never stepping out of bounds of respect. Naomi acquiesced to Ruth’s request. She knew at this point that Ruth’s mind could not be changed from her course.
So now, can you tell me that Ruth was not independent, liberated, with a mind of her own? She did go against her mother-in-law’s wishes and disobeyed her by refusing to turn back, and they didn’t play that in those days. That’s my kind of woman, one who knows what she wants and goes after it. We see this again later on when at Naomi’s suggestion Ruth set her sights on Boaz. Naomi may have made the suggestion, but I believe Ruth was already open to it. She’d been in Boaz’ fields, seen him around, noted his respectful treatment of her, and witnessed his good treatment of his servants. She may even have noticed his interest in her (woman’s intuition) and suspected he had a lot to do with there being so much grain left behind in his fields for her to gather, that she always came back home laden with grain, and with more than enough food for her and Naomi.
God’s Protection Ladies, submission is God’s way of protecting and providing for us. Note how respectful and protective Boaz was of Ruth. He’d been away when she first started gathering in his fields, but he noticed her as soon as he got back and made sure she stayed close where he could protect and provide for her (Ruth 2:4-15). There’s something about a submissive woman that brings out the protectiveness of a godly man. When I read all that Boaz said and did the first time he saw Ruth, I realized that I want my husband to be the same way to me.
I want to be submissive first of all to my Lord and Savior. I want to arouse feelings of love, protection and provision in Him toward me. Then I want His feelings to spill over into my husband’s heart for me.
God’s Man A godly man knows how to treat a submissive woman, and not break her will and independence. He knows she is precious and unique, to be handled with special care. It’s beautiful that as a strong-willed, independent woman, I can trust the men (or currently, the Man) in my life to guard that independence and let me be true to myself, through their love for me.
My heart is overwhelmed with feelings when I think of being held in protective arms, and knowing heaven and earth will be moved to keep me safe and secure. My independence is of no consequence if my submission reaps such great rewards.
ninetyandnine.com
© 2007, Adeyinka Wyse
------- Adeyinka Wyse is a woman after God’s own heart, who works as a financial analyst in the retail clothing industry. She is a native of Sierra Leone, West Africa, currently in transition from Jacksonville, FL to Columbus, OH (go figure!). She is at this time, with God’s help, learning to enjoy herself and live life to the fullest.
|
|
|
