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[0:00] What a line. I wonder, who is your God? Is your God the Ancient of Days? Many people in the world, many people in history who had a different God, who was not the Ancient of Days.

[0:15] Well, this morning we're going to be reading Ruth chapter 1. If you have a Bible, you can turn it there. If you don't know where it is, go to Genesis and turn right.

[0:26] Or go to 1 Samuel and turn left. Go to Judges and turn right. And you're right there. I'm going to be reading the whole chapter of Ruth 1. The book of Ruth.

[0:56] Ruth chapter 1. In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. And a man of Bethlehem and Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab.

[1:12] He and his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech. And the name of his wife was Naomi. The names of his two sons were Machlon and Kilion.

[1:23] They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem and Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died.

[1:36] She was left with her two sons. These took Moabite wives. The name of the one was Orpah. The name of the other was Ruth. They lived there about ten years.

[1:48] And both Machlon and Kilion died. So that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband. Then she arose with her daughters-in-law and returned from the country of Moab.

[2:01] For she had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and given him food. So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law.

[2:12] And they went on their way to return to the land of Judah. But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, Go, return each of you to her mother's house. May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me.

[2:27] The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you, in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them. They lifted up their voices and wept. And they said to her, No, we will return with you to your people.

[2:40] But Naomi said, Turn back, my daughters. Why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? Turn back, my daughters.

[2:51] Go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, would you therefore wait until they were grown?

[3:03] Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters. For it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me.

[3:14] Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law. But Ruth clung to her. And she said, See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods.

[3:29] Return after your sister-in-law. But Ruth said, Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go, I will go. Where you lodge, I will lodge.

[3:41] Your people shall be my people. And your God, my God. Where you die, I will die. And there I will be buried. May the Lord do so to me. And more also, if anything but death parts me from you.

[3:54] And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said, No more. So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem.

[4:05] And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. And the woman said, Is this Naomi? She said to them, Don't call me Naomi.

[4:18] Call me Mara. For the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi?

[4:29] When the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me. So Naomi returned. And Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law with her.

[4:40] Who returned from the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest. Amen. I pray the Lord would bless the reading of his word.

[4:53] What a story. Earlier this week, I was in my mum's house with my family. The boys got to see their gran for Christmas.

[5:06] We spent the day there. And in my mum's hall, at the bottom of the stair, there's this wee radiator cover. And on top of it, there's various ornaments on it. And my mum has these two sparkly kind of silver angel wings that sit independently.

[5:23] And they're nice. And they're quite big. And at one point, my five-year-old Levi went out into the hall and then there was a crashing noise. Smash.

[5:33] My mum and Jen went into the hall to find out what happened. And they found one of these wings broken on the floor. Levi wasn't hurt.

[5:44] But he had a sad and sorry look on his face. And so we all immediately assured him. You know, we all said, it was okay. It was an accident. It doesn't matter. It's just an ornament.

[5:56] You know, it can be fixed. It can be replaced. It doesn't matter. It's okay, son. Don't worry. Don't be upset. But what if the ornament couldn't be replaced? What if it really was an expensive and unique and valuable piece and held sentimental value?

[6:12] Will it just now be swept up and thrown in the trash? What would you do in that situation? I know what most of you would do. You would go to the cupboard and get the superglue.

[6:25] I reckon when things like this happen, I reckon there's two questions that we normally ask ourselves when something valuable is broken. Number one, when you're looking at it on the floor, you think, is this redeemable?

[6:40] Can this be fixed or is it done? That's the first thing. And then the second thing that we think is, can it be restored to how it was before?

[6:51] Can we get this looking the same way it was before? And so this is the situation that Naomi is in. She had a husband. She had a plot of land and a fruitful town in the promised land.

[7:03] She was living under the God of Israel. He had given her two sons to keep the family name going. But famine struck. And they moved away from their allotted land.

[7:15] They moved away from their people. They moved away from their God. They became strangers and foreigners in an idolatrous land. And then she lost her husband.

[7:27] And the boys marry foreign women who worship foreign gods. And after some years living there, she also lost her two sons. They died. Her once ornate and valuable life has come crashing down.

[7:41] Broken on the floor. And she's perhaps left thinking, is this it? Is my life done? Is it over? Is this how it ends?

