Loyalty In Bitterness

Pastoral Prayer

World -

Country-

State-

City-

SHBC-

Introduction

Good morning, Quimby. It’s good to be with you today.

For those of you who I haven’t met, my name is Daniel Southwick and I am the Senior Pastor at Southern Hills Baptist Church. Originally, I’m from Southern California, but I love it here in Iowa. I have been a pastor for about 15 years and I specialize in Church Revitalization. I’d love to share my story with you sometime, but we won’t have time for that this morning during service. I took on this role 2 years ago and we have seen God doing awesome things in bringing life back to a dying church in Sioux City.

According to the church history that was passed down to me, we were the first Southern Baptist Church to exist in NW Iowa. We were started as a church plant in 1961 out of a church in Missouri. As Southern Hills—known then as Temple Baptist—grew, the second pastor helped to plant its first mission church here in Quimby around 1970.

Southern Hills would go on to plant 6 other churches beside Quimby, 3 of which survive today. I believe that God has called me here to both revitalize dying churches and plant new churches in NW Iowa. And so, in short. That is why I am here this morning: to get to know you and see how we can strengthen our partnership for the mission of reaching NW Iowa.

That being said, if we didn’t get a chance to talk before, I would love to get to know you after service.

If you have your bible with you, please turn with me to the book of Ruth. We will be in chapter 1, verses 19-22 this morning.

Pastor Dan told me that you guys were working through the book of Esther, so I thought that a this message from Ruth would fit well. Last year, our church went through Ruth as a study of “loving loyalty.” The word for that in Hebrew is the word hesed and it is used in Ruth several times. It speaks of a covenantal kind of devotion to another.

This is the kind of loving loyalty that God gives to us as His human imagers. And it is the kind of loving loyalty that He expects from us in return.

This word also appears in the book of Esther in chapter 2, where the writer says that Esther earned the favor of the king. This word translated as favor is hesed, or loving loyalty. The king learns to love Esther in the way that God loves His people. In this way, he—even as an unfaithful sinner, separated from God—begins to image God well in one capacity.

Ruth and Naomi, conversely become examples for us of faithful imagers of God—women who return hesed to Yahweh God in the way that He desires.

As we will be jumping into the end of chapter 1, let me give you a quick review of where we are in the story of Ruth:

An Israelite from the tribe of Judah named Elimelech took his family and left Bethlehem and the promised land during a famine. He sought refuge, instead, in the land of Moab. The symbolism in this story is thick. Bethlehem literally means “house of bread” in Hebrew. So Elimelech takes his family and leaves the “house of bread” because they are out of bread. He forsook his hesed, or loving loyalty, to his covenant God in the search of greener pastures.

There—in the land of Moab—we see that the consequences of his sin causes his own death and brings misfortune to his family. His sons are unable to bear children with their Moabite wives, and they both ultimately die as well. It seems clear to the author that he is implying that these deaths result from their disobedience to God.

At this point, Naomi is left with few choices. Her husband and sons have died, leaving her with no way to provide for herself and the two daughters-in-law that are living in her home. She decides to repent to God and return to her home in Bethlehem, but because she loves her daughters-in-law, she desires a better life for them than the one that she will lead. She begs them to go back to their mother’s homes, where they may be married off again to a provider.

And while Orpah did what was expected and respected Naomi’s wishes, Ruth clung to her, binding herself to the older widow. Ruth showed hesed, or loving loyalty, to Naomi by refusing Naomi’s grace for the opportunity to serve her mother-in-law in love. She was willing to follow Naomi anywhere, even if that was to the grave. Ruth gave her allegiance to Naomi and to Naomi’s God, forsaking her own gods and her own land forever. She was willing to endure a hard life of seeming hopelessness because of her devotion for her mother-in-law.

And that is where we will pick up the story this morning, in Ruth chapter 1, starting in verse 19:

Ruth 1:19–22 ESV

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?” She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 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?” So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.

