When Naomi urged her daughters in law Orpah and Ruth to return to their homes and start their lives anew, Orpah left, but Ruth didn’t.

But Ruth said, “Don’t force me to leave you; don’t make me go home. Where you go, I go; and where you live, I’ll live. Your people are my people, your God is my god; where you die, I’ll die, and that’s where I’ll be buried, so help me God—not even death itself is going to come between us!” Ruth 1:16-17 (MSG version)

Ruth’s resolve to stay with her mother-in-law was a duty she could have easily shirked. Especially when Naomi herself released both Ruth and Orpah to find husbands for themselves. But Ruth rejected the easy way out and did what duty called her to do.

How often do we do our duty by others? When the going gets tough or the future gets bleak, we tend to let go or find greener pastures. Sometimes having a certain person in your life looks pointless. There seems nothing constructive stemming from that relationship: nothing except drudgery. But when that relationship calls us to legally/formally/spiritually fulfil a duty by that person, we need to be there for them. To fulfil God’s purpose. In their lives, in our own, and in the cosmos.

Sometimes physical fatigue, our own problems, preoccupation, work etc gets in the way of fulfilling our duty by others: lending a helping hand, listening patiently to a friend, helping a sibling with some work, running a boring errand. We need to allow God to use us for the purpose we’re supposed to fill in each others’ lives. To touch, support, heal, comfort people in ways and times we would never have imagined, but God intended all along. Being available instruments for God works towards a bigger picture too. Had Ruth not returned with Naomi, she would never had met Boaz, married him or produced the lineage that led to King David, and ultimately Christ our Saviour. Ruth’s choice to fulfil her duty by Naomi worked towards fulfilling a prophesy.