Ruth chapter 1, which you'll find up on the screen.
We'll read the whole chapter.
In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land.
So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons,
went to live for a while in the country of Moab.
The man's name was Elimelech, his wife's name was Naomi,
and the names of his two sons were Malon and Kilion.
They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah, and they went to Moab and lived there.
Now Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died and she was left with her two sons.
They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth.
After they lived there about ten years, both Malon and Kilion also died
and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.
When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them,
she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there.
With her two daughters-in-law, she left the place where she'd been living
and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.
Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law,
Go back, each of you, to your mother's home.
May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me.
May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.
Then she kissed them goodbye, and they wept aloud,
and said to her,
We will go back with you to your people.
But Naomi said, Return home, my daughters.
Why would you come with me?
Am I going to have any more sons who could become your husbands?
Return home, my daughters.
I am too old to have another husband.
Even if I thought there was still hope for me,
even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons,
would you wait until they grew up?
Would you remain unmarried for them?
No, my daughters.
It is more bitter for me than for you,
because the Lord's hand has turned against me.
At this they wept aloud again.
Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye,
but Ruth clung to her.
Look, said Naomi,
Your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods.
Go back with her.
But Ruth replied,
Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you.
Where you go, I will go,
and where you stay, I will stay.
Your people will be my people,
and your God, my God.
Where you die, I will die,
and there I will be buried.
May the Lord deal with me,
be it ever so severely,
if even death separates you and me.
When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her,
she stopped urging her.
So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem.
When they arrived in Bethlehem,
the whole town was stirred because of them,
and the women exclaimed,
Can this be Naomi?
Don't call me Naomi, she told them.
Call me Mara,
because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.
I went away full,
but the Lord has brought me back empty.
Why call me Naomi?
The Lord has afflicted me.
The Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.
So Naomi returned from Moab,
accompanied by Ruth the Moabite,
her daughter-in-law,
arriving in Bethlehem
as the barley harvest was beginning.
Amen.
This is God's word for us.
So we're beginning a short study
in the book of Ruth,
and today we're thinking about
the journey or the journeys
that we see Naomi's family in particular make.
And I hope that it will help us
as we reflect on the journey of life
that we are all on,
the journey of faith
that many of us are on.
What we see in our story today
are probably some realities
that we recognize.
Sometimes in our lives,
in our stories,
we come to what we might call
crossroads moments.
We have important decisions to make,
perhaps about the place where we'll live,
the job that we might take,
an opportunity to pursue or not,
a decision that will shape
our lives moving forward.
It makes me think of the poem
by Robert Frost,
The Road Not Taken,
and that last verse,
which perhaps we find ourselves
at times resonating with.
He says this,
I shall be telling this with a sigh
somewhere ages and ages hence.
Two roads diverse in a wood,
and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
and that has made all the difference.
So sometimes our life comes with decisions,
and those decisions have consequences,
and we see that in this story.
But there are other times
in our stories
where life leaves us no choice,
where circumstances come upon us,
and if we're thinking about a journey,
it's more like perhaps being in a kayak
or a canoe,
and we're hitting river rapids,
and there's only one way we're going.
A journey, perhaps,
that we wouldn't choose,
a situation that we wouldn't desire,
but it comes nevertheless.
And we see that in this story too.
For us, it comes in the form of illness,
and loss,
and redundancy,
and breakup,
and how we respond to those
as they come across our paths.
So the story of Ruth and Naomi,
I think is a really helpful one to reflect on
at any time,
helpful for us at the beginning of a year
to remind us
that wherever we find ourselves
on the journey of life and faith,
we need to recognize who our God is.
We are presented in the book of Ruth
with a God of sovereign grace,
a God who is able to sustain,
a God who is able to bring hope
in the midst of suffering,
a God of sovereign grace
who's ready to seek
and to save those outside of his kingdom,
to bring them in,
to extend his favor to them,
a God who,
despite difficult circumstances,
continues to work out
his plan of redemption,
a God of sovereign mercy
who's working all things
for the good of his people,
even when his providence is hard to bear
and seems a bitter thing,
as we see particularly in chapter 1.
So this evening we're going to follow
the journeys in order to discover
more in particular about our God.
So first five verses,
we can think about this
as Naomi and her family
being on the road to nowhere.
Verse 1 gives us a setting
for our story.
In the days when the judges ruled,
there was a famine in the land.
So this is happening
at the time of the judges,
and this isn't simply giving us
a date stamp.
This is also reminding us
of the theological description
that's behind that,
the spiritual circumstances
that Israel is experiencing
at this time.
In the very last sentence
in the book of Judges,
we read,
in those days Israel had no king,
everyone did as they saw fit.
And to read the book of Judges
is to come across
this repeating pattern,
sometimes called the judges cycle,
where the people turn their back on God,
perhaps they begin to worship
other gods,
and God brings judgment
on the people,
sometimes sending enemies
to the land.
And after a number of years,
the people repent,
they cry out to God,
God in his mercy
sends them a deliverer,
the deliverer comes
and gives them peace
for as long as his life lasts.
But then that cycle repeats again.
Rebellion, disobedience, judgment,
and so on.
And by the end of the book of Judges,
when we come out of the cycle,
what we're left with
is a picture of moral
and social
and political
and religious
chaos and disaster.
It is not a high point
in the spiritual life
of God's people.
And we know that
the story of Ruth
begins at a low point
in the people's spiritual journey
because we're told
there's a famine in the land.
And again,
this famine
is judgment
from God
because of the people's
disobedience.
So even as the story begins,
it begins on this very dark
backdrop.
But it's going to allow
the light of God's love
and grace to shine
really brightly
in time
in Naomi's family.
And in fact,
if we get to the end
of the story,
so if Judges ends,
there was no king
and everyone's doing
as they see fit,
by the end of the book of Ruth,
we know that it's through
Naomi
and especially through
Ruth's family
that ultimately King David
will come.
God's choice of a king,
kingship,
is the answer
to the sin
and rebellion
among the people of God.
And that, of course,
prepares us
for the coming
of our great King Jesus.
So having introduced
the time for us
when this story happens,
we're then introduced
to a family.
And especially,
we can think about Elimelech,
the head of this family,
married to Naomi,
two sons,
Malon and Kilion.
And immediately,
as we're introduced to them,
we see that he is faced
with a choice.
As there is a famine
in the land,
he has two roads
available to him.
One,
he can stay
in Bethlehem.
Bethlehem,
which means
house of bread,
in the promised land.
What Elimelech could do
is he could,
with his fellow countrymen,
he could lament
over their sin,
over their turning
their backs on God.
He could return to God
with faith
and trust in God
to provide.
That's one road
that's available to him.
Or the other one
is he can go
to Moab.
Moab,
where evidently
there is no famine.
Perhaps the grass
seems greener
on the other side
there.
And what we need
to understand
in Elimelech's case,
this is not
a neutral choice.
This isn't,
well,
the choices,
I guess,
that most of us have.
Will we live in city A
or city B?
Will we take job A
or job B?
Unless there is
sin involved,
there's just a wisdom choice.
It's neutral
from that point of view.
But for Elimelech
to leave Bethlehem
and to head to Moab
is going to
show his rejection
of God,
living in God's place,
living among
God's people,
choosing
not to live
by faith,
but to
make his own way
in life
outside of
God's promised land.
And that's
what he does.
end of verse 2,
they went to Moab
and lived there.
And we see
the sadness
that comes
to the family
of Elimelech.
Well,
first we're told
in verse 3
that he dies.
Then,
having gone there
apparently temporarily,
we see that
Naomi
settles down
with her sons.
Her sons
marry
Moabite women
and after
10 years
they also
die too.
Now,
we need to remember
as well
that Moab
was enemy
territory.
In Deuteronomy 7,
verse 3,
the people of God
were forbidden
to marry,
but yet here
we find them
settling down,
establishing
a family.
Elimelech's name
means
my God
is,
God is my king,
but his name
does not reveal
his heart,
does it?
As he chooses
his own way
apart from God.
So,
after that
crossroads decision,
after moving
towards Moab,
10 years later,
verse 5,
we find
Naomi's world
falls apart.
