"Finding Salvation through Tribulation."
Comfort: Good Choices in Troubled Times
Ruth 1:1,2,11-13, 16-18, 20,21; 2:8-12; 4:8-10, 14-17
Introduction
Today I want to share with you a story about three women and the choices they make.
(Read Ruth 1:1,2)
Forced to leave their home in Bethlehem because of the famine. Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and two sons, journey about 80 miles to the lands of Moab far away from family and friends.
Along the road of life we make many choices some good and some bad. When circumstances beyond our control bring tragedy into our lives, once again we must make a choice. It is how we deal with life’s tragedies that determine if our faith in the Lord will survive. Yet it is that faith in our God and the love of Christ that can help us through those deep valleys of painful tragedies that we face.
I. Dealing with Tragedy
A. Narrative
Sometime after arriving in the land of Moab, Naomi’s husband Elimelech, dies. What a painful moment in Naomi’s life, to loose her husband. A man in whom she cared for and shared her life with for many years.
In biblical times a women depended on her husband or sons to provide for her. Without them she was forced to beg on the streets and rely on the kindness of others. Much as we have seen in modern day Afghanistan under the Taliban rule.
Yet Naomi is fortunate that she has two sons to care for her. It is uncertain the timing of events as the 10 years given in the passage can mean 10 years after Elimelech’s death or 10 years after they arrived in Moab. But during that time in Moab, Naomi’s two sons Mahlon (which means sickness) and Kilion (which means vanishing);
[Imagine naming you child sickness; now vanishing I can see, especially when you pass the toy section of Walmart.],
Both men end up marrying Moabite women. Mahlon married Ruth and Kilion married Orpah. Although this is not forbidden in the Israelite culture, none of their descendents up to the 10th generation would be allow to worship with the other Jews.
Once again tragedy strikes Naomi’s family, both her sons died without any heirs to the family name. Naomi, torn with grief and despair, unable to cope with what has happened. Having lost first her husband, then now her two sons, she decides to return to Bethlehem. How often when tragedy hits, our hearts and minds return back to those places where we knew happier times. Both Orpah and Ruth, now widows, followed Naomi out of town, neither woman questioned their duty to follow their mother-in-law. (Read Ruth 1:11-13)
B. Application
1. Blaming Yourself
-Naomi says the God’s hand has gone out against her. She feels she is being punished for having left her homeland, having abandoned her people.
-Often when tragedy occurs the first person we blame is ourselves
-If only I had been there, If only I had done this or that,
-If only I had stayed back in Bethlehem this all would have never happened.
-We make ourselves responsible or some how deserving of the fate which has befallen us.
-Some how it seems that God doesn’t love us, we must have done something wrong to deserve this tragedy in our lives.
-Listen to what Jesus say of the blind-man near the pool of Siloam
(Read John 9:1-7) There was no blame to be laid.
-Sometimes things happen for a purpose which we might not yet see.
2. Blaming God
-Later in the story of Ruth we see that Naomi’s anger turns toward God.
(Read Ruth 1:20,21)
-Often when we are faced with tragedy we move through a cycle of emotional responses in an attempt to deal with what has happened in our lives.
-This is perfectly normal, we should not be afraid or shamed to feel anger, grief, or remorse.
*The first and only time I ever saw my dad cry was at the funeral of my great-grandmother.
-It is okay to cry, even for us tough guys.
-The danger however is when we become trapped in one of these emotional responses and do not move on with our lives.
-You see it is okay to be upset with God for a time.
-Like Job we too may question God and then God brings us understanding.
-Like Jacob we may find ourselves wrestling with God, (Gen. 32:23-30)
-and as God dislocated Jacob’s hip, we too may feel pain,
-but if we hold on to God like Jacob then we too will find victory
-victory that comes from understanding God’s purpose
-often what we see as evil is but a part of a greater good being played out in our lives.
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of you faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4
-hang on, perservere with God, don’t give up
-consider it pure joy, find the good it what is happening
-this world is only a small portion of the life to come
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28
II. Finding a Path
A. Narrative
At the edge of town in Moab, Naomi, turns to her daughter-in-laws and tells them to go back home. Naomi releases them from their obligation to her. They are free to choose their own path. Orpah returns to Moab, and to the familiar, to the comfortable, to the pagan practices of her people, and to the detestable practices of offering infant sacrifices to the Moabite god Chemosh.
But Ruth clings to Naomi. (Read Ruth 1:16-18) Ruth takes the path of uncertainty, the unfamiliar road toward God. A journey of 80 miles, to a people she does not know, to care for Naomi.
B. Application
-Three woman having come through the painful loss of all they held dear, each with a choice to make.
1. Bitterness: For Naomi the tragedy brings stagnation and bitterness toward God.
-Naomi cannot let go of the loss of her husband and two sons
-Bitterness is a wicked pill, for it eats at the very soul like a worm.
-Bitterness slowly destroys our health like a cancer
-Bitterness lashes out at those around you; crumbling marriages and relationships.
*My mother as never forgiven my father after their divorce. Whenever he tries to help her she attacks him with words of malice that cut like a knife. Her in ability to forgive or let go of the past has caused her to become sickly and negative toward everything in her life. She trust no one. I am thankful however that she sees to be letting go of some of the past, but for 23 years she has suffered because of bitterness.
2. Path of Sin: For Orpah the tragedy leads her away from God to return to her sinful lifestyle.
-It is easy to give up on God, to return to our sinful ways.
-After all living in sin is easy, just do what pleases your body and desires of your heart.
-What we fail to see though is the pain and empty life that sin brings.
-Sitting in a smoke filled room, so wasted on beer or drugs that life just rolls right over top of you.
-The promise of sinful living is hollow and empty, without purpose or point.
-Like a dried up stock of a corn plant you wither away till the day your knocked down and tilled into the ground.
-But life doesn’t end there, you face the reality of eternity in torment and suffering, for Hell is real and those who don’t know Jesus as their savior will spend eternity there.
3. Path of the Righteous: Yet for Ruth the tragedy leads to a new beginning, a new life.
-Ruth took the narrow path, the more difficult path.
-She had to trust God, to allow God to be in control of her life.
-It meant some hard work taking care of Naomi and providing for the family.
-It meant sacrificing for others, and putting herself last.
III. The Path of Redemption
A. Narrative
After arriving in Bethlehem, Ruth and Naomi, were quite the buzz. (You know how small towns are.) For those who were poor, the only way to get food was to go into the fields and gather the left-overs that the farmers missed. The practice was called gleaning. Ruth and Naomi arrived in Bethlehem at harvest time, and so Ruth went out gleaning, and she came to the farm of a man named Boaz. And Boaz who was an older man was touched by Ruth’s kindness toward Naomi. (Read Ruth 2:8-12)
As mother’s so often like to do, Naomi decided to do a little match-making, and instructed Ruth on how to win over Boaz. Also in Naomi’s thoughts had to be the fact that Boaz was a distant relative and thus able to restore the lineage of Elimelech. You see only the go-el or kinsman-redeemer a relative could do this.
*It was very important to have a male heir to the family. It would be as though I had died and one of my brothers would marry Andrea to keep the Mike Murdock line alive, then when Andrea had a son, he would be considered my son, not my brother’s son and would inherit my land. It was important in a farming culture to keep the land in the family.
And so Boaz agrees to be the Kinsman-Redeemer and marry Ruth, knowing their firstborn male child would become Naomi’s child and inherit the land of Elimelech’s. There however is one problem. There is a closer relative who has first dibs on the land. Boaz meets with this relative, who jumps at the chance to get some free land, but when the relative finds out that he has to marry a Moabite and he doesn’t get to keep the land in the family, he turns the offer down.
The story of Ruth ends with Boaz and Ruth getting married and the restoration of Naomi. (Read Ruth 4:14-17)
B. Application
1. Returned to Sin
-In the end we hear nothing further of Orpah.
-Having returned to the sinful practices and away from God her life is forgotten.
2. Redeemed
-However for Ruth we see that through the painful loss of her husband that her faith in God redeems her.
-The Lord Blesses her life
-her and Naomi make a safe journey from Moab
-they both return just at harvest time
-she happens to be at just the right field and meets Boaz
-Boaz agrees to marry her and be her kinsman-redeemer
-When we are faithful toward God, then he is faithful toward us
-God will redeem us from life’s tragedies and comfort our broken hearts
3. Restored
-In the end even Naomi, who is bitter is restored to God.
-She is restored through God’s grace and opportunities he places before her
-She is restored because she stopped feeling sorry for herself and took action through a little match making.
-She is restored through the sacrifice of Boaz to redeem Naomi’s family.
(Read Romans 8:18, 22-25)
Tragedy is a part of life. Each time tragedy strikes we have a choice to face. Do we follow the Lord or do we become bitter and give up on life. We must learn to walk with God and rely on him as He bring us through the storms of life. You see we too have a kinsman-redeemer who is waiting to put is arms around us and simply love us. He has sacrificed it all for us. Jesus Christ is our kinsman-redeem and he is waiting to restore your relationship to the Father.
