THE HARD JOURNEY HOME

 

Ruth 1:6-18

 

J.C. Ryle wrote about the redeeming grace God when we are faced with our wrong decisions and sin. He calls it “The Great Barrier & The Cross, “We are all by nature separate and far off from God. Sin, like a great barrier-wall, rises between us and our Maker. The sense of guilt makes us afraid of Him. The sense of His holiness keeps us at a distance from Him. Born with a heart at enmity with God, we become more and more alienated from Him, by practice, the longer we live. The very first questions in religion that must be answered, are these…“How can I draw near to God? How can I be justified? How can a sinner like me be reconciled to my Maker?” The Lord Jesus Christ has provided an answer to these mighty questions. By His sacrifice for us on the cross, He has opened a way through the great barrier, and provided pardon and peace for sinners.”

 

Naomi is going to see and witness this very thing as she continues to taste God’s sweet bitter providence. Especially after, as she continued to make a fundamental lack of trust in God’s goodness for the past ten years. This story of Ruth is one of the most graphic stories of how God hides His smiling face behind a frowning providence. Willian Cowper wrote the hymn “God Moves in a Mysterious Way” and this song could have been personally written to Naomi as she sits in her brokenness and bitterness.

 

God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform;

he plants his footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm. 

Deep in unfathomable mines, of never-failing skill;

he fashions up his bright designs, and works his sovereign will. 

Ye fearful saints fresh courage take, the clouds that you much dread,

are big with mercy and will break in blessings on your head. 

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust him for his grace;

behind a frowning providence, he hides a smiling face. 

His purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour;

the bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower. 

Blind unbelief is sure to err, and scan his work in vain;

God is his own interpreter, and he will make it plain.

 

Charles Spurgeon once said that God’s sovereignty is “a doctrine for rough weather; “ The true believer faces many stormy days, but we must wrestle, and rest in God’s sovereign care. This is how God brings about His eternal salvation of His people; and this is how God gets the greater glory in your life. This situation that Naomi is blindly in, reminds me of the comforting truth that Paul shared with the church of Rome. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” 

Rom 8:28-30

 

Its in these kinds of moments that we don’t see it. Why? Because of our personal pain, our suffering and outright bitterness. Even in the worst of times they are not wasted, globally, historically, and most of personally. Because the reason for our hope is God’s faithfulness as He is committed to save for Himself a people of His own. How can that be for Naomi? Her husband is dead and her son’s take Moabite women. For a period of time, they continue to live in a land that God forbid them to reside in. Its during this time, tragedy strikes again, and now her only remaining family is deceased. The family name dies with her sons, as her heart is broken into a million pieces.

 

Naomi is left holding the cards, she has some big decisions to make, now that she is all alone. Now! Good news comes to Naomi, the famine has been lifted in the City of Bread, in the Nation of Praise. (v6) There is nothing for her here, she is completely bankrupt in all areas, especially spiritually.

 

But this time she is going home alone deflated and beaten like a tied-up goat. She decides to go back home after 10 long years away in a foreign, despised, wicked nation that hated each other, but she has a dilemma now! What do I do with my Moabite daughter-in-law’s? At first, they are all heading back together (v7) until Naomi says this (v8-v13)

You might say this selfish on Naomi’s part….. and you would be right. Two more mouths to feed, cloth, and lodge, on a fixed income and budget. And doing all this dependent on the charity of family members. Also, they are Moabite women, these two foreigners would hardly be welcome by the people of Bethlehem. And I think for Naomi, these two girls if they came with her, they would be a constant reminder of her sin for abandoning the Promise Land and marrying her sons outside the covenant people. Every time she looks at them, she would be confronted with the heavy hand of God’s judgement.

 

But what is Naomi saying isn’t wrong either? The custom for the Jews was that when an Israelite husband dies, his brother or near relative was to marry the widow and preserve the brother’s name. Moses wrote, “If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband's brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel. And if the man does not wish to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say, ‘My husband's brother refuses to preserve his brother's name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband's brother to me.’ Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him, and if he persists, saying, ‘I do not wish to take her,’ then his brother's wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face. (The spitting was not in his face, but before his face on the ground.) And she shall answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother's house.’ And the name of his house shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal pulled off.’” Deut 25:5-10

 

Naomi is bitter in her heart; and she tells the girls to go back to their people and begin living out their young lives. This is because, Naomi, thinks its hopeless for Ruth, and Orpah, to remain committed to the family name. Little does she remember though! That there are two relatives able to fulfill this for Naomi, one is named Boaz who might perform the duty of a brother. 

(3:12-13)

 

Don’t overlook this because…… This really reveals the bitterness of Naomi, when we think God is against us. We usually overstress our hopelessness, (everything is worse than it is) we become so bitter and angry, that we can’t see the ray of light peeking though the clouds. (We just see the worst in everything) What Naomi can’t see in the moment is God’s providential plan of restoring and restoration. It was God who broke the famine and opened the way home. (1:6) It was God who persevered a kinsman to continue Naomi’s line. (2:20). It was God who constrains Ruth to stay as we will see here in a few moments with Naomi. (1:16-18)

 

Its this bitterness that is clouding her heart, she doesn’t see God’s hard providence, to see His mercy at work in her life. Its this kind of outlook that can’t see the forest for the trees. God is committed in saving sinners, He does this not by searching for perfect people. God does this by reaching down to rebellious sinners and transforming them from the inside out. This is usually involving long and painful paths for many; as God strips away everything that this world is binds you too. This means…. stripping away everything we have replaced our trust in, instead of Him; this could be everything from relationships to poverty. Remember …. in the providence of God in saving sinners, He is not sitting in the living room with His feet up waiting for sinners to come home. The Scriptures reveal that God never rests and is always meeting us on the hard road home. “And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.” Luke 15:20

 

This is the God who is with Naomi on her shameful walk back home, God has not left her to make the journey by herself. One theologian wrote, “The God who empties us and strips away, however painfully, those precious things in which we are trusting knows what is to be stripped of all His possessions, left alone and abandoned by his friends, and hung empty on a cross. Every tear of loss that God inflicts on us is a tear whose cost He Himself understands.” Though God’s chastening seems painful in moment, but its never harsh and absolutely necessary to turn us back to Him. Elimelech left the place of famine to seek false blessings on this earth and that is exactly what he got, (Your best life now) …but Naomi is being called to return.

 

But getting back to her telling the girls to go home. 

How did the two young ladies respond? 

Orpah, (her name means “stubborn”) who loved her mother-in-law, kissed her and went back to her pagan idolatry. (v15) When I think of Orpha’s response, I’m reminded of Lot’s wife who loved her possessions, the city, and most of all her sin. It’s that type of person who subscribed into Satan’s lie and says, “This is far better then what Christ can offer me.” Its that person who hears the message of salvation and counts the cost and says “I can’t give up my pleasures to serve this God, its too much to ask.” It’s that person who is constantly looking back while going forward. “Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62

 

It’s like the rich young man who went away weeping. “Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” Matt 10:22. She reminds me of the parable of Sower and the seed where Jesus said, “Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.” Matt 13:22. It’s the way the world attracts us away from the Savior as John wrote, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (this is what caused us to be born into sin from our earthly father Adam) is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” 1 John 2:15-17

 

Orpah, darked heart would never see light because she loved the darkness more; as did her husband, and her father-in-law. Orpha, rejects the road to emptiness if she goes to Bethlehem, but at the same time unknowingly turned aside from the one road that could have led her life everlasting. Orpah, chose the world, and according to the Scriptures we never her named mentioned ever again!

Ruth, (her name means “friendship”) equally loved her mother-in-law, by what we read here in this portion of scripture. Here is a nobody, an outsider, a Moabite of all things. You could say, “There was nothing kosher about Ruth.” One theologian said, “She knew she would be about as welcome in Bethlehem as a ham sandwich at a bar mitzvah.” From a worldly perspective it is screaming, “Follow the way of Orpha.” But she doesn’t! There is something here we see that Orpah never did! (v14) “she clung to her” "Clung” means, “to stay by, abide, cleave or to be joined together” Ruth had surrendered every aspect of her life into Naomi’s hands. This is where we get the same expression that God gave us when it comes to marriage! “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” Gen 2:24

 

Do you realize what Ruth is doing?

