When Darkness Begins to Lift (English)

Good afternoon, church. Today we continue our series through the book of Ruth, which we have titled The God Who Redeems. The title of today’s sermon is When Darkness Begins to Lift.

Kerem and I have been married since December 2002. And those of you who know my wife know that she absolutely loves children. She’s incredibly good with kids, and kids love her back. My wife is like a life-size Elmo. Throughout our marriage, we would have loved to have children of our own.

But after all these years, we’ve learned to accept the life the Lord, in His providence, has given us, and we’re grateful for it.

Not long ago, my wife traveled to Colombia to receive treatment for a condition she had developed. While the doctors were evaluating her, one of them told her that, based on what they were seeing, there was still a possibility that she could become pregnant.

I still remember hearing those news.

Nothing had changed. She wasn’t pregnant. She still isn’t pregnant. There were no guarantees. But after more than twenty years of marriage, just hearing that there was a possibility gave me a little glimpse of hope.

And I think there are seasons in life when that’s all we can see.

We don’t have final answers. Our circumstances haven’t necessarily changed. But suddenly, a little light begins to break through—a glimmer of hope.

And that’s where we find ourselves today in the book of Ruth.

Last Sunday, we ended with an incredibly dark picture: three women in a foreign land standing in the shadow of three graves, as the author compressed approximately ten years of suffering into only five verses.

And we ended by reminding ourselves that the darkness is real, but it is not final.

Today, as we enter V6, for the first time in our story, we begin to see a glimpse of hope breaking through the darkness.

And the question I want us to consider is:

How do we respond when God begins to move, but our suffering still makes it difficult for us to see what He is doing?

As we unpack Ruth 1:6–14 I want us to consider three realities that emerge as the darkness begins to lift.

I. RESTORATION ALWAYS BEGINS WITH GOD

Ruth 1:6–7 NASB 2020

Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the land of Moab, because she had heard in the land of Moab that the Lord had visited His people by giving them food. (V7) So she departed from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.

Church, V6 begins with a very simple word: “Then.”

And this word matters because it connects what we’re about to read with where we left Naomi last Sunday.

V5 ended by stating that:

Ruth 1:5 NASB 2020

Both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.

That’s where we left Naomi.

She is in a foreign land. Her husband is dead. Her sons are dead. And for the first five verses, a dark cloud has hung over this family.

But V6 introduces a shift:

Ruth 1:6 NASB 2020

Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the land of Moab, because she had heard in the land of Moab that the Lord had visited His people by giving them food.

As we reach V6 we see that Naomi gets up. After approximately ten years in Moab, she has decided to return to Judah. The question is why? What changed? What causes Naomi to get up and pack.

The narrator tells us:

Ruth 1:6 NASB 2020

Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the land of Moab, because she had heard in the land of Moab that the Lord had visited His people by giving them food.

Church, don’t move too quickly past that sentence. Why? Because for the first time in our story, the narrator draws our attention directly to what the LORD is doing: “The LORD had visited His people.”

That word visited does not simply mean that God showed up to see how everyone was doing. In Scripture, when God visits His people, it often describes God turning His attention toward them and acting on their behalf.

And the narrator tells us how: “By giving them food.”

1. The famine introduced in V1 is beginning to be reversed. There is bread again in Bethlehem. And behind that provision, the narrator wants us to see the hand of God.

Think about this from Naomi’s perspective.

There is no text message coming from Bethlehem saying, “Things are getting better. There’s food again. Come home.”

When we visited our church family in Cuba, we saw how difficult it can be for them to find basic necessities. They use WhatsApp groups to tell each other, “This place has eggs.” “This store has oil.” “Get there quickly before it’s gone.”

Naomi has none of that. She is living in a foreign land, separated from Bethlehem, and yet somehow the news reaches her in Moab: There is food again in Judah. (The arrival of the message alone is part of God’s providential grace)

And notice that the narrator doesn’t merely say, “Naomi heard the famine was over.” He interprets what happened theologically: “The LORD had visited His people by giving them food.”

In other words, don’t just see the rain. See the God who sent the rain. Don’t just see the harvest. See the God who provided the harvest.