She has no husband,
she has no sons,
she finds herself
relatively elderly,
a stranger
in a strange land,
a widow
without support
or security.
This man's
journey away
from God,
from God's place,
from God's people,
has led
this family
nowhere,
so it seems.
Just to pause
at this point
and to think about
this journey
in relation
to ours,
I think it's
helpful for us,
a caution for us,
when we think about
Elimelech's
decision making.
You know,
the book of Proverbs,
probably a verse
that the junior church
have learned
at some point,
trust in the Lord
with all your heart
and lean not
on your own understanding
and all your ways
acknowledge him
and he will make
your paths
straight.
Well,
that's not the way
of wisdom
that Elimelech
chooses.
The Bible says
that we are to walk
by faith
and not by sight,
but Elimelech
chooses to live
by sight.
I can see there's
bread and more,
so I'm heading there
rather than trusting God.
We thought this morning
about Jesus
using the book
of Deuteronomy
to resist temptation
by saying man
shall not live
by bread alone
but by every word
that comes from
the mouth of God,
but Elimelech
chooses bread alone.
And it's so important
for us to reflect
on how we make
our decisions.
Are we making
our decisions
based on trust
in our God?
Are we humbly
depending on him
or are we
like Elimelech
walking by sight
and not by faith?
So his action
stands as a warning
for us,
but there's also
wonderful hope
in this story
because of the mercy
of God,
because of God's
sovereign grace.
Yes,
there is judgment
that comes on
Elimelech's family
just as judgment
was falling on all Israel
because of their
turning away from God,
but also there is blessing.
Naomi,
though she doesn't
know it yet,
will know much
of God's grace
and much of God's goodness
and much of God's
blessing,
even though she is
part of this foolish
decision to walk
away
to Moab.
And there is hope
for us,
I think,
then when we pray
for the prodigals
in our own lives,
for friends and family
perhaps who at one time
were in church
professing faith
but have now
wandered away.
It's so helpful
for us to remember
the sovereign grace
and mercy
of God
and his loving desire
to save and to redeem.
When we think about
how God is presented
in this book,
we see here is a God
who is in control
over the nations
and God who will send
judgment on a nation
but God who also
controls the family life
of Naomi,
turning it for good,
ultimately to show
redeeming love.
And so we are encouraged
to place our confidence
in this God.
This God who,
in the midst of all the chaos,
has a plan,
a plan to establish
Ruth's family
and to establish
David as king
and to establish
the line of King Jesus.
Just before we move
from these verses,
let's think about
the gospel journey
and think about
the journey of Jesus
and see how it compares
with Elimelech.
So what do we see
from Elimelech?
We see him leaving
his home,
seeking his own blessing
in disobedience
to God.
And I compare that
with Jesus,
leaving his home
in glory
for the blessing
of his people,
obeying God
all the way
to the cross.
That the judgment
that falls on Jesus
becomes blessing
for the people
of God
because of his
faithfulness
to God's word.
So that was the road
to nowhere.
But then in verse 6
to 17,
we can think about
the return journey,
we can think about
Naomi going home.
And look at verse 6
to see what prompts
her decision to return.
When Naomi heard
in Moab
that the Lord
had come to the aid
of his people
by providing food
for them,
she and her
daughters-in-law
prepared to return
home from there.
So the Lord
had come to the aid
of his people.
Bear in mind
that this is
in the time
of the judges.
This presumes
that we're not told
that the people of God
have repented of sin,
that they've looked
to God for mercy,
and God has shown mercy
that is bread
once again
in the house
of bread.
And so,
Naomi
recognizes
the Lord's providence
in this,
and so
she and
Orpah and Ruth
begin
the return journey
home.
Well, of course,
it's home for Naomi,
it's not home
for Orpah
and Ruth.
And at some point
on this journey,
having encouraged
them to come with her,
there is clearly
a point where
she begins
to ask questions
of,
well,
what's really best
for my daughters-in-law?
How will I
provide for them?
What kind of welcome
will they receive?
Where are they most likely
to find
their security?
And so,
the journey
pauses
almost as quickly
as it begins,
and we come to another
crossroads moment,
this time for Orpah
and for
Ruth.
Because Naomi,
in verse 8,
said to her two daughters-in-law,
go back,
each of you,
to your mother's home.
She believes
that those two
young women
will have better
prospects,
greater security
in Moab
with their families
in the place
that they know,
the culture
that they are familiar
with.
Naomi says,
I can't provide
husbands for you,
so I don't have
any prospects
to offer.
Verse 9's
an interesting one
because it gives us
an understanding
of what is
driving Naomi,
what's Naomi's desire
for Orpah
and especially
for Ruth.
May the Lord
grant that each
of you will find
rest in the home
of another husband.
A home
for Ruth
with a husband
who will care
for her.
That's her desire.
Now what Naomi
doesn't understand
is that's also
God's desire
and God has a much
better plan
than Naomi's plan.
Naomi's plan
is go back to Moab
and see what you
can find there.
But God's going
to bring Ruth
back to Israel
to meet Boaz.
That God himself
will provide
a lasting home
for Ruth
among the people
of God.
But if we put
ourselves in
Orpah and Ruth's
shoes for a moment,
I imagine
you like me
think,
well Naomi's words
seem fairly logical.
To leave
for another country
with no one
to provide for you,
with the possibility
of not receiving
a warm welcome,
you can imagine
it might make sense
to go back.
And so that's
exactly what Orpah
chooses.
Verse 14
or verse 13
when Naomi
says,
it's,
no my daughters
it's more bitter
for me than for you
because the Lord's
hand is turned
against me.
At this they
wept aloud again
then Orpah
kissed her
mother-in-law
goodbye.
So Orpah
chooses
to return
to Moab
and at this point
she disappears
from the pages
of the Bible.
We don't know.
Did she get married?
Did she find that husband
and that security?
Did she raise a family?
Was she happy
in her life?
We don't know.
But even if all those
things were true,
even if she went home
and found
a husband
and had a family
and had a
long and satisfying
life,
she has still
turned back
from life
with God
in God's place.
It seems
that she has
missed
the ultimate
and eternal
blessing on offer
to her
in making
that journey
to identify
herself
among
the people
of God.
It seems
that perhaps
Naomi has
lost sight
of the reality
that the greatest
thing anyone
can have.
The greatest
thing that Naomi
could offer
her daughters-in-law
was an invitation
to become part
of the people
of God,
to know God
and to know
his love,
to enjoy
fellowship
with the people
of God.
There is no
question that
Naomi loved
Orpah
as she loved
Ruth,
but it seemed
like she aims
too low
in her aspiration
and desire
for her daughter-in-law.
To have a
happy marriage
and a happy
family without
God
is to miss
the fullness
that God
has
for any
of us.
So Orpah
chooses
at this moment
of decision
to go home,
but what does it
say about Ruth?
In verse 14
we discover
that Ruth
clung to her
and that's a
significant word
because
it's the same
word that
appears in
Genesis chapter
2 and
verse 24.
It's a marriage
word speaking
about the
marriage of
Adam and
Eve as a
pattern for
all marriages.
That's why a
man leaves
his father and
mother and
is united
to his wife
and they
become one
flesh.
There's so
much covenant
commitment
language from
Ruth and that
continues in
her speech
in verse 16.
Don't urge me
to leave you
or to turn
back from you.
Where you go,
I will go.
Where you stay,
I will stay,
your people
will be my
people and
your God
my God.
Words
perhaps we
hear fairly
regularly at
weddings.
Even the
pattern makes
us think of
for better,
for worse,
for richer,
for poorer,
in sickness and
health,
till death do
us part.
That's the
idea behind
Ruth's words.
She is
committing to
her mother-in-law
in undying
love and
not just
committing
herself to
Naomi,
but more
significantly
committing
herself to
Naomi's
God.
Verse 17,
May the
Lord deal
with me,
be it ever
so severely,
if even
death
separates you
and me.
Having said,
your God
will be my
God,
she then
swears an
oath before
the Lord,
using the
covenant
name of
God,
as her
witness that
she will
remain with
Naomi,
that the
people of
God are
her people.
Now what
can we learn
from this
leg of the
journey?