[7:51] Is there anything redeemable here? Can this be fixed? Can any of this be fixed or is it done? Is there any possible way that life could be restored back to how it was before all of this happened?

[8:07] This is a story that takes place in the period of Judges, the preceding book. And this was when Israel finally entered the promised land but didn't yet have a king.

[8:20] And despite the fact that God miraculously rescued them from Egypt and brought them into the promised land, this new nation had now become worse than their prior oppressors.

[8:31] It seems like God's chosen people have spiraled into more sin and darkness as free people than they ever were as slaves in Egypt.

[8:45] Which hints at the fact that Egypt wasn't really the main problem, but an outward manifestation of a greater spiritual problem that everyone has. And so with their newfound freedom, the people of God turn away from God.

[8:59] And they did what was right in their own eyes. And it's a sorry state for the nation of Israel. Sorry, sorry state. One of the worst periods in their history. And this is when this takes place.

[9:11] This is the period that this family is living in. And so in the book of Judges, this leaves you wondering what will happen as Israel seems to spiral out of control.

[9:25] Whereas the book of Ruth zooms into an average everyday family to explore what happens when the lives of everyday people seem to also spiral out of control.

[9:37] What happens when individual lives, when your life, when your family life, when the ordinary day-to-day stuff, what happens when that seems to fall apart? You see, I think what we learn in this book, in the book of Ruth, is that God cares the same about the individual as he does about the nation.

[9:55] He cares the same about the small picture as he does about the big picture. And the way that God calls the nation to respond is the same way that he calls everyday people to respond.

[10:09] And so even if you do know the full story of Ruth, just looking at chapter one helps us first learn how to respond rightly to God when we don't know what comes next in our lives.

[10:22] Because at this point, Naomi doesn't know what comes next. And this is the point that we're all living in always. We don't know what comes next. And this helps us. And when you look in the Bible and you do see the full story, when you see the fulfillment of promises, it is always to help us trust in God's faithfulness and goodness while our stories are still running.

[10:45] To help us trust in God when we do not yet see the outcome. And this story, the book of Ruth, this story, firstly about Naomi, is a story of tragedy upon tragedy upon tragedy.

[11:00] And for Naomi, it's an insight for us into how we view God and how we respond to God when our lives seem broken. When we're struggling with the unexpected hardships in life, what do we do?

[11:17] What do we think about God? When we are asking, is this the end of our story? When we are perhaps feeling like everything's against us? When we feel like the things that make our life valuable and good are being taken away one after the other?

[11:31] And when we ask ourselves, can this be fixed or is this it? When we're wondering, if only things could go back to how it was before. This story helps us in how we view God and how we respond to God.

[11:49] And so what does Ruth chapter 1 tell us about God? Well, it's interesting because there's actually a lot that Naomi herself tells us about God. There's a lot that she says about God.

[12:01] But the question is, does what she say, is what she says reflecting the truth about God? I wonder, what do you say about God?

[12:12] What do I say about God during times of hardship? What do you say about God and what do you think about God when times are pleasant? And what do you think about God and say about God when times are hard?

[12:23] And so here are some of the questions that I think this first chapter of Ruth raises. This is some of the questions that came to my mind when the chapter, when I was going through this chapter.

[12:37] Here are some of the questions that it raises. Does God take for himself a people, rescue them out of slavery, only for them to end up worse than their oppressors? Is that God's plan?

[12:48] Does God free people only for their lives to end up worse? Some people who become Christians experience that and it feels like that, but is that what God is doing?

[13:01] Is God powerless to stop things falling apart? If not, then why do they fall apart? Does God care when things seem to fall apart?

[13:13] Or do these things mean that God is punishing us? Is God powerless to restore broken lives? Is our only hope in the face of loss to prevent further loss?

[13:29] Or do we believe that God could put things back together when they fall apart? When a life is broken in pieces, is that life no longer of any value to God?

[13:42] Is it destined for nothing but the trash? Does God want broken ornaments in his house? Can God redeem and restore the brokenness in our lives?

[13:55] Does God want to hide our brokenness, cover it up? Does he simply want to return it to how it was? Or is God the kind of God who could even make it more beautiful than it was before?

