Hope Exists Even in the Darkest Hours

Illustrations for Biblical Preaching (Hope)

In 1965, naval aviator James B. Stockdale became one of the first American pilots to be shot down during the Vietnam War. As a prisoner of the Vietcong, he spent seven years as a P.O.W., during which he was frequently tortured in an attempt to break him and get him to denounce the U.S. involvement in the war. He was chained for days at a time with his hands above his head so that he could not even swat the mosquitoes. Today, he still cannot bend his left knee and walks with a severe limp from having his leg broken by his captors and never reset. One of the worst things done to him was that he was held in isolation away from the other American P.O.W.s and allowed to see only his guards and interrogators.How could anyone survive seven years of such treatment? As he looks back on that time, Stockdale says that it was his hope that kept him alive. Hope of one day going home, that each day could be the day of his release. Without hope, he knew that he would die in hopelessness, as others had done.

Perhaps you’re here this morning and your situation feels hopeless… what are you going to do?

Maybe you’re struggling financially…and there seems to be no way you are going to be able to pay your bills…so you think I’ll just pad my expense account, or cheat on your taxes, or perhaps you believe all you need to do is hit that one jackpot at the casino or find that lucky number…you spend your last dollar on a wish…is that the kind of hope you are searching for?

Or maybe life has you feeling really empty inside… circumstances have hit you pretty hard and you want that pain to go away and so the only solution you can think of is to turn to the bottle or drugs…and you know getting drunk or high isn’t going to solve anything, and you know you’d feel sick the next day…but the pain is too hard… you place your hope in a substance…

Life this side of heaven can hit us hard and fast, and leave us empty and it can be a real struggle to find solutions

Sometimes, there seems to be no end to the emptiness…no answers on the immediate horizon…then what’s a person supposed to do?...

with that in mind, please open your Bible to the book of Ruth… maybe thinks aren’t so bad for you right now… I don’t think I need to convince you how quickly life can change…

Staring a new series today entitled “There is Always Hope”… and Pastor Matthew and I pray the exposition of this book will encourage you and give you hope as you see God work in this historical narrative.

Read Ruth 1:1-15

Main Point: Hope Exists Even in the Emptiness of Life!

Let’s look for three keys to finding hope even when life leaves you feeling empty...

How can I have hope when life turns hard and leaves me feeling empty?

The first key is …

Don’t lose your hope by focusing on your circumstances.

What are the circumstances the narrator chooses to reveal to us?

Naomi’s circumstances — time of emptiness.

This book is named Ruth, but it is at least equally about a woman named Naomi…

You really could describe Naomi’s circumstances in one word — EMPTINESS

Famine – v 1

there’s a sad irony to that because we learn next that these people are from Bethlehem, which literally means “house of bread” … Judah… “praise”… so they are living in the house of bread and praise…sounds like a great place to live…

this is where the story of Ruth begins and ends… so at Christmas when we sing “O Little Town of Bethlehem” think back to the events of Ruth…this is where it all starts.

yet there is a famine in the “house of Bread”…

Naomi, whose name meant “beautiful, pleasant, and good” along with her husband, Elimelech, whose name meant “my God is king” … indicating a devout commitment to the God of Israel… are living in a place of bread and praise but without bread and lacking of praise.

So Elimelech leads his family to move to Moab...

sojourn = carries the idea of a temporary, dependent status…to live in Moab until the famine was over…

instead of living by faith that God is His king, he took his family and decided to leave the land God had given their nation Israel and instead move to the land of Moab…along with their two sons Mahlon and Chilion…

Mahlon = sick — imagine carrying that mantra around with you your whole life...

Chilion = wasting away — again, every time they called him… “Hey wasting away, get in here.”

Now think of what Naomi whose name means beautiful has to deal with every time she goes to the shopping mall and hears the other women say something when she comes in... “I don’t know how she stays so beautiful having to care for her sickly boys”

That is Naomi’s life...

Let’s pause for a just a moment and consider what the writer is telling us...explain that in an historical narrative, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the writer (Narrator) selects details of the story for a reason…it was important to the narrator to give their readers the names because names meant something (this will come out again when the narrator chooses not to reveal a name)… the writer gives us details and leaves some out…everything was included and discarded for a reason…

so what is the purpose of what is said here…the narrator (writer) of the story wants you to know something about the character of the people involved in this story...

Elimelech and Naomi and their son’s stomachs were empty…they were struggling to consider how God can give Israel this land and now it wasn’t producing, so they made a decision that God wasn’t living up to his promise to provide here, so let’s go look for provisions elsewhere, until the situation here improves...but of course, that was only the beginning…

Travel to Moab (was at least 60-75 miles from Bethlehem and would have taken about 7-10 days to get there)— History of Moab = pick up the study guide to learn more about Moab…Moab was the son of Lot by his eldest daughter (Genesis 19:37)…(that ought to tell you something about this land). In Numbers 22-25, we read of Balaam and Balak the king of Moab, and the talking mule, God cursed the land of Moab…in 2 Kings 3:26-27 the king of Moab offered his oldest son to their god as a burnt offering...so for sake of time let’s just understand that Moab is the land of the enemy…listen to what God says about Moab in Psalm 108:9 ““Moab is My washbowl; Over Edom I shall throw My shoe; Over Philistia I will shout aloud.”” …

so do you want to live in the Promised Land or the garbage can?

See, a God honoring Israelite should not want to live there under any circumstances…nor should their children want to marry Moabites…this was not someplace God wanted them to be...

look what happens next...

Elimelech dies – v 3

Now we’ve moved from an emptiness of the stomach to an emptiness of marriage...

In that culture, this loss would have been a huge devastation and extremely difficult because the husband was generally the sole provider outside the home…

so there’s the emptiness of the famine, and the emptiness of living in a foreign land so far away from family and friends…and now the emptiness of being a widow...

At this point, at least she has her sons to comfort her…perhaps they’ll marry…perhaps they will have children…at least then the family line can be continued and Naomi’s needs can be met…

And the sons do marry, Moabite women…one named Orpah (name means stubborn) and the other named Ruth (friendship)…and they lived together for ten years…without children…

Her sons die – v 5

So after 10 years in Moab, Unhealthy and Puny die…

Just when you think her life could not get any more empty…now their is an emptiness of heritage...

Humanly speaking, these were dark times for Naomi…and if we were placed in the same condition, we would naturally be asking why is this happening?.

We will see what Naomi says in just a moment...

Some have suggested that this family is being judged because they left the land of Israel and the provision of their God…there is no absolute confirmation of that idea in this text…

however, we do need to consider the small detail the writer says at the beginning of verse 1…

Israel’s circumstances – period of Judges

Judges 21:25 “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone 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 record of division, cruelty, apostasy, civil war, and national disgrace.

no king – everyone did that which was right in their own eyes.

God had clearly told His people that there would be blessings on them as a nation for faithfulness and obedience, and cursing/consequences if they chose not to follow him…one example is the Song of Moses as he instructed the people about how to live in the promised land just before he died…

Deuteronomy 32:4-5 ““The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He. “They have acted corruptly toward Him, They are not His children, because of their defect; But are a perverse and crooked generation.”

Deuteronomy 32:24 “‘They will be wasted by famine, and consumed by plague And bitter destruction; And the teeth of beasts I will send upon them, With the venom of crawling things of the dust.”

The nation as a whole rebelled against God and experienced judgment as a result.

They are suffering as a result of living in a sin cursed world, and in their case as part of the Jewish nation…

Naomi and her family very well may be caught in the consequences of their nation’s, and especially their leaders’ disobedience to their God…

The reality is that happens to people like you and me all the time – suffering and emptiness as a result of living in a world that is under the curse of sin…it’s hard to have hope when life feels empty

Point here is that the situation is very grim and the natural thing to do is to focus on the situation and declare “Woe is me”. Focusing on your circumstances causes you to lose your hope. So to find hope what do you do…NOT what Naomi does

Which leads us to our second key...

Don’t search for hope in human solutions.

What Naomi did right.

Recognized God’s provisions – v 6.

There was a sincere recognition that God was behind the end of the famine...

visit = carries the idea of giving attention to something or someone…God gave attention to his people and ended the famine.

Showed concern for others – v 8.

She showed concern for her foreign daughters by telling them the truth of what life would be like for them in Israel.

She probably had a good relationship with these two ladies…after all they married her sons and had to deal with the Unhealthy and Puny for 10 years.

It is going to be costly for you to live in Bethlehem…the Israelites are not going to like you, they won’t want to associate with you, you’ll never be able to marry again, it would mean perpetual widowhood and poverty because Naomi had lost all her of her property.

“May the Lord deal kindly with you…”

The reason that is so important is because that is the first use of this book of one of the most important words in the OT…the word hesed which is translated here as “deal kindly with”…

It is a very hard word to translate because we don’t have a single word in our language to capture all the nuances of hesed…

Hesed = “deal kindly with you” = means faithfulness, loyalty, covenant love.

and that is the theme of this book…

will God choose to be faithful to His people?...

will God’s people be faithful to Him?

The point here is that the steps you take when life seems empty says a lot about what you really think of your God.

…what you think…what you do….where you place your hope…

and that was Naomi’s problem…she was as an individual, what Israel was as a nation…

she decided in her heart that God could not provide and therefore it was up to her to figure out a solution to her emptiness any way she could…

What Naomi did wrong

Chose a shallow substitute – v 9

...the solution to your emptiness lies in finding a man…

Specifically a man in Moab…regardless of whether he believes in God…regardless of whether there will be any kind of spiritual oneness…regardless of whether that’s what the Lord wants you to do…

Her thinking is revealed clearly here...God has deserted us and now we have to figure this out on our own.

we’re talking about the tendency when we’re feeling empty to come up with all sorts of solutions to the dilemma that do not stand the test of Scripture…

We believe the lie that emptiness can be truly filled apart from living for God…

is there any way in which that is true of you?...and I realize you might say, but PK, I feel so empty… I have so much pain going on in my life right now...I know and God knows that life this side of heaven can be empty, and challenging, and terrifying –

but beware the solutions that are also empty, the solutions that only provide a temporary relief from the emptiness…

Unless the God of heaven fills your emptiness, it is only a matter of time until life drains you and you are again left feeling empty. God wants to be the source of your hope and provide that hope that will last, even in the darkest of times.

Here is another way Naomi was wrong...

Selfishly motivated

nowhere in the text do we see that Naomi experienced any remorse for her attitude towards God…look at the text…what was the impetus for her return to Bethlehem? She heard the Lord had visited His people in giving them food...

She was more focused on ending the emptiness of her belly than ending the emptiness of her faith…she did not go back because she realized she was out of fellowship with her God…she was more concerned with the physical blessings than the spiritual blessing… don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with wanting to end the physical emptiness unless you show no concern for ending your spiritual emptiness...

You pick up on this attitude of Naomi later when she walks into Bethlehem and the ladies call her Naomi and she rebukes them and says “Don’t call me that…call me Bitter…she wanted to be referred to as Mara…she said “she went out full and came back empty.”

There is no acknowledgment of her sin…she returned to her land, but not to her Lord…making sure she was in a right relationship with God was not on the list of what mattered to her!

The central question is --- are you going to be like Naomi…

Since I see no way that God can provide in this situation, I’m going to start working it out the best way I can…

instead of living for God and trusting Him to fill my emptiness… I’m going to find something that fills that void…

there’s something worse that needs to filter into your thinking…and that is, selling out your God, and selling out your soul in order to fill the emptiness

What we see from Naomi is God can’t provide for you…so you’re going to have to take matters in your own hands…

I would ask every person here – is there any sense in which that could be true for you?...

now, please be careful…because we can be pretty good at answering questions like that with “yes, but…” in other words, I know what I’m doing is displeasing to God but in my case, my actions are justified..

Even if obedience to God looks hopeless that doesn’t mean it is hopeless.

Notice the dialogue between Naomi and her daughter’s in law...

Ruth 1:10 - And they said to her, “No, but we will surely return with you to your people.”

when Naomi hears that – she goes into rapid fire “justify your actions” mode…

why go with me?… even if I had sons in my womb right now, do you want to wait until they are grown so you could marry them?...

For Naomi there is no solution here that includes God…

the line of our family is about to be extinguished…I will never have a son…I will never have a redeemer…God can’t provide…there is no hope for me…

all this leads to our final key towards finding hope in the emptiness of life...

How You Approach Emptiness Reveals Much about Your View of God.

Naomi’s View of God — He’s against me.

What is especially intriguing about this part of the story is verse 15… after Orpah takes Naomi’s advice… listen to Naomi’s counsel to Ruth...Ruth 1:15 - Then she said, “Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; return after your sister-in-law.”

see, it really doesn’t matter what you believe or who you believe in, as long as you get what you think will satisfy you today…

Why did she offer that counsel to Ruth?

Look at verse 13...Ruth 1:13 – “…the hand of the LORD has gone forth against me.”

the good news is, you don’t have to think that way…

Right View of God — God is For Us.

The story would continue to unfold in real time for them, but for us we have the privilege of being able to look back...

Romans 15:4 “For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

Just think how important the decision is that Ruth makes here...

If Ruth turns back like Orpah, she fades into oblivion…but at that moment, her faith was real enough for her to conclude that God would be faithful...

What we see that they did not is that the most important person in all of history would be a descendant of Ruth!

the Lord Jesus Christ…

we will see in a few weeks how Ruth could have child, but one of the marvelous truths we gain from Ruth is that God is the God of grace and He marvelously works through a Gentile woman to bring us Jesus

but please don’t ever doubt God’s ability to provide…and His desire to provide hope when life seems empty…

See when Matthew wrote his gospel, he made a point to give the lineage of Jesus, he wrote…

Matthew 1:1-6 “The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram. Ram was the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon. Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse. Jesse was the father of David the king. David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah.”

Matthew 1:15-16 - Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob. Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.

Lord willing, we will pick up the story from here next week but let’s draw some practical truths for us to remember from what we know so far...

Life Lessons

Wait on God’s timing.

Psalm 62:5 - My soul, wait in silence for God only, For my hope is from Him.

God will never be late…when the time is right in His plan, He will step in…

Trust in God’s ways.

Proverbs 3:5-6 - Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.

Even when life is empty, you can trust that God knows and is working on your behalf…

perhaps the greatest emptiness you have right now is the emptiness of your soul and the only solution for you is God’s solution…GOSPEL

Maybe you’re here and you have trusted in Christ but life has drained you and you are feeling empty…remember that God is always working for your good and His glory…God will always be faithful to you!

Rejoice in God’s provision.

Habakkuk 3:17-19 - Though the fig tree should not blossom And there be no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the olive should fail And the fields produce no food, Though the flock should be cut off from the fold And there be no cattle in the stalls, Yet I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, And makes me walk on my high places.

God never comes to you with empty hands…think of all the ways God has provided for you already…