Deliverance Through Darkness - Ruth 1

A message by Tyler Sanborn on Ruth 1.

South Valley Student Ministry is a ministry of Compass Bible Church South Valley located in Kuna, ID. 

For more information about Compass Bible Church South Valley, please visit compassbiblesv.org.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

To really buckle up and lock in and really uh just track along with me as we look through this narrative. We look through this book that was written and shows an account of what God can do through some really intense circumstances, how he can redeem really tragic events that happen in the life of a woman named Naomi. And the focus of the story is this relationship between Boaz and Ruth, and we'll we'll get to Boaz later, but this evening we're gonna begin with with a family. We're gonna begin zooming in on this family that is leaving Bethlehem, leaving an area in the tribe of Judah, and they're gonna go far away. They're gonna go and and seek, they're gonna go and seek some refuge, seek provision outside of the land of Israel. So we need to really pay attention to some of the details here as we open God's word. So are you with me? Are you ready? Good. Good. Let's let's take a look at the text here. If I can open that, no, that'd be great. There we go. Starting in verse one. In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab. He and his wife and his two sons, the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi. And the names of his two sons were Malon and Chilion. They were Ephraithes from Bethlehem and Judah. They went into a country of Moab and remained there. So family road trip. There's no food to be found. It's dried up. Now there's other famines that we've seen in the Old Testament that would re we just be reminded of. The most prominent one is the famine in the land of Egypt. Remember, remember who was in Egypt? Joseph? And he he gets this uh this plan, he gets the insight into what is going to happen, and he's giving advice to Pharaoh. He's giving advice, and he's saying, Pharaoh, we need to be prepared because there's gonna be no food. It's gonna be dried up, the pantries are gonna be empty, you're gonna open your fridge, and there's gonna be nothing. So we got to be ready. And it seems like this situation here with uh uh and Naomi and their family, they have run out of food and they're going, they're going to find it. So they're sojourning, they are on the road. They are travelers, and they're going into a land outside of Canaan. They're going to Moab. They are leaving the promised land in search of food. They're finding a place that they can survive and dwell for a season until the famine passes. Let's pick it up back in verse three. But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. These took Moabite wives, the name of one was Orpa, and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years, and both Malin and Chileon died. So that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband. Whoa. This is serious. This is serious. Naomi is in crisis. Naomi has lost the people in her life that are protecting her, providing for her. Times are desperate. It's getting intense. Let's see. Let's see what what happens. Let's see what happens next. Now before we do that, uh this story is common in the bo in the loss and death worldwide. People people are losing their loved ones. I'm not trying to make light of that. This is heavy. This is this is happening every day on planet earth. And we see just a snapshot here in Ruth. You might be thinking of the book of Job. The book of Job, where many people does does Job lose? He loses all his children. He loses all his servants. There's just one that comes back with the news. By the way, Job, they're all dead. The tent collapsed on them. Bad news after bad news after bad news. And this is this is something not to take lightly. We shouldn't just read this text and be like, well, they died. No, this is serious. This is intense for them. This is intense. But as we look through the book of Ruth, I want us to see something, something that God does through it. There's gonna be something incredible, something wonderful, something amazing, something that you and I, something that you and I benefit from. This story here, this historical account, has a direct connection to you and I. Did you know that? It does. There's a connection here, but we have to wait for the story to unfold. I'm not gonna get ahead of myself, but we need to be thinking about this. We need to be looking for this and anticipating what's going to happen. There's gonna be a deliverance through this dark time, but we have to wait and see as the chapters go on. There's only four chapters in Ruth, but we need to be thinking. We need to be looking forward to see what God is gonna do. Let's write this down for point number one. See what God makes through misery. See what God makes through misery. God is in the business of glorifying himself. And after you hear that and you're reading the first five verses of this book, you're like, but how? I don't understand. How is he gonna make anything good of such a tragic event, a tragic set of circumstances? How can God make anything good out of this situation? There's a widow that is suffering. There's a widow that is struggling here. How is God gonna do it? We need to be looking forward. We need to keep our eyes peeled to what God is going to do in this situation. There's great darkness in the life of Naomi. There's great darkness in this family. There's suffering, there's struggle. Surely there's weeping. Naomi has lost her caretakers. She has lost her providers. Her sons are gone. Her husband is gone. And all she has are her two daughter-in-laws. She has these two women, Orpah and Ruth. Orpah and Ruth. And we're going to look forward and expect. I want you to expect something amazing to happen. That's what we need to do. We need to pause right here and think God is up to something. God is going to do something big. So let's keep that in our mind as we work through the book of Ruth. God is going to do something amazing through this. We just can't see it yet. We can't see it yet. Let's continue on in verse 6. Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab. For she had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and given them food. Okay? Famine. Ten years go by. Husband dead, sons dead. A glimmer of hope. The Lord has visited his people. He's back. There's provision from the Lord. I love the way that this is described. Visited his people. It's personal. There's a relational component here. The God who is everlasting, the God who is all-powerful, all-knowing. He's visiting his people and providing them food. There's word, there's a buzz. And there's excitement. So what would you do? The same thing that Naomi does. We gotta go. We gotta get back. We gotta get back because the Lord has visited his people. There's been no food for so long, but now the fields are about to be harvested. So they go. So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, Go, return each of you to your mother's house. May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me. She's having compassion on these two women. She's like, if you come with me, who am I to provide for you? Who am I? This an older woman, some scholars think that she's in her 50s. She's maybe losing hope that someone would want to marry her, to take her in, to provide for her. And she's like, if I can't take care of myself, how can I be taking care of you? So she's she's trying to extend kindness to her daughters in law and say, go go back. Go go back home. Go back to Moab. Let's continue on. The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Go back to your family. Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. It's an emotional moment. She cares for these two women. She loves these two women. She cares deeply. And she wants what's good for them. She's trying to do her best to be kind. And here are their responses. And they said to her, Naomi, no. No, we will return with you to your people. Remember, from Bethlehem, from Judah, these are Israelites. The two sons married, they disobeyed. They married women outside of God's people. So there's disobedience baked into this. It's a little bit complicated. The two sons who died married these two women who do not know Yahweh. They were raised in a culture worshiping false gods, worshiping idols. And you might be thinking, like, well, why would Naomi send them back? It's complicated. I don't have all the answers. But she's trying to care for them the best that she can. No. No, they say. But Naomi said, Turn back, my daughters, why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb? There's no one for me for you to marry. And if I did, if I was pregnant, it would be years and years and years before you could take my son and marry him. That they may become your husbands. What? This doesn't make sense. I can't take care of you. What am I going to do? The best I can do is send you back. So that's what she says. Turn back, my daughters, verse 12. Go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. I'm too old. If I should say I have no hope, even if I should have a husband. This night and bear sons, would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you wait and sit around with me and wait for me and take care of me while you wait for another husband? Till they're mature enough. She's welling inside. She's feeling the weight of the situation. She's struggling inside. No, no, no. You need to go. We can't all be in this situation struggling. We can't all be burdened by this circumstance. Turn back, my daughters. Go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. That's what she says. Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No. My daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter for me, to me, for your sake, that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me. Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. There's a difference here. There's a difference. The daughters-in-law, one one is one is closer, it seems. One is attached, clinging to Naomi, and that is Ruth. Ruth is clinging to her mother-in-law. And this is gonna be key. This is gonna be key because with Naomi comes Naomi's God. There might be some challenges here as we look at the leadership of this family, leaving, giving uh his sons. Go go take Moabite wives, Alinelech says. Go go and intermarry with people that don't worship Yahweh. And out of this, God is gonna do something amazing. God is gonna do something powerful. So there is some complications, there is some disobedience baked into this situation. We need to acknowledge that, but also we need to see how God is going to provide despite the disobedience, despite intermarrying with a pagan nation. Let's write this down for point number two. Don't ignore God's provision. God is going to do something in this book that is radical, something that is unforeseen, something that will take us by surprise. There's a faith that is going to be displayed that is unforeseen. And Ruth is at the