[14:08] I remember first hearing about the art of kintsugi. I don't know if you know what kintsugi is. Some of you will, some of you won't. Centuries ago, it was common practice than when a valuable piece of pottery was broken, it was restored using, they didn't have super glue back then, it was restored using staples.

[14:29] I don't know if you've ever seen this. What they would do, they would drill, carefully drill wee holes along the cracks and they would put the broken pieces together and join them with staples and pull them together.

[14:43] And it meant that your item was put back together, but it was unsightly, these big, you know, pirate-looking scars all the way over your thing, you know.

[14:55] It was restored, but it looked a lot worse than it did before. And so then in the 15th century, a Japanese shogun sent a tea bowl back to China to be repaired.

[15:07] And as they did in those times, they repaired it with staples. And when the piece was returned to Japan, it was said that the unsightly look of the repair prompted Japanese craftsmen to come up with a better method, more in line with their philosophy.

[15:25] You see, when we try to restore broken things now, we tend to try and cover up the damage, superglue, try and make it look invisible. Certainly that's better than metal staples.

[15:38] But in Kintsugi, this Japanese art, the damage isn't hidden. It's not even merely repaired, but the broken pieces are joined back together with gold and resin.

[15:48] I don't know if you've ever seen a piece and it's got these cracks of gold. And it's joined together with gold and resin. They mix in real gold and powder with resin and join these pieces back together so that it looks even more beautiful than it was before.

[16:04] And so beautiful was this method of repairing broken items that it sparked a controversy. some craftsmen intentionally bought new pieces and broke them and repaired them this way to sell them for more money because it made even brand new pieces more valuable if they were broken and repaired in this way.

[16:26] It's beautiful. If you ever get the chance to get a piece or see a piece or if you ever break a pot and go and get some golden resin. I was thinking about this in relation to how God views brokenness and how he deals with it and how we think about how God views brokenness and how he deals with it.

[16:46] You see, does God, this may be a question, does God intentionally break us in order to make something more out of us? It's a question, isn't it?

[16:59] Did God cause all this to come upon me? Did God bring this calamity upon me? Now, I don't really think so. I don't really think it's that straightforward.

[17:12] Things happen in the world. Evil things happen. Bad things happen in the world. And I don't think it's right to say that God is the primary cause of every single bad thing that happens.

[17:27] God cares even about the small things. Cast all your anxieties on God because he cares for you, 1 Peter 5. Do you believe that God cares? Do you believe that God can not only restore what was lost but make more of it?

[17:43] Because what you think about that will affect how you deal with hardships. But I think what we will learn is that it's not as straightforward as thinking God would intentionally break us to make something more.

[17:56] because what does that say about God? Is God in the business of breaking things? No. He is in the business of restoring things and redeeming things and putting things back together.

[18:08] He's the God who gives life, not death. And so we need to think about this. But in this story, this is how Naomi's feeling. We can't take that away from her.

[18:21] We can't take that away from anyone who's feeling that way. This is how she's feeling. And I have to admit, I can identify with this family. I don't know if you can. You see, other than practical resources like food and work, we don't really know every reason why they left the promised land to live in Moab.

[18:39] Some people did stay behind in Bethlehem during the famine. And they fared better than this family. But I can identify with this desire to want to avoid hardship.

[18:52] Can you? Have you ever felt like that? A desire to want to avoid suffering. You ever feel the temptation to look for a more comfortable option rather than suffering? Because if you have, if you do, you're not alone.

[19:07] And that isn't to say that, well, shame on you. You should always remain in the fire. That's not to say that. But, it shouldn't mean compromising our faith to do so.

[19:23] And so, where do you turn to? Or who do you turn to in your time of need? Here's Naomi. Her name means pleasant.

[19:34] And her life perhaps was for a while. She lived in Bethlehem, which means the house of bread. she's married to Elimelech, an Israelite man whose name means my God is king.

[19:47] It's an apt name for living in a time when Israel had no king because God was always meant to be their king. So, a pleasant life for pleasant Naomi, living in the house of bread, the place of abundant food, with Mr.

[20:02] My God is king. Things are going well. Like every family among the people of God, they've got their own allotment of land and they also have two boys to continue the family name and inherit that land, Machlon and Kilion.

