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.
