Staying When it Doesn't Make Sense

​It can be hard to find anyone or anything that’s constant and steady in today's world. The pace and mindset seems to be growing faster, more frantic, and more concerned with self. Things end just as quickly as they started, people come, people go. An idea springs up and gets suffocated by lack of success. So we move on. We get discouraged, we get frustrated, we get pushed too far, and we leave the situation.

Side note: I’m definitely including myself in this. I'm not writing this because I have it all together; I'm writing it because I honestly struggle with selfishness and inconsistency.

Where has faithfulness gone? Is it too risky in our society? When we must choose

between meeting our needs or someone else’s, is there even a moment of hesitation anymore?

Faithful: steadfast in affection or allegiance; firm in adherence to promises or in observance of duty: conscientious. (Merriam Webster Dictionary)

Pursuing faithfulness is in no way simple or easy. Even in the most fundamental form, faithfulness requires a whole lot from us- our time, our plans, our desires. In the past few months, I’ve come across two stories in the Bible that show a level of faithfulness that at first glance seem illogical, foolish even.

The story of ruth

​The first story is a well-known and beautiful portrayal of faithfulness and love. Because of a famine in Bethlehem, Naomi, her husband, and their two sons move to Moab. Naomi’s husband dies, and soon her sons marry Moabite women, Ruth and Orpah. Both of Naomi’s sons end up dying as well, leaving her and her two daughters-in-law behind. News comes that there is food in Bethlehem again, so Naomi prepares to return to her home town.

8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. 9 May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.” {Ruth 1:8-9}

Notice the beautiful blessing Naomi gives her daughters-in-law. Although they’ve all suffered loss, she recognizes that there is still a hopeful future for Ruth and Orpah in Moab, the only home they’ve known. It would make the most sense for them to stay, and Naomi expects them to want to.

Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud 10 and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”

11 But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? 12 Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— 13 would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!”

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. {Ruth 1:9-18}

In extreme selflessness, bravery, and faithfulness, Ruth refuses to let Naomi return to Bethlehem and finish her life alone. Soon after moving to this town where she is a foreigner and widow, Ruth ends up falling in love with and marrying Boaz, an extremely kind, Godly husband. She has a son with him, who in future years ends up being the father of David’s father. (The whole story can be found in the book of Ruth.)

the story of ittai

​The second story is found in 2 Samuel. King David and his men are leaving Jerusalem, fleeing from his son Absalom who is conspiring to take over the throne. As the men march past David on the way out of the city, he notices a commander named Ittai and his men are coming along.

19 The king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why should you come along with us? Go back and stay with King Absalom. You are a foreigner, an exile from your homeland. 20 You came only yesterday. And today shall I make you wander about with us, when I do not know where I am going? Go back, and take your people with you. May the Lord show you kindness and faithfulness.”

21 But Ittai replied to the king, “As surely as the Lord lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether it means life or death, there will your servant be.”

22 David said to Ittai, “Go ahead, march on.” So Ittai the Gittite marched on with all his men and the families that were with him. {2 Samuel 15:19-22}

Ittai and his men, although they aren’t expected or pressured to, stay faithful to David. Later, in 2 Samuel 18:2, David puts a third of his army under Ittai's command when the army goes to fight Absalom’s army. Ittai’s faithfulness proves to be a blessing to both himself and all the people of David’s army. 

There are three points I’ve taken away from these two stories that can speak into our lives today.

1. Faithfulness is often unexpected and unrequired. People aren’t used to being shown faithfulness. We’re used to selfishness, and so we expect to face our problems alone. We send people away, intending to set them free from our burdens. Notice that Ruth and Ittai were initially blessed and dismissed by Naomi and David, freed to pursue their own safety and happiness. No one expected them to stay.

2. Faithfulness draws attention. Staying around to help someone in their own mess is radical. Because people usually don’t expect it, it draws attention. People will likely wonder why we do it. It’s up to us to show the character of our Savior in this way and openly attribute it to Him. 

3. Faithfulness can bring about God’s will and lead to blessing. In the cases of both Ruth and Ittai, their faithfulness ended up leading to blessing. Ruth found an amazing husband and Ittai became the commander of 1/3 of David’s army. Blessing isn’t always simply getting what you want, though. God often uses people who are willing to obey and sacrifice to accomplish His greater plan. Without Ruth showing faithfulness by moving to Bethlehem, she never would have met her husband—and King David wouldn’t have been born at all!

This level of unexpected, radical faithfulness is a lot to give. It’s a lofty goal that won’t come with just a few days of trying. Becoming the type of person who willingly gives of yourself and sticks around when things get tough? That takes a lifetime of making intentional decisions, big and small, every day. But it’s so crucial, and it can surely be done in God's name.