2. The narrator wants us to see the providential hand of God behind the provision.

It’s like going to the hospital, at just the right time, meeting the right doctor, who orders the right test, discovers the problem, and gives you the treatment you need.

We should be thankful for the doctor. But as Christians, we look beyond the means God uses and recognize the One who providentially provided them.

The doctor may be the instrument, the hospital may be the means but God is the Provider.

And that brings us to the movement of our story: Who acts first? God does.

Yes, Naomi gets up.

Yes, Naomi begins the journey.

Yes, Naomi will return.

But before Naomi does any of those things, God has already acted. And that order matters because restoration always begins with God. We see this pattern throughout Scripture.

When Adam and Eve sinned and hid, God came looking for them.

When Israel was enslaved in Egypt, God came down to rescue them.

When Peter denied Jesus and returned to fishing, Jesus went to him.

And ultimately, we did not climb our way up to God. God came to us in Jesus Christ.

Paul says:

Romans 5:8 NASB 2020

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Before we could clean ourselves up.

Before we could make ourselves worthy.

Before we could rescue ourselves.

God acted. And that beloved is grace.

So Naomi’s story begins to turn, not because she has everything figured out or because life has suddenly become easy. It begins to turn because God has acted.

And V7 says:

Ruth 1:7 NASB 2020

So she departed from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.

For ten years, Moab had been the place where Naomi remained. But now, because she has heard what God has done, she begins moving toward home.

And church, sometimes when God begins His work of restoration, He doesn’t show us the entire road ahead. Sometimes faith simply looks like responding to what God has revealed and taking the next step.

But here is where the story becomes interesting. God has begun moving Naomi toward restoration, but Naomi’s perspective has not yet changed. Why? Because the pain of the last ten years has not suddenly disappeared. She is still grieving.

And;

3. Suffering has a way of narrowing our perspective until all what we can see is our loss, our limitations, and everything that seems impossible.

Which brings us to our second reality.

II. SUFFERING LIMITS WHAT WE ARE ABLE TO SEE

Ruth 1:8–13 NASB 2020

But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to your mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me. (V9-10) May the Lord grant that you may find a place of rest, each one in the house of her husband.” Then she kissed them, and they raised their voices and wept. However, they said to her, “No, but we will return with you to your people.” (V11) But Naomi said, “Return, my daughters. Why should you go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? (V12) Return, my daughters! Go, for I am too old to have a husband. If I said I have hope, if I were even to have a husband tonight and also give birth to sons, (V13) would you therefore wait until they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters; for it is much more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the Lord has come out against me.”

As their journey toward Judah begins, Naomi turns to her daughters-in-law and says: “Go, return each of you to your mother’s house.”

In other words: Go home. Go back to your families. There is nothing left for you with me.

But notice what she says next: “May the LORD deal kindly with you.”

That word translated kindly is the Hebrew word hesed. It speaks of steadfast kindness, faithful love, covenant loyalty.

And this matters because (Suffering can cause many people to stop believing in God) Suffering has not made Naomi an atheist.

She still prays to the LORD.

She still believes the LORD is sovereign.

And she still believes the LORD can show hesed to Ruth and Orpah.

Ruth 1:9 NASB 2020

May the Lord grant that you may find a place of rest, each one in the house of her husband.”

Naomi genuinely wants good for these women. She wants them to go home, remarry, establish families, and find rest—a place of security and belonging.

But Ruth and Orpah respond: “No, but we will return with you to your people.” They don’t want to leave Naomi.

So Naomi responds with a few questions:

Ruth 1:11 NASB 2020

But Naomi said, “Return, my daughters. Why should you go with me?

In other words: What could I possibly offer you? And then she gives her reasons:

Ruth 1:11–13 NASB 2020

Do I still have sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? (V12) Return, my daughters! Go, for I am too old to have a husband. If I said I have hope, if I were even to have a husband tonight and also give birth to sons, would you therefore wait until they were grown? (V13) Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters; for it is much more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the Lord has come out against me.”

Church to understand Naomi’s argument, we first need to understand her cultural context.

In ancient Israel, a widow was extremely vulnerable. Her husband was normally connected to her provision, protection, and place within society. Israel also had a provision known as levirate marriage, where the brother of a deceased husband could marry the widow to preserve the family line.

That is part of the background behind Naomi’s questions. She is essentially saying:

There are no brothers left. I have no other sons to give you. And even if I married tonight and somehow had sons, are you really going to wait for them to grow up?

From Naomi’s perspective, there is no realistic future for these women if they stay with her. And humanly speaking, her argument makes sense. However this is where we see what suffering has done to Naomi’s perspective.

Yes, Her husband is gone.

Her sons are gone.

She has no other sons to give Ruth and Orpah.

But here is the tension:

4. Naomi believes that God can still be good to Ruth and Orpah, but she is struggling to believe that God can still be good to her.

She can pray: “May the LORD deal kindly with you.”

She can pray: “May the LORD grant you rest.”

But then when she looks at herself, she says:

Ruth 1:13 NASB 2020

“the hand of the Lord has come out against me.”

Last year, I was considering LASIK eye surgery because I had never been able to see clearly with glasses, especially at night.

During the testing, the doctor discovered that I have a condition called keratoconus. The shape of my eye is irregular, which is why glasses could never correct my vision.

So instead, I was fitted with scleral lenses. (explain)

And church, I still remember putting them on for the first time. When I walked outside, everything looked sharp. Everything looked clear. It felt like I was seeing the world for the first time.

The world outside had not changed. The only thing that had changed was the lens through which I was seeing it. And suffering has a way of affecting our sight.

5. Pain can narrow our perspective until all we can see is what we have lost, what we don’t have, and what seems impossible.

We see this even among faithful people in Scripture:

John the Baptist saw Jesus and declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” He baptized Jesus. He saw the Holy Spirit descend upon Him.

But later, from a prison cell, John sends his disciples to ask Jesus: “Are You the Coming One, or are we to look for someone else?” Pain caused his faith to waver.

Or think about Elijah.

In 1 Kings 18, Elijah watches God send fire from heaven. But in the next chapter, Jezebel threatens him, Elijah runs into the wilderness and says: “It is enough; now, LORD, take my life.”

Later he tells God: “I alone am left.”

But Elijah wasn’t alone. God tells him there are seven thousand in Israel who have not bowed to Baal. Elijah simply couldn’t see everything God could see. And suffering can do the same to us.

We can tell somebody else, “God will provide,” and then lose our own job and wonder how we’re going to make it.

We can tell someone in the hospital, “God is with you,” and then receive our own diagnosis and struggle to believe the same thing.

Sometimes it is easier to believe in God’s goodness for somebody else than it is to believe in His goodness while we are standing inside our own pain.

6. That’s why in the midst of our suffering we need something more reliable than our perspective. We need the promises and character of a God who sees what we cannot see.

But before we leave this point, I want us to look at Naomi’s words in V13 one more time, because there is an important theological truth in her statement:

Ruth 1:13 NASB 2020

“It is much more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the Lord has come out against me.”

The truth that I want us to see is that Naomi has a high view of God’s sovereignty. (I came up in a church culture where everything that happened was blamed on the devil)

But here in V13 Naomi recognizes that nothing in her life has happened outside of God’s sovereign rule. That God in His sovereignty could have:

Prevented the famine

He could have preserved Mahlon

He could have preserved Chilion

But He didn’t. And that is part of what makes suffering so difficult for us as Believers. Because when we suffer, we don’t believe that God has lost control. And sometimes that can leave us asking:

“Lord, if You could have prevented this, why didn’t You?”

Scripture doesn’t always give us the answer. But here is where Naomi’s perspective is incomplete:

7. Naomi is right to see the sovereign hand of God in her life, but she is wrong to conclude that because she cannot understand His hand, His heart must be against her.

Beloved, this is the reason why we need a Biblical theology of suffering. We need it for moments like this.

Because if you belong to Christ, God is not your enemy. Now, this doesn’t mean that everything that happens to us is good. Death, disease, betrayal, and grief are not good.

But;

8. Scripture teaches us that God works even through painful things for His purpose and for the good of His people.

James says:

James 1:2–3 NASB 2020

Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

And Paul says:

2 Corinthians 4:17 NASB 2020

For our momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,

Notice that word: Producing. This means that:

9. Our suffering is not meaningless. God is doing something through it even when we cannot see what He is doing.

That’s why Paul can say in Romans 8 that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. And then he asks: “If God is for us, who is against us?” How do we know God is for us?

