The Story of Ruth Naomi
When Benjamin Franklin was the Ambassador to France, he occasionally attended the Infidels Club -- a group that spent most of its time searching for and reading literary masterpieces. On one occasion Franklin read the book of Ruth to the club, but changed the names in it so it would not be recognized as a book of the Bible. When he finished, the listeners were unanimous in their praise. They said it was one of the most beautiful short stories that they had ever heard, and demanded that he tell them where he had run across such a remarkable work of art. He loved telling them that it came from the Bible!
As we gaze into the story of Ruth, we find that it is really the story of another woman whose influence changed the course of history. Like a mother who hides in the background so that her children can stand out, Naomi becomes the supporting actress in this drama from the time of the Judges. Each Act in this story displays for us the character qualities of this godly Mother, Naomi.
Act One:
“Faith”
Ruth 1:1-7
1 In the days when the judges ruled, 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.
2 The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.
3 Now Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons.
4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years,
5 both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.
6 When she heard in Moab that the LORD had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, Naomi and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there.
7 With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.
(NIV)
Naomi lived her faith everyday, in everyway. Sometimes we are tempted within the walls of our home, among the people closest to us, to let her hair down and say or do things that are not godly. We would never act that way in front of strangers, but our family sees who we really are.
The only thing of value we can give is what we are, not what we have!
Virgil Hensley shares this story: Several years ago in a tropical country where many Americans were living, a terrifying eye disease struck. It affected primarily children. American children were seemed to be more vulnerable, apparently due to an immune deficiency. The signs of the disease were unmistakable. Five days after the first symptoms appeared the child would begin to go blind.
One morning…one of the American mother’s awoke to see all the symptoms of the disease in her little girl’s eyes. She immediately took her to the doctor, only to have her worst fears confirmed. Holding back the tears, the mother then took her daughter by the hand and walked her to a nearby field. The mother picked up her child and held her. She told her to notice how the sunlight lit the landscape dotted with wild flowers. The mother then picked one of the yellow flowers, placed it in her daughter’s hand and they carefully examined together the lovely complicated structure that only God could make.
Then the mother turned the little girl’s face toward her own. “What color is my hair?” she asked. “Black. Mommy. Black and pretty.” “And my eyes…look at them. What color are they?” “Blue, blue like the sky,” she said, patting her mother’s face. And as the mother looked into her daughter’s eyes soon to go dim, she asked, “And what do you see in your mother’s eyes?” “Love, Mommy. I see love!”
Mammas, what do your children see when they look into your eyes? Do they see love? Do they see God?
Looking into the eyes of Naomi, Ruth saw a God who was strong enough to sustain her no matter what. Naomi had every reason to be unhappy - she’d just her lost husband and 2 sons, and had no visible prospects for her future. In her lament she declares that she believes God is punishing her. BUT she doesn’t curse God or turn from Him.
The devotion the Naomi had for God was obviously so intense that Ruth committed herself in devotion to Naomi.
Ruth 1:16-17
16 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.
17 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."
(NIV)
In other words: If it hadn’t been for Naomi & her relationship with God, Ruth would have remained in Moab, worshipping foreign gods, belonging to an accursed nation, and forever on the outside of God’s blessings.
Act Two:
“Favor”
Ruth 2:1-3
1 Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, from the clan of Elimelech, a man of standing, whose name was Boaz.
2 And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, "Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor." Naomi said to her, "Go ahead, my daughter."
3 So she went out and began to glean in the fields behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech.
(NIV)
Act Two begins with Ruth going out to the fields to harvest what the harvesters leave. She is in a precarious position, a young widow, an illegal alien, trying to eek out a meager existence for herself and her mother-in-law. She could be driven away from the field by the servant girls, attacked by the male servants, imprisoned and punished by the owner of the field as a thief. But God allowed her to find favor in the eyes of Boaz.
Ruth 2:8-13
8 So Boaz said to Ruth, "My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with my servant girls.
9 Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the girls. I have told the men not to touch you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled."
10 At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She exclaimed, "Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me-- a foreigner?"
11 Boaz replied, "I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband-- how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before.
12 May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge."
13 "May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord," she said. "You have given me comfort and have spoken kindly to your servant-- though I do not have the standing of one of your servant girls."
(NIV)
How does one find favor? We live in a society that prizes the lifestyles of the rich, the beautiful, and the famous, although few of us will ever go there and most who get there are lonely and unhappy. Success cannot be a destination because the grass will be found greener on the other side.
We will find favor with God when we choose to serve unselfishly.
Ruth was a girl that…
- Worked hard
- Was very humble
- Was not self-centered
- And had a servant’s heart
Ruth 3:11 adds:
Ruth 3:11
11 And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All my fellow townsmen know that you are a woman of noble character.
(NIV)
Although Ruth could have gone back home and taken the easy way out, she chose to follow Naomi and her God, even without the promise of favorable conditions ahead.
Act Three:
“Family”
Ruth 4:13-22
13 So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. Then he went to her, and the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.
14 The women said to Naomi: "Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel!
15 He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth."
16 Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him.
17 The women living there said, "Naomi has a son." And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
18 This, then, is the family line of Perez: Perez was the father of Hezron,
19 Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab,
20 Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon,
21 Salmon the father of Boaz, Boaz the father of Obed,
22 Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David.
(NIV)
The Book of Ruth concludes with a genealogy. Did you know there are 41 separate genealogies from Genesis to Revelation? Have you ever stopped to wonder why? These family trees are really “faith albums” of God’s promises to His people. When God made the promise to Abraham in Genesis 12 that all families would be blessed through him, we see that God has grafted in individuals like Rahab and Ruth in order to bring David into the world. Then, when we come to Matthew 1, we see that the lineage of Boaz and Ruth from Bethlehem ended up in David’s greater Son, born of a virgin in a stable in Bethlehem.
Because of Naomi’s (& Ruth’s) Faith & Favor, God provided a family that would change the world!
Friend, just as God plucked Ruth out of a rough world and adopted her into the family faith tree, maybe you will be the first family in your line to follow Jesus. Your spiritual scrapbook may be brand new. Or, maybe you’re continuing a long-established family tree of faithfulness. Whatever the case, you carry on a heritage that cannot afford to be squandered.
No man or woman who lives for God gets everything he wants. The life of the godly will contain disappointments along the journey, but it is still infinitely richer and more satisfying than life without God. Because of Naomi’s faithfulness, the women of Bethlehem exclaimed: "Naomi has a son." Naomi came back to Bethlehem empty, but God filled her with blessing.
Every person here today is destined by God to be filled with Himself. That is God’s plan and purpose for every person. Even though you may feel empty, like the very life has been pulled out of you be the troubles you’ve known, God wants to fill you and make your life complete. Those who choose to go the way of Naomi find fulfillment. Those who choose the way of Orpah live to regret that decision.
Which will you choose?
