From Plain Jane to Remembering her Name
Since we are in a study about Plain Jane’s, let me remind you of a few famous Jane’s.
• Jane Addams-In 1931 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Organizations: Hull-House, settlement house movement, National Woman Suffrage Association, Anti-Imperialist League, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
• Martha Jane Cannery Burke- AKA Calamity Jane- known for her riding and shooting skills in the late 1800’s to her heroic efforts during the smallpox epidemic. Or maybe it was a description of a very hard and tough life. She got her name Calamity Jane because she said ‘calamity would come to any man who bothered her -- a calamity. Or perhaps it was due Jane Grey- AKA Lady Jane Grey-was queen of England in 1553 just for a little while then she was executed.
• Jane Appleton-AKA Jane Appleton Pierce- she married Franklin Pierce who became president in 1852 and was not very happy, in fact when he was nominated she fainted at the idea.
• Jane Grey- Lady Jane Grey was queen of England in 1853 for 1 year before she was executed.
Now, let me remind you of a few Plain Jane’s:
Naomi-A widow who’s love for her God changed the life of a young woman
Ruth- a widow who’s love for another person will be used as an example for generations and generations.
WOW
In the list of names I just spoke, of how did the latter two move from:
Plain Jane’s to remembering her name?
Let’s look at the life of the first Plain Jane-Naomi
The book of Ruth tells just a little about Naomi. But the results tell us a lot.
The first thing I know about Naomi
1. She was wife and a mother. Scripture does not go into detail about her past or her relationship with her husband, but she must have loved her husband a lot because she went with him when he said we were moving to Moab. She packed up, took her two sons, and left the land that she loved to go to a foreign land known to be detestable in the eyes of God.
a. Now I don’t know about you but if my husband told me we were going to move Iraq because the food was better there, I would seriously have to rethink my love for him.
Second thing I know about Naomi
2. After they were there for a little while her husband died.
a. Now she was left all alone with her two boys, no family, no church, their beliefs were different than hers, probably not many friends because she was a foreigner. Just her, her two boys and her God.
Third thing I know about Naomi
3. Her sons married Moabite woman
a. Ok, now things seem to have gone from bad to worse. . Deuteronomy 23:3-6 lays out some pretty strong words: “No Ammonite or Moabite or any of his descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even down to the tenth generation. For they did not come to meet you with bread and water on your way when you came out of Egypt…Do not seek a treaty of friendship with them as long as you live.”
b. Naomi was an Israelite, they were taught to follow God’s commands to the letter and now her sons were married to Moabites,
c. Moabites worshiped many gods,
d. They practiced, human sacrifices, and ritualistic sex for their gods
e. This was the family her sons married into.
f. Then they too die.
g. Ok this sounds like every woman’s worst dream…
The last thing I know about Plain Jane Naomi, but most important:
4. She was a Godly woman.
a. Even in her despair she kept her faith in God. She listened and stayed in tune with Him.
b. Ruth 1:6 says, ‘she heard that the Lord had blessed his people by giving them good crops again’.
c. I will talk more about her faith later…
d. She was only mother in law to Ruth and Orpah for just a little while and yet they were willing to leave all they knew to go with her when she decided to go back home.
e. There had to be something she did, how she responded to things, maybe stories she told, or the unconditional love she gave them, something drew them to her.
f. Maybe it was the way she handled the death of her husband, their Father in law, that they attached themselves to her to help them go through the loss of their own husbands.
g. Maybe she lived up to her name ‘Naomi which means Pleasant’. That’s it! She was just kind
h. I believe she had something to offer them that their god, lower g, could not give them.
i. I think it was her strong faith and love for her God that caused them, especially, Ruth to want to know more. To want to know and experience for herself truth.
Let’s switch gears a little and let me tell you about our second Plain Jane from the list: Ruth
The first thing about our Second Plain Jane Ruth
1. Ruth was from the nation of Moab.
a. It’s important to know that Moab was an eternal enemy of Israel they were a cursed nation, condemned because of way they treated Israel in wilderness.
b. This dates from the time when Balak hired Balaam (TELL THE STORY) (the prophet with the talking donkey) to curse Israel as it passed through his land. When that failed the Moabites tried tempting the people of Israel into sexual immorality, and succeeded with some. (who later were killed)
c. Remember what Deuteronomy 23:36 tells us “No Moabite or any of his descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even down to the tenth generation.”
The second thing I recognized in Ruth:
2. She loved her mother in law
a. She was willing to leave her home give up all she knew to follow Naomi. She loved everything Naomi stood for.
b. Even when told several times don’t come with me, I have nothing to offer you she said words that would be used thousands of years later as a representation of deep true love.
Ruth 1:16- 17 "Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. "Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the LORD do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me."
Third thing we know about Ruth is she desired to know truth.
Let me give you a little illustration:
There was a man who was talking to his friend and his friend said: “There are 2 sides to every question” And the man replied “Yes, there are two sides to every question… just like there are two sides to a sheet of flypaper, but it makes a difference to the fly which side he chooses.”
In other words, the world thinks truth is flexible…
But something inside tells us that IF we ignore “TRUTH” we do so at our own peril.
There are consequences to setting truth aside.
There are consequences to having a “flexible” morality
3. Ruth was tired of living a life of Flexible Morality. She was willing to give up her family and the life she was raised to believe in and to follow a woman she only new for a few years. Why?
i. Naomi had something Ruth so desperately needed. She had a relationship with the creator, the God of Israel. Naomi new Truth and Ruth was hungry for it.