center of it all. God is providing for his people. He's providing food, and it's drawing back an Israelite woman and her daughter-in-law. So, Naomi, can you just imagine Ruth clinging? I'm not gonna let you go. You can't go without me. You can't just leave me, I'm going with you. What do you mean? What do you mean go back to my home? What do you mean by that? No, I'm sticking with you. Orpah goes, Ruth stays. So the two of them, in verse 19, the two of them went on. I got ahead of myself. Verse 15, I'm sorry. Verse 15. I got excited. My heart is going forward in the story. And she said, see, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. This is important. This is important. Glad I didn't skip over this. Orpah is going back to Moab, back to her family, back to the culture that worships false gods. She's going back. She's going back home to be cared for, to go back to a pagan culture that does not worship Yahweh. And if they do acknowledge or worship Yahweh, it's a blend. It's not Yahweh alone. It's Yahweh and. It's the Lord and these other gods. So she returns. But Ruth said, Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go, I will go. And where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people. And your God, my God. Ruth is planting a flag. She's making a bold statement. She's like, I'm not going back. I'm with you, Naomi. You might be asking, why? Why doesn't she go back home to the people that know her? If she goes with Naomi, she knows only Naomi. Ruth is only going to know her mother-in-law. That's it. She knows no one. She was born and raised a Moabite woman. And she's going to Judah. She's going to Bethlehem to go be with the people of God. And she's saying, Your God will be my God. That's a flag planting statement. That is a that's a mic drop moment. She's saying, I'm not going back to worship those gods. I'm worshiping your God. I'm going with you. I'm going with you, Naomi. Verse 17, where you die, I'm going to die. I'm not going back. No vacations back home. No trips. No, I'm staying with you. She's kind of has there's a lovely stubbornness about her. She's excited to follow and pursue the God that Naomi worships. And you have to be thinking back. You have to be thinking back. One of Naomi's sons marries Ruth. And all the while they're they're a family unit. Surely there's this is a foreign thing to them at first, but over time, over time, she's learning about Yahweh. Over time, she's growing in her knowledge of the I am. We study the first five books of Moses in the new in the Old Testament, and we we see that God has delivered his people time and time again. He has provided for his people time and time again. And surely these stories have been made known to Ruth. And Orpa both. But there's something different about Ruth. There's something different in her that is desirable, that's admirable. And it's something that we should look to to imitate. Let's write this down for point number three. We need to imitate Ruth's bold faith. She's making a statement. She's making a commitment. I will follow you. I will go where you go. I will live where you live. I'm with you. Your people, the Israelites, I'm with them now. Your God is now my God. I'm not going back. I'm not going to return to the gods of Moab. I'm not doing that, Naomi. That's kind of intimidating. Imagine your Ruth going into a place you've never been before. Trusting a God that you're getting to know. That's an intimidating thing. And after a while, you can see this back and forth play out. Naomi and Ruth are like, no, no, no, seriously, stay. No, no, I'm going. No, seriously stay. And I can I just imagine Ruth's like volume just increasing. Increasing. Increasing. Like respectfully, though. Respectfully. Like, you can't shake me. You can't leave me. No, I'm going with you, Naomi. I'm going with you. You can't stop me. Eventually, Naomi folds. She's like, okay, okay, okay. I get it. You can you can come. Verse 18. And when Naomi Saw that she was determined to go with her. She said no more. Let's just camp out here for a second. Let's just camp out for a while. Let's get out of the car and look around. Can you say that? Can you say with confidence, like Ruth says, God, where you're going, that's where I'm gonna be. God, your people, I'm gonna be with your people. I'm not going back to these pagan, these idol worshipers. I'm not doing that. I'm not going back home. Can you say with confidence? The God of scriptures is my God. The God of the Bible, I'm with him. I'm not leaving him. You can't shake me. You can't take this Bible out of my hand. Can you say that with confidence? Can you say that with assurance? This is the kind of faith that Ruth has. She's like, you can't get sneaky and lose me. You can't just go hide behind a tree on the way back to Bethlehem and try to like pull a quick one. No, I'm with you. You can't shake me because I have a conviction. I have a conviction. And this is this is admirable. This is powerful. There's going to be times in your life, students, where you might be tempted to kind of go back. Back to the to the crass jokes that don't honor the Lord, back to putting things in front of your face that don't honor the Lord, that are, that are vulgar, that are that are lewd, that are disrespectful. There's gonna be times when you're gonna have a choice to make. Are you gonna choose to follow after God? Are you gonna choose to stick with the God of the scriptures and what he says? Or are you gonna do your own thing and go back? You're gonna do you. This is this is a