Unconditional Committment

Transcript

GRS 82
2/3/1991
Unconditional Commitment
Ruth 1
Gil Rugh

One of the shorter books in our Bibles, only four chapters, but tells a story that has become very, very familiar to us as believers. It ties very closely to the study that we have done in the book of Judges because it relates something that took place during the time that the Judges were ruling in Israel. So, this takes place in the period of the Judges. The first verse of Ruth says, “Now it came about in the days when the Judges governed.” So here is an account of something that took place in the days of the Judges, we saw various things that took place in those days, mostly negative, but here we have a little expanded picture of something that took place and it is more positive in nature and character.

So, while the period of the Judges was a time of apostasy, a time of failure, a time of sin, that does not mean that everyone functioned that way in Israel. There were the faithful, there were those that were looking to God and had God working in their lives in special ways during this period of time. Ruth and Naomi are two of those individuals along with Boaz that we will meet a little bit later in the book. I have jotted down at least four purposes that have been suggested for the book of Ruth and these are fairly commonly noted as reasons why the book of Ruth is in our Old Testament.

Number one, to exhibit faith and godliness in the time of apostasy, the period of the Judges is characterized by apostasy, but the book of Ruth demonstrates faith and godliness during the time of spiritual apostasy in the nation. Number two, it illustrates for us the concept of the kinsman redeemer, the word to redeem or redemption; various forms of that word are used 20 times in the book of Ruth. So, you can see; the redemption is a key concept and a key idea in this little book and we learn something about redemption by Boaz acting as the kinsman redeemer for Ruth which anticipates the work of Jesus Christ as our kinsman redeemer.

Number three, the third purpose suggested is to show that the scope of God’s grace in the Old Testament included the Gentile. God is dealing primarily with the Jews in the Old Testament, but the book of Ruth demonstrate that his grace encompassed Gentiles as well as Jews during the Old Testament period, for Ruth is a Gentile. And the fourth purpose suggested and a very important one, some hold that this is the purpose for the Book of Ruth; to trace the ancestry of David back to Judah. The information we get in the Book of Ruth is essential to reconstruct the messianic line of Christ in the Old Testament, to tie David back to Judah and thus tie Christ the son of David back to Judah.

You need the Book of Ruth otherwise we would have a major gap in our Messianic line that we were able to trace. So, it’s very important for that reason in addition to the other three. It is one of two books in the Old Testament named after a woman, the book of Ruth and the book of Esther. Lord willing at a future time we will study the book of Esther but now let’s look into the first chapter; the book of Ruth. This chapter really focuses on the faith of Ruth and forms the background, it gives you a framework out of which the rest of the book will be built. It summarizes much information in a rather short scope, but the rest of the book then builds on what happens in chapter 1.
“Now it came about in the days when the Judges governed that there was a famine in the land and a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to soldiering in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons.” So, we begin with the famine in the land, this may have been one of the judgments that God brought on the land in the Book of Judges. Remember we have that cycle when Israel sinned, then repression was brought on them, they were conquered by an enemy, but the Lord also brought with that other catastrophes and disasters. Famine being one of them which often came with the conquering by an enemy because the enemy would come, would take the grain as we saw that in our study of the Judges. They would often come up during the time of the harvest, so they could appropriate for themselves the food. We studied about Gideon and found him hiding attempting to thresh out some grain and that may have been one of the occasions here.

Now this man decides that in light of the famine and its severity; that he will take his family and leave Bethlehem for a time, so he goes from Bethlehem to Moab. Now Moab is about 50 miles east of Bethlehem on the eastern side of the Dead Sea. Now it’s not 50 miles straight line, you have some climbing to do, Moab in the northern part where they probably went in the upper plateau; would be 3500 feet above the Dead Sea. So, they would have had a journey and journey down the dead sea being about 1000 feet below sea level and then the journey up to the northern plateau of Moab because what happened is; the clouds would come across the Judean desert and there would be no rain but then when it get to the higher hills of Moab then they would drop their rain. And so even though there is only 50 miles distance between them, not unusual for there to be rain and good crops in this region while the region Judea was suffering famine and no crops.

