Don't Run Away!

Intro:

It is said that "decisions determine destiny". Your life tomorrow will be the direct result of the decisions you make today. It is estimated that we make approximately 35,000 decisions per day! There will be consequences for each of those decisions. These consequences may not be immediate but they are inevitable.

If you choose to spend more money than you take in, eventually you will go bankrupt. If you choose to be lazy at your job, eventually you will find yourself unemployed. If you choose to eat too much, you will gain weight. If you choose to neglect your spouse, it may cost you your marriage… and the examples could go on and on...

In the spiritual realm choices have eternal consequences. When our choices are sinful... there will be severe consequences! Just ask Noah, David, Samson, Elijah, The Children of Israel Simon Peter and many, many others!

The first few verses of Ruth tells us about the choices and consequences in the actions of a man named Elimelech. These verses also reveal the impact that those choices had on his family. There was a famine in the land and he chose to take matters into his own hands instead of trusting God. His decision brought about a downward spiral of events that impacted each member of his family.

There are many great truths to be found in the Book of Ruth. and in the first 5 verses we will see a great lesson concerning people who choose to walk away from God… people who choose to “Run Away” from their problems… people who abandon their commitment to the Lord...

Last week we looked at these first 5 verses to get some background information and now, I would like to look at these verses again and get a little bit deeper into what they are saying… Read vv. 1-5

Meat:

As we talked about last week… Life was not easy during the time of the judges, because it was during this time that “there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes”… The book of Judges is the story of Israel at one of its lowest points in history–it’s a time of lawlessness, idolatry, false religion, theft, drunkenness, homosexuality, sexual perversion, violence and national division… does any of that sound familiar??? That sounds to me like a description of the very day and age in which we live! We live in a time when men and women “do what is right in their own eyes”

Warren Wiersbe said “Spiritually, our lives resemble elements of the book of Judges, for there is no king in Israel, and there will not be until Jesus returns. Like Israel in the past, many of God’s people today are living in unbelief and disobedience and are not enjoying the blessings of God.”

Elimelech was one of these men that did what was right in his own eyes… which is a bit ironic, because Elimelech’s name literally means “God his King”, but Elimelech’s actions reveal that he thought he was king over his own life…

1. Elimelech’s Mistakes

He made some mistakes that eventually led to some unfortunate consequences. I want to point out those mistakes this morning, so that when we find ourselves in similar situations, we will know not to make the same mistakes and we will be determined to staying committed to God’s Plan and not our own… Elimelech made the wrong decision when he decided to leave home. What made this decision so wrong?

His first mistake was...

(1)a. He walked by sight and not by faith

Several times in the Bible, when God's people turned from Him, He would send a famine to their land as a means of discipline. Elimelech and his family were in the midst of one of those times of famine. As a result, Elimelech decided to take matters into his own hands. He chose to leave "Bethlehem-Judah" for the country of Moab. Even though there was a famine in Bethlehem, Elimelech should have stayed. This was the place that God had designed for Elimelech and his family. If he had remained God would have taken care of them all.

The Word or Name Bethlehem, literally means “house of bread” and Judah means “praise.” As our study goes on in the coming weeks, we will be introduced to a close relative of Elimelech, named Boaz. Boaz faced the exact same famine that Elimelech was facing, however, Boaz stayed committed and was sustained by the Lord.

Elimelech on the other hand, did what he thought was right, saw that the grass was greener on the other side and left the “House of Bread” for Moab. In the book of Psalms, God described Moab as a “washbasin”… The idea here is that Moab was like a basin that was used to wash feet in. God is saying that Moab is a filthy place!

Elimelech was not the only one to do this type of thing. Abraham made the same mistake when he encountered a famine in the Promised Land. Instead of waiting for God to tell him what to do next, he ran away from his problems and fled to Egypt, which resulted in him getting into some trouble of his own.

