THE WAY – Kingdom Living Series: Teen Faith Edition
Key Text: Ruth 1–4
The Girl Who Stayed When It Made No Sense
The sun dipped behind the Judean hills as two widows stood on the road to Bethlehem. Naomi, weary from loss, turned to the younger woman beside her: ‘Go back to your people, Ruth.’ Logic said Ruth should leave. Her husband was dead. Her future uncertain. No promises waited in Israel—only hard work and whispers. Yet she refused to walk away: ‘Where you go, I will go; your people will be my people, and your God, my God.’ (Ruth 1:16) That decision changed history.
The World of Ruth
Ruth was a Moabite—a foreigner from a nation often despised by Israel. The Moabites were descendants of Lot through a scandalous story (Genesis 19:30–38) and were considered outsiders to God’s covenant people. Yet in this unlikely place, God found faith.
She was likely a young woman, barely in her twenties, who had tasted grief early—widowed, displaced, and burdened with care for her mother-in-law. But Ruth’s faith wasn’t loud or dramatic. It was steady. Her commitment in the ordinary—gleaning grain, honoring Naomi, trusting God quietly—became the soil of divine destiny.
