From Utter Darkness to the Light of Hope… Ruth 1:1-7

Turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Ruth, for we are going to stay in ancient town of Bethlehem an extended time. We’ve been studying the birth of Christ, born in a manger, born in in the little town of Bethlehem, and now we are going to go back much further in time to study the book of Ruth, where the events of that story primarily occur in the same location. Ruth is an incredible story that most of us are somewhat familiar with. It’s a wonderful love story, grounded in the greater and grandeur story of God’s redemption. It is also, as we will see today, a rather dark story, a story of great loss and sinful decisions. And its a book that is very mundane compared to the surrounding stories in the Bible. There is no great and glorious miracle to behold in this book, no powerful or successful warrior to admire. In fact, you could argue that this story is rather ordinary compared to much of the Bible. Which I would argue is very encouraging, for that is where most of us live and breathe daily.

The first chapter of Ruth, which we will begin to uncover today, is a story of choices. It’s about the long-term consequences of the choices we make in the mundane moments of life. Often these consequences are not what we expect, are they? But our lives, ultimately bear the mark of the decisions we make on a day in and day out basis. If anything, the little book of Ruth shows us that our actions have major consequences. Yet, at the same time, these four chapters of scripture remind us of another powerful factor in life. The X-factor if your will, that has power to change everything. That X-factor in our decision making, is none other than the grace of God. The grace which ultimately directs the outcomes of the decisions we make to His sovereign and good plan for His children. The grace that works all things together for the good of those who live the LORD. Such grace is rarely evident to us in the present time, but it’s undoubtedly there, whether we chose to acknowledge it or not.

The eighteenth-century poet and hymn writer William Cowper, who struggled greatly with ongoing bouts of depression teaches us about this gracious principle with his famous words: “God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform; He plants His footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm”

Notice that according to this suffer, God’s footprints are found in the sea. The challenge of seeing footprints there is that they immediately become invisible. The under currents of the tide quickly cover them with sand. Thus, it is often impossible to understand what the hand of God is doing in our daily lives, for we are limited by what we are able to see. As finite creatures it is impossible for us to comprehend everything that God is doing at any given moment in time. But here in the book of Ruth, God allows us to see the kind of work He performs in the mundane moments of life, so that we will trust him and live by faith in our day to day lives. Will you read along with me as I read verses 1-7 this morning…

Today, I want you to simply notice three points that are imbedded in these opening words.

1) A broken and fractured world in desperate need of a King (v. 1a).

Out of all the books of the Bible, none begin with a darker or more depressing five verses of scripture than the book of Ruth. Though these verses are often quickly read and disregarded as mere background information to an interesting love story, these words are equally vital for us to consider. Romans 15:4 reminds us… “For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” These opening words to the book of Ruth certainly qualifies as part of the “what was written in earlier times,” and it’s author shares these details with us so that we here in the present we might have hope. You see, even these inaugural verses are intended to stir or hearts affection and our minds attention to worship, and to place our hope and faith in the God of the Bible.

The book begins with the words, “Now it came about in the days when the judges governed, that there was a famine in the land.” We must understand that these words are not simply setting the scene for the reader or sharing with us helpful chronological information. No, this verse is a major theological statement regarding the nature of the time in which these events unfold. This statement demands our careful examination.

It can be argued that the days in which the judges governed Israel, were the nation of Israel’s darkest days. It was a period filled with violence, idolatry, moral depravity, great division, and civil war. In the book of Judges, we repeatedly read these words: “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25). What a profound statement. There was no king in Israel, because God Himself desired to reign as their king and yet His own people ignored His voice altogether and simply did what was right in their own eyes. In other words, they decided what was right and best for themselves and they lived by their own set of laws. When the judges ruled Israel, the people passionately pursued whatever seemed right, whatever felt right, and whatever they thought might bring them pleasure. And so it shouldn’t surprise us that throughout the book of Judges we find a repeated downward spiral, or a cycle of events as a result of such sinful living. At the beginning of the cycle, the people rebel against God and start living according to their desires. This naturally led to God acting in judgment against them, where He allowed Israel’s enemies to oppress them. And as the hardships of oppression grew, the people of Israel would respond by crying out to God in repentance. In which God would then respond by raising up a deliverer, a judge, to rescue His people, after which they would rest for a season, until they forgot their God and began to live as they desired once again. This downward spiral occurs again and again, until later in the book of judges the nation of Israel stops repenting all together. The book ends in complete chaos, evil abounded as everyone chased after the desires of their own heart. The last chapters of judges show us in graphic detail a nation that has completely lost its way, becoming just as evil as the pagan nations that surrounded them. Such a tragic storyline should serve as a vivd warning to those of us who live out that same pattern in their own life. This was the woeful world in which these events that we are going to study over the next month unfold.

