The Sovereignty of God and Trials (Ruth 1)

Intro

If I were to ask you this morning, what are your thoughts on love stories, my guess is that I would get a variety of thoughts and views on this matter. Some love a good love story. Others would prefer to run from them. Others are probably indifferent to love stories.

But what if I told you that we are about to look at a love story that surely we can all get behind? A love story, though missing war, has twists and turns with a remarkable and surprising end result? What love story you ask? A love story involving a Moabite and a faithful Jew. A story that we begin to dive into now!

This morning we begin a new, short 4 week study through the book of Ruth. You can find the book of Ruth beginning on page #262 in the Red Pew Bible in front of you.

Ruth is very short. It is only 85 verses long. It is written as a historical narrative, telling of real and historic events that have taken place in the history of Israel in the form of story. This is of course different for us, especially having just finished a New Testament letter, like James. There are no imperatives, no commands for us to be taught here.

And yet, Ruth is a remarkable story. A story of hope in the midst of sorrow. It is an epic love story. It is a story of redemption. A story in which there is much for us to learn.

Ruth finds itself set between the books of Judges and Samuel in our English Bibles. We find the setting of the story of Ruth in Ruth 1:1 “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.”

Ruth takes place in the days where the judges ruled or literally, the days where the judges judged. It was a period in Israel’s history where everyone did what was right in their own eyes.

That brings the shock of Ruth though. For Ruth, a Moabite woman, doesn’t do what is right in her own eyes. She stands in drastic contrast to those in the days of the Judges. Even more, it is through Ruth, a Moabite that a future King will arise.

But there is something interesting about the book of Ruth too. For while it is placed between Judges and Samuel in our English Bibles, it is placed directly after the book of Proverbs in the Hebrew Bible, the original language of our Old Testament.

Ruth is the example then of the Proverbial 31 woman in the flesh. A woman who is more precious than jewels, who is wise, who works hard and laughs at the trouble ahead. A woman who fears the LORD and to be praised.

As we work our way through Ruth 1 this morning, I’m going to try and not get ahead of myself. I’m going to try and let us feel this text just like first time readers would have, and let us feel the weight of despair, but the glimmer of hope.

Then let us dive into this epic story together this morning. A story in which we see the hidden hand of God at work in caring for his people. Hear the word of the LORD from Ruth 1. . . .

With that in mind, here is what I think the main idea then is of Ruth 1, and then Lord willing, that main idea is the main idea of this sermon.

God is sovereign over all things, including our sorrows. Even then, he is doing more than we can see and is deserving of our trust .

We are going to unfold this in 3 points: (1) many sorrows, (2) bitter weeping, and (3) timely return.

Point #1: Many Sorrows

Ruth 1:1 ESV

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.

The backdrop of Ruth helps the story of Ruth shine remarkably brighter. For here Ruth, a Moabite stands in contrast to those who are doing what is right in their own eyes, the them of the book of Judges. For in these days, those in Israel would turn from God until they were brought to repentance following God’s judgment against them. And even then, their repentance wasn’t lasting, for they would turn again to wickedness. And often, even worse wickedness than before.

And in the case here in Ruth, God brings his judgment on Israel here by a famine coming upon the land. To make it clear, we in a first world country understand little about famine. For we have not seen it with our own eyes in our own land.

For a famine is where there isn’t merely a lack of food for some homeless and poorer families. Famine is where there is a lack of food for a local or regional area of land. Typically a period in where there was a draught and no crops were able to grow and produce food for everyone around. Famines left despair throughout the land of Israel. And for one particular family in the story of Ruth, this famine is just the start of sorrows.

Now, there is irony in saying that there was famine in the land of Bethlehem. For Bethlehem literally means house of bread. But now, the city called house of bread has no bread. This is the start of the story for the family in which we will follow in Ruth.

A family that in the midst of realizing there is no bread in Israel decides to leave and go and sojourn, to wander in a foreign land during the midst of the famine. Sojourning in hopes that they might find provisions and refuge. Who is this family?

Ruth 1:2 “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.”

We have the man Elimelech, his wife, Naomi, and their two sons Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem. In the setting of Ruth, this detail of them being Ephrathites from Bethlehem means little. But, in the larger picture of the whole of the Bible, it is important. 1 Samuel 17:12.

1 Samuel 17:12 ESV

12 Now David was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, named Jesse, who had eight sons. In the days of Saul the man was already old and advanced in years.

Hint hint Ruth helps set up for this, for the son of Jesse. But for now, we need to simply know that this was one of the areas in Bethlehem where Elimelech’s people had settled upon Israel entering the promised land.

And now, it is this family who has fled from Bethlehem and sought refuge in a foreign land. A land that would prove unkind to them.

Ruth 1:3 “3 But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons.”

We do not know the cause of death for Elimelech. Temptation is for us to presume that Elimelech died because of sin and God’s bitter judgment, this certainly is Naomi’s posture. But we must be careful here. For Scripture does not condemn Elimelech for going to Moab to sojourn. Therefore where the narrative remains silent, we would do well not to try and read things into it. The death of Elimelech should be noted and the continuing of sorrow for this family should be what is most noted.

But this is a good reminder for us when we are seeking refuge. For this family of four, their leaving Israel was in hopes of finding refuge in a land with bread. But what they found was death. As we enter the midst of our own sorrows and hardships, we too will be tempted to look for refuge in various places. But that refuge can be elusive in this life. Even if something looks promising for refuge, it might not be the safest place.

Listen to this quote from Corrie Ten Boom:

“There are no 'if's' in God's world. And no places that are safer than other places. The center of His will is our only safety - let us pray that we may always know it!”

Corrie and her family were not Jews, but aided the Jews in trying to escape Germany in the midst of the Holocaust. Her entire family found themselves arrested and put in labor camps in Nazi Germany. She greatly understands the need for a safe refuge. But do we?

Do we realize that the safest refuge is not a new place, but in the center of the LORD’s will, even if hardship is all around us? Let us learn this in the calm, so that we do not seek foolish and false refuge in the midst of the storm. And yet too, let us see the goodness of the Sovereign LORD who continues to care for Naomi in the midst of continued sorrow.

For Elimelech has died, the second sorrow upon sorrow for this family we have been introduced to. A wife has lost her husband, two sons have lost their father. And they are still in Moab and they are still sojourning in a foreign land. And in the midst of sorrow, folly shows itself.

Ruth 1:4 “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,”

Fatherless and living in the midst of a foreign land, two sons take two foreign wives. Mahlon and Chilon marry two Moabite women. Orpah and Ruth. While Mahlon and Chilon are not called out here in sin, we do know from the law that intermarriage is forbidden by the Sovereign Lord.

Deuteronomy 7:3–4 ESV

3 You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, 4 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.

And in the midst of this intermarriage, death comes. Ruth 1:5 “5 and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.”

A third sorrow upon sorrow. It was hard enough that Naomi was facing the sorrow of famine, then the sorrow of losing her husband, but now the sorrow of losing her two sons is added upon her grief.

Friends, this world is full of sorrow. And we, like Naomi, live in a world east of Eden. We live outside of the garden which God first placed man in to live and dwell forever. Because of our first parents sin, the sin of Adam and Eve in eating of the forbidden fruit from the forbidden tree, the curse of sin has entered the world. A curse that brings with it famine and sickness, sorrow and death. The increasing of these are a reminder to us in the here and now that we live in a fallen and broken world.

There are many in this congregation who right now are enduring such sorrow. Sorrow over serious illness. Sorrow in grieving the loss of loved ones over the last year. Sorrow over the hardship and struggles of this life. Sorrow so great and real that leaves us weeping. This brings us to our second point.