Paul continues:

Romans 8:32 NASB 2020

He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

Church, the cross settles the question of God’s heart toward His people.

We may not understand why God allowed our suffering or what He is accomplishing through it. But;

10. We cannot look at the cross and conclude that God has ceased to be good.

Naomi can see God’s hand. She just cannot yet see what God’s hand is doing.

But God is still good.

God is still sovereign.

And God is still working.

In fact, the very next verse begins to show us that God is already working beyond what Naomi can see.

And that brings us to our third and final reality.

III. GOD IS WORKING BEYOND WHAT WE CAN SEE

Ruth 1:14 NASB 2020

And they raised their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.

As we arrive at V14, we can see how deeply these three women love one another.

This is not a contentious relationship between a mother-in-law and her daughters-in-law. These women share a deep bond. And part of that bond has been forged through suffering. And if we are honest suffering has a way of doing that.

Sometimes a family can be divided for years, but tragedy comes, and suddenly the things that kept them apart don’t seem as important anymore. We’ve even seen this nationally. After September 11, for a brief period, our country experienced an unusual sense of unity.

Which means that:

11. Shared suffering can create a bond that is difficult to understand unless you’ve walked through something together.

And these women have.

Orpah lost her husband.

Ruth lost her husband.

Naomi buried her husband and both of her sons.

They know each other’s grief. And so they weep together. But then V14 gives us two different responses.

Orpah kisses Naomi goodbye and follows her advice.

But Ruth clings to her.

That word clung is the Hebrew word dabaq. It means to cling, hold fast, or remain closely attached. It’s the same word used in Genesis 2:24 when a husband clings to his wife. It is also used in Deuteronomy to describe Israel clinging to the LORD.

Which means that Ruth isn’t simply saying: “I’d rather stay with you.” Ruth is attaching her future to Naomi’s.

And next week, Ruth herself will explain what is behind that decision. But for today, notice something Naomi cannot yet see.

Naomi has spent the previous verses explaining everything she doesn’t have.

I don’t have a husband.

I don’t have any more sons.

I have no future to offer you.

The hand of the LORD is against me.

Naomi is focused on everything she has lost. But while Naomi is explaining everything she doesn’t have, the narrator shows us what she does have. And what does she have? She has Ruth standing right beside her, clinging to her.

And Church, Naomi has no idea how important this woman is going to be.

Beloved, suffering can do that to us.

12. Suffering can make what we have lost so large that we can no longer see the mercies God has left around us.

We lose someone we love, and that loss is real. It hurts. We don’t minimize it. But sometimes in our grief, we become so focused on the empty chair that we fail to see the people still sitting around the table.

Maybe someone you love is gone, but there are still people around you who love you. There is still life around you. There are still mercies from God around you.

And those mercies do not erase the pain of what you’ve lost. But the pain of what you’ve lost should not blind you to the mercies God has preserved.

That’s Naomi. She’s looking at everything that is gone while Ruth is standing right beside her. And she doesn’t know it yet, but Ruth herself is evidence that God has not forsaken her.

Church, this is the beauty of God’s providence.

13. God accomplishes His sovereign purposes through people, decisions, circumstances, and ordinary moments that may not seem significant while we are living through them.

Remember where we started today: Restoration begins with God. And even when suffering limits what we are able to see, our limited perspective never limits God’s providence.

So, maybe today you are walking through a season where you cannot see beyond your circumstances. You don’t understand what God is doing. You don’t understand why He has allowed it. And all you can see is what you have lost—or what you are afraid you might lose.

But church, God sees what we cannot see.

And sometimes His providence is already at work right beside us before we even recognize it. So today, we’re going to leave Naomi right here.

She still doesn’t know what lies ahead.

She still carries the pain of everything she has lost.

But she has not been forsaken.

How do we know? Because Ruth is standing right beside her. She clings to her

And even though Naomi cannot yet see it… the darkness is beginning to lift.

Psalm 30:5 NASB 2020

Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning.