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by GLENN PEASE
04/25/18
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Based on Ruth 1:14-22

      Alexander Solzhenitsyn is one of the great modern examples of the power of determination. He served time in the Siberian waste land for making a disparaging remark about Stalin in a letter. He endured six years of imprisonment, when he suddenly discovered the joy of writing. He was suffering for his writing, but he felt an urge to write things down. His mind was alive with ideas he wanted to get into words on paper. But, of course, it was impossible to do, for any scrap of paper he would write on would be confiscated, and cause suspicion. No matter how innocent the lines, they could be construed to be a code of some kind, and he would be in deeper trouble.

     I am sure we are all agreed, these are not the conditions conducive to producing a mediocre writer, let alone, a world famous writer. Only the most determined mind would even bother to try and figure out how to start a writing career in such a setting. Solzhenitsyn had just such a mind. He would write down 12 to 20 lines at a time, and then memorize them and burn the paper. Daily he would go over the lines in his head. He noticed the Catholics with their rosaries, and he saw how this could be an aid to his
memory. He made his own rosary out of a hundred pieces of hardened bread. The Catholics were annoyed at his religious devotion, for their rosaries only had 40 beads. Everywhere he went, as he stood in line, and marching to work, he was fingering his beads. Nobody could know that he was memorizing what he had written. By the end of his sentence he had 12 thousand lines in his head, and as a free man he quickly put them on paper, and was on his way to becoming one of the most read authors of the 20th century.

     The old saying that where there is a will there is a way is confirmed over and over again. People with a spirit of determination are doing the improbable all the time, and by the grace and providence of God, sometimes even the impossible. Some people are just gifted with this spirit of determination. Most of the great scientist and inventors of history have had to have this spirit, for only those who can endure and enormous load of failure, disappointment, ridicule, and resistance, can ever survive long enough to produce anything new. Only the determined spirit is willing to risk doing what everyone else considers foolish.

     All of Boston thought Frederick Tudor was mad when he conceived the idea of cutting blocks of ice from his father's pond, and shipping it to the tropics. But he did it anyway. He set sail with 130 tons of ice to the island of Martinique. The blazing sun was diminishing his frozen assets rapidly, just as everyone said it would. The ice cream he made in his hand freezer did become an instant success, and he made $300.00 the first day. But he lost $3,500.00 because his ice melted too fast. That should have been an end of another hair-brained idea, but he was determined it could be done. He developed better ways to cut, pack, and transport ice. To make a long story short, the Tudor Ice Company made him a millionaire and the ice king. He was on of those people to whom you do not say, it can't be done. Longfellow, the poet, visited Tudor once, and he was taken to see his wheat field by the sea. Longfellow wrote, "Having heard that wheat will not grow in such a place, he is determined to make it grow there."

     History is loaded with such determined people, and so is the Bible, and so is the book of Ruth in particular. The book only exists because of Ruth's determination to stick with Naomi regardless of the cost, and in spite of the opposition, and the unlikely prospects of a happy future. Take away this determined spirit of Ruth, and you are down to 65 books of the Bible, for Ruth would have gone back to Moab, and God would have had to find someone else to fulfill His purpose. Ruth is a powerful example of the destiny determining power of a determined spirit. Like Christian in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, she had many obstacles in her path, and only a very determined spirit could have kept her going. She had depressing circumstances, for they were basically helpless widows with all the men in their lives gone, and the future not looking very bright.

     She had disappointments. First Orpha deserted the cause. She started as part of this weeping trio, but it was soon a duet, for she turned back. She did not have the determined spirit of Ruth. She did not see beyond the clouds of the present the sunlight ahead, so she turned back to the known, rather than walk with determination into the unknown. She wept, for she truly loved Naomi and Ruth, but she could not face the fearful future with faith, and so she went back. This kind of peer pressure would be an obstacle to Ruth's determination, but she weathered that disappointment. Then she had the greater disappointment of being urged to go back by Naomi herself. Many people give their determination when the people they love most oppose them. It hurts, and feels like rejection, even if you know they think they are doing what is best for you. Ruth met this greatest obstacle head on, and confirmed Masefield's words, "There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, can circumvent, or hinder, or control the firm resolve of a determined soul."

     The beauty of Ruth's example is that she reveals the distinction between being a determined person and a stubborn person. The mule-headed person does not win our admiration, for somehow this seems to be taking the virtue of determination to an extreme, and making it a vice. Only one of the 102 Pilgrim's on the Mayflower died on the voyage to America. William Butten died due to stubbornness. He ignored the warning that his refusal to drink lemon juice daily could lead to scurvy. He refused to swallow the sour stuff. He was determined to make it without the aid of this well-known preventative measure. His stubborn resistance was no virtue, and he paid for it with his life. A determined person is not one who is closed to the wisdom and guidance of others. It is true, they have to resist the negative thinking that is constantly trying to cloud their dream, and rain on their parade, but they have to be open to any idea that can help them achieve their goal.

     Ruth resisted all of Naomi's arguments for going back. She resisted the peer pressure of Orpha's decision to forsake her. She was as determined as one can get. Yet, as we read on, we see Ruth was so open, flexible, and ready to follow the advise of Naomi. In chapter 3 Naomi tells her to do some strange things, but verse 5 says Ruth responded, "I will do whatever you say," and she did. To be a determined person is not the same as being non-cooperative and stubborn at all. Ruth was not stubborn, but very pliable and cooperative. By her two fold response of determination and surrender to guidance, Ruth forces us to look more closely at the subject of determination. The first thing we see is that there is such a thing as-

I. DEFECTIVE DETERMINATION.

     It is not an absolute virtue, but can even become a vice that hinders us in being a part of God's plan. Naomi was also determined that both Orpha and Ruth would go back to Moab, and she did her best to paint a negative future so they would. Her pessimism got through to Orpha, but failed to penetrate the deeper determination of Ruth. The point is, she too was determined. In fact, there are no non-determined people in this book. Elimelech was determined to move out of Israel to Moab, and make a better life for himself. Orpha was determined to go back to Moab, and make a better life for herself. Naomi was determined to go back to Bethlehem to make a better life for herself. Boaz was determined to get Ruth as his wife and have a better life for himself. There are no characters in this book who are not determined.

     When you study the evil characters of the Bible, you discover such things as the depraved determination of Herod to kill the babies of Bethlehem. You have the defiant determination of Goliath, and others, to destroy the people of Israel. You have the detestable determination of Ahab and Jezebel to rob Naboth of his garden. You have the devious and devilish determination of the Pharisees to trap Jesus by their trick questions. Satan inspires one despicable determination after another in his own determination to make evil superior to good.

     Hitler was the power for evil he was in history, because of his deadly determination to destroy the Jews. Seldom does anyone become successful in evil or good without the spirit of determination. So what we need to see is that the determined spirit is not inherently good. There is a defective side to it. It is a tool, and like all tools it can be used for good or evil. The knife can save a life or take a life. The virtue or vice, therefore, is not in the knife, but in the one who possesses the tool. So it is with the determined spirit. Determination is only a virtue when it is energy devoted to taking you in the right direction to ward a destination that is consistent with the will of God.

     For example, there in nothing inconsistent with God's will to go to Florida. So if I am determined to go to Florida, that could very well be a virtue. But what if, in my determination, I hide in the back of a truck with a Florida license plate, and do not realize it is going North to Canada. My determination has now become a liability, for it has put me heading in the wrong direction. It has become a defective determination. Just being determined is not enough, unless it is energy taking you in the right direction to achieve a good goal. Because determination can become your worst enemy, as well as your best friend, you need to learn to use this tool wisely, or it can backfire.

     Now the conflict of Ruth's determination and that of Naomi's, gives us an insight into how we can evaluate our determination to see if is desirable or defective. One of these two ladies had to back off, and recognize their determination to have it their own way was defective, and not right to pursue. Naomi, wisely seen Ruth's determination to stick with her, back down, and practice what I see as deferred determination. To defer means to yield to the wishes of another. Naomi was convinced it was best for Ruth to leave her. She would no longer have to worry about anyone but herself, and no longer feel responsible for another's happiness, and Ruth would escape the difficult adjustment of finding acceptance as a foreigner in a new land. Naomi was honestly convinced it was the wise and lovely way to go. But when she was confronted with Ruth's even stronger determination to stay with her, she had to evaluate her own determination. When two determined people meet with views that are incompatible, which one should defer to the other?

     We know Naomi was wise in deferring to Ruth's determination, for her whole destiny depended on Ruth's coming with her. But does it help us, and give us a clue as to how to resolve a conflict of determination? Yes it does. It establishes a rule of thumb by which we can examine our situation. The rule of thumb is this: If your determination is negative, and the other is positive, you should defer, and yield to the positive. Like is to complex to call this an absolute law, but it is a rule of thumb that even God follows.

     The reason this is the best way to go is because God practices this rule. God was angry at Israel for their sin and folly, and He was determined to wipe them off the face of the earth in His wrath. Moses was equally determined that God should show mercy, and give them another chance. God deferred his negative determination, and honored Moses's positive determination. What is good enough for God should be good enough for us all. God also deferred to Abraham when he was determined to lower the number of righteous people needed to spare Sodom.

     Paul and Barnabus, you recall, came to a conflict of determinations. Paul was determined that Mark should not go with them on their missionary journey, and Barnabus was determined that he should. Neither one would defer to the other. God used it for good, as they went their separate ways, and covered more territory, but later Paul acknowledged that Mark was a great servant of Christ, and we have the hint that Paul would have been wise to have surrendered his negative position, and deferred to the positive one of Barnabus.

     The problem with being determined from a negative view is that you become a block and a hindrance to those who may have the destiny of the future in their decision. Such was the case with Ruth and Naomi. History reveals that those who are determined to take risks and strive for something new, are the ones who determine the future. It is not a virtue to be stubborn, and hold to a conviction when there is enormous evidence that it has no foundation.

        Listen to this voice of a very determined person. "To me truth is precious.....I should rather be right and stand alone than to run with the multitude and be wrong....The holding of the views herein set forth has already won for me the scorn and contempt and ridicule of some of my fellow men. I am looked upon as being odd, strange, peculiar....But truth is truth and though all the world reject it and turn against me, I will cling to truth still." This is from the mouth of Charles Silvester de Ford, who in 1931 wrote his book defending his conviction that the earth is flat. You can laugh at him, but he and many other pseudo scientists have a large gathering of people who hold to this conviction with stubborn determination.   The entire religious group called The Christian Apostolic Church in Zion, holds and defend this view to this very day. These deeply devout people feel the rest of the Christian world has been led astray by modern science, and they alone have preserved the truth.

     These people have many other strange ideas. They consider themselves Christian fundamentalists, who take every word of the Bible as literally true, and they are determined to reject the findings of modern science. They fail to realize how many modern scientists they turn off to the Christian faith. Their determination is nothing but a stubbornness which has made many intelligent people mock the faith they represent. Frank Gunsaulas, a great preacher from Chicago, was introduced once as being a man with a backbone, because he had strong convictions. He responded by saying, "I hope I have a backbone, but I also hope it has some joints in it so that I may be able to bend. If it hasn't, then it isn't a backbone but a crowbar." He went on to say, "A great many people mistake their prejudices for convictions and take credit for being very strong-minded when in reality they are just stubborn."

     Did you hear about the news reporter who was covering a terrible flood? The reporter rowed a boat down Main street and saw a woman sitting on her roof. Believing it would be a great place from which to cover the disaster, he pulled his boat over near the woman and dropped anchor. As they sat there, soon a chicken coop filled with chickens floated by. Some time later a horse with a broken tether floated by. Within moments the reporter noticed a baseball cap floating on the water - traveling 40 feet, making a U-turn and returning to the point of origin. After watching the cap make several rounds, the reporter asked the woman if she noticed the floating, revolving cap. The woman said, "Oh sure, my husband, George, said he was going to mow the lawn come hell or high water!" Here is a case of pure stubbornness, and it is no virtue.

     Naomi had her convictions too, but she was ready to back off, and not press them on Ruth, when she saw that Ruth's convictions was also strong, and that she was making a positive commitment, and all she was doing was fighting for a negative. She had a backbone with joints, and she bent for Ruth, and that joint in her backbone became the hinge upon which the whole story of Ruth turned. A stubborn Naomi could have stifled the plan of God before it even began. The book of Ruth teaches us that a determined spirit can be detrimental. Therefore, it needs to be examined and evaluated. And if found to be a matter to stubbornness, and resistance to more positive spirit, it should be deferred and surrendered for the sake of giving the positive a chance to work.

     This means that the converse of this is also true. If you are one with a positive determination, you should be persistent in the face of many negatives, until they in wisdom yield. This is what Ruth did, and that is why her life is a study, not in defective determination, but in-

II. DESIRABLE DETERMINATION.

     From the beginning to the end of the book Ruth's determination is devout, delightful, and desirable. She is one of those rare Biblical characters without any visible warts. She is not sinless we know, but there are no sins in the record. She is one of the most Christlike personalities in the Scripture. The other three women in the genealogy of Christ all have dark blots on their record, but she has none.

     It is extremely difficult to be wise as a serpent, and harmless as a dove. It is hard to be a determined person, and still be able to bend to the wisdom and guidance of others, so that you are not guilty of being stubborn. Michangelo was such a gifted artist, and he has done much to glorify God through the works of man. But this determined man was also very stubborn, and it was not an asset to his personality. When he was painting the famous Sistine Chapel he was 65 years old. He fell and injured his leg. Typical of the stubborn male, he shut himself up in his house alone, and suffered the pain and the depression, and refused to see a doctor. Fortunately, he had a doctor friend who loved art, and who visited him and discovered his injury. In spite of Michangelo's protest, he stayed and nursed him back to health. Being determined to do what is not wise is not a desirable determination. We need to learn to yield to those who know what is wise.

     We should strive to bring good out of evil, and use life's lemons to make lemonade, but when this is used to cover up the reality of evil and folly, it is a vice and not virtue. The Jews have a delightful story to illustrate the folly that can come from the determination to find value in all things. A fire broke out in the synagogue, and all the citizens of Chelm rushed to the fiercely burning building to extinguish the blaze. When the fire had been put out, the Rabbi mounted a table and addressed the crowd. He wanted to be optimistic in the midst of the charred mess, and so he said, "My friends, this fire was a miracle sent from heaven." There were murmurs of surprise all through the group. The Rabbi went on, "Look at this way, if it were not for the bright flames, how would we have been able to see to put the fire out on such a dark night?"

     There is such a thing as superficial optimism, as we see illustrated in this limerick.There was an old fellow from Maine, Whose legs were cut off by a train. When his friends said, how sad! He replied I am glad, For I've now lost my varicose vein.

     Wiser is the way of Ruth, for she did not call evil good, but wept at the loss of their husbands. She wept at the lonely future they faced. It was not good, but very bad, yet she was determined to ride out the storm, and never turn back. You do not have to call everything good to believe there is good out ahead for those who press on in faith. It is like Columbus facing an unknown world, but with a conviction that the dream can be fulfilled, if we only press on. Columbus was almost alone in his dream. The rest of the world thought him mad, and his own crew was about ready to mutiny, throw him overboard, and turn back to Spain. He was determined to sail on, and Edwin Markham describes his determination in poetry.

The long day and the longer night,
And seas rushed by in eager flight.
Then frightened sailors raised a cry:
"We feel the terror of the sky.

Turn back, great admiral," they moaned:
"We cannot dare the dark unknown.
Soon we shall totter on the brink;
Soon into utter darkness sink!"

"No, no," the daring chief replied:
"The earth is round, the sea is wide;
Keep all the sails aloft, and steer
Into the West: The shores are near!"

     We know his was a desirable determination, for had all the others had their negative way, history would have been radically different. Columbus had a positive hope, and he refused to give it up, and his dream came true, just as Ruth's did. Ruth had to sail on and on in spite of the seemingly endless ocean of grief. She had to sail on in spite of Naomi's pressure to go back. She had to sail on in spite of being a foreigner, and a poor person. She had to overcome the barriers between Jews and Gentiles, she had a lot of hindrances to her hopes, but she was determined to press on, and her dream came true as well. The book of Ruth makes it clear that life can be a battle to escape detrimental determination, and to embrace desirable determination.

     The best of Christians fight against the detrimental. This is what the temptation of Christ is all about. To be so determined to achieve a goal that you will even go the wrong direction to get there. D. L. Moody tells of being on a train where some young men recognizing him began to mock him with hymn singing and mimicking his preaching. He was disturbed and called the conductor. They were quiet for a while, but they knew they were getting to him, and they started up again. Moody could feel the anger rising in him, and he came very close to striking one of them. He faced the conflict of a double determination. The negative was to express wrath, and the positive to express long suffering patience. Fortunately, his negative determination deferred to the positive, and he controlled his temper.

    Jesus conquered temptation because He was governed by a desirable determination. He set his face steadfastly to go to the cross, and He endured all the pain and rejection, because of His determination to fulfill the Father's will. He had His destination determined, and He knew there was only one direction to go to get there. This kept Him from all deviations into deficient determinations. What you are determined to achieve determines your destiny. It was so with Ruth; it was so with our Lord, and it is so with us all.

      James Cash was told by his father at age 12 he would have to buy his own clothes from then on. He was so proud of his first pair of shoes he paid for with his own money. He fell in love with clothes, and got a job with a dry good store selling clothes. As soon as he could he become a store owner in Wyoming. He was so determined that he succeeded in opening up a whole chain of James Cash Penny stores. His determination, however, drove him to a break down, and he ended up in a mental institution. While there he heard Christian music coming from down the hall, and it struck a responsive cord in his life, and took him back to his youth in Missiouri. He went to that service, and then he got his life on a new track of determination, and for the rest of his life, it was J. C. Penny the Christian. He wrote, lectured, and put a fortune into the Layman's movement for a Christian World. His determination in going the right direction led him to a destiny for God's glory, and the eternal good of masses of people. May God motivate us by the determined spirit of others, and especially of Ruth, to be determined to achieve goals that are pleasing to God, for this means our destiny will be determined by desirable determination.

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