Point #2: Bitter Weeping

Ruth 1:6–7 “6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and given them food. 7 So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.”

In the midst of their sorrow and as the weeping begins, news of bread returning to Bethlehem, the house of bread, comes. And Naomi and Orpah and Ruth set themselves to go to Bethlehem. But then the reality of their sorrows and the hardships through it set in.

Ruth 1:8 “8 But 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.”

Naomi urges her Moabite daughter-in-laws to return home, to their mother’s house. Now, this urging to return to their mother’s house is an indication of the helplessness of their situation. For in the ancient world it is not the norm to refer to a house as belonging to the mother, but the father. The reason for this, is not do to mother’s being discredited, but to the family’s provision being dependent on the husband, the father until his son is able to step in and provide.

And now, here Naomi and her daughter-in-laws are without husbands and without any future heir to step up and provide for them. To care for them, to guard them. This reality unfolds over the next few verses. Ruth 1:9-13. . .

Naomi realizes the hopelessness of the future for her daughter-in-laws if they follow her. She realizes that hardship awaits them. She asks that they return so that they might have a future and a hope. This was her way of showing kindness to them for the kindness that they had shown to her. And this brings them to lift their voices again and weep. Ruth 1:14 “14 Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.”

In the midst of their ongoing sorrow upon sorrow, Naomi and her daughter-in-laws are right to weep and feel sorrowful. They have face real heart ache, real loss, real sorrow. In the midst of sorrow it is okay for us, Christian, to weep with sorrow.

However, we must guard ourselves in the midst of our grief and sorrow from losing sight of our hope and being filled with bitterness.

John Piper writes,

When we have decided that God is against us, we usually exaggerate our hopelessness.

When we exaggerate our hopelessness, our hearts become bitter to God. In Naomi’s case, she thinks that God has dealt bitterly with her.

Bitterness is defined as that which is distasteful or distressing to the mind. Or could be said that it is exhibiting intense animosity.

And this is the hopelessness that Naomi is feeling, that God has dealt in animosity to her, and it causes her own heart to grow bitter towards the LORD in hopelessness. For if she clung to hope, she would remember God’s provision through his law for the widow without an heir. She would remember that the law called for family members to step up and provide a family redeemer, one who could step in for Mahlon and Chilion. But her bitterness and hopelessness caused her to forget these truths, these provisions.

To weep and be sorrowful is one thing. But in the midst of sorrow, we cannot be embittered and forget that which is true. Especially the goodness and the provision of the LORD, the provision we will see unfold throughout Ruth. Starting with the fact that after Naomi telling her two daughter-in-laws to go and return to their mother’s house, one turns to go back, Orpah, but one stays.

Ruth 1:15–17 “15 And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” 16 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.””

Naomi’s bitterness in the midst of her sorrow begins to consume her and blind her to the Lord’s provision of kindness to her through her daughter-in-law, a Moabite. For the LORD in his providence, that is in his sovereign kindness, has not left Naomi alone. He has provided one who is more than 10 sons, as we will see throughout the story.

But not only that, a daughter-in-law so commited to her, that she says that Naomi’s people will become her own. And Naomi’s god will become her god. Where Naomi is full of doubts regarding YHWH, Ruth declares now that he is her god too. A step of faith. And upon this bold declaration, Naomi stops her urging of Ruth to go back.

Ruth 1:18 “18 And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.”

Ruth didn’t just mildly set her faith in the hopes of remaining with Naomi, it was determined. It was firm, it was stout and unmoving.

Friends, the faith of Ruth here is a faith worthy of being imitated. For her faith is not something that is able to be easily persuaded to turn back from. It is firm, it is stout, it is unmoving.

Is our faith described in this way? Or is our faith shallow and easily moved by the events around us and the sorrows of life as they enter? Is our faith easily thrown aside when someone pushes against it? That is no faith, my friends.

Faith is like that of Ruths, determined, not because it is strong in itself, but because of the object of the faith, Christ the solid rock. For Jesus will come from Ruth, but even in calling Naomi’s god to be her own, Ruth is looking forward to the promises of God for a redeemer, for one who would come and rescue them.

Ruth’s life models this covenant faithfulness and loyalty in the kindness and faithful love she shows to Naomi. The Lord in his providence has not abandoned Naomi. He is not acting bitterly towards her. In the midst of sorrow, the LORD is caring for Naomi in remarkable ways, and he does the same for you and I. In fact, as we turn to our third point we see how he cares.

Point #3: Timely Return

Ruth 1:19–21 “19 So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. And the women said, “Is this Naomi?” 20 She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?””

Naomi here rightly understands the Sovereignty of God. She recognizes here, as well as she did with her daughters-in-law that the LORD was behind and over each and every event that takes place.

YHWH, I am, the God of the Bible is the sovereign ruler over the world. Both the good and the bad. There is nothing that takes place in this world without his allowance. He is not the cause of evil, but works through it to accomplish his will and his purposes.

In his short commentary book on Ruth, John Piper writes:

We will see from the story of Ruth and from the cross of Christ that in this life our hope in the next depends on God’s reign over all things. It may be hard to embrace when the pain is great, but far worse would be the weakness of God and his inability to stop the blowing of the wind and the flight of a bullet.

He latter adds:

The book of Ruth reveals the hidden hand of God in the bitter experiences of his people.

And we see that as this first act of Ruth closes. For as Ruth 1 starts with famine striking Bethlehem, the house of bread, Ruth 1 closes with Naomi returning to Bethlehem at the start of barley harvest.

And while Naomi misses this, we as readers are being called to pick this up. The very hand that Naomi felt was against her is the very hand providing for her. For this was the hand that ensured that Naomi heard about bread returning to the house of bread while still in the fields of Moab. It wasn’t by accident, but by the sovereign and kind hand of the LORD.

It was the kindness of the LORD that brings Naomi with Ruth, the Moabite, back to Bethlehem just as the barley harvest starts, which will allow Ruth to care and provide for her mother-in-law, and so much more.

In the midst of our sorrows, God is at work doing far more than we can ever see in the moment. In the story of Ruth and Naomi, by the end, they will have a glimpse of how God was at work, and so of course will we as readers.

But this is not always the case. Sometimes we will and sometimes we won’t. As I think back even over the last several years, I see this reality in my own life. The situation we were last in, it began to become very clear that it was time for us to leave. But the LORD hadn’t yet opened the door. So each time the door would crack open, we were hopeful to only see that door shut again. Each time that would happen, despair and sorrow would creep in. In the moment I could not see why the sorrows continue to build, but on the other side I can. The Lord was preparing to lead us here, where we are grateful to God to be.

However, there is another time in the last two years where I was visiting a church member in the hospital. She looked at me in her pain and ongoing suffering asking why the Lord had not yet taken her. I did not have an answer as to the why specifically, but I tried to remind her that God was sovereign over it. And that though we may not know, he certainly did. I told her, who knows whom the LORD is going to work on or in through her present sufferings. And still, I do not know.

Whether we see it or not though, we need to understand that the Sovereign Lord does not abandon us in the midst of our sorrows. He meets us in them and is sovereignly working to care for us and provide for us. He is working to draw us near to himself in his goodness.

God pursued us while we were still sinners. While we were still dead in our sins, Christ came to die for us, to pay the penalty for our sin. A timely coming to rescue the ungodly.

Christian, this is our hope in life and in death, in joy and sorrow. We must remember God’s provision and kindness to us. Friend, this same hope, this same salvation too is being extended to you, if you would but turn from your sin and trust in Jesus by faith.

The God who created us has made a way to redeem us. In the midst of our sorrows, he does not abandon us. He draws near to care for us by offering himself to us in the person and work of Jesus.

Let’s pray....