SINGLE SISTERS IN DIASPORA
“…….He calls you my pure and undefiled one”
Ruth 1:22 ‘So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter in law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.’
The story of Ruth as a single woman who had chosen to follow and be bound to the Lord will be a blessing to us as single ladies. You may not have met Ruth but you sure have met Sade, Chidinma....and YOU! I am so pleased to meet you today. The Holy Spirit will have us learn from this single lady: Ruth who had become bound to the Lord and was returning out of her own country to another. Ruth obviously had challenges that we can identify with even today. We will look at some in this edition.
a. Her identity:
Ruth 2:5 “Boaz asked the man in charge, "Who is that young woman?"
Ruth 2:6 “The man answered, "She is the foreigner who came back from Moab with Naomi”.
Ruth was a Moabitess in Bethlehem. She was a Moabitess who had met with the Lord through her mother-in-law. However, she was in a land where the ways and culture of the people was not what she had known for the most part of her life. Although, she was now separate from Moab and had chosen to go with Naomi, she yet was called a MOABITESS: a foreigner.
One challenge single sisters have to deal with in their new locations is identity. Questions like “who am I? Who do I want to be known as? Will I want to be seen as a "CHRISTIAN"? What reputation do I want to bear? Do I trade my JESUS CULTURE and take on society culture so that I will be accepted?” It doesn’t stop at just you many times; it progresses on to ‘what do people call me?’ ‘I want to be called a "Bethlehemite" even though I really am a Moabitess. I want to look like, talk, and act like them’.
2Co 10:12 “For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.”
Sister you are unique! The scripture above tells us that comparisons only produce one thing: FOOLISHNESS. Your identity is this; the daughter of the King of nations: your Lord! Do you know how much inheritance you have walked into as a daughter of the king? Tribe, nation of origin, and the many things that look really "cool" do not define you. This is what defines you sister irrespective of where you are located: the presence of the Lord that you carry!
Exo 33:16 “How will anyone know that you are pleased with your people and with me if you do not go with us? Your presence with us will distinguish us from any other people on earth."
The presence of God in you is what gives you identity. Therefore please do not lose it, keep it. The pure wisdom of God in you teaches you how to (like Brother Paul) become all things to all men without displeasing God, that many may by you come to God and not blaspheme His name.
b. Company:
Ruth 2:9 “watch them to see where they are reaping and stay with them. I have ordered my men not to molest you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and drink from the water jars that they have filled."
Looking for and getting Godly Company (especially people like us, with whom you can forget about all the phonetics!) is another issue Godly sisters face. However, Boaz’s action here is a type of what the Father does for us. He sets us in homes (Psalm 68:6). Many times we just need to be open to receive the people of different color and race God sets us with. Ruth overcame. She was a Moabitess and may have felt queer among the other women initially, she however left her comfort zone and set out to be with the godly women with whom she could be SAVE AND NOT MOLESTED!
Ruth 2:22 ‘Naomi said to Ruth, "Yes, daughter, it will be better for you to work with the women in Boaz' field. You might be molested if you went to someone else's field."
Do not keep wrong company, remember Dinah. The Lord rebukes even kings for your sake and orders them not to molest you. However, do not walk out of His covering. Be wise!
c. Income/ job:
“Ruth 2:2 One day Ruth said to Naomi, "Let me go to the fields to gather the grain that the harvest workers leave. I am sure to find someone who will let me work with him." Naomi answered, "Go ahead, daughter."
Getting a honorable job; a good source of bread on our table is also another challenge single ladies have a lot of times. Ruth went to pick from the fields. She was not too exalted to be responsible. It is needful to say that as long as that job God provides you helps you make honest gains, it is not ridiculing.
Some of us may however have delays with getting a job, look up to your source, the El-Shaddai, He will set bread on your tables and guide you into fertile lands. Never submit to the pressures to exchange the Lord’s temple (your body), your gifts, Grace, callings and the dignity that God has endued you with for mere bread. Remember Esau, he sold his birthright and the Lord said he was a profane man (Heb 12:16). He sought it with tears and never found it. Joseph however waited, Esther waited and in a strange land, God gave them thrones!
Many societal cultures that negate the word of God (homo-sexualism, co-habitation, infidelity before marriage, nudity, and many perverted ideas of man called liberty) which are quite peculiar depending on our different locations are targeted at harassing the purity and tenderness of Godly singles who are passionate for God.
However, be of good cheer, keep your identity: the presence of God, and He will set you on high because you have set your love on Him. Ruth pulled through and she overcame: she was grafted from nothingness into the lineage of our Christ! You will overcome too for God is continually at work in you.
Stay pure, submitted to God, blessed and rapturable!