Let me tell you a little saying I learned in the 90’s when I was doing Children’s ministry in Yucaipa,
“Your walk talks, and your talk talks, but your walk talks more than your talk talks.”
Naomi’s walk had spoke volumes to Ruth’s ears in just a short time. So much so that
When Naomi was going through her grieving process, remember, she told her friends when she came into town, “Oh don’t call me Naomi, call me Mara, because God has made my life bitter. I left full and now I come home empty.”
(I love how dramatic the terminology was in the Old Testament. Everything had a meaning. When things were going well, the new they had the Lord’s favor. (Oh, I have found favor in the eyes of God!) When things were going wrong they knew He was angry. They would rip their clothes, fall on the floor. (Oh the Lord has turned His face from me.) Oh don’t call me Naomi, Call Me MARA. Woaooooooooo is me. I love it.)
(Now when things go wrong they just blame it on God instead of trying to repent or seeking Him more)
But even when Naomi was going woa is me, Ruth was standing strong, why?
Naomi just dogged on her, remember she said “Now I have come home empty”, (I’d be like, what am I chopped liver?” and yet Ruth still stood by, Why?
I believe it was because of two things.
1. Naomi’s love for her God that had intrigued and drawn Ruth over the years and,
2. Ruth had made a statement of faith: “Your God will be my God” She declared her faith in the God of Israel and her life was forever changed.
She now had the strength to be a support to Naomi. The tables turned, their roles reversed.
Ruth now had a purpose. She belonged. Even in a foreign land she knew who she was and what she was supposed to do.
Man, it is amazing how a person can change and blossom when they know they have a purpose…
She had a new family to help take care of.
She went out in the fields and worked to gather food for her and her mother in law.
And the rest of the story has a happy ending. Kind of like the best chick flick ever.
The Lord directed her to the right field at the right time, and the right guy showed up. And fell head over heals for her.
Tell the Story a little
And when Naomi found out who he was, her joy came back, she never lost her faith, just a little Joy… But now it was back…
Ruth 2:20 “May the LORD bless Boaz!" Naomi exclaimed. "The LORD always keeps his promises to the living and the dead."
He keeps His promises… He doesn’t go back on His word. Sometimes we think He forgets but He keeps His promises…
Now the spark was back in Naomi’s eyes. She stared planning… giving instruction to Ruth on “How to catch a man”
But life came back when Naomi felt she now had a new purpose.
See, back in bible times, if you had a husband and children you were wealthy. God’s favor was on you. But she was a widow and had no children. She had nothing. She felt God had forgotten her. She lost her worth, her value…so she thought…
Now life was coming back
Ruth and Boaz fell in love and were married and Little Obed was born…
I love what the message Bible says:
Ruth 4:14 The town women said to Naomi, "Blessed be GOD! He didn't leave you without family to carry on your life. May this baby grow up to be famous in Israel!
Ruth 4:15 He'll make you young again! He'll take care of you in old age. And this daughter-in-law who has brought him into the world and loves you so much, why, she's worth more to you than seven sons!"
Ruth 4:16 Naomi took the baby and held him in her arms, cuddling him, cooing over him, waiting on him hand and foot.
Ruth 4:17 the neighborhood women started calling him "Naomi's baby boy!" But his real name was Obed. Obed was the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David.
With all this information about these two Plain Jane’s how did they move from Plain Jane to Remembering their name. How did they get into the hall of fame and get their own book in the Bible.
This is what I believe
Naomi never turned from her God. Even when times were tough, she did not run away, she ran to… She went back home. Home to where she knew was safe. Home to where her God’s favor was.
She is an example of the type of Godly woman I want to be. It’s okay to be bummed during hard times but don’t run from the Lord or blame him for your troubles.
Jam 1:12 Happy are those who remain faithful under trials, because when they succeed in passing such a test, they will receive as their reward the life which God has promised to those who love him.
And as a believer, remember, you never know how the things you do or say can influence those around you. How you handle situations, how you react. What you watch on TV what you have in your fridge… you never know who is watching…
Naomi’s walk spoke volumes to Ruth’s young heart. And look what her walk led her and Ruth to…
Ruth was the Great Grandmother of King David and we know that Savior came from the line of David… WOW
Ruth’s declaration of faith and her willingness to leave it all behind and follow the true God secured her forever in eternity.
These woman were just plain Jane’s
A wife, a mother, a widow, a pagan
And yet Ruth, this plain Jane with no last name, was one of only 2 women who had a book in the Bible named after her, and she was one of only 3 women who appeared in Jesus’ genealogy.
(Who was the other woman who had a book named after her? Esther)
(Who were the other women named n the genealogy of Jesus? Rahab a former prostitute, and also Ruth’s new mother in law, And Mary the mother Jesus.
These women moved from Plain Jane’s to Remembering Their Name because of their Faith and their Love
So let me leave you with this questions. This is not just for the plain Jane’s here, this is for the average Joe’s as well.
What will people remember you for. What legacy will you leave for your friends, your family, your children, your grandchildren?
You don’t have an excuse, ‘oh you don’t know what I have done in the past, you don’t know what I did last night…’ but God uses Plain Jane’s and average Joes. He uses Wives, widows, prostitutes, adulterers, murders, every day people to do incredible things. It is by their everyday actions that His love and glory is shared.
I want to challenge you to leave a legacy that will last for generations.
Just like little Naomi and Little Ruth.
Two Plain Jane’s who, you, will forever remember their names.
