for the reading of the entirety
of Ruth chapter 1. We've looked at this many times
through the years, but again this week the Lord has stirred
my heart in it, and we feel drawn to this little book of the Bible
this morning. And the title of our message
is Misunderstanding, Misery, and miracle, those three things. Misunderstanding, misery, and
miracle. Many of you are familiar with
the story of Ruth, and if you're not, I suggest reading it and
stop quite often to meditate on what you've read. It's only
85 verses, four chapters. such a storehouse of spiritual
truth. And before we look at this chapter
this morning, I want to give you five things by way of introduction
concerning this book of the Bible. These are things the Lord gave
me in looking at it overall. Number one, it is very providential. The story takes such unexpected
and unpredictable twists and turns along the way. Only God knows what's on the
next line, let alone the next page. Only he who decreed the end from
the beginning knows the end from the beginning. It far exceeds the capability
of our minds to understand that our God does not have to wonder
about anything. He knows all and sees all, decreed all and has a purpose
in all. He has no questions. He has all the answers. So part
of the beauty of this story is the strange providence. Strange to us, but fully known
to our God. Providential. A second thing,
it's very practical. It's ordinary people with ordinary
thinking doing ordinary things. Not always wise, not always what's
best, but always human. what humans do. The practical lessons are many.
A third thing in this book of the Bible, it's very painful.
There are sad partings from relatives and friends. There are sad partings
in death. Three graves in Moab we'll find. And then we could say three more
graves in the hearts of the three widows. It's very, very painful, the partings. And then the fourth
thing, it's very progressive. God is going somewhere. It would be good for us to get
that thought in our minds, not only about the scriptures, but
about everything. about history, in our own personal
lives, God is going somewhere. Even when we are convinced in our own lives such and such
happens, this is the end. Will I ever wake up another morning?
Will I ever live another day? Will the sun
ever shine again in my life? And we naturally see only the
negative. Defeat. Disappointment. Despair. But we are challenged to trust
God because He's going somewhere. and to believe that God's going
somewhere with each of us in our lives. The setting of this
story in the scriptures makes this point clear of God's progressiveness. And I'll give you this quickly. Preceding this book of Ruth is
the book of Judges. This story actually occurs in
the days of the judges. That's what verse 1 says. Violent
times. Uncivilized times in Israel. Days of gloom in Israel. Gloomy times. So in the days of the judges,
the picture is gloom. And then this book of Ruth is
followed in Scripture by the books of Samuel, including the
glorious reign of King David. It was in David's reign that
the nation peaked. I mean high and glorious in honor,
power, and wealth and respect. After David's time, in Solomon's
time, she began to go downhill. The nation peaked in David's
time just after this book of Judges. David's time was days
of glory, glorious days in Israel. So we see this little book of
Ruth preceded by gloom and followed by glory. There is a progression. Ruth is a book of grace and this
is God's progressive order from gloom through grace into glory,
unto glory. The message of Satan in this
hour and every hour in history has been the same. He would say
it's over. God is through. God's not doing
anything else. But Satan is a liar. He always
has been. God is going somewhere. It is
a progressive book. God is a progressive God with
his people in our lives. And the fifth thing, this little
book of Ruth is a very purposeful book. God has his reasons for
every little twist and turn. So it is in our world and so
it is in our lives. And this purpose can be seen
by just glimpsing at the beginning and the end of the book. In chapter
1, verse 1, at the very first statement, it begins, Now it
came to pass. It's not accidental or incidental
or luck that anything comes up or happens, but it's according
to God's decree, God's predetermined purpose, it came to pass because
it was decreed and ordained to come to pass. I've told you many
times about the old colored fellow who said that his favorite scripture
was that line that said, and it came to pass. And he said
what that means is trouble don't last always. It never came to
stay, it came to pass. And how true that is. And then
the last word in the book, chapter 4, very last word, is David. David. Here is the purpose. Christ is to come through the
house of David in the tribe of Judah. The book begins in chapter
1 with this man of Judah that was read about, Elimelech, and
the whole story works toward David and then eventually toward
Christ, all toward Christ. So it is a very purposeful book. This tells us that what God is
doing in this story and in our lives is not confined to the
immediate picture. The immediate picture here is
just the book of Ruth, but God is going somewhere. He is reaching
far beyond even these characters know about. And so it is in our
lives. God is done working and preparing
for on our yonder. Even today, in the lives of these
little ones and loved ones, And one's unborn even. God is setting
the stage. He is so much bigger. So much
bigger. So much bigger than us and our
wants and our wishes. And a lot of people never see
that. That God is bigger. God is not stuck in today like
we are. You and I are stuck in today.