Yet on top of the dark nature of that timeframe, we read there was also a famine. There was ironically little to no food to eat, even in Bethlehem, a city whose name literally means, “house of bread.” Shockingly, there was no bread in the bread house. The markets were empty, and what they had to sale they no doubt was sold at a very high price. You can imagine the frustration and the “hangry” emotions that plagued the homes. Some of you may have made New Year’s resolutions to eat less this year, and you may have experienced a taste of the same frustrations that were occurring across that land. In every home there were people angry, and unhappy. Mother’s worried about their children, father’s stressed over coming up with a plan to provide for their families. And again, we must read the news of this famine through a biblical and theological framework. This wasn’t just an unfortunate season where the clouds failed to produce rain in Israel. Instead, I would argue that the overall message of the Bible is pushing us to recognize this famine as an act of God’s judgement on sinful people. For we must remember that when God made His covenant promises with His people, He assured them wonderful blessings would come to them within the land of Israel if they simply lived by faith through obedience to His word. And at the same time, God warned them of the terrible judgments that would come, if they lived unfaithfully to His covenant.

Throughout the Old Testament we occasionally read of God sending famines to draw His wayward people’s hearts back towards Him. We see this certainly in the days of Elijah, when God specifically used his prophet to send a famine as an act of judgment on Israel for worshiping Baal. This same evil worship of the Canaanite god Baal was common among the Israelites during the period of the judges. It was Baal whom many believed ultimately controlled the fertile lands within Israel’s borders. Baal had a female counterpart named Ashtoreth, and when these two divine beings engaged in sexual intercourse with one another, the sex act brought about rain and fertility to the earth.

When the nation of Israel entered the Promised Land under the leadership of Joshua, they were to purge the land of the Canaanites and these idolatrous gods, but they failed to do so. Instead of obeying God, they made costly compromises and the idolatry of the land and the worship of Baal continued to exit and continued to attract the hearts of men. And so many Israelites turned to theses foreign gods, and God in turn would often withheld the rain, to show His people that He alone was the sovereign God and King, who was in complete control of the rain, and the harvest.

This opening verse is eerily dark, and maybe, maybe the reason we fail to be quick to notice the shocking nature of this darkness, is because we too live in a time where God is not king and everyone does what’s right in their eyes. Like the Israelites many professing Christians posses little to no desire to please God, they simply want to follow their own hearts and live as they desire. And when we do, we shouldn’t be surprised by God’s judgment and discipline. Church family, as America continues to run away from God, we must expect life to get hard for all of us. Now, please don’t misunderstand me, because I am not saying that America is Israel or even the church is Israel. We are not! But when a nation claims that claims to be Christian, and clearly has deep Christian roots, when many walk if not run away from God, we must expect His discipline to come heavily upon our land, our churches, and our home. And as Christians we can rest in knowing that God’s discipline comes not to punish us as God’s children, but to transform us and make us more like His Son by turning to Him in repentance and greater faith. Listen, church many (not all), but many of the hardships we face come as the direct result of not allowing Christ to rule and reign as King over our lives. This is why many marriages within the church end in nasty divorces, this is why many young adults walk away from the faith, this is why women struggle with jealousy and bitterness and stir up drama amongst themselves, this is why many churches are not united as a family, and this is why there are countless frustrations in or homes and in our churches. Listen: When there is no King, everyone will seek to be a royal. Kingdoms will clash and wage war against one another. Our worlds, our home, our workplace, our schools, and our church desperately need one king. The righteous and holy King who will guide us out of the darkness and brokenness by pointing us in the way of righteousness and unity. Our world is dark, broken and fractured, oh how we need to crown Him King and Lord of our hearts and live for His glory alone. Second, notice...

2) A man who recklessly ignored the counsel of God’s Word (vs. 1b-5).