Let's think
some more
about God's
sovereign grace,
let's think
about what's
happening in
Israel.
God in
his mercy
is restoring
wayward
Israel,
there's bread
and not
famine because
of God's
mercy.
Naomi is
being restored
to the
people of
God by
the mercy
of God.
For God's
people,
judgment is
not and
will never
be God's
last word.
And we
discover too
that God's
grace comes
to an
outsider,
to a
Moabite
woman.
To many
within Israel,
this would be
shocking.
God's
promise.
But it's
a reminder
to us
that God
loves to
save.
That God's
plan has
always been
a redemption
that takes
in the
nations,
surprising
people,
surprising
places.
And again,
it's an
encouragement to
us not to
give up on
people, not
to give up
on mission.
God's arm
is not short
that he
cannot save.
God's
faith.
It reminds
us
encouragingly,
I think,
that God
works through
weak faith.
Because how
is it that
Ruth knows
about the
God of
Israel?
How does
she know
about this
covenant
keeping
God?
Well,
surely it's
through her
mother-in-law,
Naomi.
Naomi's
faith is
weak.
She is,
at the very
least,
wrestling with
a sense
of bitterness
towards God,
struggling to
see God's
kindness at
any stage.
She has
walked away
from the
promised land,
but still,
Naomi's
witness is
used for
Ruth's
salvation.
I am
sure all
of us,
when it
comes to
our witness,
feel a
sense of
our own
weakness
and inadequacy,
feel that
there are
times when
we fail
and mess
up.
Well,
he is
encouragement
that God
works through
weak people
so that he
gets the
glory,
as he
does in
Ruth's
story.
Ruth also
shows us
something of
what faith
involves,
doesn't she?
As Ruth
begins this
journey,
this
mark by
suffering
and sacrifice,
this is a
journey of
faith that
is costly
to her,
leaving all
that she
knows
behind,
moving
towards a
very
uncertain
future.
But she
does it
because she
has committed
herself to
God.
Jesus
said,
to follow
him is
to carry
a cross.
The
discipleship
is not
cheap and
easy,
it is
costly.
perhaps we
have known
something of
that mockery
or sense
of isolation
from people
because of
our faith.
And we
certainly know
that some of
our brothers
and sisters
in Christ
are imprisoned,
rejected by
their families,
will be
facing death
today because
they have
chosen to
make God
their God.
God
and again
when we
put that
into the
story of
the gospel,
we are
following
Jesus who
walked the
way of the
cross,
who was
for us
the suffering
servant,
making that
journey of
humiliation
for the sake
of his
people.
And as
we seek
to live
by faith
in him,
he tells
us that
he both
goes before
us and
is with
us,
giving us
strength,
sending us
the spirit
for our
journeys
of faith.
Well,
let's look
finally at
a journey's
end and
what we
can describe
as a
bitter
return.
I want
to notice
something
that perhaps
seems awkward
or even
painful
in our
text.
So we
read verses
16 and
17,
those wonderful
lovely words
of Ruth.
She just
poured out
her heart
to Naomi
in this
great expression
of undying
loyalty and
love.
These words
that are used
at weddings,
you could
easily imagine
them being
turned into
a song
or a
poem.
But how
does Naomi
respond?
In our
NIV it
says,
when Naomi
realized that
Ruth was
determined to
go with
her,
she stopped
urging her.
That could
read,
she was
silent.
Nothing to
say in
response.
And we
see more
of that
pain that
Ruth might
well have
experienced
when Naomi
begins to
share with
the women
of the
village.
Don't call
me Naomi,
Naomi means
pleasant.
Call me
Mara,
which means
bitter,
because the
Almighty has
made my
life very
bitter.
I went
away full,
but the
Lord has
brought me
back empty.
Ruth's
standing right
there.
God's
brought me
back empty.
There's
certainly no
sense in
Naomi's
word that
she looks
on her
daughter-in-law
as a
source of
comfort and
blessing,
a mercy
that she
went with
her on
this
journey.
Naomi
says,
well,
my name
is pleasant,
but that's
not my
experience.
My
experience
at God's
hand is
one of
bitterness.
