The Decisions Of Life

Introduction

Ruth is an absolutely delightful little book. Mention its name and Bible readers smile gently, warmly praise its beauty, and quietly tell what it means to them personally. The reasons for such tender reverence are obvious. The book is, after all, profoundly human – a story with down-to-earth features, with which people can readily identify. Indeed readers can immediately see themselves in the story. They empathise readily with poor Naomi, battered by life’s tragic blows, and recall their own bitter bruises. They quickly admire charming Ruth, her commitment, courage and cleverness. They warm willingly to Boaz, that gracious tower of gentle manliness and generosity, whose uprightness challenges them to reflect on their own way of life. The fact is that the characters of the Book of Ruth are ordinary people who portray an extraordinary alternative to the way life is usually lived – the life of steadfast love, compassionate loyalty – with appealing sincerity and simplicity. In its vivid narrative style, its masterly drawing of its characters, and its overall organisation, it has to be considered one of the most beautiful parts of the Old Testament. The entire story glows with a special radiance.

Ultimately, however, this is a book about the ways of God in human life. At first glance we learn from the story how God provided ancient Israel with new leadership – the monarchy. At the same time the story touches in a healing way one of life’s tender spots. Mystified by the hiddenness of God – the absence of audible voices, visions, miracles in our own experience – we want to know God’s presence in our daily life. Our unvoiced dream is that our work and play, family and relationships might be more than just marking time before eternity comes. We wish them to please the heart of God, to bring Him glory and to advance His plans. Here this story strikes a responsive chord in its audience. It displays God as being actively involved in the ordinary business of life. It describes how God works through the everyday faithfulness, or otherwise, of His people.

Doing Your Own Thing

The last verse of the book of Judges, 21:25, is the context for the whole story of Ruth. In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit. The story is set against a particularly dark time in Israel’s history. The time of the Judges was remembered as an era of social and religious chaos. It was a time when there was a leadership vacuum in Israel, because God’s people had rejected God as King.

No established government existed in those days. Everybody did what was right in his own eyes. Again and again people wandered away from God; again and again God punished the people; again and again the people returned to God; again and again God delivered them; again and again the people turned their backs on the Lord, with the result that the cycle was repeated. To that tragic backdrop is added a national famine.

God, in His sovereign grace, had promised His people that if they did as He commanded, He would prosper them in every aspect of life. On the other hand if they rebelled against Him and did not obey His word, He assured them that He would discipline them. One of the means He might choose to use in disciplining them was famine. In Deuteronomy 28:15-18 we read, However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country. Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed. The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

In verse 1 the famine in the land points to the fact that this was such a national famine, not one merely in the neighbourhood of Bethlehem. It could not have been merely a local crop failure, otherwise a family from Bethlehem in Judah would not have gone so far as to take refuge in the land of Moab, beyond the Jordan and the Dead sea.

Decisions, Decisions!

The mention of famine serves a double purpose. Firstly, it recalls that famines despite tragic appearances often advance God’s plan for His people. Secondly, the famine resulted in a man from Bethlehem deciding to emigrate to Moab.

There then follows the names of the emigrants. There is an irony in their names. Elimelech my God is king, Naomi my gracious one, Mahlon the weakling, Kilion the pining one. Certainly given the man’s situation, we cannot overlook the irony of the name: that one whose God is King chooses to flee that King’s territory because of famine.

The irony is reinforced by the name of the place where they came from. Bethlehem’s ancient name house of food was well-deserved: wheat, barley, olives, almonds and grapes grew plentifully in the area. How ironic that the house of food failed to feed this family!

But why did Elimelech want to move when others, like Boaz, stayed? By referring to him as an Ephrathite, we know that Elimelech came from a distinguished family. He was, therefore, used to being looked up to and respected in the community. He was also accustomed to wealth and, consequently, was less likely to be able to face its loss. So, fear of losing his wealth and his imagined influence in the community may have been a powerful motivating force behind his decision to leave.

For whatever reason, Elimelech found himself in a situation similar to many people today. For a variety of reasons we are sometimes tempted to move to another part of the country, or even go abroad. Before we relocate, we need to do something which Elimelech clearly did not do – ask God. After all it is God’s way, and not man’s, which is perfect!

You see, making decisions in life is a complicated process. Indeed, the whole decision-making process has been made even more complicated for us by the world in which we live. Because, often we are faced with a decision, not between right and wrong, but between two apparently equal choices. And as we know, a choice between the good and the better is always more difficult than a straight choice between good and evil.

Because our decisions can have such a far-reaching effect on our lives, we need to understand clearly what is involved in decision-making. Here, Elimelech was faced with the prospect of economic ruin. He chose to go, for a time, to Moab with his wife and two children.

But verse 2 reveals that Elimelech and his family after arriving in Moab, decided to remain there. The Hebrew construction here is very explicit, and a change in the verb used clearly indicates a change in the original plan. Originally the family had gone for a time, but now Elimelech decided they would remain. Here we see how the effects of change can subtlely affect our subsequent decisions. It is possible for us to make our decisions, and then for our decisions to turn around and make us. When we start out on any course of action without consulting God, we can all too easily end up moving away from Him.

From Bad to Worse

So it was for Elimelech. Expectations of an improvement were suddenly dashed. Elimelech soon died in his adopted home, and Naomi was left behind with her two sons. Following the death of her husband, Naomi decided to remain in Moab, and there, far removed from the comfort of friends and relatives, adjusted to the problems of widowhood. While in Moab, Elimelech’s two sons decided to marry.

Now, although marriages to Moabites were not explicitly prohibited, the Israelites had been forbidden to marry Canaanite women, because of the dangers of idolatry. So, though Mahlon and Kilion did not disobey the letter of the law, they did ignore its spirit, for the Moabites were also idol-worshippers.

The marriage of the two young men raises the wider issue of marriage concerning who God’s people should marry. And we should remember the Bible’s warning in 2 Corinthians 6:14, Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? For Christians to marry non-Christians is wilful disobedience to God – sin. And, though in His grace and mercy God can and sometimes does redeem the situation, we dare not presume on His grace by disobeying Him.

So, although the domestic life of Naomi’s sons did not openly conflict with God’s commandments, they received no blessing. No children were born to them, and approximately ten years after Elimelech had left Bethlehem, Mahlon and Kilion both died at about the same time. And Naomi was left virtually alone in a foreign land.

There is no softening of the impact here. Verse 5 closes with a terse comment – the woman was bereft of both her two children and her husband. Naomi’s is a total loss. Her fate was indeed bitter. As a widow in those days, she lacked the provision and protection of a husband in a male-dominated society.

God Rules - O.K.!

So far the story has been a bleak one of unmitigated disaster. But from this setting we shall see in the book of Ruth a resounding testimony of God’s providence over all things, as it tells how all things, small and great, work together in His will.

We need to look at the principles behind the story. Although God’s word specifically states that the promised land was the place of God’s choosing for His people, He allowed Elimelech freedom to make certain decisions. God’s very purpose of the famine was to recall Israel to her true loyalty. But the famine threatened Elimelech’s well-being, and he forgot to trust God. His name signified my God is King, yet He failed to acknowledge God’s sovereignty in the famine and did trustingly submit to His will. Did he doubt God’s power and care for him?

Conclusion

This is often the mistake we make. When we think this way, we fail to give the Lord the supreme position in our lives. The name that we bear – Christians, that is Christ’s ones, should be more than an empty name. It should indicate the reality of a dynamic, living relationship with Him and of our confidence in Him.

But we, too, have the freedom to choose. God in His grace allows us that freedom. His relationship with us is not that of a tyrant. He is glorified when we make decisions in accordance with His revealed will. To do this we need to study God’s word and make its principles the basis for our actions. Are we taking our decisions to God daily, and seeking His will? I pray that we are.