The author quickly draws our attention to a certain man who lived in Bethlehem. We are told in verse 2, that this man’s name is Elimelech. A fascinating name for us to consider because his name literally means “God is king.” Perhaps his parents longed for him to live according to the Law, to live a loyal life of worship to God, but everything we see in the text makes us actually question his name, for he certainly doesn’t appear to be someone who would proclaim God to be the king. Let me explain.

Elimelech was an Ephrathite, one the twelve tribes of Israel who was given a home within the Promised Land, a land in which God would dwell with His people, and care for them in a special way. There, God would bless His people and faithfully provide for the needs of His children, if they remained faithful to Him and walked in His ways. Elimelech should have been familiar with God’s Word, in which God promised such gracious provision. Promises like Deut. 30 that reads… “return to your God and obey Him with all your heart… then the Lord your God will restore you… will have compassion on you… will prosper you abundantly in all the work of your hand, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your cattle and in the produce of your ground, for the LORD will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers.” (Deut. 30:2,3,9).

But instead of looking to Scripture, instead of interpreting his unfortunate situation through a Biblical lens, from God’s point of view, and instead of seeking guidance from Yahweh, Elimelech thinks and acts very practically and pragmatically about his unfortunate situation. To him, his family was in trouble. His precious bride Naomi and his two sons Mahlon and Chilion needed food, and as their protector and provider he desperately needed to do something to care for them. Though the proper and appropriate response would have been to remain in Israel, to repent of sin, call on others to repent, and trust in God, Elimelech chose the land of compromise over the land of promise. So, after hearing that life was much easier elsewhere, he decides to pack up everything and sojourn to a land 50 miles away that was not affected by the famine. The word sojourn implies that the intention of his heart was not to permanently relocate his family, but rather he was intending to seek refuge for a season until the famine had ended.

But shockingly, out of all the places he could have chosen to find life giving resources for his family, he chose Moab. The word Moab itself tells a significant story. The word literally means “from her mother’s father.” In Genesis 19, we read of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The only survivors were Lot and his two daughters. His wife if you remember looked back after the angels had warned them not to, and she turned into a pillar of salt. And Lot and his two daughters, as the only survivors, settle in cave near Zoar. His daughters begin to panic over their situation. They were living in a remote area where there no men were present, and so they too think pragmatically about their situation without considering the voice of God. And they come up with a wicked and incestuous plan to make their father drunk on wine and lay with him so that their family name may be preserved. And so they do, and the oldest daughter became pregnant gave birth to her father’s son, and the baby was named Moab, who became the father of the Moabites.

The Moabites were not kind to Israel in any way. They were a long-standing adversary. In Numbers chapters 22-24, Moses tells us that their king Balak hired Balaam, a wicked prophet, to curse Israel when they came out of Egypt. When that plan failed, in Numbers 25 we read that the Moabite women acted against the Israelite men . They attempted to seduce them, to get them to worship their pagan gods with them. And then in Judges 3, just prior to this troubling famine, we read how Eglon, the rather fat king of Moab, defeated Israel and oppressed the people of the land for 18 years.

Let me ask, you, does this sound like a place you would go to raise a godly family? No doubt life must have been unimaginably difficult for Elimelech as he made this decision. But somehow, he concluded that life must be better there, than under the care and discipline of God. So they left Bethlehem, for what they thought was just a season, to find life elsewhere. But notice the end of verse 2… because there is a hint that their plans are changing… It reads, “Now they entered the land of Moab and remained there.” Their sojourn was quickly turning into an extended stay. And isn’t that like life and sin. We reason, “we are just going to walk away from God for a quick season, when we get a little older, we think we will come to church and get our lives right with God, and what was intended to be just a little sin and little fun, becomes a whole lot of sinful living.

Sadly, notice verse 3, Elimelech dies in the foreign land, leaving Naomi with her two sons. He led his family there for just a season, but never comes back. And if that is not heartbreaking enough, notice his sons embrace the foreign culture and take Moabite wives. Even though God had specifically commanded Israel not to marry outsiders, they seem to think they are an exception to the rule. So they marry Moabite women, one of these women was named Orpha and the other Ruth, and notice they too live there for ten more years. Things were quickly becoming permanent as this family became more at home in the land of compromise.

And though it tragic to read the next line, it’s a vivid reminder that the wages of sin is death. Verse 5 reads, “Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was bereft of her two children and her husband.” Instead of living by faith, Elimelech trusted in his own wisdom, and it cost him and Naomi everything. Please don’t miss how Naomi is referred to here. She simply called “the woman.” You must understand the hopelessness and darkness of this phrase. By having no male in her immediate family to care for her, to protect her and provide for her, she had nothing to hope in. Her identity was completely stripped from her, she is no longer Naomi, she’s just a broken woman. In the ancient world this isn’t just heartbreaking, it was also extremely shameful for a family line to end. And that is what we see happening here in these opening verses. The men had shamefully failed to provide and care for her. As I said earlier, the first five verses of this text present us the darkest introduction to any book of the Bible. In fact, I think we can rightly argue, that life cannot get any darker than this moment. If you have ever wondered, can things in my life get any worse?, Naomi would testify that it most certainly can.

Elimelech’s costly decision stands as a powerful warning to us. We must not our hearts, or trust in or own wisdom, our reason, or emotion. We must not do whatever is right in our own eyes. We must not make potential life changing decisions without first looking to God and His Word for guidance. Oh how costly such decisions are, not just for ourselves but for our families, and or future family. Listen, God gave us the ability to reason, but He also warns us not to reason apart from using the Bible as the starting point to our thinking.

As a pastor, I have the opportunity to counsel many people. And often people come to me seeking guidance and direction for their lives. I can’t tell you how many conversations I’ve had with people where God’s Word clearly tells them to move in one specific direction, and yet they hesitate and reason. They think it doesn’t make sense to stay in their difficult marriage, or they reason that its ok to marry someone who’s not a believer because they are in love. The conclude for them to look at porn as long as they don’t engage in a physical adulterous affair. They look for compromise when God’s Word is clear and final. And even though they claim to be followers of Christ, Christians often follow their own emotional driven wisdom rather than simply trust and obey. Like Elimelech, oh how we often fail to be familiar with Scripture and the hope that it gives. He should have been familiar with God’s Word, and verses like Deut. 8:3… Which reads, “He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know… that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.” Oh how important this verse is, Jesus would actually repeat it for his disciples. Listen: Life, abundant life, eternal life, the joy and peace of life are only found by being obedient to the book! Listen church family… Reason apart from God’s Word is dangerous. John Calvin once wrote, “The light of human reason differs little from darkness.” And oh how dark an opening to this book. Elimelech did not listen to his own name; nor did he look to God as King. Faithful Christianity means seeking to live in obedience to God’s Word within a biblical community, among Spirit-filled, prayerful, wise saints. That is the pattern of wise decision making– not following your heart as Elimelech did. Lastly, notice a third point in our text, and see

3) The providence of God graciously leading His children to repent (vs. 6-7)

Note how the darkness of Naomi’s world begins to slowly lift in verse 6 and seven, as she hears of the good news of God’s grace and acts in faith. Look at verses 6 and 7, “Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the (dark and evil) land of Moab, for she had heard in the land of Moab that the LORD had visited His people in giving them food. So she departed from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.”

Notice specifically what Naomi hears. She doesn’t hear that luck has changed in Israel, or that dark clouds came across the Mediterranean Sea bringing about much needed rain. She doesn’t here that spring has come once again. She doesn’t hear that Baal, the Canaanite god of fertility had come to life and brought forth a great harvest… No, she hears good news with ears of faith that “the LORD (Yahweh the covenant keeping God of Israel) had visited His people and brought them food.” We don’t what words were exactly spoken to Naomi, but we certainly know what she heard. Apparently, the people of Israel had turned their hearts back toward God in pure worship, perhaps God had risen up a judge to act on their behalf, and God once again poured out His blessing upon the land. And hearing of that grace, Naomi arises from her grieving, her pain, and her sin, and she places her eyes on Her God and turns to the Promised Land, the place where God dwelt and cared for His chosen people. Here in these words, Naomi begins to walk in faith towards Him.

In these two verses we are introduced to a keyword that appears twice in these verses and then reappears time and time again within this short book of the Bible. The word in Hebrew is “shoob” and it is translated into our English text as the word “return.” The constant repetition of this particular word is significant because it was not the only Hebrew word that meant “return,” but it is the Old Testament’s main word for turning back, or perhaps more literally being turned back to God’s covenant of grace and mercy– The word implies repentance, and conversion. This word runs like a melody line through the entire four chapters of Ruth. It serves as a constant reminder of what this story is all about. You see the book of Ruth is not simply a romantic love story or the story of a baby. It’s a story about repentance, a story about how God led Naomi home from the land of compromise, back to the land of promise, back to the kingdom God, where He will strategically use her and her daughter-in-law Ruth to bring His one and only Son into this world to save us from our sin.

As we journey through this book together in the upcoming weeks, we will see just how God is providentially at work behind the scenes of this short story. The doctrinal theme of this short book of the Bible is God’s providence. By Providence, I mean God’s purposeful sovereignty. You see, we often speak of God’s sovereignty, that He rules and reigns over all creation, and that nothing under His sovereign care occurs that He doesn’t first allow. But underneath the grand umbrella of that profound doctrine is the doctrine of providence, the doctrine that proclaims that God is working all things together with a purpose in mind. With every event that He allows in our lives, He is actually behind the veil working thousands upon thousands of things together for the good of those who love Him. And even here, in the darkest moments of verses 1-5: through the sin of Elimelech and his sons, through the pain of death, through hopelessness of being a widow without any son to care for her, God is profoundly at work, patiently and slowly bringing, not just Naomi, but a Moabite woman named Ruth to Israel, and in doing so, He is bringing redemption to those who will live by faith in Christ. Oh how, this small little book, brings hope, not just to the Israelite, but to the world through a Moabite woman, even when all hope seems to be lost! You see now matter how dark your world grow as a believer, we have hope, because we can rest in knowing that God is slowly at working glorifying his name and drawing hearts to Himself through faith and repentance.

Now in many ways the book of Ruth is to be read backwards, for providence only makes sense looking back over time. We know at the end of this story that Ruth will marry Boaz and give birth to a son, whom is named Obed, who is the father of Jesse, who has a son named David, who will reign as king of Israel, and down the family line from there comes another Son, born in Bethlehem, born to live and to die for our sins. The King of Kings and Lord of lords, our Savior Jesus Christ.

Pastor Alex earlier in our service read the story of the prodigal son. A story with many parallels to the story we have been studying together this morning. And in the story of the prodigal’s return home, the father didn’t just go about his business when his son left, but instead he kept his eyes on the horizon, day by day he kept looking and searching for his son to return, and when he first laid eyes on his son, the second he is able to see him, he runs to meet him. In that culture it was shameful for an old man to run, but the father didn’t care for his love was far greater.

Listen, when we think of the prodigal son leaving home to find pleasure and life elsewhere or when we think of Elimelek and his family leaving the promised land in search of blessing outside of God’s plan for his life, we should also think of our Lord Christ Jesus, who humbly abandoned the glories of heaven to bring us the true and ultimate blessing of God. Shamefully, out of His great love for us, He would boldly walk to Calvary to die on a sinner’s cross, bearing our sin, our guilt, and our shame. There He would die in our place to appease the Father’s justifiable wrath towards our sin. Just as we read in verse 6 of our text that God visited his people to meet their need with food, the Son too has come, clothed in human flesh, the King of kings has visited the earth to meet our greatest need. He came to pay our sin debt, to grant forgiveness of our sin, and give eternal life. And if we turn in faith, if we repent of our sin, and make Him king of our lives, God will certainly bless us with His gracious provision and protection. He will pour out His grace, mercy, and love upon us.

Maybe you are here today, and you haven’t really thought of how God’s providence has been at work in your life. How Maybe your life is rather messy, filled with sin, pain, or grief. But here today, you have heard of God’s grace, you are beginning to think and see how God has been drawing your heart to a point of repentance. How He putting the pieces of your darkness together and brining about light to your world. Oh please, will you like Naomi, turn your eyes to the land of promise, and leave the land of sin and compromise. Will you repent and believe in Him! Or perhaps you are here today, and you mostly have been walking with God. You come to church, you are part of this family, but because of sin and compromise you too are feeling the heat and dryness of a spiritual famine. Maybe you are starting to see how dark your world really is. You know in your heart that there are changes that need to be made, how you know you need to walk away from certain things, and how you need to live by faith. Maybe you know that you naturally think more pragmatically about things than biblically, and you can see how its cost you and your family over the years. Church now is the time to rise from such sinful practices and walk in faith. God is at work; will you respond in faith? Will you trust Him in the dark and in the mundane?