daily, this is a daily thing. A daily pick up your cross and follow God. This is a daily decision that you make, that I make, that we make individually. What are you gonna do with your life? Where are you gonna go? Where are you gonna go? Jesus has set the path. Are you gonna follow? Are you gonna follow Jesus like Ruth followed Naomi? Following after her God. That's heavy. That's intense, yeah? That's no light conversational thing. What are you gonna do with your life? I'm gonna follow you, God. Doesn't matter what these people say, doesn't matter what those people say, doesn't matter what my parents say, I'm following God. If they're not agreeing with what the scriptures are telling me to do, you respectfully, I'm not gonna follow you. I'm gonna follow what scriptures say. I'm gonna follow what the God, the creator God, the eternal God of the universe has said. I'm gonna follow him. This is admirable. Ruth's faith is inspiring. It's inspiring. Let's continue on. Let's continue the story. Now I'm imagining Naomi this whole time, like, okay. You might be thinking it's a little harder, it's gonna be more work, more mouths to feed. Now I gotta, now I gotta explain. Back, you know, when I get home, the people are like, who's who's this? Where's your family? Might be a little a little harder, a little more sour, a little more challenging to ex challenging to explain what happened to her. Verse 19. So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. Pause. Look who's back. And this word stirred, it has some weight behind it. It's like, whoa, Naomi, is that you? You've looks like you've seen some things. Looks like you've been through it. You look different. When you left, there was there was a a liveliness, a charm about you, but now you you look you look like you've been through it. What happened? What happened? Where's your family? There's a heaviness in this for sure. The whole town was stirred because of them. They created a scene. There was a ruckus, there was a commotion. Word was getting spread around. Naomi's back! But not with her family. Naomi's back! There's this woman with her. We don't know who she is yet. And the woman, the women said, Is this Naomi? She said to them, Don't call me Naomi. Call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I've gone through it. She might be thinking, Who needs to take the blame for this? Surely it's not my fault. My husband wouldn't have left our people if my husband hadn't encouraged our sons to marry foreign women. Maybe this all would have been different. It's intense. She says, I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi when the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me. There is some truth to this. The Lord is sovereign and in control of all details in your life, in my life, in every person's life on this planet Earth. And Naomi, if you didn't know this, Naomi means, her name means pleasant. And there's a reversal. She's saying, I don't want to be associated with pleasant anymore. My life is no longer pleasant. There's nothing pleasing about my life. So please, don't call me pleasant anymore. She's probably saying it with some bitterness in her in her tone. Instead, she is asking to be called something else. Call me Mara, which means bitter. But that would make sense, right? If she had gone through what she went through what she did, I would be bitter. I would be torn up inside. I would be messed up. It would be so hard. Imagine losing people that you love. And I don't mean to speak with with a level of insensitivity because people in this room have experienced to some degree what we're looking at right now. And I say this with love and gentleness. This is awful what she has gone through. And for her to say, call me bitter, there's a sensitivity that we have to the situation. There's a sensitivity that we need to have. She's lost so much. But one of the one of the beautiful things about this text, do you know what the word, the name Ruth means? It means friendship. What a friend. Imagine Ruth's mind. Naomi, you're not going back alone. I'm going with you. You've been through it all. I can't let you go by yourself. I'm gonna be your friend. I'm gonna go with you. Your God is my God. What a powerful woman. What a kind woman Ruth is. Yahweh is clearly at work in her life. The God of Israel was clearly drawing her to himself. And we're gonna see what God does through this story. We're gonna see what God does through this tragedy. This foreign woman loses her husband, loses her brother-in-law, loses her father-in-law, and this woman, Ruth, is going to have a pretty spectacular future. She is going to be a part of a divine plan that we look to today and we're like, I am so amazed. I can't believe that this happened. And we need to be looking forward. We need to look at the misery of the situation. We need to look at even the ways that God is providing through the situation. These are two women that are going back home on a road trip by themselves, no protection, no provision. The vulnerability that they have is at an all-time high. God is providing them safe travel back home. God is providing food for them back home, back to the community that Naomi was from. But there's something for us to learn here. Ruth's friendship to Naomi is at this point not enough to dismiss and overcome the bitterness that she has. She's in a certain way looking at God and saying, why me? How could this be? How could this be? The text today finishes with Naomi and Ruth returning back home. They made it safe. God has provided