The fact that it says, in verse 1, he went to sojourn. It indicates he probably only intended a short stay. He thought this would be relatively short in duration which would be the idea carried by to sojourning. He didn’t go there to live but went to spend some time, so he could feed his family. There is much discussion whether this was sin or not and I will make reference to that as we move along to the events that have happened. There is no indication one way or the other in the text here. And the names of the family are given in verse 2, the name of the man was Elimelech, the name of his wife Naomi, the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah.

Now Ephratha was the district where Bethlehem was located, so Bethlehem is located in the district of Ephratha and so they might be called Ephrathites. In fact, that becomes a name for Bethlehem used in the Old Testament as well. So even today you have back in Amish country in Pennsylvania; you can go to Ephratha and visit which is the region of Bethlehem and can be used for the city of Bethlehem as well. Now we have tragedy in verse 3; Elimelech dies, Naomi’s husband died, and she was left with her two sons.

Now that is briefly presented to us and we are so far removed in our society and our culture, we fail perhaps to appreciate the tragic impact that this would have on Naomi. Here she is now in a foreign country, a widow with two sons and this would be a great tragedy for her to have to bear. We are not told how old the sons are or how long they were in the land when Elimelech died. Some see this as the judgment of God for his leaving Bethlehem but again there is nothing directly in the account here to tell us that’s the case. It is not addressed, but at any rate he dies and it’s a tremendous tragedy for Naomi.

But her two sons, verse 4, took for themselves Moabite women as wives, the name of the one was Orpah, the name of the other Ruth, and they lived there about ten years. Now as might be expected; the sons would marry Moabite women, they are living in Moabite country and whether the death of Elimelech was actually a judgment of God or not; we don’t know for sure, but you can see the ripple effect of the decision of this husband and father. He was going to go and spend a little bit of time out of the Promised Land to get away from the pressure of the famine.

That might have seemed easier than staying there and trusting God during the time. Usually through the Old Testament, when any of the key people talked about left the land to avoid a problem like famine; it didn’t go well for them. They would have been better to stay in the land and trust the Lord during that time but they are like we are today, we all want to get out from under the pressure. But now what has happened? Elimelech is dead and where are his two sons? Now they are married to Moabite women and there is quite a bit of discussion over whether this was permissible or not.

Deuteronomy 7 forbids marriage with the people of the land of Canaan. Now Moab would be on the fringe of that perhaps and Moab is not mentioned specifically in Deuteronomy however both Ezra and Nehemiah, Ezra in Ezra Chapter 9 verse 1, Nehemiah in Chapter 13 verse 23, apply the law forbidding intermarriage with the people of the land to the Moabites. So we know, the times of Ezra and Nehemiah; they understood Deuteronomy 7 to forbid marriage to Moabites.

It was God’s intention that his people remain separate and distinct, maintain their separate and distinct identity. The intermarriage would cause a breaking down of that because the next step would be worship the gods of the Moabites and then the children born into this home would be born in that environment and you would have a people who become absorbed into the world around them. The New Testament speaks about this including the Old Testament. Turn to Second Corinthians chapter 6; very familiar passage to us that has broad implications.

In Second Corinthians 6 verse 14, “do not be bound together with unbelievers, for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, what fellowship has light with darkness.” That’s the point that God had in telling his people in the Old Testament to remain separate and distinct from the people around them, not to become involved with them. “What harmony has Christ with Belial, what has a believer in common with an unbeliever, what agreement has the temple of God with idols, for we are the temple of the living God just as God said, then he quotes from several passages in the Old Testament.

I will dwell in them, walk among them, I will be their God, they shall be my people, therefore come out from among them, come out from their midst and be separate says the Lord, do not touch what is unclean and I will welcome you, I will be a father to you, you shall be sons and daughters to me says the Lord God Almighty. Therefore having these promises beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, that involves our involvements in all areas.

So, it is a real breakdown evidenced in Ruth Chapter 1 as a result of Elimelech’s decision to move into the region of Moab. He probably thought; he could control it, after a short period of time I will take my family back, but he didn’t have control over his future. Now his two sons are in Moab and they are married to Moabite women. Back in Ruth 1 and verse 4, the end of verse 4 says, “they lived there about 10 years.” This may mean that his two sons were married for ten years and of course then they only would have lived there with their children lot longer than 10 years. Or it may be, and I think this is probably more probable; the entire time of the stay in this land was 10 years.