God is not. Christopher Columbus, in reading
some of his writings, he made it clear that in his heart to
discover a new world, this continent we live on, he said he wanted
it not just for his own satisfaction, but in view of what God might
do for many generations to come. And God has done it. for many
generations. So it's bigger than we think. It takes a fool to think my life
is just about me. It's not. All right, now in chapter
1, we'll consider these three things we mentioned, as the Lord
permits, and I'm sure I'll not finish this today, but it's on
my heart. Misunderstanding, misery, and
miracle. In verses 1 and 2, we're introduced
to a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah. Not just a man, but a
certain man. I've told you before to watch
for that word certain when you read the Bible. You'll find it
many times. And it is never without significance. Our God deals in certainties. Certain times, certain place,
certain individual. He's a God of certainties, not
possibilities, not happenstances, no. Not what we call accidents,
but God's work, all of it is certain. A certain man of Bethlehem,
Judah. Now this is the very place, Bethlehem
of Judea, Bethlehem, Judah, the city where our Redeemer is to
be born. many generations later. And that choice tribe, Judah,
from which Christ would come, this man named Elimelech, which
means my God is King, he has a wife and two sons. And so this family he has, good wife, two good sons, It's
obvious that he has as good a chance as any, and a better chance than
some, of being in the lineage of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
from the human standpoint. But you see, the truth is, nothing
God does includes chance. So it's not a matter of talking
about what chance is here. No. Nothing God does involves
chance, only certainty. God is not a gambler. He don't
have to be. He's decreed the end from the
beginning. It's settled. So this man, we
find in the story in the time of famine, takes his wife and
two sons and packs up and leaves Bethlehem, Judah. and they go
down to sojourn in the country of Moab. You remember the very existence
of Moab and the people of Moab came about in Genesis chapter
19 through that shameful and incestuous relationship of Lot
and his daughters. Moab was a cursed people, shameful,
despised people. And that's where this good man
of Bethlehem takes his family to sojourn. So the first thought,
misunderstanding. Misunderstanding. I have heard
this man, Elimelech, blasted and criticized As long as I can
remember, I have numerous books on the book of Ruth in which
this man is really given down the road how messed up he is. They declare how that he was
deathly out of the will of God and how awful that he did what
he did. But there's great misunderstanding. Why? It's because we are incapable
of seeing anything beyond the general appearance of things. How natural it comes to us all. How natural it comes to be our
own God, make up our own minds about everything. Well the truth
is this, God had chosen from eternity before he made this
world that a certain young woman of Moab named Ruth. God had chosen her to be in the
lineage in the royal family of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. But Christ is to be born in Bethlehem,
the very place this man has taken his family and leaving. It's
quite obvious he's going in the wrong direction. Or is he? Or is he? Ruth is in Moab. She is in God's
purpose. She is going to be in this. But
she's in Moab. Somebody's got to go after her. And it's not Elimelech and his
family that's going after her. They don't know she exists. It's
God going after her. And he's going after her using
this family as his instruments to do so. I'm telling you, this
is big. It's really big. Could you imagine
all the talk around town, Bethlehem, about how foolish this man is to leave the beloved homeland
of Bethlehem, Judah, and of all places to go, to go down to Moab. I'm sure Elimelech was accused
of forsaking God, thinking nothing of his God-given
heritage, thinking nothing of God's dealings with and promises
to Israel, and especially Judah. In the eyes of the people, this
man was slapping God in the face. I'm sure he's called a blasphemer.
But was he? Was he? No. He was doing what any man, who
is a man, would do. He is doing what he feels in
his heart he has to do to provide for his family in time of famine. He's being a man. He's embracing
the responsibility of leadership for his family. But he's greatly
misunderstood. He's criticized. He's disowned. Oh, what a lesson. What a lesson.
The wisest people I know in this world are people who do not jump
on every bandwagon that passes. Just because they feel they have
to Identify. Take sides with this one. Take
sides with that one. Oh, no. Oh, no. The only thing
any of us really have to do is face God. And most people know they're
going to have to face Him one day. But I want to say to you
this morning, from the bottom of my heart, I want to face Him
every day. Every day I live. Life is full of mystery, full
of trouble, full of things we don't understand,
things beyond our control, problems we can't solve. Anybody can stand and look at
a person behind bars and decide in our own foolish
minds why they're there and why they deserve to be there. We
can do that without really knowing anything about anybody. All we really
know this morning is that God knows all about all. And the Scripture is certainly
not silent about us trying to play God. in our minds and hearts
concerning things and concerning people. Oh, the scripture is
full of it. 1 Samuel 16, 7, man looketh on
the outward appearance. Well, that's all we can do. I
can't read your heart. You can't read mine. Man looketh
on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. He told us in Isaiah 55, my thoughts
are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. Now, don't miss that. He never
said our ways and our thoughts might not be like His. He said
they're not. My thoughts are not your thoughts.
My ways are not your ways. God said count on it. You can't
think like me. Your ways are not like me. For
as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Jeremiah 17.9, the heart. Your heart, my heart, everybody
else's heart. The heart is deceitful above
all things. Desperately wicked. Who can know
it? God knows it. God knows it. We can't even really know our
own hearts, let alone somebody else's. Romans 11.33, all the
depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.
How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. God said, you're not going to
get to where I'm thinking. Just as certain as you think
you've got God figured out. what he wants, and what he's
doing, and what he's in, and what he's not in. You're really
in a mess then. You're really in a mess. I've
heard people for many years, preachers of the worst, concerning
anything. Well, God's in that. God's not
in that. The Lord's in this. The Lord's
not in that. You're really getting on You're really getting bold
when you can say what God's in and what He's not. The truth is we are to expect
and we are to accept many mysteries in life. Not ours to understand,
but ours to trust in Him who does understand, who knows all,
sees all, and leave it with him. So they misunderstood this good
man, criticized him, crucified him while he lived. And even
today, instead of reading the rest of the story, instead of
seeing God in it all, preachers, teachers, would rather
jump on that old bandwagon and crucify a limelight and talk
about how you ought not be like him. I don't find anywhere in
the scriptures that he wasn't a very godly man myself. I don't. Misunderstanding. Second thought,
misery. Misery. Verses 3 through 5. cover a period of about 10 years,
it says, according to verse 4. In that 10 years, the two sons, Melon and Chileon,
took them wives of the women of Moab named Orpah and Ruth. But also during the 10 years,
the father of the family, Elimelech, died. Then the two sons died. What misery in a family. Not just in the hearts of these two young widows, the
son's Their hearts and hopes are crushed, but especially there
is great misery in the mind and heart of the old widow, Naomi,
who has walked to the graveside three times, not just to bury
her husband, but then one son and then the other son, all that
she had. Her world is crushed. Misery. She has to bury her world. Few
people know what it is to bury their world. Naomi's husband, two sons, that's
all she lived for. Her life is over, she thinks. of nothing left to live for. And it's not just the overwhelming
of her losses, but it's all the questions in her mind and heart. The attacks of Satan. Your husband was a fool for dragging
you down here. Now look at the mess you're in.
You're a fool here. You're a fool back home. You've
no life here. You've no life back home. You're
finished, old girl. You can forget God. You can forget
ever being anything or ever having anything. You're through. That's the devil. That's the
devil. And furthermore, that's the world.
And furthermore, that's a whole lot of religion. Because there's
no hope for you. But you see, we see in this,
this thought, being exactly where God puts you can involve a great deal of misery. Very present. Very real. Vibrating to our very innermost
soul. Every heartbeat feel the pain. Misery. No need looking back. Yesterday's gone. No need looking ahead to tomorrow.
Seems there's not going to be one. It's just misery, misery,
misery. But where is God in all this?
Where is God in all this? I'm going to tell you exactly
where God is in all this. Now don't miss this. This is
the book of Ruth. God is not in Moab to get a father
for his son. He's the father. God is in Moab
to get a mother for his son. All the men in the family have
to die. Elimelech and his two sons all
die. Matter of fact, the spiritual
thought here about the men in Moab in verse 8 where Bill read,
Go return each to her mother's house. Many other places in the
Old Testament says, return to your father's house. It's like
there are no fathers. It's like there's not only these
three men. It looks like there's not any men. Return to your mother's
house. So all the men have died. 1 Corinthians
15, 22, Paul said, in Adam, all died. All the men had to die. Naomi
is without hope, she thinks, because in Adam all die. All her men had died. Great misery
in her life. But then our third thought is
this, a miracle. A miracle. The story thus far has been pretty
negative. It's been big on misunderstanding.
Big in misery. Well, it's about to get big in miracle. And it would take
hours to finish this chapter, and we're not going to this morning.
It's all so very rich in spiritual truth. But the story takes a
turn in verse 6. When Naomi gets the news that
the famine is over back in Judah, and the Lord is blessing the
land again, the Lord has visited His people
in giving them bread. Somebody said, well, the famine
was ten years because the people weren't living right. No, that's
not it. People never live right. How right is right? It's as right
as God is. Don't get into this blessing
on the basis of bargain, earning blessings from God. Uh-uh. That
don't happen. The only reason I can find or
anyone else can find for this ten-year famine is for God to
get this family down to Moab and these three men to die. Then and only then does the story
move on. Not until then. Now Naomi will confess later
on to being bitter in her spirit And I suppose even right here
with her husband and two sons gone, the devil beating her down,
she's probably said, well, that's good news, but I'm not moving
anymore. My life is over. I'll just stay
right here in Moab and die here. But she don't say that. When she hears this news that
things are different in Bethlehem now, God is blessing again. The natural thing, had she been
left to herself, she would have said, well, that's fine, but
it's too late for me. I'm settled in here. I'll not move anymore. But you see, this is grace. She
was not left to herself. God worked a miracle in her heart. And that news of God's blessing
quickens something in her. There was a spark of hope that
had not been there. She had believed there was no
hope. And what's happening, what's going to happen, is not natural,
it's supernatural. God put the spark, God fanned
it, God breathed on it, and caused it to burn brighter and brighter
and brighter in Naomi's heart and mind until she finally just
announced it, I'm going home. The girls probably said to her,
the daughters-in-law, probably said, you've got to home. You'll
always have a home here with us. And she said, no, I'm going
home. So many writers just water this
down and pass over it. I'm telling you, I've got lots
of books, but I can only read so much of these guys. Then I
have to put their books aside and pick up the book. The book. So many would make
this Naomi's decision. No, this was God's doing. No person can change their own
heart. This is God's doing. God has made Naomi a widow indeed. She's not just a widow. You don't
just have two widowed daughters-in-law. She is a widow indeed. What is
a widow indeed? We have to turn to the New Testament.
1 Timothy 5 says this, Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate,
trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers. night and day. I believe there's
a few widows indeed sitting here this morning. You see, for a woman's husband
to die does not make her a widow indeed. Not at all. So many nowadays have the attitude,
I can handle it. I don't need a man. Well, that's
usually the kind that don't go three months until they've got
another one. But listen to the Scriptures.
Listen to the Scriptures. A widow indeed is desolate and
trusteth in God. She needs God. The heart that needs God is a
heart God is working a miracle in. To need God is not natural for
our sin-cursed flesh. To need God is God's work. Looking at widows in God's Word
and all He has to say concerning them is a blessed study. There's three in this story.
Look it up in the four Gospels and read Christ's words and attitude
and treatment of widows. The truth is we all need to be
widowed in our hearts. We all need to be relieved of
anything and everything. we're trusting in except God
himself. Desolate, helpless in ourselves,
yet trusting God, making supplications and prayers night and day. This is nothing short of a miracle
in Naomi's heart. When she says, I believe I will
try again. I believe I will go home. At least get to where they're
worshiping God, even if I can't. I have no husband. I have no sons. I have no grandchildren. But maybe what's left of me should
at least be lived among the people of God. I'm not experiencing anything
I don't deserve. God's child will say that. I don't deserve that God should
smile on me tomorrow. God's child will say that. But
I want to be among His people that can worship Him. Maybe I can't fit in, but if
I can somehow just Maybe experience a little of the overflow of people
worshiping God. Maybe I can die happy after all.
That's her thoughts. By a miracle of grace, she said
this. My husband died in Moab. My sons died in Moab. But I refused
to die in Moab. I'm going home. I'm going home. Our adversary, the devil, and
I'll close with this. He says three things every chance
he gets. He says these three things to
your heart and mind every chance he gets. Number one, why don't you just
quit? Number two, you don't need that
church. And number three, you're somebody. You don't need anybody. He's a liar. We used to sing an old song around
here. I'm going to dig it up one of these days. It goes like
this. The church of God shall never
fail. It standeth strong and sure. It's built on Christ, the
solid rock, and ever shall endure. I'm going to stop right there
with the story right in the middle of it. Maybe the Lord will let
us pick up next time. But such wonderful lessons to
be learned here. Misunderstanding, misery, and
miracle. God's in it all for reasons known
only to Him. Thank you for your attention.
May we stand together.