Some of the hardest times to stay committed are when various trials and struggles come our way. We must not walk by sight, but we need to walk by faith…

Isaiah 5:21 (SLIDE) says… (Prudent or Clever as the NASB words it)

Isaiah 5:21 NKJV

21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And prudent in their own sight!

Listen y’all! No matter how difficult our circumstances may be, the safest and best place, for us to reside, is in... the will... of God!

When trials come our way it is easy to have the attitude of David, when he was at a low point in his life… Ps. 55:6 (SLIDE)

Psalm 55:6 NASB95

6 I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest.

He too wanted to run away, or in this case, fly away from his problems… But we would be wiser to claim the promise of Isaiah… (SLIDE) Isaiah 40:31a

Isaiah 40:31 NKJV

31 But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

We need to wait on the Lord and have Him lift us up, as to soar above the storms of life… … we cannot run away from our problems...

Elimelech’s second mistake...

(1)b. He Honored the Enemy and not the Lord

By going fifty miles to the neighboring land of Moab, Elimelech and his family abandoned God’s Promises, God’s land and God’s people for the land and people of the enemy. Elimelech did not take time to think about all that he would be leaving behind. In Bethlehem-Judah he could worship at the Temple, he could present his offerings to the Lord and he could keep the feasts that were commanded by the Law. In Moab he and his family were totally isolated from everything related to God. Elimelech took his family away from the things of the Lord and brought them into the midst of wickedness and evil.

When various trials come into our lives, we can do one of three things: endure it, escape it, or enlist it. If we only endure our trials, then trials become our master, and we have a tendency to become hard and bitter. If we try to escape our trials, then we will probably miss the purposes God wants to achieve in our lives through these various trials. But if we learn to enlist our trials, they will become our servants instead of our masters and we can make our trials work for us, we can use our trials to help us grow in our relationship with Christ, we can use our trials to mold us into the Christians that God wants us to be… (SLIDE)

Rom. 8:28

Romans 8:28 NKJV

28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

The final mistake that Elimelech made, or at least the final one that we are going to look at this morning, is....

(1)c. He didn’t Weigh the Consequences

When we face times of difficulty we often make decisions without consulting God. Sometimes we blatantly disobey God and go our own way. If you had asked Elimelech he would have told you that he made this move in order to help his family. But that is not what happened… his choices had a devastating impact on his family...

Here’s a question for you to ponder this morning… Do you realize that your choices have an impact on those closest to you?

Things got rough and Elimelech made the choice to run away… He ran away from the place that God had given him and he ran to a wretched land filled with pagans, wickedness and idol worship! He subjected his family to the very things that he should have been protecting them from!… And the consequences were severe....

That is the second thing that we are going to look at this morning....

2. Consequences of Elimelech’s Decision

The major consequence for his decision, is the fact that...

(2)a. It Cost Him His Life

Remember that the name Elimelech means “God is king.” But unfortunately, the Lord was not king in Elimelech’s life, for he left God completely out of his decisions. In my Bible, the title of these first 5 verses of Ruth is “Elimelech’s Family Goes to Moab”… and here we are, 3 verses in and Ruth 1:3 “Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left, and her two sons.”

Elimelech dies, leaving Naomi (His Wife) as a widow, with 2 sons to care for. He didn’t get the chance to grow old with his wife… he didn’t get the chance to play with his grand-kids… it doesn’t even seem like he was alive when his two sons had gotten married… Elimelech took his family to Moab… then he died and Now his family is left to pick up the pieces without him…

But it didn’t just cost him his life… it also

(2)b. Cost the Life of his Sons

(Read v.4)... In moving his family to Moab, he exposed his sons to the lifestyle of the Moabites. It would seem that these two fellas took a liking to the culture there and ended up marrying Moabite women. This was a direct violation of the Mosaic Law. Jews were forbidden to marry Gentile women, especially those from Ammon and Moab. It was the Moabite women in Moses’ day who seduced the Jewish men into immorality and idolatry, and as a result, twenty-four thousand people died...