[20:17] The boys' names have been taken to mean sickness and wasting. But, we cannot be certain if this was meant, if it relates to their untimely death or an underlying condition of their childhood.

[20:32] We don't know. But what we do know is that this isn't really their story, it's their mother's story. Naomi is the one who it focuses in on. We don't know all the reasons why they moved other than there was a famine in Bethlehem.

[20:46] While there would have been significant hardships staying in Bethlehem during the famine, the shock of the story is the destination. Moving to Moab, I don't know if you know what Moab is like, but throughout the Torah, throughout the time of Moses going towards, going through the wilderness and then going towards the promised land, Moab was not a nice place.

[21:12] The people were enemies of God, idolatrous. It didn't, it's just not the place to go. And so these people leaving the promised land to go to Moab, I'm trying to think of a comparison.

[21:24] It may have been like the current situation. It may have been like a Ukrainian thinking, oh, maybe there's greener pastures in Russia. I mean, get a grip. You don't want to go there. No.

[21:36] Moab was the enemy of God's people. And although there wasn't an act of war at the time, it was a land outside the promised land. You're leaving the promised land. That's not a place for God's chosen people to go.

[21:51] It's a land of idolatry and foreign gods, foreign customs. Now, you can understand the pressure to move away during the famine.

[22:04] Life during a famine was no longer pleasant. And why is there a famine if God is their king? But to go to Moab, surely that wasn't the only choice.

[22:16] Surely. You've got to think that. It's not the only choice. So who do you turn to in your time of crisis? What do you turn to? Where do you turn? Where do you go? For whatever reason, Elimelech turns his eyes towards Moab.

[22:31] Perhaps the house prices were cheaper. Perhaps he could get work there. Perhaps they seemed to have more resources there than the land of God. Perhaps Elimelech was just trying to give his family their best chance.

[22:48] But how did that work out? You see, they moved, they remained there, and Elimelech dies. Verse 3. Naomi's now left only with her two sons.

[23:01] Is now the time to turn back? Well, there's still a famine in Bethlehem. So the boys marry Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth, and they stay there ten years. Yet in those ten years, Naomi's two boys still haven't given her a grandchild.

[23:21] The pressure's on. You've got ten years for a grandchild. I'm only kidding. But mothers think like this, just to let you know, mothers think like this.

[23:36] When their sons marry, they think, how long's it gonna be until I'm a granny? So anyway, ten years. They're living there ten years, and they don't have any grandchildren, but they've got all the time in the world, don't they?

[23:51] except Malon and Kelion die. They suddenly die, and now Naomi's left without her two sons and her husband. Do you see how her life is broken in pieces?

[24:05] Is this the cost of her leaving Bethlehem? Is this punishment for going to Moab? Were her husband and her boys taken as a consequence of their actions?

[24:18] This might be on their minds. But, we don't know, the text doesn't say. Up to this point in the Bible, God's people turning away from the land and going somewhere else like Moab certainly seems to be going strong against God's will.

[24:35] But, the text is silent on these things. The text doesn't say whether these things are a punishment or not or whatever they are. It doesn't say. You see, in our lives we have, we've seen, you know, you look at the past 10, 20 years, seen many disasters.

[24:52] Floods, earthquakes, terrorist attacks and so on and so forth. There's been no shortage of things with each time people saying that's God's judgment.

[25:05] God's judgment on a certain nation. Because we humans are quick to label things, aren't we? We want to make sense of the chaos and suffering but sometimes we come to wrong conclusions.

[25:19] The truth is in this little book the closest thing we can get to to make sense of a hardship is perhaps the famine in Bethlehem was due to the fact that during the days of Judges people turned away from God and did what was right in their own eyes.

[25:35] So Moses in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 said that if they did this they would not experience the blessings but the curses. Their labor would be in vain and their land would not produce.

[25:46] Maybe that's why there was a famine. Other than that we don't know why anything happened and so we should be careful to conclude any reasons why something happened.

[25:58] Sometimes we just don't know. You see in Ezekiel it says that even for the wicked God takes absolutely no pleasure in their deaths but that they would return turn to God that they may live.

[26:14] So when things happen whether we conclude one thing or another when things happen and we don't know why what response is it supposed to create?