for them. So in the midst of trials, we see we see a woman that is clinging to the God of Israel, and we see another woman that is shaking her fists at the God of Israel. There's two different patterns here. We see one that says, out of desperation, your God is all I have. And the other is saying, call me bitter. My life is a mess. Though it was true, her response to the situation was different. And we need to take some notes from this text. We need to be on guard. Let's write this down for point number four. We need to be sensitive to this. We need to guard our hearts. Guard your heart through trials. Guard your heart. It's too easy to complain. It's too easy to look at the circumstances of your life and shake your fist at God and complain. And point fingers and say, if this didn't have happened, if you wouldn't have made poor choices, we wouldn't be in this situation. And certain things are just completely out of your control. And I think you guys know that. Certain choices and decisions that other people make are completely out of your control. But we have a response. We're accountable for how we respond individually. Are we going to honor God? Are we going to honor God or are we going to shake our fist at God? Are we going to choose to consider it pure joy, my brothers? Like James is saying, when you encounter trials of various kinds, are we going to consider it? Do we have the lens of, now how is God going to make this good? How is God going to be glorified in this? How is God going to grow me and mature me through this? These are questions that I hope that you would be having. God, show me, show me your character through this. I know this is hard, but show me, show me good in this. And students, I want you to know when you ask these kind of questions to the Lord, the answers don't often come quick. Sometimes they take they take weeks, months, years. And continue and continue and continue to seek him. We've got to have a mentality like Ruth. God, you can't shake me. Naomi, you can't shake me. I'm here. I'm going nowhere. I'm going to follow you, God. I'm going to worship you. Your way is better than mine. My way is to complain and be bitter about it. No. I'm going to look to your steadfast love. I'm going to look to your faithfulness. I'm going to look to our forefathers. At this point in time, Naomi has seen the faithfulness of God. She has made every. She's been made known the story of the Exodus. She has been made known the story of creation. She has been made known the way that Moses led God's people out of slavery and into the promised land. She's a direct result of God's promise coming true. They're in the promised land. They're in Canaan. She has tasted and seen God's faithfulness. But how will she respond when her world gets flipped upside down? When the world is as dark as it ever has been. We see two different responses. We see how Naomi responds, and we see how Ruth responds. Now, some of us are going through some really dark days right now. And some of us, those days are yet to come. But here's the truth about the Christian life. If you signed up for following Jesus and thought, I can't wait for this grand, all expenses paid vacation. Oh, there's a cost of following Jesus. And sometimes the cost, the things that you pay, I don't make light of this, but sometimes the cost of following Jesus is suffering. Sometimes it's hard times. Sometimes it's intense. Sometimes it feels overwhelming. I'm not saying this to scare you, but to help you understand that the God that is in control of your heart beating right now, the God that is allowing you to remain alive right now, is the God that will see you through the trials that you face. He's going to give you the endurance. He's going to give you what you need to endure. That's a promise from God. He's not going to leave you on your own. He's not going to forsake you and say, have fun without me. See you next time. See you next trial. Through every wave and every trial in your life. The God who made you is by your side. The God who sent his only son to die for sinners is still there. You can rest in that. You can rest and know that the trials are going to be difficult. The trials are going to be at times more than you can bear, but God is not going to give you anything that you can't handle. Anything that he can't empower you to endure through. And that's the key. What you can handle is what God gives you the power to handle. Your ability to endure through suffering, your ability to endure through harassment, through loss, through heartache, through loneliness, all the things that you're going to experience in your life, all the challenges and trials, God is going to supply everything that you need to get through them. He wants you to know that he's there. In his word. Help us not to forget how good you are. Help us to look back and remember. Help us to be like Ruth and cling to you. Cling to your people. Trust that you will do something good and have a faith that says, I'm not leaving. I'm not straying away. I'm not wandering away from you, God. I am staying right here. God, help us to see your faithfulness through suffering. Help us, God, to see that this pain, this suffering in these two women is not wasted. God, will you glorify yourself as we continue to study this text? God help us to stand in wonder as we move to chapter two in a couple weeks. Help us to see your sovereign plan and the way that you provide for your people through the most dire and dark times, we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen.