Ruth 1:6-22 - Reluctant Returns

Intro

*Read the passage*

Opening Illust: Guy at the pool.

Why is it that when hard things happen, we want to isolate? It’s because:

We feel unworthy

We feel exhausted

We feel bitter

God brings you to your lowest point before he brings you back to him. But often times we are not eager to go.

Have you ever had a moment where someone in authority wanted you to do something, and you did not want to do it? You may have resisted for a moment, but eventually you see it’s better for you to do what they want. However, you are not happy in the process. Because the situation as a whole in your mind could be better. There are circumstances involved that you wish never had anything to do with you. So you go, but you go reluctantly.

My whole testimony involved this with California and Wales.

Context: Review the book of Ruth. The desperate situation of the women. (Calamity, corruption, and consequence).

In the passage we just read, there twelve uses of “return” - Shuv, repent.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to

Summary:

The returns here are always either referring to the Lord bringing Naomi and her daughters-in-law back to Israel, to her true people and her true God. Or it refers to Naomi urging the other women to return to Moab where she believes there is a better future. The two contexts are used in a tug of war manner,.

In this passage we have a bitter Naomi. And God is forcing a return in her life, a return that is going to be the better for the whole nation! Eventually the whole world! But that return involved loss. Naomi can’t see the bigger picture, she can’t see why an almighty powerful God would allow this.

Verses 6-7

Sets the scene. Between Israel and Moab

Israel: Land of God’s people, promises, and hope.

Moab: Land of temptation and destruction.

Illust: The mountaintop between Santa Clarita and the Antelope Valley.

Verses 8-14

Reasons Naomi wants them to stay:

There is a potential for a future husband with their own clan. (The mother was the bridal preparer, Gen 24:28)

Israel was commanded not to marry Moabites. They would have tempted their men away.

She believes God will reward them for being good.

She later doubts God’s goodness to herself.

She is unable to bear children.

Even if she was, they would have to wait an unrealistic amount of time.

Conclusion: The best potential for salvation for these ladies is a husband and Naomi cannot provide that.

What does it mean to return to the old life? To return to idols. To return to their Gods.

Verses 15-18

English Standard Version Chapter 1

15 And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has

Ruth sees this geographical return as so much more than a return. She sees it as life and death.

She gave up her people. Her identity.

She gave up her gods.

She puts her fate in the hands of the Lord and chooses to trust in him rather than her own beauty, her own scheming, or her own family and friends to provide. This is true saving faith.

Now, is Naomi the best example to learn what it is to be a follower of God from?

Verses 16-22

Two Details:

The name Naomi gives herself - Bitter (Mara)

The name Naomi gives God - Almighty (El Shaddai)

As painful as Naomi’s loss was, she begins to identify with that more than her savior.

“God is capable, but he did something I did not like.”

Exodus 15:23 ESV

When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah.

Conclusion

What is all the bitterness and the grief over in this passage? The loss of husbands, who are the provider.

Naomi forgot one essential truth. Israel is the bride of YHWH, the church is the bride of Christ.

The loss of her earthly husband was a call for her to return to her heavenly one.

Christ is waiting to accept you with open arms in your reluctant return.

Christ cares for his bride, provides for her, and guarantees a future.

God knows you are not strong enough to return yourself, so he returns you,

Isaiah 30:15 ESV

For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”