[26:25] It's certainly not supposed to create a response of leaving God's blessing. It's certainly not God's intention or desire for this family to look for blessing outside the promised land.

[26:41] God will never require you to trade your faith for some food. Never. Never. He will not leave you in a position where you need to trade your faith.

[26:52] You need to give away your faith so that you can have something. Where do you turn to? Naomi's family look elsewhere for blessing and resource. They turn to a pagan land with other gods.

[27:05] Does that mean that these deaths are a direct result? We cannot say. But what we can say is that their idea that their chances would be better outside of the promised land is now completely shattered.

[27:19] This idea of maybe our chances will be better if we leave the promised land. Hmm. Didn't work out that way. It didn't work out that way. Would it have been hard to stay in Bethlehem?

[27:31] Surely it would have. But would it have been any worse? Probably not. How worse can it get? What is done is done. What is done is done.

[27:44] The real question is this. Is it now too late for Naomi? Has she went too far in leaving the promised land?

[27:54] Has she went too far? Would God ever accept her back? would God even listen if she decided to turn back now? It's absolutely not too late.

[28:11] It's never too late for any of us. Any of us is never too late. And I think what we learn from this chapter is not only that Naomi did turn to God, she did. but what we learn is that God was working in gracious ways long before she ever did turn back to Bethlehem.

[28:31] See, what's your view of God? We do need that reminder of Jesus in John chapter 5 when he says, my father is always working and so am I.

[28:43] You see, God is never not at work in your life. He neither sleeps nor slumbers. He needs no rest nor break. There is nothing he cannot do and there is no one he cannot see.

[28:57] God is always at work. He sees you and he knows what you need in every single moment of your life. So who else are you going to turn to?

[29:08] Where else are you going to go? You see, sometimes we think that a certain comfort will give us more than it actually can. Sometimes we think that it will last longer than it will.

[29:21] And the flip side is sometimes we fear that a hardship will last longer than we can endure or that a hardship will do us more harm than it actually will.

[29:33] But the first thing we need to take away from this is to make a habit to always turn to God in your time of need. Make a habit to always turn to God in your time of need because he knows your need and he will respond.

[29:49] So that's what we must learn to do. Naomi hears that Yahweh has visited his people and she makes plans to return to Bethlehem. She has her two daughters-in-law but she knows there isn't much hope for them as foreigners, foreign widows, in going to Bethlehem with her.

[30:06] Their best chance, it would seem, is to leave her and start over again in their own land with their own gods. They're young enough that they can still go home and find other husbands but Naomi, she thinks that for her it's the end of the road.

[30:23] So to stay with Naomi, she thinks, it would be the end of the road for you as well, so don't stay with me. After all that she's been through, after all that Naomi's been through, she not only wants to return to her God but she appeals to her God to bless these women.

[30:42] Isn't that wonderful? You see that? In verse 8, May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and me.

[30:54] The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. After everything that she's been through, she prays that her God, Yahweh, would bless these women.

[31:06] Isn't that wonderful? You see, later on, Naomi will say things about how she feels about how God has dealt with her. And so the sting in all of this for Naomi is that it seems like these women have treated Naomi better than God has treated her.

[31:25] That's what it feels like to Naomi. She's like, God bless you because you have treated me kindly, but God has treated me bitterly. that's what it seems like to Naomi.

[31:36] She wants God to treat them as kind as they have treated her and her boys. But how has God treated her? What does she think about that? The second thing to take away is look for God's goodness in the midst of it all because he is at work and it will be there.

[31:55] At this point, Naomi can't see it. She can't see it. So listen to some of the things that Naomi will say about God. Verse 13, the hand of Yahweh has gone out against me.

[32:09] Verse 20, the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. Verse 21, Yahweh has brought me back empty. Yahweh has testified against me. The Almighty has brought calamity upon me.

[32:23] What do you think of Naomi's theology here? See, on the one hand, she's thinking these women these Moabite foreign pagan women have been very kind to Naomi.

[32:38] But God, he's brought calamity upon her. He's been against her. He's dealt with her very bitterly. That's how she's thinking. What do you think about her theology? Well, let me tell you this.

[32:54] Firstly, at least she believes that a God exists. The problem of suffering in our land is a problem for people to believe that there is even a God. For Naomi, that is no problem whatsoever.

[33:08] There is a God. It doesn't matter what she's been through, there's a God. Not only that, she believes that this God is sovereign, absolutely sovereign.

[33:20] Isn't that a good thing? No matter what has happened, God is in control. Why did it happen? I don't know, God must have done it. Why are you saying that?

[33:31] Because God is in control. It's a good thing to know that God is sovereign. God is in control. She believes that God exists. She believes that he is sovereign.

[33:42] She believes that Yahweh is that God. It's a very good theology. She acknowledges the one true God. She perhaps has a better framework in all of this than many people have, many Christians.

[33:54] But, is God really against her? Has God only brought calamity upon her? Has God only dealt bitterly with her? You see, an important thing to remember is that whether someone expresses this, and whenever someone does express this, whenever someone who was once pleasant and is now bitter, we need to remember there's a reason.

[34:18] There's a reason. We can't take that away. You see, it's interesting that throughout this book, the request of Naomi to change her name, don't call me Naomi, which means pleasant, call me Mara, which means bitter.

[34:31] This request of hers to change her name is completely ignored throughout the book. Nobody changes her name. I don't know on the ground if they did or not, but I'm sure of one thing, I'm sure that people would not have denied her her experience.

[34:49] I'm sure they wouldn't have denied her expressing how she felt. You see, we need to be patient with people when they're going through it. We can't just jump in with our theology and say, don't be daft, don't call yourself Mara, do you not?

[35:04] See, we need to allow people to express honestly how they feel about God. Even Jesus on the cross, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

[35:18] Did God forsake his one and only son who was doing his will? No, he didn't. I mean, yeah, there's an element of sin there in which sin has been put to death, but God didn't forsake his son.

[35:31] Now, there's a mystery in all of that, but the way we feel ought to be expressed honestly, transparently. And when other people do that, you need to be able to be patient with them and allow them that.

[35:46] The best thing in the story of Job, if you know the story of Job, the best thing his friends did was the seven days they stayed silent. Best thing that they did was before they opened their mouths and started giving all manner of reasons, but just to draw alongside someone and sit with them.

[36:03] What does Jesus say? Does he say, what does the Bible say, does it say when someone is weeping, when someone is mourning, go and give them a reason? It says, weep with those who weep, mourn with those who mourn.

[36:17] Draw alongside them. Join in them. Join with them in their experience. And so, the first part, you know, I think it's good that she acknowledges there is a God, and she acknowledges that he is sovereign, and she acknowledges that that God is Yahweh.

[36:36] All of those things are right. This last thing where she thinks that God is only against her, I don't think is correct theology, but she is expressing how she feels.

[36:47] And I think, I think the very fact that she is expressing that is her turning to God. That first point that we said to always turn to God in your time of need, you don't need to turn to God with all your theology right.

[37:06] That's not what God expects of you. God doesn't say, you'd better not pray to me unless you get the words right. God doesn't expect that of you. God wants your heart. He wants honesty, transparency.

[37:19] You want to be angry at God? He can deal with it. You want to say things about God? He can deal with it. Just say them to God. Speak to God. Turn to God. That's the first part, and Naomi's doing that.

[37:33] He can handle it. The second part that will help us get to the proper conclusion is if we look for God's goodness in the midst of it all. You see, just because you cannot see it doesn't mean it's not there.

[37:46] She prays for God's loving kindness, his hesed, hesed. God's hesed for these women. That's her prayer. Oh, I pray God's hesed for you.

[37:57] I've not experienced it myself. Pray it for you. She wants God's hesed for these women, has loving kindness for these women because they have showed loving kindness for her.

[38:09] But when she thinks that God has only dealt with her bitterly, she cannot see that God's loving kindness has been flowing through Ruth towards her.

[38:26] It's right there in front of her and she can't see it. Later in chapter 2, Ruth is acknowledged by Boaz for how she treated Naomi. Everyone hears about it.

[38:37] But we shouldn't think, think about this for a second, if you have any sort of view of God and His sovereignty or His goodness, do you think that it's at all possible that Ruth could be more loving than God?

