And I’ll Take That To Go…

“What would you like?” she asked me.

“I’d like an all-expense-paid two-week vacation to Hawaii that I’ll take all by myself. And when I get back I’d like my husband to have hired a maid, a cook, and a nanny. Oh and I’d like to discover that I had a rich uncle that just passed away and left me a million-dollar inheritance so we can finally fix our house up the way they do on Fixer Upper. And I’d like Chip and Joanna Gaines to do it. Please,” I replied.

The waitress looked shocked and then she said, “I meant, what would you like to eat?”

In all honesty, this conversation never went down. But it didn’t take me long to daydream up an answer to the question, “What would you like?” What frazzled mom, employee, daughter, human being hasn’t dreamt up an answer to this question?

Your answer might be different from mine. But we all want the same thing. What we want is the life we think we deserve. What we want is freedom: freedom from responsibility, freedom from money troubles, freedom to have the means to get what we want when we want it. We want what we think we need to make us happy.

But getting what we want when we want it isn’t true freedom. I could take a trip to Hawaii, but my troubles will follow me there, and my responsibilities will be waiting for me when I get back. I could hire people to help with my household work, but new stressors will find me. I could find myself with an unexpected sum of money and use it to create the home I’ve always coveted, but the perfect home cannot make me feel whole and complete.

True freedom doesn’t involve doing whatever we want, whenever we want with no one stopping us.

True freedom involves surrender.

True freedom comes only when we lay down our ideas of what the perfect life looks like and surrender to God’s perfect plan for our lives.

Blessing Through A Widow

I believe Ruth experienced this kind of surrender:

But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to 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. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” 

– Ruth 1:16-17

When faced with the choice to abandon her destitute mother-in-law to seek the security and peace of a life with a husband and children or stay with Naomi, move to a completely foreign land, and forsake all prospects of prosperity and rest, Ruth chose her mother-in-law.

She surrendered her idea of what a perfect life would look like and chose a life of known hardship.

She surrendered her idea of freedom and chose to be obedient to her new God.

She chose the unknown of God’s will because she had discovered through Naomi that this was the only way to find true freedom and true rest.

And life was hard for Ruth and Naomi. They had no source of income and no one to care for and protect them. Ruth endured the hard labor of following after the reapers in the fields to glean for herself and Naomi for months! This was the only way they could survive.

But something amazing happens when we choose to obey. God takes what we thought we wanted and gives us something greater. He turns our idea of freedom and rest on its head and provides for us in ways we could not have imagined. Surrendering to God leads to greater, more joyful lives.

Here’s what happened to Ruth and Naomi:

 “So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son. Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel! He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.”

– Ruth 4:13-15

God blessed Ruth with more than she could have asked for or imagined. He chose to bring the Messiah forth from her line. Through Ruth’s lineage, the entire world has been blessed.

Ruth did not live her life striving for those things that she thought would bring her happiness. She surrendered her idea of happiness and made the difficult decision to obey God. And God blessed her.

This wasn’t a reward for her incredible faith. This was the chosen grace of a sovereign God providing for his beloved daughter exactly what she needed – and He was glorified because of it. Her story is not without hardship and trial. Ruth suffered because she chose to obey. But God, in His faithfulness, provided abundantly for Ruth, and through her He blessed the entire world.

Free Indeed

What Ruth knew, that I need to know, is the life and freedom that I want won’t come because of my own striving for it.

True freedom comes in a life lived in obedience to God.

True freedom comes when I give up what I think I need and embrace what God has planned for me.

True freedom comes when I can pray without reservation, “Thy will be done.”

Jesus talked about this freedom.

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

– John 8:34-36

Jesus taught us that the life we want doesn’t come by giving in to our sinful desires but by abandoning them. He showed us that He, Himself bought and paid for this ability to abandon our sin and has clothed us in His own righteousness. Through His blood, Jesus changes our hearts desires and helps us to embrace a life of surrender, obedience, and true freedom.

Whatever it is today that you think you need to be happy (whether it be a two-week vacation, or simply another cup of coffee) I encourage you to surrender your desires at the foot of the cross. Remember that all we have in Jesus is more than enough for an abundant, joyful life. Ask Him to change your heart and its desires so that nothing is more appealing to you than living in obedience to Him.

This morning I am praying for you, friend, that you might find a better life lived in obedience to the Lord. For He is the only one who can make that life greater than you could possibly imagine.

For more on the life of Ruth, check out this sermon by Timothy Keller called An Immigrant’s Courage.

Or check out my Free Inductive Bible Study Workbook on the book of Ruth by signing up for my email list here.