There are no children born to either of these sons and their wives which may indicate that it was a short period of time, we are not told but at least they were there at least 10 years. So that soldiering has stretched itself out. Verse 5; then Mahlon and Chilion also died and the woman, referring to Naomi, was bereft of her two children and her husband. Now again Jewish commentators have viewed the death of Elimelech and his two sons as the judgment of God, so if you want to know how the Jewish commentators over the years have interpreted Ruth 1, they viewed it as the hand of God in judgment on the males of this family for number one; leaving the promised land and then number two; their intermarriage with the people that they should not have and there is probably something to be said for that.

At any rate now, the tragedy has been compounded, in biblical times there was no provision for Naomi at this point. She is out of the land, she has nothing, she is a foreigner, there was no social security system, there was no provision. She is an absolutely destitute person with no one to turn to and she just has nothing. So, tragedy has been heaped upon tragedy, for the survival of the women depended on the men. First her husband but then her sons could provide for her, now she has absolutely nothing and that leaves her with a totally bleak future.

Verse 6 says, “Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the land of Moab for she had heard in the land of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and giving them food.” Naomi determines there is no reason to stay in Moab. There is nothing here for me, I have nothing. So she gathers up what she has to return to Bethlehem. She has heard that the famine is over and you note how it’s put here. The end of verse 6. she had heard in the land of Moab that the Lord had visited his people in giving them food, demonstrates here clearly that Naomi has maintained her awareness and confidence in God’s sovereign control. That it was God who brought the famine and it was God now who had broken the famine and brought food to his people.

And this idea and awareness on Naomi’s part is going to be a key factor in her life and in her decisions that God is in sovereign control in the tragedies and difficulties of life as well as in the good times. The Lord brought famine and now the Lord brought food and she feels she might as well return to her homeland. In verse 7; she departed from the place where she was and her two daughters-in-law with her, they were on their way to return to the land of Judah. Now you get the idea from the discussion here and what is going to happen with the daughters-in-law that they have very few possessions to take, there wasn’t a lot to gather together here.

These three women with relatively short notice and little involvement over time gather up all their worldly possession and march home back toward Bethlehem. In verses 8 and 9, Naomi is going to exhort her daughters-in-law to turn back now and stay in Moab. 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, may the Lord grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband, then she kissed them, they lifted up their voices and wept.”

In verse 8 it says; that she exhorted them to return to their mother’s house. It’s unusual. It’s usually return to your father’s house. Some have taken this to mean that the fathers were dead. I think more probably, it’s because of their association with Naomi. Instead of remaining with me your mother-in-law, go and be in your mother’s home rather than with me in my home such as it is because over in Chapter 2 verse 11 indication is that Ruth’s father is still alive. Boaz answered and said to her, “all that you have done for your mother in law after the death of your husband has fully been reported to me, how you left your father and your mother and the land” and so on. This would seem to indicate that Ruth’s father was still alive. So the reference here; go to your mother’s house is probably coming out of Naomi’s condition go from my home to your own mother’s home on this occasion. Now why would she say this? Obviously, there is no hope for her husband in staying with Naomi, these are foreign women. Moabite women, if they return to Bethlehem with Naomi, where are they going to get husbands? And there is no future for a widow without a husband or a family or anybody to care for her.

You would be resigning yourself, committing yourself to a life of begging, of absolute poverty if you would remain with me. Return to your own home and she asked the Lord to deal kindly with them. These are Moabite women, they are outside the framework of Israel, but they evidently have been good wives and good daughters-in-law and she asked, “Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me. That word; to deal kindly, the word hesed as we would probably say it in English, hesed, H E S E D, often thought of as covenant love or covenant loyalty used a couple of other times in the book of Ruth as well.