[38:55] Do you think that it's possible that Ruth, this pagan Moabite woman, shows more love and grace towards another human than God does? Why do you think Ruth shows that kind of love and kindness in the first place?

[39:10] Is it not through God? Is that not God showing love and kindness to Naomi through Ruth? I mean, who can outdo God in terms of grace and love?

[39:22] He is the gracious and loving one. Yahweh, merciful and gracious, abounding in steadfast love, abounding in hesed.

[39:32] where do you think Ruth got that loving kindness from in the first place? Do you think that God was unaware of Ruth until she came to Bethlehem?

[39:44] Absolutely not. We must look for God's goodness in the midst of it all and you will begin to notice how he is at work. You'll begin to see just how much he cares when you realize that he's working long before you ever asked him to help.

[39:58] You ever experienced that? You ever experienced that you pray for something in your time of need and then you look back and you think James, God was at work even before I asked for that. He knows.

[40:09] He knows what we need. And believe me, he is far kinder than you can possibly imagine. He's far more gracious and loving than you can ever think he is.

[40:20] He is. Third thing and last thing is we must learn to entrust our future to God regardless of how it looks.

[40:31] See, it wasn't looking good for Naomi anymore. Even more than that, it surely wouldn't be good for Orpah and Ruth coming to Judah as foreign Moabite widows.

[40:45] Wouldn't have been good for them. The outlook for them to stay with Naomi isn't good. That's why Naomi is like, go back to your homes.

[40:57] If you come with me, your future won't be good. Ruth. Except Ruth. Ruth. Don't know if you can testify to this, Stephen, but Ruth never gives up. Ruth just does not let up here, does she?

[41:15] She is not put off by hardship. Isn't that a wonderful thing? She isn't trying to avoid it. She wants to make the right kind of trade. leave her land and leave her God behind and entrust her future with Naomi and her land, with her people, and with her God Yahweh.

[41:41] Regardless of how it looks, she wants to entrust her future to Yahweh. Now, how can you say someone who wants that, how can you say that God was not at work in her when she shows that kind of faith and love and commitment and sacrifice and trust in a foreign God?

[42:03] See, sometimes as Christians we can be surprised by people who are new to church, people we wouldn't say are religious, you know, people who have been through their share of hardship, yet people who have not been in church long, and yet we can be surprised because sometimes it seems like they are more attracted to our God than we are, because we grow weary.

[42:27] Sometimes we forget just how good and gracious our God is. Sometimes we get so discouraged that we stop turning to God for help. Sometimes we are so disheartened that we stop looking for signs of His goodness and presence with us.

[42:43] And sometimes we are so distracted by how it feels that we forget the truth about how patient and kind and good our God really is. He knows.

[42:56] He's at work. And He can make things more beautiful than you could possibly imagine. You see, when things feel hard and at times unbearable, look to the cross.

[43:10] Look to the cross and you will see in Jesus just how much God both cares about the brokenness and deals with it in ways that will far outweigh the hardships.

[43:23] Did He not do that 2,000 years before you needed it? But He did it for you. He did it for you before you asked for it. Does He not know your need today?

[43:37] Will He not care about your need tomorrow? So, let us turn to Him always and He will be there. Let us look for His goodness and you will find it.

[43:51] And let us entrust our future to Him because He is good and faithful to do this. Let me pray. Our Lord God, we thank You that You are the gracious and merciful God who is abounding in steadfast love.

[44:13] The one who forgives sins, the one who has shown and given Your Son Jesus to die for us.

[44:27] That You have shown Your great love and goodness and mercy and grace and also Your power to turn things around to be more beautiful than we could possibly ever imagine.

[44:40] God, we thank You that Your aim is not to get us back to Eden, but that through Christ, His life, His death, His resurrection, His person, His work, who Jesus is, Your Son, through Him, things can be even greater than Eden for those who trust in Him.

[45:05] That You can make something even more beautiful out of our brokenness than when we were never broken in the first place. God, we thank You for Your grace towards us in Christ.

[45:16] Help us always to turn to You for who else would we turn to? Help us to be assured that You are there, You know, and You hear us. help us to find and see Your goodness in all of it, and help us to entrust every situation and every day and our future to You, regardless of how it looks, for You are good and faithful to do this.

[45:41]  We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.