Verse 21,
the Lord
has
afflicted
me or
the Lord
has
testified
against
me.
I've
been
brought
into
the
Lord's
courtroom
and
the
judgment
has
come
and
I'm
under
God's
hand.
I want
us again
to just
see a
word of
caution
here.
The
danger
of
bitterness
in our
lives.
That
bitterness
can
mean we
miss
the
blessings,
the
kindness
that
God
shows.
So what's
clear in
this whole
chapter is
that Naomi
absolutely
believes in
a God
who is
sovereign,
who is
in
control,
but all
she can
see is
his
judgment.
And at
this stage
in her
life,
she's
unable to
see his
acts of
kindness
and
mercy.
And
perhaps we
can relate
to that.
Perhaps
when
suffering
comes,
when trauma
comes,
when difficulties
come,
it can be
really hard
to see any
good purpose
in what we
are experiencing.
Perhaps we
can feel the
weight of
God's hand
being against
us.
Perhaps we
have a
sense of
God being
absent in
this
situation.
But to
just stop
and reflect
on Ruth
chapter 1
and on
Naomi's
journey,
we
recognize
that she
has been
gifted with
a daughter-in-law
of a
beautiful
and a
bold
faith.
She has
been shown
mercy in
that she's
returning to
a place
where there
is bread
and not
famine.
That she
will know
grace beyond
judgment.
She is
being welcomed
back to
her community
and ultimately
she's going to
see her family
become part of
that great
story of
God's
redeeming
love for
the world.
And so
even in
chapter 1
there are
reminders
to us.
Even in
the hardship,
even when
life seems
bitter and
against us,
we are,
as people of
faith,
keep our
eyes open
for God's
kindness
because his
mercies are
new every
morning.
Let's
finish with
this.
Naomi,
at this
stage,
feels that
God is
against her,
that God's
hand is
against her.
God's
question of
is God
for me
or against
me?
Whatever day,
whatever part of
our journey of
faith.
Again, we
need the
gospel and
the gospel
journey to
help us to
answer that.
To think
about the
loving
commitment of
our God
towards us,
that God
sent his
son Jesus,
and Jesus
the son
willingly
left his
home in
glory to
become one
of us and
to live here
to be God
with us.
And we need
to see Jesus
and not just
making that
journey to
earth,
but making
that journey
to earth so
he could make
that journey
to the cross,
taking judgment
for sin,
for our sin,
for the sake
of his people,
dying so we
might live,
knowing condemnation
so we might be
forgiven and
reconciled.
Jesus is the
one who came
as our
Emmanuel,
came as
God with
us,
totally committed
to us in
covenant love,
in undying
love.
And it's as we
understand the
gospel and as
our faith is in
Jesus that we
can say with
confidence that
nothing can
separate us from
the love of
God.
It's as we
come to know
the God of
redeeming love
that we are
able to
trust that
all things
will in
God's hands
and in God's
time work
together for
his glory
and for our
good.
Let's pray
to our God
together.
Father God,
we thank you
for the book
of Ruth and
we thank you
for what it
can teach
us of
your sovereign
grace and
mercy,
that you are
able to
work beyond
sin and
beyond bad
decisions.
You are able
to work in a
way that
highlights your
grace and
gains you the
glory that you
deserve.
We thank you
that your
desire is to
redeem a
people for
yourself,
that Jesus
came to
carry out
that great
work of
redemption.
And Lord,
we thank you
for where the
story of Ruth
fits into
that storyline,
that through
this family
would come
King David
and all those
promises of
an eternal
king who
would rule
and reign in
righteousness
forever,
would find
their fulfillment
in King
Jesus.
Please help
us to be
those who
would walk
by faith
and not
by sight.
Please help
us to be
those who
would count
our blessings,
that even in
the hardships
that we face,
that we would
be able to
see glimpses
of your
mercy and
your sustaining
grace.
Lord, we
pray to
have that
strong
sacrificial
faith that
Ruth had,
determining at
all costs
that you
would be
our God
and that
your people
would be
our people.
So please
help us,
please answer
our prayers,
we ask in
Jesus' name.
Amen.