It is often used in the Old Testament and of God’s covenant love for his people, his devotion and loyalty and here she says, that these women have demonstrated a love and loyalty to her and to her sons while they were living and now she desires that God would bless them and deal kindly and in love with them as well. This is a sacrifice for Naomi. This is all she has left. Now the future is poverty but in telling her daughter’s in law to go home she is consigning herself to a life of loneliness in her poverty but she is concerned for the well-being of her daughters.

In verse 9 she tells them that, “may the Lord grant you find rest, each in the house of their husband.” In other ways if you return to your home, your people then there is an opportunity for you to be remarried and find rest in the provision that your husband will make. This is a time of great sorrow and great sadness. This is a family that has really been through it together. Well, verses 10 to 14; they said to her, “no but we will surely return with you to your people.” There was a strong bond between daughters-in-law and mother-in-law here. Naomi hated to have them go, they hated to go, they said; no we will stay with you, we are willing to make that sacrifice but Naomi said, “there is no future in it, return my daughters, why should you go with me, have I yet sons in my womb that they may be your husbands, return my daughters, go for I’m too old to have a husband, if I have said I have hope even if I should even have a husband tonight and also bear sons, would you therefore wait until they were grown, would you therefore refrain from marrying, no my daughters it is harder for me, than for you, for the hand of the Lord has gone forth against me.”

She is talking about here what we call the Levirate marriage, the marriage of a relative to fulfill the responsibility of her husband and it’s talked about in Deuteronomy Chapter 25, if her husband died then the brother would take his sister-in-law as his wife and the first son born in that relationship would be viewed as the son of the dead brother; the dead husband and he would be the heir and so on and this brother would assume responsibility for this widowed wife. So it became the social provision for Israelites to care for the widows and the destitute in that way.

What Naomi is saying is; I’m too old to get married, to have any more children, she realizes that outside of her own children who else is going to marry two widowed Moabite women when we get back to Bethlehem. That’s what she is telling them. Look, there is no place for you to get a husband if you come with me. I can’t have any more children and there isn’t anybody else back in Bethlehem who is going to marry you, so your only hope is to go back home. So, she is not saying that unkindly, she is saying that out of love for them, concern for them. She says concerning herself, at the end of verse 13, the middle of verse 13, no my daughters it is harder for me than for you.

Her situation is worse than theirs, she has no future so to speak. It’s too late for me to get a husband, but it’s not too late for you. Again, you have to put this in the context of the day and the culture of the day, when they do get back to the land, we will see in the future, they have nothing for Naomi and Ruth. Ruth has to go out and beg in the field so to speak. Pick up whatever left behind, to try to gather enough food to feed her and Naomi and as far the future is concerned there is nothing for tomorrow but the same thing and the day after that but the same thing and to hope that they will be able to scratch out a living by Ruth maintaining enough health to go out and scratch food that’s left over in the field, so that’s the kind of future there is.

So, Naomi is really concerned for the well-being of these two daughters-in-law and you note the hand of the Lord has gone forth against me, the end of verse 13. Again, Naomi sees the sovereign hand of God in her tragedies. I don’t think we see bitterness here. We will talk about this in a moment, but we see reality. I think we see a solid sound faith demonstrated in this woman Naomi. Just as she said -- talked about; she had heard that God had brought food to the people, now there is no question God’s hand has gone forth against me. It was the hand of God that took my husband. It was the hand of God that took my two sons. The hand of God has left me destitute. So she sees God’s sovereign control in the whole thing.

Verse 14, they lifted up their voices and wept again and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law but Ruth clung to her. Orpah returns home, heart breaking as it is. She grasps the truthfulness of Naomi’s arguments and determines to turn back and return to Moab and to her people. But Ruth clung to her. We are told at the end of verse 14 and verses 15 to 18 give you that beautiful account and declaration of Ruth’s commitment. Then she said behold your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods, you note they go together, that’s the difficulty of living in Moab, the Moabites have their gods. That’s why God said, “don’t have anything to with the Moabites.”

You shouldn’t intermarry with the peoples of the land. When Orpah turns to go back, she is going back to her people and their gods. Return after your sister-in-law. But Ruth said, “do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you for where you go I will go, where you lodge I will lodge, your people shall be my people, your God shall be my god, where you die I will die, there I will be buried, thus may the Lord do to me and worse if anything but death parts you and me. When she saw that she was determined to go with her she said no more to her.”

Ruth urges her in verse 15, follow the example of your sister-in-law, go back with her. Ruth’s response indicates that she has a true faith in God and her willingness to trust him. I think that comes out in the entirety of the response that she gives; she is committing herself to Naomi, to Naomi’s people, to Naomi’s God in an irrevocable commitment. Three times Naomi had encouraged Ruth to go back. Verse 11, return my daughters, verse 12, return my daughters, verse 15, return, the end of the verse, after your sister in law. Three times she has exhorted her to go back, but Ruth’s commitment is unshakeable.

It’s not an option for her to go back. Now she understood she is turning her back on her people, the gods of her people. She is willing to make this complete break with her former life, with her family, with her friends, with her home. So again, this is a major, major decision for this woman to make and verse 16, it said it so clearly, “do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you,” and that very clear statement, “where you go I go, where you lodge I lodge, your people my people, your God my God.” You see that her commitment is to the whole package so to speak, not just to Naomi but to Naomi’s Gods, to Naomi’s people. It’s not a conditional, verse 17, kind of commitment.

Where you die, I will die and there I will be buried, there is no reluctance here. I’m willing to make the sacrifice. There is no let me try it. It’s not that for Ruth. There is no sense of, if it doesn’t work out I can always come back. I’m willing to pay the price. I have suffered with you. I know what it is to lose my husband. We have gone through these difficult times together so let me go to Bethlehem with you and if it doesn’t work out, a month, three months, I can always come back.

It’s not an easy trip but it’s not an impossible one. It’s 50 miles. It will take me a few days but, you know, I can do it. It’s not that kind of commitment because you note verse 17; where you die I will die there I will be buried. I’m committed to death, period, and she seals it with an oath. An oath that is used a number of times in the book of Kings. In Samuel, “thus may the Lord do to me and worse if anything but death parts you and me.” She invokes God’s judgment on her if she would go back. I think that’s part of the beauty over here. It’s not a commitment that was conditional and it just happened to work out. No, it was a commitment regardless of what the future is, regardless of how bleak it is, regardless of the fact; as far as I can tell we are going to be two destitute widows and what will Naomi have? What will Ruth have when Naomi does die?

She will be left a lonely destitute widow and nothing doing, my commitment is to your death, that’s the only thing that will separate us. We appreciate that kind of loyalty and decision. In verse 18 when Naomi saw she was determined to go with her, she said no more. I mean she has called down the judgment of God on herself. If she doesn’t follow through on this commitment what more could Naomi say? She held her peace. I think the faith of Ruth here is something that ought to be impressed on our minds and sets the stage for the rest of what God is going to do in this book.

We will review the context here of Ruth’s faith, so surely have a full appreciation for it. This is not an easy time to place this kind of faith in God, to have this kind of commitment to Naomi, her God and her people. Number one, Ruth had witnessed and been part of the tragedies of Naomi’s life. Put that in mind in the context here. She had seen and been part of the tragedies of Naomi’s life. Then when Naomi says; the hand of the Lord has been against me, you better believe it. Her husband and two sons taken, having left your homeland because of famine, here now with nothing. Naomi’s husband had died, her sons have died and now they are left in poverty. Ruth had witnessed and been part of all this.

Secondly, Naomi had told her to count the costs and return home. Even Naomi had tried to discourage her in her faith and commitment; look there is no hope of marriage in staying with me. Things won’t get better, you can expect that it will get worse. The hand of the Lord is with me. We have seen that, haven’t we? I mean we left Bethlehem because of famine but got here. My husband died, then one of my sons died, then my other son died. The hand of the Lord is against me. I don’t know what’s next.

Number three, her sister-in-law had returned home. That will have to be a blow. You know they are only three of them and now her sister in law had opted to go back. We think that would have had to cause some kind of wavering in Ruth. You don’t get that out of the text. But to see Orpah turning, walking back down the road, all of a sudden Ruth is alone. Oh she has Naomi, now she is going back to Naomi’s country and she will be the foreigner, she will be the outsider. Now I think the going back of her sister-in-law would have been a blow.

Number four, she is faced with a long and difficult journey to that foreign land. Here you have two single ladies going to make this arduous journey together.

Now it’s within that framework that Ruth makes the declaration that we just read. I think that’s a demonstration of an unshakeable commitment and faith. Not only a commitment and faith in regards to Naomi which God used as a human instrument, but to the God of Naomi when she says in verse 16, your people shall be my people and your God my God. You know I’m dumbfounded at that, do you think with what you have read in the first 16 verses of Ruth that you would want to say; I want your God to my God, your God, the God whose hand is against you, the God who took your husband, the God who took your two sons, your God is going to be my God.

I think there is something conveyed here about the character of Naomi and her steadfastness even as she has declared that it’s been the sovereign hand of God whose work had done this. That this is a God that Ruth is willing to commit to and believe him despite all the difficulties and all the tragedies.

Turn over to Matthew Chapter 10, Matthew Chapter 10, I think this is the kind of faith that Jesus is talking about in some of these New Testament passages. We keep in mind that as Jesus carried on his ministry; it would have been within the context of Jews who were all familiar with these Old Testament accounts.

And Matthew Chapter 10 verse 37, “he who loves father and Mother more than Me is not worthy of Me, he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of me, he who does not take up his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. You appreciate something of that dimension in the commitment of Ruth who is turning her back on her home, her parents, her people, her gods. Who is committing herself to a life of difficulty and suffering and hardship. So, with Ruth as a background; you come and listen to Christ making these kind of statements, they fit a little easier into our thinking.

Over in Chapter 16 of Matthew while you are here, verse 24; then Jesus said to his disciples, “if any one wishes to come after Me let him deny himself, take up the cross, take up his cross and follow Me, whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it.” In all those other passages through the Gospel that emphasize that need for unreserved commitment to Christ we will see that kind of commitment. That’s what Christ sets forth when He challenges people to count the cost.

Now beforehand Naomi went out of her way to make it difficult for Ruth to make the kind of decision she did. She didn’t try to allure her on with rosy promises, she told her the hardships and emphasized those. Ruth’s commitment is unshakeable.

Come back to Ruth Chapter 1, now you know what we have and the problem we have is we read these accounts in chapter 1 and we blow right through it. Why? We know how the story is going to come out. I love these happy endings and all of a sudden the suffering and the difficulty and the context of chapter 1 and the kind of commitment made there I lose sight of.

And so as I’m going through my trials and difficulties and I face obstacles, I fail to have the kind of faith that should be demonstrated because I can’t see the end but I have to keep reminding myself; in Chapter 1 Ruth hadn’t read rest of the Book, you know, she didn’t know how it was going to come out. She was stuck in Chapter 1, not knowing that it would ever change or ever get any better and her commitment ended on what kind of note. Well number one, I’m with you to your death, so what do I have to look forward to; your companionship, then overseeing your funeral and then being left a lonely widow and number two, if I don’t follow through with that kind of unreserved commitment, may God bring his judgment on me.

So, chapter 1 sets something of the setting of the book and you appreciate the character of the two women that are the key figures in this book, Naomi and Ruth. They are women of unshakeable commitment to God. Naomi’s recognition of God’s sovereignty through it all and Ruth’s commitment and faith to follow in all that God does. Back in chapter 1 verse 19, just 19 to the end of the chapter tells about their coming back home to Bethlehem. So, they both went until they came to Bethlehem, it came about when they had come to Bethlehem that all the city was stirred because of them and the women said, “Is this Naomi?”

Literally and they said but “they” is feminine so would be referring to the women, men were probably out at the barley harvest and Naomi is back and there is excitement over the return of Naomi. At least 10 years have gone by. Now many people remember her and she said to them, “do not call me Naomi, call me Mara for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.” Naomi means sweet or pleasant, Mara means bitter. Now she says, don’t call me Naomi, God hasn’t dealt with me in a pleasant way but call me Mara, he has dealt with me in a bitter way.

Now she doesn’t say I’m bitter or embittered, in fact the impact of her life on Ruth would indicate just the opposite, there is no bitterness directed toward God through her suffering and difficulty. But I take it, her recognition and acknowledgement that the sovereign hand of God is doing this and accomplishing His purpose whatever that is, He has brought bitterness into my life. But that doesn’t mean that Naomi is bitter toward God. Very crucial, very crucial, you know through the times of our trials and our difficulty. We don’t know what God is doing with our life and our testimony in the life of another.

What would the course of the book of Ruth be if Naomi had acted otherwise? If Naomi had become bitter toward God and struck out on her own course and had refused to accept adversity from the hand of the Lord? “Don’t call me Naomi; call me Mara for God has dealt bitterly, very bitterly with me. I went out full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has witnessed against me and the Almighty has afflicted me?” Again, you note that repeated emphasis, Naomi has no doubt at all that the sovereign hand of God is in control in it all. When I left this town with my husband we had plenty. Now my husband and two sons are dead and I have nothing.


“The Lord has brought me back empty”, verse 21, “the Lord has witnessed against me, the Almighty has afflicted me.” It’s amazing. She is a woman of tremendous faith. Note the use of the title for God for here, in verse 20 and 21, “the Almighty.” We are familiar with it. We have it in a song that we sometimes have sung, El-Shaddai. The name here is Shaddai, the Almighty. We often have the name El with it. It is used in other parts of the Bible. El-Shaddai, God Almighty, here the Almighty. It emphasizes His sovereignty and His power. Now I think that’s tremendous testimony of Naomi’s faith, that the title she uses here is the one that emphasizes the power and sovereignty of God and that the tragedies of her life, the difficulties of her life have not caused her to question God’s power and sovereignty.

It’s made her more aware of it, that the Almighty, the One who is sovereign, the One who is in control, the One who brings about His purposes in everything. He has afflicted me. He has brought this upon me and she is willing to bear it, she is willing to endure it, accept it from the hand of the Lord. Just jot down Job 2:10. Job asked the question, “shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?” Shall we indeed accept good from God and not adversity? Now it’s interesting, Shaddai, the Almighty is used 31 times in the Book of Job. He too saw the sovereign hand of the Almighty in his sufferings.

Interestingly that the man, that we most associate with suffering and difficulty, in referring to God calls him the Almighty. The sovereign, all-powerful God, the same name that Naomi uses. What a different reaction we often have as we are going through adversity as God’s children. We begin to question His sovereignty; we begin to question His power, why would He let this happen. Naomi doesn’t have the answers. You say, well maybe her husband shouldn’t have left the land but why is she left holding the bag? He is dead, her sons are dead, and she is the one doing the suffering but Almighty has done it, that’s enough.

The Almighty has done it. Make no question, He has dealt bitterly with me. He has made my life bitter, but the Almighty has done it. I think that kind of unshakeable commitment to God and acceptance of his will is what impacted Ruth’s life. It enabled her to have the kind of commitment and faith we have read in Chapter 1 which is what enables the blessing of God to come through the rest of these chapters. Tremendously important lesson for us to learn. I believe we lose the impact of our lives and our testimony on our children often because of the way we handle adversity. Our reaction and response declares in our actions to our children that we are not willing to accept from God adversity as well as good and therefore you use God because when He doesn’t do what you would like, when He doesn’t direct your life as you want, when He doesn’t give you what you feel you need, then you turn bitter against Him.

But Naomi accepted bitterness from Him without becoming bitter. So Naomi returned with Ruth the Moabite as her daughter in law, returned from the land of Moab. Luck of luck, they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest or maybe it’s the hand of the Almighty again. He has brought adversity, long term adversity. Friends, we are talking not days, not weeks, not months, we are talking years of adversity. A woman who has seen her children grow up, die, who is in poverty, experienced years of this but now God is about to turn things around.

Let’s review the major lessons in this account of Ruth and Naomi. Number one God is sovereign in “natural calamities and blessings.” God is sovereign in what we would call the natural calamities and blessings. Verse 6, the Lord had visited his people with food, which indicates He was the one who withheld the food in the famine. Now He brought the food acknowledging the sovereign hand of God in what we would call natural calamities, famines, related kinds of events. I believe that if we have an earthquake and one of my children die in the earthquake, how could that happen, while I rest secure, that my God is sovereign in the natural calamities.

Point two, God is sovereign in personal difficulties and tragedies, God is sovereign in personal difficulties and tragedies. Verse 13, it is harder for me than for you, for the hand of the Lord has gone forth against me. Naomi saw the hand of the Lord had gone forth against her. Not against Ruth, not against Orpah, but against me, so it’s harder for me than for you. The road ahead will be more difficult for me than you because the hand of the Lord is against me; God is sovereign in personal difficulties and tragedies.

Number three, true faith is tested by difficulties; true faith is tested by difficulties. Point four, true faith is not discouraged or turned back by difficulties, true faith is not discouraged or turned back by difficulties. Naomi doesn’t abandon her God, in fact Ruth ends up making a commitment to her God. Neither of these women is discouraged to turn back in their faith by the difficulties they experience.

Number five, this is something of an application out of this, people should count the cost before deciding to follow Christ in our day, before committing to God as we would have had it in Ruth’s day. People should count the cost before making their commitment of faith. In Luke, chapter 14, verses 25 to 33, we don’t have time to turn there. Luke 14, 25 to 33, Jesus drives home the point; you count the cost. Don’t say you are going to be my disciple until you have counted the cost, would anybody go to war without first evaluating the situation? Would anyone try to build a city before anticipating what it would take? So keep in mind nobody can be my disciple who is not willing to give up everything. We like to make it easy because we don’t want to discourage anyone. But as I come to the Scripture, Old Testament and New Testament alike, I find that God puts up barriers because He doesn’t welcome anyone who is not willing to make an unreserved commitment to Him. People should count the cost before deciding to commit to God, to believe in Christ. When you present the Gospel, you have to present it truthfully and honestly. Don’t be afraid be of turning people off. Orpah went back, Ruth did not, maybe Naomi should have painted a little rosier picture and Orpah wouldn’t have gone back to Moab and to her gods. No, Ruth didn’t go back. Those in whose God works will commit.

Point six, our faith in the face of tragedy impacts the lives of others. Our faith in the face of tragedy impacts the lives of others. Know Naomi impacted Ruth by the way she handled the adversities of her life. We sometimes miss our greatest opportunities in this short life because we are bemoaning the difficulties, because we are looking for ways out of the pressure when really, we have unique opportunity in trial, in tragedy, to declare an unshakeable faith in the living God and thus to impact others. Keep that in mind in your home. Keep that in mind with your children.

Point seven, true faith is unconditional faith, true faith is unconditional faith, Verse 17, I’m with you to the death, I’m with you to death. True faith is unconditional faith. There are no conditions here. I’m going to try it and see how it works out. Not with Ruth.

Last, number eight, the Almighty brings bitterness and affliction to his children. The Almighty brings bitterness and affliction to his children. That’s verses 20 and 21. The Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me, the Almighty has afflicted me. What we do is rest secure in the fact that He is the Almighty. He is in control. The pain of my life, the tragedies of my life, the sufferings of my life are under the control of an Almighty, all-powerful God. And it’s true, He could have kept those from me should he have so chosen. But praise God for the knowledge that when He brings them, they are under His control and so for the accomplishing of His purposes.

Now thousands of years later we are studying and benefiting from the lives and testimonies of Naomi and Ruth. They will be used of God in how many lives over the centuries? Ruth comes into the line of the Messiah. Was that little bit of suffering worth it? You think you could set them down in glory now and tell them, you know what you had to go through, no one should have to suffer, it just wasn’t worth it? Would anybody want to try and sit in heaven and make that case with Naomi and Ruth, not likely? To say would be ridiculous, so foolish. So it is with the trials and sufferings of this life.

When Paul says that the sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. That momentary light affliction is working for us an eternal way to glory, even if that’s the characteristic of my whole life, that’s alright. I have to see my whole life in light of a whole eternity and the Almighty will do what is right and best for the accomplishing of His purposes in my life in light of His eternal purposes for me. I noted at the end of my notes; we cannot control the trials and afflictions of our lives, but we are responsible for our response to them. The Almighty, He is our God. He is in control. What a privilege just to submit to Him and trust Him in whatever He chooses to do.