Answer: Here is the providence of God in salvation.

 

Ruth’s response portrays sacrificial love and redemption despite overwhelming odds. By leaving her homeland, Ruth renounced her citizenship in Moab. She does this with the words, “Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live,.’ Ruth was willing to go and abide with her forever.

 

Here is……

A Moabite woman who comes from pagan idolatry. (Num 21:29)

A woman that comes from a nation that promotes or passionately encourages immorality.

A woman who’s nation have no issue with child sacrifice. (2 Kings 3:26-27)

A woman who comes from worshipping false gods.

A woman who has just lost her husband....father in-law.......and brother in-law.

A woman who is left with no support and has more obstacles than the average person has had in their entire life!

Think about her response! From a pagan’s perspective, from someone who is spiritually dead in accordance with the Scriptures, she should hate Naomi’s God. A person by the world’s standards would say to her are you crazy? “Instead of clinging to her you should be even more angry with her God, you should be cursing her God” She has every right, humanly speaking, to hate this God of Israel. But she doesn’t, she shows a greater faith than Naomi and sadly more than most Christian’s today!! This is the sweet bitter providence of God as He draws sinners to Himself. Each statement ratchets up the level of her commitment to a higher level. Not only did Ruth cling to Naomi, look at what she says next. (v16-v17)

 

This is God’s sovereign plan in our bad decisions, this is the heart of a woman who is being softened and transformed by the power of God. This is a woman who desires to follow after the True Living God of the Scriptures.

“I will go wherever you go”

“I will lodge wherever you stay”

“Your family will be my family”

“Your God will be my God”

“I will lay down my life for you”

“My hope is in your hope”

“I love you to the end and forever”

 

It is like she is saying, “For better or worse, in sickness and health, I fully and truly committed all the way, no matter what happens to me. The most amazing thing we see here is what she says (v16) “Your God will be my God.” A God who Naomi said was against her in (v13) “The hand of the Lord has gone out against me.”Ruth represents every single believer committed to the gospel, as we rest in the providence of God’s redemption.

  

1. Like Ruth, to become a Christian means to be united with Jesus in His death and resurrection. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Gal 2:20

 

2. Like Ruth, its by God’s grace through faith we cling to Him. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,” Eph 2:8

 

3. Like Ruth, we leave our old citizenship and identity behind and become new creations. “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” Col 3:5-10

 

4. Like Ruth, we say good bye to darkness of sin and live in the Light of God’s future Kingdom. “for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Eph 5:8-14

 

5. Like Ruth, we take up our banner of the cross of Christ to our death. “And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” 

Mark 8:34-38

This is the sweet bitter providence of God in redemption… Even in our bad decisions, in our depravity, in our falling into sin, and compliancy, or the Christian status-quo. God is working all things for His glory and our good though the gospel. We should all be like Ruth and be committed to the God who is all merciful and gracious towards you and me. Though it hard to see at times or understand, this doesn’t change the fact that we should always be resting in His Sovereign arms. Ruth, demonstrates to us an astonishing act of surrender and self-sacrifice as she lays down her entire life to serve Naomi. This is the believer’s life as it pertains to the gospel confession. We should be….. The one who say “I don’t care what life brings as long as Christ is at the center of it” The one who say “you can kill this body but you cannot kill my soul” The one that say “I’m with Him, because He is the one who is holding me in His sovereign arms. What does that look like? Maybe this will help. “Pastor Alan Redpath had two daughters who loved to swarm him when he came home at night. As he came in the door one evening, his little girls ran to meet him. One grabbed his leg and hugged him with all her might. He snatched the other daughter up in his arms. The one squeezing his leg said, Now, I’ve got all of Daddy. The daughter in his arms replied, Yes, but Daddy has got all of me!

 

That’s God’s providential workings as He orchestrates mercy, and grace, in our lives. From the best of decisions to the worst of decisions, this reveals God’s mercy, grace and eternal salvation. We may cling to Him as Ruth does to Naomi, but understand, He is the one holding us. The hard road is faith in God that sees beyond present bitter setbacks. It’s a freedom from securities and comfort of this world. Its walking out by faith into the unknown are we rest in God’s sovereign arms.