The Daily Fountain Devotional of the Church Of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 14 March 2026 – Patience And Determination: Key Virtues
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TOPIC: Patience And Determination: Key Virtues
READ: Ruth 1:14-22
14 At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.
15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”
16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.
17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
19 So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”
20 “Don’t call me Naomi,[a]” she told them. “Call me Mara,[b] because the Almighty[c] has made my life very bitter.
21 I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted[d] me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”
22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.
THE MESSAGE:
Initially, Orpah and Ruth had chosen to go with Naomi to her place. But Naomi discouraged them because age had caught up with her, so Orpah left. Ruth on the other hand, determined to stick to Naomi. Despite the negative experiences she witnessed around Naomi, she decided to set aside the bad memories of death and look forward to a better future in Naomi’s return to Bethlehem-Judah.
What a rare faith! Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. Naomi, through her woes, must have communicated God’s covenant to her daughters-in-law. and probably this is where the faith of Ruth in God grew from. Ruth may have reasoned that the same God who had allowed such calamity to come upon their household because of impatience and faithlessness. could turn it around, hence her responses: ” your God will be my God” (verse 16).”.. may the Lord do this to me, and even more. if anything but death separates you and me” (verse 17). Ruth was determined: she would prefer to go on the journey of faith with God patiently, though the future looked uinclear. We must learn from her decision. God is a rewarder of all who diligently seek Him.
PRAYER: Lord, please keep me going until You bring me into Your promises. Help me make the right choices and wait on You. Amen!
