The Sovereignty of God and Trials

Ruth 1:1-22

The Sovereignty of God and Returning

Sunday, October 30, 2022

Pastoral Prayer

• Church: Patoka FBC (Reed Tallman)

• Nations: Sub-saharan Africa (churches to grow and send laborers out into the harvest that is plentiful)

• Rec. Word:

Introduction

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The book of Ruth, while short, is a significant book in the Old Testament. Even it’s placement in our Bibles is remarkable. First, the placement in the Hebrew Bible, which is different than where it is placed in our English Bibles. In the Hebrew Bible, you have Proverbs, which ends with Proverbs 31:10-31 which focuses on the excellent wife, the Proverbs 31 kind of woman, then immediately following this is the book of Ruth. This ties in how Ruth sums up the Proverbial 31 woman by fearing God and she is to be praised. But, in the order of our English order of the Bibles is something just as significant, and that is you have the book of Judges, then Ruth, then the book(s) of Samuel. What makes this order remarkable is that as Judges closes, it ends with: “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” The book of Ruth then begins with “In the days when the judges ruled (literally judged) 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.” This famine, this family is living in the days of the book of Judges, but as Ruth closes which we will see in 3 weeks, it ends with a genealogy from Boaz and Ruth to that of David, who in 1 Samuel we are told becomes King of Israel in leading the people of Israel in the ways of the Lord.

Ruth therefore is how God was sovereignly at work in the midst of the evil of everyone doing what was right in their own eyes. John Piper writes, “The book of Ruth reveals the hidden hand of God in the bitter experiences of his people.”

And it is with that thought why we seek to study the book of Ruth here in 2022. We desire to see how God’s hand is always working, even in the midst of everyone doing what is right in their own eyes.

Main Idea: In the midst of your suffering, Christian, know that God is at work, even if you don’t see it.

1. Famine

2. Harvest

3. Providence

I. Famine

The book of Ruth as already mentioned is in the days of the Judges ruling (literally judging) in Israel. But instead of looking at the whole of Israel in these days as the book of Judges does, Ruth zooms in on one particular Israelite family. A family from the land of Judah, from the city of Bethlehem. This detail while seemingly insignificant at first glance is of great importance. For the family that the book of Ruth zooms in on is from the city that is to become the City of David, the great King of Israel. It is the city that the Messiah will soon be foretold to be born in. It is the city in which the King of glory, King Jesus will be born in. And it is this city that this Israelite family will flee from and then return too.

A. Physical Famine

And the reason that they flee from the city of Bethlehem is a result of a famine that has entered the land. A famine that is by no accident, but a direct result of God’s warning judgment that has come upon the people of Israel for their turning away from him and his commands. In their covenant agreement, the Lord made this clear to his people. For it says in Deuteronomy 28:15-16:

“But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field.

There was famine in the land because of the people did what was right in their own eyes instead of obeying God. The famine left the fields without harvest and the people hungry. So one family instead of remaining in Bethlehem decides to flee and go elsewhere. So the man Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, leave the land and they go to sojourn in the land of Moab. To sojourn is not a permanent move, but a temporary stay. They go to find relief during the famine. But instead, of relief, all that is found is sorrow upon sorrow.

For presumptively early in their sojourning in Moab, as stated in verse 3, Elimelech, the husband of Naomi dies. Following the loss of their father, it says in verse 4 that Mahlon and Chilion took Moabite wives. Their names, Orpah and Ruth. And after 10 years, they were still in Moab, and death struck again. This time, the two sons, Mahlon and Chilion die. Now Naomi is left without her sons and her husband. She is a widow and childless, meaning she has no means of support or care. She is a foreigner sojourning in a foreign land while famine reigns in Judah.

This woman, Naomi finds herself malnourished emotionally in being devastated by the loss of her husband and sons. In saying this, it is not a stretch. For Naomi refers to her own state multiple times here in Ruth 1. In verse 13, she states that the hand of the Lord has gone against her in this suffering. In verse 20, she tells those in Bethlehem upon return, that the Lord has dealt very bitterly with her. And that he has brought calamity upon her. And here lies the problem for Naomi, in the midst of disaster, both in the midst of the famine in Judah and in the midst of tragedy, a deep heart issue is exposed. So, not only does Naomi know that of Physical Famine, she is in the midst of a Spiritual Famine as well.

B. Spiritual Famine

Consider this, Naomi and her family leave Bethlehem for Moab because of famine. Bethlehem a city that literal means, A House of Bread from its Hebrew origin. While Moab had stood as an enemy of Israel. Yet, it is this foreign land where the family turned to sojourn in and find refuge instead of returning to the LORD and repenting of the sins of Israel as the Lord had called them too.

But, not only did her family sojourn in Moab, following her husband’s death, Naomi’s two sons married Moabite women. Which this is a big no no for God’s people. Deuteronomy 7:3-4 teaches us, saying, “You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons, for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly.”

Spiritual famine has set in deep, as this family of Bethlehem in Judah has refused to hear the word of the Lord and has at the very least wandered away from his ways. And while we must be careful that death is a result of sin, in the case of Elimelech, Mahlon, and Chilion it does seem likely. Even Naomi acknowledges that it is the hand of the Lord who has brought this upon them. She, being a Jew who would have known the Torah, the law of God found in Genesis through Deuteronomy. And yet, even in the midst of God’s hand coming against them in judgement, he is doing something much greater than Naomi currently realizes. When we are malnourished, we are blinded to see all that God is doing.

Friends, the God who the Bible teaches us about is not some distant God who rolls with the punches. He is the God who orchestrates every detail of life, every circumstance for his own purposes. People cannot act apart from God, nor can Satan act apart from God. The Lord, our God is the Sovereign Lord over it all. But when we are spiritually malnourished entering into suffering, we will fail to remember who our God is and how he works according to the good purposes of his will and for the good of his people. For with Naomi being already spiritually famished from wandering away from God and his people, notice how it blinds her from seeing what God has given her in Ruth in verses 16-18. It says….

We will soon return to these verses, but for now, see the loyalty and commitment of Ruth to not depart from Naomi. But Naomi is to malnourished to see properly, she is too malnourished from spiritual famine to see with clarity that God has provided a daughter-in-law to her who is not afraid of snow for her household, who is clothed with strength and dignity, and laughs at the time to come. Ruth is a gift from God to Naomi, even when Naomi is too malnourished to immediately recognize it.

Like Naomi, we easily can enter into this same kind of spiritual nourishment from straying from God and refusing to return to him and his ways. Maybe you are feeling spiritually malnourished yourself this morning. You feel as if your Bible reading is cold and you get nothing out of it, or even worse that it is hard for you to open your Bible.

Maybe you are one who is spiritually malnourished who has been straying from the Lord for sometime, and unsure if you can come back. Or maybe you are spiritually malnourished in that you have never come to a place of desire for spiritual things. I want to encourage you to see what Naomi failed to see early on here in Ruth 1, see the harvest that God was bringing as we turn to our second point this morning. And may it nourish your soul.

II. Harvest

But not only had the Lord graciously given Naomi a loyal daughter-in-law in Ruth that her spiritual malnourishment, the Lord was doing a greater work. The famine was coming to and end and a harvest was coming.

A. Physical Harvest

A return to Bethlehem begins for Naomi. For she hears in the fields of Moab that the Lord has visited his people in bringing them food. In fact, we see in verse 22 that Ruth, the Moabite, and Naomi return to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.

The people of God had not been abandoned by God. And it is this harvest that will allow for the most desolate members of Israel to be cared for. For in harvesting in those days, the owners of the field were not to gather everything. They were to leave some, including anything that fell to the ground. This was a means of allowing the poor and desolate to come behind them and gather food to provide for themselves and their families as well, including that of Ruth and Naomi. For this is what we will see next week in chapter 2.

B. Spiritual Harvest

But like in point 1 with a physical and a spiritual famine, God was at work in a physical and spiritual harvest. For just as a literal physical harvest had been prepared to gather in, a spiritual harvest was in the works. Both in Naomi and Ruth, the Moabite, a foreigner to the people of Israel.

In Ruth 1:6-18 we see the repeated use of the word return. The returning to Bethlehem is not just a returning to the land, but a journey in restoring one to faith in God while bringing another to saving faith. God is at work here in the hearts of these two women.

Notice how this starts with the three ladies hearing of the Lord visiting his people and giving them food there in verse 6. In verse 7, it notes that after hearing this, Naomi, Ruth, and Orpah all 3 set out for Bethlehem, to return to Judah.

But as they are on their way, Naomi stops and tries to encourage her daughter-in-laws to turn back and go back to their mother’s house. She challenges them with the cost of following her back to Bethlehem. If Orpah and Ruth will turn back, they return home, they are able to be married again to a man in their nation, among their people, and be cared for. The cost of returning home will not cost them.

But, if Orpah and Ruth continue to follow Naomi, there hope is grim. As stated in verse 12, she is too old to be married again. Even if she was to be married and bear sons that very night, both girls would have years of waiting until those sons were old enough to marry and have children of their own to provide for the two women. Naomi shares that for them to go with her would be bitter for her in seeing their affliction.

The cost to follow Naomi has been laid out, and all three women, Naomi, Orpah, and Ruth weep as a result of this costly path. But then, two different responses take place as the daughter-in-laws count the cost. For Orpah, she kisses her mother-in-law and turns back to go to her mother’s house. But Ruth, she clings to Naomi, where Naomi again tries to persuade her to turn back after her sister-in-law. But look closely with me at verses 16 and 17 at Ruth’s response….

Ruth, the Moabite in hearing the cost to follow Naomi to Bethlehem will not be persuaded. Despite the cost, she declares to follow Naomi back to Bethlehem, despite the cost. In fact, she is willing to abandon everything to follow her. She is going to live where Naomi lives, she is going to forsake her own people and gods by making Naomi’s people her people, and Naomi’s God, her God.

In the midst of suffering, in the midst of counting the cost to follow Naomi, Ruth, the Moabite turns from all that she has known and declares her allegiance to the LORD alone. For there author of this short book of Ruth is expecting the readers of this to pick up this phrase, Your people shall be my people, and your God my God from other places in the Old Testament. In Exodus 6:7, the Lord said to Moses, “I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.”

Ruth here is not only declaring loyalty to Naomi, she is declaring that she is coming to take refuge under the saving wings of the LORD, the God who delivered his people out of Egypt and who will provide for Naomi and Ruth as well. And unless any think this is a stretch, we see this in our text next week in Ruth 2:12, “The LORD repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

In the midst of Naomi’s struggle for seeing God’s good hand, Ruth, a Moabite turns from foreign gods to put her faith in the LORD in seeing his goodness and glory.

A spiritual harvest comes in the conversion of Ruth not through watering down the challenges that lay before her. In fact, her declaration of faith comes despite knowing these costs. It doesn’t come through the persisting plea of Naomi for Ruth to make YHWH her God. The conversion of Ruth comes in seeing God’s provision for his people in visiting them and providing bread for them. And because of this, she turns from all her former ways to believe in the LORD for salvation. Nothing will stop her from believing, not even the persistent plea of her mother-in-law to not follow her with the high cost that lays ahead.

Christians, too often we have mistaken for what it is that we need to do to lead others to Christ. We think we must have a time of invitation to lead others to Christ. We think we must have the right environment to lead others to Christ. We think that we shouldn’t emphasize the high cost to follow Christ too soon. And yet, that is not at all how we see the Bible teach these things, including here with the conversion of Ruth, the Moabite, a foreigner.

It is in light of the high cost that Ruth pledges her allegiance to the LORD Almighty. It is in the worst of environments that Ruth declares her faith, despite the persistent plea not too. Why? Because she has heard the clear, unedited goodness of God in how he provides for his people. It is in and through the declaration of God’s good news of salvation that Ruth and others come to saving faith.

And that includes any here this morning who have yet to place their faith in the LORD for salvation. You, like Ruth, need to hear and understand that the cost to follow King Jesus is costly. That to follow King Jesus is a call to take up our own crosses and follow him into isolation, suffering, and for some even physical death. While at the same time, hearing that the reason we joyfully are called to follow King Jesus in this is because we have been provided bread in him.

Ruth came to salvation in hearing how the LORD had provided bread for his people in the land of Judah. We hear from King Jesus himself how he has come to provide us with bread, bread of himself. In John 6:35 it says, “Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.’”

Jesus became the bread of life for us in living a life without sin, as one who was without guilt offering his own life up for our own guilt of sin, dying the death we deserve, being in the grave, and then rising from the grave. Jesus gave us the bread of life that we may come to him and live forever. So, why do we go despite the high stakes of following? Because we have seen how the LORD has provided deliverance for us through his own hands. And when we see that beauty, when our eyes and ears are fully opened to this glorious truth, we can’t help but come to Jesus and follow him despite it all. Friend, make today the day you see the infinite worth of Jesus and come and follow him. I’d love to talk with you more about this after the service this morning, come find me here up front, let’s talk.

And for those who have been following Christ for sometime, don’t you be unmoved by this. Yes, to follow King Jesus is costly. But the grace of God to us in Jesus should continue to draw us nearer to him as we continue to bear our cross and follow the King of glory into whatever may lie before us, knowing that he is worth following, even into the greatest suffering that might lie ahead. Christian, let your determination match that of Ruth’s. A determination to follow Christ, where nothing can persuade you to turn back to the comforts of this life. This is the call to Christian discipleship.

Yet, even in the high cost of discipleship, we as Christians can have great comfort. For we follow the Sovereign God who is over it all and providentially working in all things. And that is where we turn in our final point this morning.

III. Providence

Providence means divine guidance or care. And throughout all of this, we see God’s guidance and care in the lives of Naomi, and will see even in the life of Ruth.

A. God’s Providence in Hearing

God’s guidance and care was there in ensuring that while they were in the fields of Moab, as stated back in verse 6, that Naomi heard that the LORD had visited his people and given them food. God was at work in making sure that Naomi knew of his visiting of his people, and calling her to come back to himself. God was sovereignly working in this providential care of his daughter.

B. God’s Providence in Provision

God’s providential care was at work in giving Naomi a daughter-in-law who was loyal to her and her people and her God. While Naomi was blind and only saw that the LORD had bitterly dealt with her, God was providing a means of provision and care for her in Ruth as her daughter-in law who would love her well.

C. God’s Providence in Timing

God’s providential care was also at work in the timing in which he brought Naomi and Ruth back to Bethlehem. We see this in verse 22….

God’s providential care is seen and made known as they arrived at the start of barley harvest, where Ruth would be able to pick grain for them for food. But in the end, something more than just food would be given. For in the end, God’s providential care is seen in how God has worked through Ruth to graft her into the line that leads to the Messiah King, King Jesus himself.

God’s handiwork is seen throughout every detail of life. May we see how he is providentially working it all out for his glory and our good as his people.

Let’s pray…