Dont Give Up, You are not Alone

Ruth 1:1-5

1 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. 2 The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. 3 But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years, 5 and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.

I. We have called this series Hesed. I believe that the concept of Hesed can be boiled down to this definition: Hesed is God’s commitment to bring about good in the life of every believer despite the circumstances.

Illustration: I have certainly experienced hesed in my life. My family served with Wycliffe Bible Translators in Cameroon, Africa. We pressed through some pretty difficult days during our time there. We returned, sick, exhausted, hurting, and beat up. Our first experience back in an American church, we heard the song from Matt Redmond, Never Once. We were in tears thinking about God’s hesed in our lives, His ever-present kindness in every difficulty The lyrics of the song reminded us, “Never Once did we ever walk alone, Never once did you leave on our own, You are faithful God you are faithful.”

Like my family was in Cameroon, Ruth was a foreigner moving to a strange land. Because she was not part of the covenant community of Israel, she was the unlikely to experience the steadfast love of God and to have a book named after her. She is a maidservant from Moab, a nobody. God’s hesed makes her a somebody.

Say the word hesed with me…H-E-S-E-D. This word encompasses so much. The word is used 245 times in the Old Testament and can be translated Mercy, Steadfast Love, Faithfulness, and Loyal. In Ruth, it is used three times, and each time it is translated Kindness.

One commentary that I read points out that Ruth displays God’s hesed in nature (a famine), in chance, or luck, when Ruth happens upon the field of Boaz in 2:3. We also see God’s hesed in her mother-in-law’s schemes, and in the legal system of that day. God’s sovereignty is displayed in hesed as we see Him work in lives of Naomi and Ruth from the beginning to the end. (Block, NAC p.610)

Sometimes a good way to think about the definition of something that encompasses so much is to think of a word that describes the opposite idea. The opposite idea of hesed is to abandon. So, as we approach the text think of it. How will two women who have lost all the males in their home survive. Have they been abandoned? It is the question in everyone’s mind.

Let’s turn our attention to the first chapter.

II. God is writing our Story! (v.1-2)

Ruth 1:1-2 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 Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there.

a. When we were unfaithful God was merciful (v. 1)

· The days when the judges ruled:

Judges 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

· There was a famine in the land, and it was likely a judgment on the sins of the people, though the text does not mention a reason for the famine.

Leviticus 26;14-17 gives us a glimpse into that… “But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments…then I will do this to you: I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.”

· They left Bethlehem. In Hebrew, this name means house of bread. It is ironic that they had to leave the house of bread because there was a famine. They leave and go to a place where no one from Israel would ever want to go!

· We often do what is right in our own eyes. Proverbs 3:5-6 warns us, “Be not wise in your own eyes, but fear the LORD and depart form evil.” Our unfaithfulness is met with the Kindness of God to bring us to repentance. Romans 2:4 says the kindness of the Lord leads to repentance.

b. None of us is beyond God’s reach!

· God’s Kindness to Moab:

1. The Moabites were enemies of Israel. Moab was Lot’s son. Balak, who hired Balaam to curse Israel. The Moabites worshipped the god Chemosh, who demanded child sacrifices. God cursed the city later (Is15-16; Jer 48; Ezek 25:8-11; Amos 2:1-3). Not exactly the town you want to move to. Perhaps they were leaving town like Jonah, seeking to get as far away from God as possible.

2. God saved the line of Elimelech through a Moabite. In fact, Ruth gave birth to the grandfather of David.

3. God is kind to the nations: Psalm 67:4-5 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Selah Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!

· God is kind to Ruth: A foreigner handmaid who does not even know who YHWH is. She does not deserve any grace, mercy, love, kindness, hesed…yet God is committed to bring about good in her life despite her circumstances.

· God has been kind to us: Romans 8:7-8 (Good News Bible) And so people become enemies of God when they are controlled by their human nature; for they do not obey God’s law, and in fact they cannot obey it. Those who obey their human nature cannot please God. God has reconciled us to Himself by showing His kindness through Jesus.

c. God often makes us uncomfortable to align us with his sovereign plan.

· Deuteronomy 8:2-3 And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

III. God allowing grief into our lives does not negate the fact that He loves us. (v.3-5)

Ruth 1:3-5 But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years, and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.

a. We all experience loss and pain in our lives.

· Mt 5:45 …he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

· C.S. Lewis has said, “Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

· Malcom Muggeridge“Contrary to what might be expected, I look back on experiences that at the time seemed especially devastating and painful, with particular satisfaction. Indeed I can say with complete truthfulness, that everything I have learned in my 75 years in this world, everything that has truly enhanced and enlightened my existence, has been through affliction and not through happiness...” David Platt, “The Church at War,”in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2011), 3213.

b. Time is needed for change during our trials.

· God is working in the silence…in our stillness…in our loss…to create something beautiful! We want to control the process to make it shorter. We may even want to hide while it is going on! Job 14 talks about it.

· Job 14:13-17 (NKJV) “Oh, that You would hide me in the grave, That You would conceal me until Your wrath is past, That You would appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, Till my change comes. You shall call, and I will answer You; You shall desire the work of Your hands. For now You number my steps, But do not watch over my sin. My transgression is sealed up in a bag, And You cover my iniquity.”

Spurgeon: Never were words of complaint more excusable than in the sad case of Job when he cried, “O that thou wouldst hide me in the grave!” Everything that could make life bearable had been taken from him, and every evil which could make death desirable came upon him. Yet, after Job had uttered those exclamations, he seems to have been half ashamed of his weakness, and girding up his loins, he argues with himself, reasoning his soul into a cooler, calmer frame. Job looks his life in the face: he perceives that his warfare is severe, but he remembers it is but once, and that when once over and the victory won, there will be no more fighting; and therefore he encourages himself to put up with his present sorrows, and even with future evils, be they what they may, and registers this solemn resolution—far more glorious than the resolve of Alexander to conquer the world—to conquer himself, and to abide with patience the will of God. C. H. Spurgeon, “Our Life, Our Work, Our Change,”in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 13 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1867), 433.

· Romans 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

c. Don’t give up!

*Here are four ways that we can confront grief that won’t subside.

1. Surround yourself with God’s people!

· Community is Essential! Allow God to use His people to meet your needs.

· Galatians 6:2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

· If you have lost someone, your desire to be with other people wanes. You want to be alone, and you don’t want to share your grief with others, but walking alone is not how God designed you.

- There are 59 ‘one anothers’ in the N.T. God intended you to be with His people, especially in grief.

2. Ask God to send you a friend like Ruth.

· Having a friend is a great way to confront loneliness.

· Adrian Rogers: There was an English publication that ran a contest for a definition of friendship and there were some wonderful definitions. One of them was “a friend is somebody who multiplies our joys and divides our grief.” Isn’t that beautiful? A friend multiplies our joys, a friend divides our grief. Another one. “A friend is somebody who understands our silence.” We don’t have to be talking for a friend to really understand who we are. Sometimes just being there. But here’s the one that won the prize in this English publication for a definition of a friend—"a friend is someone who comes in when the whole world goes out.” That is a friend. “Making Friends Forever,”in Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive (Signal Hill, CA: Rogers Family Trust, 2017), Pr 17:17.

· Proverbs 18:24 states that we have a friend who sticks closer than a brother. His name is Jesus.

· There is an old hymn, what a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear…

3. Find hope in the Psalms!

· The Psalms are a great place to find God’s comfort when everything else may seem silent.

· Psalm 71:3-5 Be to me a rock of refuge, to which I may continually come; you have given the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress. Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man. For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth.

Illustration: While my family was in Cameroon, my wife contracted malaria. She was hospitalized, and I was very worried. One day, on the way back from a hospital visit with Jill, my taxi driver asked me how I was doing. As I vented to him how afraid I was, and wondered aloud how God would allow such things, he confronted my faithlessness. He said to me, “You need to go home and read the psalms. Because your wife has malaria, especially concentrate on Psalm 91.” When I got home, I read it. I was humbled as I came to the words, “Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place—the Most High who is my refuge—no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague shall come near your tent. For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.” (Psalm 91:9-12).

I realized that I had come to Cameroon to help people like my taxi driver, and bring them the Gospel, but my taxi driver had spoken comfort to me in a deep time of need. He became a very close friend of mine, and we are still in touch.

4. You may need medication to press through extreme grief and difficulty.

· Sometimes, the grief won’t fade with passing time, and hopelessness and depression press in on you. You lose the song in your heart and you can’t seem to speak back to the lies that continually circulate in your mind. If this is you, consider talking to your doctor about possible medical interventions. Maybe you have tried exercise, diet change, and other avenues, yet the grief hangs on. There is no shame or sin in seeking medical help. You are not alone!

IV. Some of our deepest growth comes during our darkest moments (The Rest of Ruth):

· Naomi Grows so much over the next three and a half chapters. God is up to good in her life! He is going to reveal Hesed in the way he speaks to her.

· Much like he did with Gomer in Hosea 2:14: “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.

· In our grief, God seeks to speak tenderly to us…to share His heart with us. It is as C.S. Lewis put it, a megaphone to rouse us from our inactivity and sleep.

*Three things to strive for in the dark moments:

a. Personal revival begins with trust.

· God’s hesed. Someone I went to college with named his daughter hesed to remind Him of God’s faithfulness and kindness in all things. Defined again, “Hesed is God’s commitment to bring about good in the life of every believer despite the circumstances.”

· Seek to trust God in moments of doubt. Ask Him to help your unbelief. Be honest with Him. Hang on to His promise that He has a good plan for you!

· Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

b. Death is not the end!

· Jesus spoke to Martha in her extreme grief over her brother’s death, and he said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (Jn 11:25-26)

· Revelation 21:3-4: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

In Ruth we will see this idea of God being the God of wayward people. It is realized fully when Jesus wipes away every tear and death is no more.

c. Pursue God!

· Ps 23:6 has the word Hesed in it. It reads, ‘surely goodness and hesed shall follow me all the days of my life.’ God’s hesed is after you. It is pursuing you in times of joy and richness and times of sorrow and famine. It will not and does not stop. God’s kindness is rich and focused on His commitment to bring about good in the life of every believer. If you don’t know Him, He is pursuing you. If you do, remember His faithfulness. See His hesed. See His lovingkindness following you all the days of your life.

We are closing with the song Never Once. Allow the lyrics to bring to remembrance some of the times God has shown His kindness to us. Let’s Pray.