Naomi’s Journey Back To Bethlehem – Ruth, Part 2 Series

“Naomi’s Journey back to Bethlehem” – Ruth, Part 2

Ruth Sermon Series, Part 2

Ruth 1:10-22

Introduction

- Last week we set the foundation of Ruth around some very difficult times

-- Famine causes a family to move from God’s land, disobeys God’s commands

- Exposed a hard lesson – and one that frames this series:

-- FACT: When you choose to rebel against God, bad things can/do happen

-- However, God is still faithful to walk alongside of us and not leave us alone

-- IMP APP: IF we will repent and turn to Him … safety CAN be found!

- Naomi finds herself in this strange land and decides to return home

-- Her willingness to send her DILs back to family is out of compassion

-- But they’re not willing to just abandon her (v10) … why?

-- Is it a sense of loyalty? A feeling of duty? Perhaps it’s selfishness?

- Let’s see where this story takes us today to encourage our hearts

- Read Ruth 1:10-22 / Pray

Point 1 – An impossible (and hopeless) choice

- Admittedly, Naomi is faced with a hard choice with Orpah and Ruth

-- She responds to them out of logic for her circumstances (v11-13)

1. I am too old to find and marry another husband

2. If I had more sons, would you wait for them to grow up?

3. Life is bitter for me, b/c God has raised His fist against (or punished) me

- APP: The real issue is that third one … she feels God is punishing her

-- Hebrew: “yad”; hand (figuratively speaking, “talk to the hand”)

-- Hebrew: “marar”; to be bitter

-- When a fist is raised, it is an act of aggression, showing no grace

- Naomi’s entire argument was what would be best for them

-- She is not thinking of herself, but of these who could have a future

-- Her message is simple: I’m finished, leave me, and go find a life for yourself

- APP: I’m sure many of us can see both sides of this argument

-- Sometimes, it’s easier to just cut bait and run a new line

-- Sometimes, the pressure is just too much that resignation seems best

- But is that what God has called us to do? To quit?

-- If this were true, none of us would be here today … GET: church is hard!

-- EXAM: Even at the end of his life, Paul kept pressing: 2 Tim 4:7, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful.”

- TR: Naomi, in her despair, obv. cannot see any hope outside of circumstance

-- Luckily, she is not the only one in this conversation …

Point 2 – Orpah departs, but Ruth pledges to stay

- Orpah agrees to return to her family, even after weeping bitterly (v14)

-- We spoke last week of the loss they must feel (FIL, husbands, now Naomi)

- However, look what happens when Ruth hears Naomi’s reasoning

-- She chooses to remain a daughter to this woman who has loved her

-- She goes to great lengths to convince Naomi she’s not leaving

- Don’t miss this … heart of message today

-- Ruth makes three promises to Naomi (v16-18):

1. Where you go, I will go and where you stay, I will stay

- Her promise is to travel with her, to never leave her side

-- Ruth is willing to leave everything she knows to stay with Naomi

- She pledges to live where she lives, to dwell even in the same house

-- Meaning: It shall be my joy, my mission, to walk alongside you

2. Your people will be my people & your God will be my God

- Ruth proclaims that Naomi will remain as her family, becoming her people

-- Ruth can clearly see that wherever Naomi is from, they are a great nation

-- They are a people committed to good things (Naomi is an output of them)

-- So, going with you makes sense to me!

- But notice, “your God shall be my God”

-- Now, the seriousness of this cannot be overstated – she agrees to worship God

-- Religion was a serious thing in this time – to change was a deep commitment

- There is something great to see here – Naomi obviously knows something

-- Perhaps Ruth has heard of this God she knows, and has been drawn to Him

-- Could it be because Naomi witnessed? That she testified of God’s goodness?

3. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried

- Naomi is obviously the elder, and Ruth pledges to be with her to the end

-- Even if it means in the same house, Ruth claims she will never leave her side