Have you ever gone through a time where you felt alone, lost, depressed, bitter or angry at God, and you couldn’t understand why God would allow you to feel this way?

Those are difficult moments in our lives. Maybe you are going through one of those moments in your life right now.

They feel never-ending—like the weight of the world is on your shoulders and you can’t catch a break no matter what. But isn’t it interesting that when we look back at those times, we can see that God was working in our lives during that timeme of struggle?

As they say, hindsight is 20/20. It is always easier to see God’s loyalty and provision for us when we have gotten through the storm than it is to see it during the storm. I can’t tell you how many times this has happened to me in my life. When you are Dorothy from a tiny little Kansas town and the tornado of chaos enters your life, Oz is a scary place to be.

And it’s in those times that we must put our heads down and focus on the path that is laid before us—on just being faithful and obedient in the moment—trusting that God will continue to keep His promises to us. And He always does. But, why?

Is it because we deserve it? No

It’s because God is good…

(beat)

It’s because God desires to bless His children.

This is the place that Naomi finds herself in our story: stuck in the midst of chaos because of the consequences of sin. She is lonely and bitter and depressed. And all she can do is put her head down and walk the path of loyalty and repentance.

But what Naomi doesn’t realize at this time, and what we often fail to realize in our moments of trial, is that it is in these most difficult moments that God shapes us for the future that He has prepared for us.

The author of Ruth uses contrast to emphasize the themes in the story. Naomi had left with her family when the “house of bread” had no bread, but she was full. She had a loving husband and two sons who were growing into young men. But now, she returns to Bethlehem when the “house of bread” has bread, but she is empty. Her husband and sons are gone. They have been taken from her.

Naomi and Ruth arrive in Bethlehem towards late April at the beginning of the barley harvest. There, in Judah, a time of great fruitfulness has begun.

Fruitfulness (v 22)

But will the fruitfulness of Bethlehem heal Naomi’s emptiness, or will it merely be a constant reminder of her lack of fruit? As the two women enter into town, they begin to cause a commotion.

This is a time of year where everyone would have been outside to help with harvest. There were no combines or heavy equipment. Only carts and donkeys and hundreds of hands from the town. Every able-bodied man, woman, and child was needed to help harvest and bring God’s blessing into the storehouses. It was a time of fruitfulness and abundance. It was a me of feasitng and joy and laughter. As Naomi and Ruth walk the dirt paths, everyone is looking up at them from their work in the field.

This is the first me that the community enters into the story. They seem to recognize Naomi. This woman who had left with her husband and sons for greener pastures a decade ago has now returned all alone. What has happened to them? Has her husband written her a certificate of divorce and sent her away? Even worse, have her sons now abandoned her? And to top it all off, she has with her a foreigner.

The rumor mill has been turned on and set to a boil. Finally, some of the women can’t take not knowing her story and approach to ask her to confirm who she is. They ask her, “are you Naomi?” Now, this seems pretty straightforward. They are just trying to secure her identity. But the name Naomi means pleasant in Hebrew, so they have just asked her, “are you pleasant?”

This question cuts her to the heart. It’s as if a man named Happy was at his mom’s funeral and someone came up and asked him if he was happy? He might try to lose that name forever. As does Naomi. She doesn’t want to be called pleasant. She responds as if to say, “Naomi is dead. Call me bitter instead—for that is what I truly am.”

How bitter is she? Well, apparently she is bitter enough to not gather food along the road after this long journey. Her mind has pushed her hunger aside for the embarrassment of returning home empty-handed. That fact has only been compounded during this season of great abundance. The entire town is in the field to watch her as she walks her path of shame into the village. The blessing of God has come to Bethlehem in the form of the fruitfulness of the field. But will there be any fruit for the empty and bitter Naomi?

Bitterness (vv 19-21)

Look back at verses 19-21:

Ruth 1:19–21 ESV

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?” She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 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?”

Bitterness is the opposite of joy. In Naomi’s mind, her joy had been stolen and she would never look upon it again. It seemed as if she was at the center of an immense tragedy, with nothing to do but sit in an ash heap and mourn her loss. Naomi’s bitterness in the book of Ruth is often compared to the bitterness of Job.

Job was upset at the trial that God had allowed him to endure. He too was bitter in his time of trial. Take a look at his words in Job chapter 7, starting in verse 2:

Job 7:2–11 ESV

Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like a hired hand who looks for his wages, so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me. When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I arise?’ But the night is long, and I am full of tossing till the dawn. My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt; my skin hardens, then breaks out afresh. My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle and come to their end without hope. “Remember that my life is a breath; my eye will never again see good. The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more; while your eyes are on me, I shall be gone. As the cloud fades and vanishes, so he who goes down to Sheol does not come up; he returns no more to his house, nor does his place know him anymore. “Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

Naomi identifies in the same way as Job. Like him, she feels empty and bitter for what God has allowed to happen in her life. She, too, speaks out of the bitterness of her soul. She cannot keep quiet for the restlessness that the heartbreak has left within her.

Have you ever been there?

Have you ever been upset at God because of what He allowed to happen in your life?

It doesn’t matter whether it is due to the consequences of sin like Naomi or due to a trial of testing by the enemies of God like Job. Either way, it hurts when the things around us fall apart. It hurts when the vase that is our life shatters.

Here, Naomi says that Yahweh God has testified against or responded negatively to her, and that He delivered calamity upon her. I want to take a moment to reflect on that word, here translated as calamity. This word, he’ra in Hebrew, can mean displeasure, hurt, harm, sadness, or evil. The ESV translates this word as “calamity” only one other me in the OT.

1 Kings chapter 17 has the only other occurrence. There, the author shares with us the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath. In this story, God sends Elijah outside of Israel to the nation of Sidon along the coast of the Mediterranean, where He provides food and shelter for Elijah by the hand of a widow.

She lives there with her son. You might remember the miracle that God provides for them with the jars of flour and oil that never run out. But soon after Elijah arrives, her son falls ill and dies. Now, the text is clear that God doesn’t kill the son, but allows Him to die. In this moment, the widow and the prophet of God complain in their bitterness to the Father. And Elijah exclaims, “O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn”?

The answer is yes. Later, Jesus would tell us so in the Sermon on the Mount. That God “sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” So, why is it that God allows pain and suffering to reach both the wicked and the righteous?

It’s because He uses our circumstances to bring Himself glory and to further His plan of redemption in our lives. It's because He wants to bring something miraculous into our lives.

For this pagan widow, it was to allow her to see God’s power in raising her son back to life through Elijah. For Job, God used his circumstances to root out the last bit of his selfish pride in his heart so that He could use him as an example to the people around him. And both the widow and Job were blessed on the other side of their suffering.

But what blessing could possibly be in store for a woman like Naomi with nothing left? Unlike the pagan widow and Job, Naomi’s predicament was a consequence of her family’s own making. It was their sin and poor decision-making that had led her to this road of shame. She now walked along it with her head down—empty, broken, childless, poor, weak, and burdened.

But even then there is hope. For those are just the kind of people that God loves to use.

He loves to take the broken and weak and to lift them up. As with the others, God had a plan for her that would bring Him glory and further His story of redemption. Naomi only had to lift her foot, turn from sin, and return in loyalty to Yahweh God.

Loyalty (v 22)

And that is exactly what she did. She repented and came back home. Look at what the author writes in verse 22:

Ruth 1:22 ESV

So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.

Even in her brokenness and bitterness, Naomi returned to Yahweh God. This word, translated “returned,” is the same word used for repent in Hebrew. She was walking away from God, but turned from her waywardness and began walking toward Him.

Think about the parable of the prodigal son from Luke 15. In this parable, Jesus tells of two sons, one of which who took his inheritance and left the father. He traveled in foreign pagan lands, where he ended up losing everything and having to eat scraps with the unclean pigs.

