SPECIAL DEVOTION

H. Jensen

Genesis 24: 54–58; Ruth 1: 15–19 (to “Bethlehem”) 2 Samuel 15: 19–22

I thought of these three persons, dear brethren, as our brother was speaking about there being great need for special devotion in the day in which we are living. They are three persons often drawn attention to in ministry and in meetings like this, because they represented in their own time the very spirit of Christ, which became manifest in the way they were prepared in devotion to commit themselves; they made committals. There are others that we could have read about that the Spirit of God has drawn attention to, and continues to draw attention to, in view of our taking example from them in order that we might be marked by the same kind of spirit, the spirit of energetic response to the challenge that was raised with them in relation to what God was doing.

Rebecca is a most remarkable example of a sister taking a vow, like the special vow of a Nazarite. I often think of the Nazarite’s vow being related to the masculine side, but, as our brother pointed out again tonight, the scripture says that it could be a man or a woman. So this is a beloved young sister. Genesis 24 indicates that she was very remarkable for such a young person—a young sister, we might say. The section I read follows much that opens up how remarkable she was, so responsive and energetic that the servant of Abraham was astonished at her, astonished that the work of God in her was responding to the very prayer that he had spoken to God before he met her. Now here is a sister who is typical of the assembly in her response to the overtures and the attractive appeals of this servant of Abraham’s, typical of the Holy Spirit.

So the Holy Spirit has great joy and admiration in relation to the assembly, but then, to bring it down to myself, what could have hindered her, and what could hinder me, or any one of us, she was prepared to overcome. What a wonderful thing that is as an example for us! So here the servant is prepared to be sent away and quickly go back to his master. Because of the success of that in which God had helped him in bringing to light an answer for the heart of Isaac, he wanted quickly to get back to fulfil his mission. So he says, “Send me away to my master”, but immediately this hindrance is raised by Rebecca’s brother and her mother, “Let the maiden abide with us some days”; then they modified it and said, “or say ten”. First they were a little vague as to what they meant, but then they narrowed it down to ten days. But the servant was not content with that; he would have matters move on quickly because of the way God was prospering his movements. He says, “Do not hinder me, seeing Jehovah has prospered my way: send me away, and I will go to my master”.

So they proposed to enquire of the maiden and they called her and asked her, “Wilt thou go with this man?”, and her answer is so direct, “I will go”—no questions asked; there is no lack to be pointed out as there was with the young man in Mark 10, “One thing lackest thou”; there was nothing lacking with her, and yet she could have raised so many things, no doubt, that could have hindered her from going immediately with the servant. There were no doubt many things that she needed to care for; younger people always have lots of things to keep them and hold them, and hinder them, and it is true too with us that are older. Apparently she was prepared to leave all those things aside and go immediately. So her answer is so simple and direct, “I will go”. Dear brethren, can we be like that?—“I will go”; I will devote myself; I will answer to the challenge; I am prepared to make a special vow; that is what I believe the Spirit of God is raising in the ministry tonight amongst us.

Then Ruth is similar, a very attractive person whom we have often spoken about. I need not say much because her committal is so full and so genuine, and without any recall. Of course, she was overcoming what might naturally influence her in her sister-in-law Orpah having gone back to her people and her gods in Moab. What an influence that could have been on Ruth!

We think of her as a younger person also, because younger people tend to follow younger people and are influenced by them; and yet Ruth makes such a full committal to Naomi.

There is no question about her committal when she finishes what she has to say; again, it is like that special vow of the Nazarite, “she was stedfastly minded to go with her”, a very remarkable matter. Her words are more extensive than Rebecca’s, no more genuine, but far more extensive, in that she commits herself right through the testimonial period, for her whole life. As far as she is concerned right through to death she is prepared to stay with Naomi in relation to the people of God.

So when Naomi “saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her, she left off speaking to her”. Then we have the beautiful verse, “And they two went until they came to Bethlehem”.

We see those two beloved women moving on together. You might say, Did not they fear the robbers on the way? Did they not fear the vicissitudes of the path as they went back to Bethlehem? Think of how many things could have been obstacles to them, particularly for Ruth who did not know what kind of people she was going back to, other than what was represented to her in Naomi. What was said to her by Naomi was attractive enough for her to go along side by side with her mother-in-law. Well, that has been our experience, has it not, that what we have found in one another, what has been manifested in the way of devotion and feelings—even in bitter and sorrowful experiences on the part of our beloved brethren with whom we meet and walk—has often been the leverage by which committals were made. I am prepared to stand with that brother, with that sister, because I know their devotion to Christ.

So they went together until they came to Bethlehem. What a wonderful thing that is! Abraham and Isaac “went both of them together”. What a great principle that is for us in these days, going on together in relation to the testimony. They were very testing days for Naomi and Ruth, extremely testing, both of them widows, both of them bereft of their companions. This affects so many at the present time, beloved brethren bereft of their companions, yet going on, going on together in relation to the testimony.

In Samuel we have another set of circumstances where the position was that David was in rejection and fleeing for his life because a usurper had taken over the throne. Ittai comes to light here as one who was going to continue with David. Whatever the position of rejection that David was found in, whatever was happening back in Jerusalem where the usurper had gained ascendancy, power, influence and authority, Ittai was going to go with David. So while David was the one who sought to direct him back to Jerusalem, I suppose he was only testing him out as to what his committals really were.

It says, “And the king said”, that is David, it is not Absalom, “Why dost thou also go with us? return to thy place, and abide with the king”. Well, he meant Absalom, of course, when he said that. Have we not been tested out along these lines, beloved brethren, many times over indeed? But I suppose the test comes to us even afresh tonight as to the possibility of leaving a position of rejection and going to a position where things are more favourable. Absalom would probably have received Ittai with open arms and made much of him back there in Jerusalem. But his committal, in spite of all that David says to him, is, “As Jehovah liveth”—What a remarkable statement! “As Jehovah liveth, and as my lord the king liveth, surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be”. He is a very remarkable man, facing and accepting the matter of death, because that could have been the outcome of going with David. Death could have stared him in the face because of the way Absalom had gained the ascendancy, and the way David was going to be pursued by Absalom’s armies. So he is facing the matter of death first of all; “whether in death or life” he is going to be committed to David—“there also will thy servant be”. Then, like Naomi, David leaves off the attempt to influence him to leave him and says, “Go and pass over”. Think of the influence of this man! O, dear brethren, we little realize what an influence any of us may have. It says, “and all his men, and all the little ones that were with him” passed over. Well, what kind of influence can I be to anyone, those with me, or my little ones?

Now what a test that is for most of us. Most of us are thankful that we can cling to our David personally, but here is a man who influenced others to do the same. It is like Cornelius in the New Testament; he had his friends and his kinsmen gathered to hear the word of God. What a wonderful thing that is! Well, let us be encouraged by these examples of special devotion in the days in which they lived, testing days, particularly with Ruth and Ittai, who were greatly tested as to whether they would be devoted. First of all we have committal to the Spirit of God and His call seen typically in Rebecca; then devotion to the people of God in sorrow and bitterness seen in Ruth, and thirdly, in Ittai, one typically committed and devoted to Christ Himself in His rejection. May we be encouraged, for His name’s sake.

Word in meeting for ministry, Los Angeles
27 March 1984