NOTES for Rut 1:16
Everyone has moments of choice that determines all the further life. And everyone is guided of course in such a situation by his motives. And it turns out rather often that these motives lead man in the same direction that God's plan defined for him concerning his personal life, although the man himself may not think of such a thing. What could really know Ruth of the God of her mother-in-law, even if she tried to tell her something? It is not very probable that she knew something of Him going beyond the frame of the outward religiosity. The words "thy people shall be my people and thy God my God" are only a traditional formula indicating Ruth's will to follow her mother-in-law to her native country, leaving her own people.
God has His plan, and Ruth will really enter in His people, will enter so much that one of her descendants will become at time the king of Israel, country which he himself will create. Probably, it is what the theologians sometimes call "the synergy", the concerted action of God and man. It is not probably always completely conscious. But always, a man acting like that, proceeds from something that for him is deep and sincere in his purity of movement of the heart. In fact, according to all the human calculations, Ruth would have leaved her mother-in-law: there was no reason for staying with her, and Naomi herself understood that perfectly. But the affection to man, who becomes native, turned out stronger than the daily calculations.
And this choice made by Ruth turned out this spiritual foundation that allowed her to become part of the people of God. Of course, God had to do something again, without which such an entry would have been impossible. But He had with what to work in Ruth's heart. Perhaps, this is the most important thing in the relationships between God and man, this most important, with which begins any spiritual path. God only needs at least one chance, at least one possibility, when it is about the human heart. He will succeed with the others. God never misses His chance to save man.