Ruth: Traveling from Tragedy through Trust to Triumph
Ruth 1:16-18
SICC April 14th (Morning)
Sometimes tragedy kind of sneaks up on you. It comes at you like termites at an old wood-frame house. It eats away for years, then one day the rafters of the house give way before you ever realized what was happening. Sometimes tragedy simply hits you full-body and knocks you down. The shock of it leaves you disoriented and confused. Many times when tragedy is extreme, you don’t know where to turn or how to move on. It has long-lasting effects. People who have suffered tragedy are known to feel depressed or hopeless for a long time afterwards. Six months, nine months, a year later the effects of tragedy are evident. The bible addresses tragedy. It doesn’t necessarily give us the answers we want. We are usually looking for a reason why tragedy strikes, the Bible doesn’t give us a complete answer to that question. What the Bible does give us is hope in the midst of tragedy. The Bible tells us that tragedy, no matter how encompassing it may be in our life never has the last word. The last word is always Triumph. In the Old Testament a woman named Naomi experienced tragedy, but she traveled from that tragedy by way of trust and found, by God’s grace triumph. Let’s go on that journey with her. Her story is in the Old Testament Book of Ruth.
Naomi’s tragedy began innocently enough. The whole region of Israel was suffering from a famine. Everyone suffered the same from it. Naomi’s family–Elimelech her husband, Mahlon and Kilion her sons left the famine-plagued area and emigrated to Moab. Difficult? Sure! But the family was all together that is what was important. Not long after their move to Moab, Elimelech died. Now the family was missing someone. Difficult? I am sure it was, but I am also sure that Naomi devoted herself to her sons. She would have been busy doing whatever she had to do to keep the family together and raise her two sons in a faithful way in this land of pagans. Her grief over her husband’s loss, though deep, was buried in the concern she had for her sons. After ten years, she raised her sons and they were married. I can imagine that she was beginning to settle down. She was allowing her sons to care for her as she had done for her sons for so many years. Then tragedy struck again. Her sons died. She was left alone in a foreign land. Her daughters-in-law were still young enough that they could marry again and have children, but they had no obligation to care for Naomi. Naomi decided that for her own sake she would return to her home–alone.
Tragedy often leaves us alone. It isolates a person. If we are not careful we might easily build up a wall around ourselves in response to tragedy. That seems especially true when we have worked so hard to overcome a series of difficulties. That is where Naomi was. She had survived the move from her home. She had survived being a widow and a single-parent. She had seen her son get married. She had handled every challenge that came her way, and then came the final straw. Her sons died. It never seems right for a parent to bury her children. She gave up. I can imagine Naomi reacting when someone tried to console her. “Don’t tell me you know how I feel. No one can know how I feel. I am leaving.” Have you ever been there? Have you ever said that to someone else? Have you ever heard someone say the same thing to you: “Don’t tell me you know how I feel. No one knows how I feel.” The natural tendency for us is to isolate ourselves when we are going through difficult times. The fact is though that we need each other. God created us to lean on one another. It is good for us to have someone in whom we can trust and on whom we can lean.
That is why it was so pivotal in the life of Naomi when Ruth, one of her daughters-in-law, refused to abandon her. Ruth would leave her people and her gods and return to Bethlehem with Naomi. Naomi’s people would be Ruth’s people. Naomi’s God would be Ruth’s God. Naomi had done something that prepared her for life’s tragedies and made her able to move from tragedy to triumph. She developed relationships in her life that were not based on the conveniences of the situation. Ruth wasn’t kind to Naomi simply because Ruth was married to Naomi’s son. She was kind because Naomi nurtured a devotion in her that would sustain them through difficult times. In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon wrote “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” (4:9-10) Foster those relationships in your life that are not based on the conveniences of the situation. Everyone should have one or two people whom they know will be true no matter what else happens. Ruth was that for Naomi.
Of course we’ve got to be careful when we trust someone. The ones with whom we make those relationships should be people who are faithful. They should be faithful to God and faithful to us as well. Naomi was blessed that Ruth was her daughter-in-law. Ruth was faithful to Naomi in a way few others would have been. When Naomi was at her wit’s end and had decided to return to Bethlehem, she suggested that Ruth and Orpah remain in Moab. They were young, strong and healthy young ladies. They would soon be able to marry another man and be taken care of. After a little protesting Orpah stayed behind, but Ruth refused. She committed herself to Naomi and to Naomi’s God. She spoke some of the most beautiful words ever recorded in chapter 1:16-17. “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.” Ruth’s loyalty was life-changing. It literally changed her. She would have been a different person, shaped by differed influences–pagan influences had it not been for her loyalty. She was someone Naomi could trust. How loyal are you to your God? How loyal are you to the people who matter in your life. Let Ruth be your model for loyalty.
Ruth distinguished herself with her loyalty. When she and Naomi had returned to Bethlehem, word spread quickly about Ruth and her loyalty to Naomi. So it was not a big surprise when Ruth’s character was recognized. It happened because Ruth and Naomi were desperate. Naomi went out to glean grain from behind the harvesters. The Law provided for the destitute by making provisions for them to pick up what the harvesters left behind. Ruth ended up in the field of Boaz. Her faithfulness paved the way to her protection. Boaz noticed her immediately and he asked about her. Boaz’s foreman said, “She is the Moabitess who came back from Moab with Naomi.” Boaz must have heard more. He spoke to her. “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband–how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” (2:11-12) Do you see what a blessing it is to build a relationship with someone who is loyal. Ruth was loyal to Naomi. It is what saved their lives.
Allow me to meander here for a few moments. I think there is a very important principle that Ruth lived out for Naomi. She did it as well as anyone could hope to do it, but what she did is only a foreshadow of the One who would fulfill that principle for us. That principle is the principle of presence. It is what led Naomi out of tragedy, through trust to triumph. Ruth chose to be present with Naomi. She chose to feel the loneliness and desperation that Naomi had to live through. She didn’t have to. She chose to. That is the principle of presence.
That principle was finally and completely lived out in Jesus. How were Ruth and Jesus similar? They both left their homeland with no thought of their own happiness or security. Ruth would have been better off in Moab–at least it seems that way. Jesus would have been better off staying in heaven with the Father–at least it would seem that way. They both left the comfort of their home for the discomfort of the far away place. Why did they do it? Because of their love for the one or ones who were hurting and without hope of relief.
Think about what Jesus did for us. In Philippians we are told he emptied himself. I take that to mean that he emptied himself of his godliness. He voluntarily laid aside his omniscience, omnipresence and omnipotence to put on the frailty of flesh so that he could save us. He subjected himself to the human frailties common to mortality–sickness, hunger, pain–he probably twisted his ankle from time to time. He also subjected himself to the emotional difficulties each of us has. He experienced disappointment, and anger. Some days he was happy, others he was sad. He was ridiculed and hated, persecuted and perplexed. Isaiah told the world what he would be like long before Jesus was ever laid in the manger: “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” (53:2-3) Jesus is the one everyone, anyone can trust. If you are to travel from tragedy through trust, that trust ultimately must be placed not in man, but in Jesus.
For every Naomi, there is not always a Ruth. You may feel like Naomi, but cannot find a Ruth. Maybe you need to stop looking among the people you see and start looking into the face of the Son of God. He is the one who knows you best. He understands you better than anyone can because he experienced every form of temptation, yet was without sin. By that the writer of Hebrews didn’t mean that Jesus simply was tempted to do bad in many different ways. He means that Jesus experienced every form of difficulty and distress that could lead a person to fall away from God. Jesus knows what you are feeling because he has felt it. He fulfilled a ministry of presence. He asks us to trust him.
There is one other character in the Book of Ruth who foreshadows the ministry of Jesus. Boaz was a redeemer in a way similar to the way that Jesus is a redeemer. In Ruth’s day, it was necessary for a woman who had been widowed to be married again so that she could be taken care of. The nearest relative of her deceased husband is the one who bore the responsibility to marry the widow. He was called a kinsman-redeemer. Kinsman–obviously. He was related to the deceased. “Redeemer” is a little more complicated. He was to redeem all the property of his brother. Redeem i.e. buy. He would buy his land and keep it in his brother’s name. He was to take his wife and if she had no sons he was to have sons with her so that his brother would have heirs. When those sons were old enough they would inherit the property of the one who had died. That way the one who was dead would live on. He would live on through his kinsman-redeemer.
Jesus is our kinsman-redeemer. Kinsman–he is related to us. He is a son of man. Redeemer he has bought what we could not buy for ourselves. Like Ruth’s first husband we are unable to carry on our name because we are dead. Not physically dead, but spiritually dead. Dead in our sins. Ephesians 2:1 says “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air.” As dead people we were destined for an unimportant life, from eternity’s perspective. No inheritance to pass on. Our life was like the one described in Isaiah “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall,” That is our fate until Jesus redeems us out of the clutches of sin. Because of him we have a new life. And life abundant. Our triumph is not unlike Ruth’s triumph. She was bought with a price. We too have been bought with a price. A very high price–the life of Jesus. Because of that he has redeemed us. We are not relegated to life on this stage. We have eternity ahead of us. We are redeemed. We are bought with a great price. We are awaiting our eternal inheritance.
There are a lot of emotions bubbling throughout our city and country. We are still recovering from the attacks of 7 months ago. Our nation is still embroiled in a war. There are rumors of Armageddon spreading because of the fighting in the earthly home of our Savior. These things are all in addition to the normal tragedies of everyday life. If we are not careful, it will get out of hand. Let’s follow the example of Naomi & Ruth. They were able to travel from tragedy to triumph by way of trust. That was possible because they fostered significant relationships with godly people. They are models for us to do the same–and then some. As they were redeemed, we also need to be redeemed by Jesus who has been here with us and remains with us through his Spirit. Trust in him. He will lead you to triumph.
