Where is God When Tragedy Hits

Ruth, Where is God when Tragedy Hits!

(Ruth 1-4) Pastor Tom Mitchell

At my grandma Hersch’s there was a box of photos in a shoebox that sat under a table. I remember as a young boy taking out the box and looking at those black and white pictures that would take me to places I had never been. In a way, that’s what we’re doing in this series of messages of people from the Bible. We’re thumbing through the biblical pictures of people, while being careful not to confuse descriptive (simply describe what someone did) passages with prescriptive (commands and counsel that tell us what to do). Our purpose in looking at these people is to gain Godly wisdom from their experiences. Today we look at pictures from the book of Ruth.

In the book of Ruth, she and her family eek out a living during some difficult days. This was a time of moral chaos and national instability. Described in Jud. 21:25“Everyone did what was right in his own eyes”. Ruth is for people who wonder where God is when tragedy hits. Lets look at four Chapters of this story.

Chapter 1: Suffering and Hidden Hope Chapter 1 covers 10 years of time about one family: "In the days when the judges ruled (judges served as rulers – there were no kings in charge), there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there. Now Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband. “ Three words give us insight into the plight of this family.

Famine. In the OT, a famine was often an result of God’s discipline because His people had sinned against Him. During the time of the Judges, Israel rejected God and worshiped idol and God had to discipline them (Jdg. 2:10–19). The godly had to suffer because of the ungodly, even in Bethlehem.

Moab. Moab lay about 100 miles north of Jerusalem, and it was not a vacation spot. It was a pagan land, where the people worshipped the false god Chemosh, sacrificing their babies to it. God had told the Jews to have nothing to do with them. But

So you begin to put the pieces together. Elimelech is trying to avoid consequences of Israel’s sin against God, but in doing so, his two sons marry two Moabite women named Orpah and Ruth.

Died - Grief. Naomi was hit with the pain of tragedy after tragedy. You need to know that in those days, a woman who was alone had nothing. These three widows (Naomi, Orpah and Ruth) had absolutely no social status and no economic means to survive. They were essentially equal to the homeless of our society today. This was compounded even more for Naomi, since she was an Israelite living in a foreign country.

So Naomi immediately packed up and started for home. She urges Orpah and Ruth to stay in Moab, where there was some hope of marrying again. Naomi painted a grim future of widowhood, childlessness, and possible destitution.

Orpah decided to stay and in tears said her goodbyes. But Ruth felt such devotion to her mother-in-law she rejected her own gods and country and followed Naomi and her God. In one of the most endearing parts of this story, Ruth pledges herself to Naomi with these words that are frequently spoken in weddings. Verses 16-17"But Ruth replied, “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.”

Naomi was simply too depressed to let herself feel any comfort from Ruth’s words. Her future looked hopeless and she was depressed. As Naomi comes to Bethlehem, the women in town see this depressed woman and ask, “Is this Naomi?”(v. 19). The name Naomi means “beautiful.” But such a name mocked her now.

She answers back in 1: 20-21: " Don’t call me Naomi, call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.” Chapter 1 ends with Naomi in despair convinced that God is against her. Ever been there? Have you ever though God was against you?

Chapter 2: Romance and the Grace of God Chapter 2 covers one 24-hour day in the lives of Naomi and Ruth where they both experience great hope. Verse 1 “Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, …whose name was Boaz.” Boaz had a reputation as a Godly man of character and kindness. He was a man of wealth whose values were governed by God’s Word, a fact that is clear in how he treated the poor.

In v. 3 we find a hungry Ruth who goes out to glean or harvest the leftovers in the field with the poor. She had no specific plan about which field she would work. She just finds one and starts picking up gain. Ruth just happens to find herself in the field of this man Boaz. The message of Ruth is that God was behind this. Luck, good or bad, has nothing whatever to do with Ruth’s choice or our lives.

Boaz spots this cute gal gleaning with the poor and he goes out of his way to bless her by giving secret instructions to his workers to deliberately drop extra grain for her, feed her a huge lunch, and load her down with grain at the end of the day.

When Ruth goes home to Naomi shares what Boaz had done she got really excited. "““Why, God bless that man! God hasn’t quite walked out on us after all! He still loves us, in bad times as well as good!” Naomi went on, “That man, Ruth, is…, a close relative of ours (kinsman-redeemers)! 2:20 Chapter begins with no hope and ends with new hope.

Chapter 3: New Hope and a Risky Plan. Ruth continues to glean in Boaz’s fields until the harvest is over. It was then that Naomi comes up with a risky plan to make a husband out of Boaz.

This mother-in-law turned matchmaker knows that Boaz is a close relative. And she knows that the Mosaic Law had a provision to preserve the family name. If a husband died and there was no son to perpetuate the family name, the nearest relative was obligated to marry the widow. So Naomi says to Ruth: “Take a bath. Put on some perfume. Get all dressed up and go to the threshing floor. But don’t let him know you’re there until the party is well under way and he’s had plenty of food and drink. When you see him slipping off to sleep, watch where he lies down and then go there. Lie at his feet to let him know that you are available to him for marriage. Then wait and see what he says. He’ll tell you what to do.”(v3-4 msg)

Ruth does what Naomi says. When Boaz turns over in the middle of the night he discovers this woman lying at his feet and wants to know who she is. Ruth identifies herself and then says in 3:9: “I am Ruth…… You’re my close relative, you know, in the circle of covenant redeemers—you do have the right to marry me.” This was Ruth’s subtle way of making a marriage proposal. The plan worked. Boaz agrees to marry her, but chapter 3 ends with a problem. Boaz knows of a closer relative than he is to Elimelech’s family who could possible marry Ruth instead of him.

Chapter 4: The New Beginning and the Savior. The next morning, Boaz cautiously and skillfully presents the situation to the closer relative. He anxiously waits until the relative gives Boaz his permission to go ahead and marry Ruth. The Book ends with Ruth, a foreigner from a hated country marrying Boaz. No big deal until you realize that she eventually gives birth to a boy named Obed, who would later have a son named Jesse, who would later have a son named David, who became the king of Israel. King David then became the ancestor to the Messiah, Jesus Christ. I want to conclude this morning by drawing three lessons from Ruth.

1. Trust God. God’s presence is in every page of this book. The key lesson of Ruth’s life is that God is at work in all things. God is at work according to His good purposes. Ruth had gone through some terrible things, but God was at work with her.

Even when you are completely unaware of what or why something is happening, God can be trusted! He is working everything together for your good and His ultimate glory. Our responsibility is to trust and surrender to Him.

Have you surrendered yourself and your situation to God? Do you trust Him with our life? Ruth’s story lets us know we can trust God.

2. Cultivate your character. This is a story of a God honoring man, a young woman, and an older woman who trusted, with difficulty, in the Lord. Think about Naomi for a moment. While in a pagan land, she worshipped the true God as people around her worshipped Baal. In spite of all that happened Naomi worshipped God before Ruth so that Ruth eventually put her trust in her God. And even when hopelessness had influenced her, Naomi never doubted that God was behind what was happening to her.

Or look at Ruth. She stayed with her mother-in-law when she didn’t have to. She rejected the false god Baal and placed her faith in the one true God.

And Boaz. This godly and kind man gave a generous gift to Ruth and Naomi. A man who sends a generous gift to his prospective mother-in-law is certainly a good choice for a husband. These are people of character.

3. Trust God and Receive the Redeemer. Ruth put her trust in Naomi’s God. Ruth and Orpah help us see the options. They both had the opportunity to turn their backs on Baal and follow the true God. Orpah had started out to follow Naomi and her God but then turned back. Many people do that today. They start out but never make a full commitment to Christ. You might see them in church for a couple times but then they vanish. God is looking for people will trust Him and his son Jesus as Lord and Savior and receive Jesus by personal invitation. If you have never done so, will you receive Jesus right now?