In much the same way, Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, did the same. He took his inheritance from Yahweh God—in this case, his children—and left for a pagan land. There, his family lost everything and had to beg for food from the unclean Moabites.

Here, Naomi is filling the role of the returning and repentant son. By her loving loyalty to God, she hopes that she will be welcomed and provided for. She has already resigned herself to a life without joy, but she is trusting that God will provide for her. Let’s look at how the parable ends:

Luke 15:17–24 ESV

“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’ And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

Being the reader of the story is much more fun than being the one in the story. It’s easy for us to look to the hope that the author of Ruth has been telegraphing by way of foreshadowing and allusion. It’s not so easy to see hope when you are the one in the story. While Naomi sees no hope ahead, we, the audience, can see it.

By God sharing His Word with us, we know that He is always faithful. We know that He always provides for those who are loyal to Him. And when we wander like Naomi, we know that He stands and waits on the porch for us to repent. And when we finally get to that point and turn around, He runs to us in gladness.

But sometimes it’s hard to remember that in the middle of our chaos.

Verse 22 says that Naomi and Ruth both returned. This is an interesting statement. Ruth is not from the land of Israel, so she couldn’t have returned to a place that she has never been.

The author is suggesting one of two things to us. First, he is calling back to the story of Lot, Ruth’s ancestor who used to live in the land. Or second, he is drawing attention to the fact that Ruth has taken her cue from Naomi and is turning from her sins and from her god to seek after the Most High God in the land of Judah.

Naomi and Ruth don’t know it, but God is rejoicing with the heavenly host at their return. For Naomi, His daughter, was dead, but now she is alive again. Her loyalty to HIm will bear fruit once again. But that fruit won’t come like she expects it to.

Like the prodigal son, God is going to bring her a royal robe and put a ring on her finger, for He is making her into the Queen Mother of her future grandson King David, and ultimately of Jesus the Messiah.

(Beat)

God has that in store for us as well.

No, we won’t be queen mothers Like Ruth. But God has designed us to be His rulers on earth, His royal family. Sometimes, the situations of life make it hard to see that. God has not called us to rote obedience to His law. He does not want to push us through a spiritual obstacle course to see who can survive the gauntlet.

He wants your heart. He wants your loyalty. He wants hesed.

It is often difficult for us to be loyal in the face of darkness, in the face of adversity—in pain or trial. But I want you to know, this morning, that it is okay to be angry at God. He is big enough to handle it. Tell Him all about it. Feel your emotions and express them to Him by crying out to Him in prayer.

Most often, our pain comes because of the consequences of our sin and the sin of those around us. But know that, all the while we find ourselves stuck—crying and bitter, cursing the already cursed ground that we walk on—He is just waiting for us to turn before He runs to us.

Loyalty is more than obedience. It is a heart condition, whereby we desire to be near God. Draw close to God in loving loyalty today and see the fruit that He will produce in your life.

Application

God has overcome the curse that was placed on creation by the gift of His Son. And He has told us to express our loyalty to Him by believing in and following Jesus. Like Paul, yearn to find joy in every situation. Whether in a hospital room celebrating a new child or mourning the death of a loved one.

Whether in our freedom or in chains.

Whether happy or sad, find joy in knowing that Jesus has provided our way back home. For joy is the enemy of bitterness.

Christian, if you are wandering or running from God this morning, stop.

Regardless of the reason, stop and turn to Him.

Give Him your loyalty even in the midst of your bitterness, and you will see fruit in your life that you never thought possible.

Give Him your whole heart and follow Jesus every day of your life. The Father waits to run to you.

Invitation

If you don’t know Jesus this morning, God is calling you to come to know Him today. He wants to heal your hurt and your bitterness. He has an abundance of blessings in store for you. That may not come in the form of riches and glory, but He offers you this: that even in the storms of life, you won’t be alone. That even when the enemies of God do their worst, you will still find joy in His promises.

CLOSE IN PRAYER