These men remained in the land of Moab for 10 years! This means that they were immersed in wickedness for the better part of a decade and instead of taking a stand for Almighty God, they compromised and allowed sin to take over and rule their life… the same can happen and does happen even today! Elimelech's family became like the Moabites, and if you "continue" to remain out in the world you will become more and more like the world as well! Remember Jesus said that His people are "not of this world"… Listen! When You know that you need to return to the Lord but you continue to dwell in a wicked land... Each day you get farther and farther away from the Lord, just like Elimelech and his sons...

The last consequence that I want to mention this morning is...

(2)c. The Devastation of the Widows

(Read v.5)… Elimelech, Mahlon & Chilion all died and now their widowed wives are devastated. Naomi and her two daughters-in-law were left desolate. In that society, the poorest of the poor were widows with no children to care for them. These women were left with nothing but desolation, discouragement and defeat. The consequences that these women had to endure were severe. Sadly, this devastating situation can all be traced back to one sinful choice that her husband made. And that one sinful choice lead to another and another and another.

Elimelech and his family had fled Judah to escape death, but the three men met death just the same. At the end of that decade of disobedience, all that remained were three lonely widows and three Jewish graves in a heathen land. Everything else was gone… Such is the sad consequence of unbelief.

To quote Warren Wiersbe again, he said “We can’t run away from our problems. We can’t avoid taking with us the basic cause of most of our problems, which is an unbelieving and disobedient heart.” … … Oswald Chambers, in his book “The Shadow of Agony”, said “The majority of us begin with the bigger problems outside and forget the one inside. A man has to learn ‘the plague of his own heart’ before his own problems can be solved”

The question is...

3. What Can We Do?

How can we avoid falling into the same trap that Elimelech fell into… First of all, we need to...

(3)a. Walk by faith and not by Sight

I want you to notice that Elimelech didn't jump right into grave sin. We are not told that he worshipped idols, it doesn’t say that he was involved in adultery, it doesn’t seem that he was a thief or a murderer… … It seems that he was a loving family man who wanted to provide for his wife and children. But the problem was that he was willing to walk away from God to do it. Elimelech was a man whose name means "God is my King" but he did not trust God to protect and provide for him in the midst of troubling time. So he took matters into his own hands. He did what was right in his own sight and the consequences of his rebellion were severe!

We must not make the same mistake!… … How do we walk by faith?… by (SLIDE) claiming the promises of God and obeying His Word

(3)b. Claim the Promises of God and Obey His Word

This means committing yourself to the Lord and relying wholly on Him to meet the need… When we live by faith, it glorifies God, … it witnesses to a lost world, and it builds Christian character into our lives.

And lastly… if we find ourselves drifting off from the narrow path...

(3)c. Turn Around!

One of the saddest parts of this story is when you realize how simple the solution to Elimelech’s problem was. All he had to do was turn around!… Turn around and go back to "the house of praise" (Bethlehem)… … For those who have made a decision similar to Elimelech, that is the answer for you as well. If you have walked away from the Lord, simply turn around (repent) and return to "the house of praise".

IF we are TRULY saved, the Holy Spirit will let us know when we begin to drift away from God. The Holy Spirit will convict you of your sins and reveal to you that you need to return to the Father!… This means that if you are backslidden… you know it. You also know that you need to do something about it.

Closing:

For those of you who have never been born again, you are lost in your sins and destined for Hell. The worst thing you could do is continue to reject Jesus Christ and His great offer of Salvation from your sins. I encourage you to turn to Him, trust in Him as your Lord and Savior and be born again today. If you refuse to do this and you die in your sins, you will find that there are eternal consequences for this choice.

“Don’t Run Away”… why?? because in reality, you cannot run away from your problems. You may be able to avoid them for a time, but you cannot run away from them… eventually you will have to take care of them or you will be have to deal with the severe consequences...

We are able to “Stay Committed” when we

Walk by Faith and not by sight

when we claim the promises of God and obey His Word

and if/when we drift away, we turn around, repent and get back on the right track...

Prayer: