“GODISNOWHERE” - Ruth 2:17-23 - March 3, 2013
Series: From Heartache To Hope – The Redemption of Ruth - #6
Let’s try something right here at the outset. I want you to picture for a moment, two creatures that make their homes in desert places. One is a vulture – dark, and foreboding, and let’s face it – downright ugly. The other is a humming bird. In contrast to the vulture, the humming bird is a thing of beauty and awe and wonder. Two more dissimilar birds may be hard to find. Yet both can be found in the desert places.
Both the hummingbird and the vulture fly over the desert, struggling to survive – but each sees something different. All the vulture sees is rotting meat - because that is what they look for. They thrive on that diet. But hummingbirds ignore the smelly flesh of dead animals. Instead, they look for the colourful blossoms of desert plants.
The vultures live on what was. They live on the past. They fill themselves with what is dead and gone. But hummingbirds live on what is. They seek new life. And they fill themselves with freshness and life. (Adapted from Gordon Curley, www.sermoncentral.com, Illustrations)
And it seems to me, that maybe we as people, aren’t all that different from vultures and hummingbirds ourselves in the way we see the world around us. For the last few weeks we’ve been working our way through the book of Ruth. By now, most of you will know the main characters, but for those just joining us, let me recap what’s taken place so far.
Naomi, her husband Elimelech, and their two sons are living in Bethlehem when a famine comes upon the land. Instead of trusting God to provide for their need, they head out to the land of Moab, the land of God’s enemies, and set up home there. What they’re longing to find is new hope and new life. And really, they become a picture for us of those who seek to find hope and life in the world rather than in walking in faith with God. What they end up finding though, is something quite different than what they had dreamed of. Instead of life and hope, they are overcome by death and despair, because Elimelech and his two sons are all going to die in this foreign land. Elimelech goes first, and sometime later, after each of them has married a Moabite woman, his sons die. So Naomi is left alone but for her daughters-in-law.
As we can well imagine, she is a broken woman. Over the course of the last ten years her life has been one heartache after another, grief upon grief. And it might be that you are here this morning and you look at your life, and you’re thinking to yourself, “Hey, I can relate to that. That’s what my life has been like as well. It’s full of grief and sorrow and shattered dreams. The hurt is very deep and the pain is very real.”
Ruth is one of the Moabite women who married into the family. Like Naomi, she too has experienced grief and heartache for she too, like Naomi, has lost her husband. When Naomi sets out to return to Bethlehem, Ruth makes a life changing decision. Up to this point the God of Israel has not been her God. The people of Israel have not been her people. She is a picture of someone who does not initially know God, but who comes to faith in Him none-the-less. She says to Naomi, “Where you go, I will go. Where you die, I will die. Your people, will be my people, and your God, will be my God.” Hers is a picture of repentance. She is leaving behind the past and looking to the future in faith.
Now Naomi is something like that vulture that we talked about earlier. The last few years of her life have been lived as though in a desert place – it’s been dry and lifeless. As she returns to Bethlehem she confesses that the past has scarred her and made her bitter. And there are many people today feasting on the things of the past who have become prisoners to their own pain and heartache; bitterness has welled up in their spirits and it robs them of hope and joy in the present. Naomi mourns, that years ago when she left her home, that she had gone out “full”; God has now brought her back empty.
You may have noticed that today’s message has an unusual name. You can see it up there on the screen. [“GODISNOWHERE”] I’m not sure what you see when you look at that word but Naomi saw something that looked like this: “GOD IS NOWHERE.” She sees God’s hand of discipline upon her life but she doesn’t see Him working to bring healing to heartache, and hope out of despair. She looks around at her misery and concludes that God is nowhere to be found.
And like those who can only see death and despair around them, she too fails to realize, that while she’s lost much, she’s not lost all. Ruth is with her and God is still at work behind the scenes of her life just like He is at work behind the scenes of our lives as well.
Now Ruth is more like the humming bird. She too has been in that desert place of sorrow and grief. But unlike Naomi she isn’t planning on living in the past. She’s left the past behind her and is now seeking to discover God in the present and to trust Him for the future. Hope has sprung to life in her heart. Why? Because when she looks around she sees something that Naomi doesn’t see. Naomi may despair, because from her perspective, God is nowhere to be found, but Ruth looks at the same things and discovers that “GOD IS NOW HERE!” And because of that, Ruth is going to see God’s hand at work in the things of her life in ways that neither woman could have anticipated.
These two women have arrived at Bethlehem at the time of the harvest and Ruth has gone out to the field hoping to find favor in someone’s eyes so that she might glean in their field and somehow provide food for herself and Naomi that they might live. But she is both a stranger and a foreigner here amongst God’s people and so she’s hoping to find someone who will look upon her with favor, who will show her grace, but she’s not really expecting to find it. She will be satisfied if she is able to simply scrape enough together for a meal or two at the end of the day.
But God has got other plans and it just so happens, that as Ruth goes, hoping to find favor in someone’s eyes, that she finds far more than she could possibly imagine. Why? Because God has been working behind the scenes all along to bless this young woman that she might know Him. Instead of simply finding favor, Ruth experiences abundant grace!
And she experiences this grace through a man named “Boaz.” And Boaz is going to become for us, a picture of Jesus Christ. Not that Boaz was sinless, nor perfect – but rather that just as Boaz becomes the medium by whom God’s grace is experienced by Ruth, so too does Jesus become the one in whom we experience the riches of God’s grace as well. Through the life and kindness of Boaz, God is preparing us for the life and ministry of Jesus.
So let’s open up our Bibles to Ruth, chapter 2 and we’ll begin reading in verse 17. Last week we saw how Boaz had welcomed Ruth, not with contempt as a faithless foreigner, but with grace as a child of God. He doesn’t hold her past against her, but sees in her the person God is shaping her to be. And there’s a lesson in there for us, isn’t there? Because maybe you know what it means to be a prisoner to your past. Those around you won’t let you forget what you’ve done. And so you live with this low grade guilt and despair that you’ll never be seen as anything other than what you once were. More to the point, sometimes it’s us who refuse to forgive, and to let go of the past, refusing to treat with the same grace we’ve experienced at God’s hands, those who have been forgiven by Him. Boaz’s example reminds us that grace is meant, not just to be received, but to overflow from our lives and into the lives of others. Let’s pick up Ruth’s story now in verse 17 …
“So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah. She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough. Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!” Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said. “The LORD bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our kinsman-redeemers.” Then Ruth the Moabitess said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.’ ” Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with his girls, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.” So Ruth stayed close to the servant girls of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.” (Ruth 2:17–23, NIV84)
Ruth found unexpected favor and grace in the fields of Boaz. But friends, the Lord’s favor doesn’t mean a struggle free life. As chapter two draws to a close, Ruth and Naomi are still widows. Ruth is still working, and working hard in the fields; life, while perhaps not desperate, is still a struggle. But they’ve turned a corner as they have seen God’s faithfulness even in the hard times. Hope has been born in their hearts because Ruth’s faith has not come up empty. God has been moving in their lives and they are beginning to see it!
Ruth comes back from Boaz’s field that first night having experienced abundant grace. She comes home with far more than anyone could have expected. Rather than allowing Ruth to simply glean that part of the harvest that had inadvertently fallen to the ground during the harvesting process, Boaz had had his harvesters leave stalks of barley behind them for Ruth to pick up and call her own. He had offered her lunch from his own table and sent her home, not just with her fill, but with the leftovers as well. Ruth has sought refuge in the God of Israel, and God, through the person of Boaz, is showering His grace upon her!
According to the Scriptures, Ruth worked hard. She was at the fields early, and worked diligently throughout the day, and didn’t return home until later that night. But she did not earn Boaz’s grace. When she went home that night she went down burdened by the plenty she had been blessed with but she did not go as a laborer receiving her wages. She did not work for Boaz. When she went home, she went as one who had experienced amazing grace and grace, by its very nature cannot be earned. It is unmerited favor poured out onto another. Through Boaz, God looked upon Ruth, saw her need, and poured out His grace to bless her. Not because she had earned it, but because she had taken refuge in Him.
We experience God’s grace when we take refuge in Him as well. And we experience that in a number of ways. First and foremost there is the grace by which we are forgiven. When we come to Jesus in faith, humble and repentant, the past, with all its shame, and heartache and sin, is washed away in Him. The Bible tells us that we become “new creations” (2 Corinthians 5:17) in Christ Jesus our Lord; that those who have been prisoners to the past are now set free. And maybe you’ve been a prisoner to your past, never having peace in the present, nor hope for the future, because you’re haunted by what has gone before. Ruth’s story should fill you with hope, because hers is the story of redemption, and we’ll talk more about that in a few moments.
But for those who take refuge in God, there is also the grace of God’s provision. God provides for those who seek Him in faith. That doesn’t mean that every earthly desire you have will be met. It does mean that your needs will be provided for, and often provided for abundantly.
George Muller was born September 27, 1805 and died March 10, 1898. During his lifetime he founded 117 Christian schools which provided Christian education to over 120,000 children, many of whom were orphans. Orphans had a special place in Muller’s heart, just as they do in God’s. Muller began his work with orphans by opening his own home to them and taking them in to provide and to care for them. The need quickly outgrew the space available and he began to build homes – orphanages really – that could house several hundred children each. By the time of his death he had provided homes, food, clothing and education for over 10,000 orphans. And he did all this without ever asking for funds or going into debt! And it wasn’t because he was a rich man, for he was not. But he was a praying man and he prayed and he saw God answer his prayers again and again.
Let me give you just one example among many. It was their practice to give thanks to God at meal times. At the time of the morning meal on this particular day, they gave thanks to the Lord, while the children were sitting at the table, even though there was no food in the house. As they finished praying a knock was heard at the door, and there stood a baker with enough fresh bread to feed everyone. God had answered their prayers and provided for their needs. And that wasn’t all! They had fresh milk that morning as well because it just “so happened” that the milk cart broke down in front of the orphanage and the milkman needed to do something with all that milk before it spoiled! And that’s just one story among many. But friends what that really is the grace of God’s provision! And the same God, who so richly blessed Ruth while she worked in the fields, and who provided for 10,000 orphans, still meets the needs of His people today, yet so often we do not have, because we do not ask!
Now Naomi is overcome when she sees the abundance with which Ruth returns. It’s more than she could possibly have hoped for and she cries out to Ruth asking whose field she has been working in to be so richly blessed. But she’s so excited that she doesn’t even wait for an answer before she asks God’s blessing on the man who showed favor to Ruth. What’s she doing? She’s giving thanks and giving thanks to God is a great response to the experience of His grace in our lives as well. And I would encourage you, to strive to live with an attitude of gratitude as you go through life, choosing, as the humming bird, to look for the brilliant flowers amidst the dryness of the desert, that you may see God’s hand at work in your life, and through your circumstances.
Job, when his life fell apart, and when his wife told him to “curse God and die,” chose instead to trust in God, saying “shall I accept good from God and not bad?” Naomi, has already accepted the bad from God, she’s seen God’s hand of discipline in her life over the last number of years, and sees it for what it really is – a cry for a wayward daughter to return home. Now she needs to accept the good from God as well – and she does so because the scales that have blinded her eyes to God’s goodness in the midst of her bitterness, are falling away as she experiences God’s grace through Ruth. She begins to see what God has done and in verse 20 she cries out saying “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.”
Now commentators are divided on how we are to understand this. Some say she is referring to Boaz – it’s he who has not stopped showing kindness to the living and the dead. Others say she is referring to God and to his kindness. In some ways it doesn’t really matter because if she is referring to Boaz, Boaz is simply responding to God’s grace in his own life and passing it on to Ruth, and through Ruth to Naomi. Grace flows downhill as it were. And God’s grace ought to be flowing from your life into the lives of those around you as well because God’s grace, and His rich blessings, are often meant to show a lost world just how good God really is, so that others might turn to Him and discover His grace for themselves.
My thought though is that Naomi is referring to God. He’s the one that she thought had given up on her. He’s the one who she feared had turned His back on her and rejected her. Now as His grace is being poured out in such an unexpected way, Naomi realizes that she’s had it wrong all along. God has not forsaken her after all! He’s been waiting for her to return to Him and now that she has, He has shown her His “hesed” - a word which means “loving kindness.”
And perhaps you feel that God has rejected you, turned His back on you and left you hanging and because of that, your heart, like Naomi’s, has grown bitter. If that’s the case I would challenge you to consider whether or not you have walked away from God and if even now He is calling you to return to Him. If you will only come to Him, He will receive you, with “hesed” – with His loving kindness. And He will begin to do a work in you – a work of healing and restoration; a work of hope and peace and joy; a work of binding up and making new; a work of abounding grace!
See, God’s kindness has gone even further than Ruth understood, or Naomi could have imagined. It turns out Boaz is a relative through Elimelech’s side of the family. Because of that he stands in line as a “kinsmen redeemer” and this is going to become very important as we continue in Ruth’s story in the weeks ahead.
What is a redeemer? To redeem something means to save, or rescue, or buy back something from the power of another. A redeemer then is one who pays the ransom price to buy back whatever, or whoever, stands in need of redemption. In Ruth’s day, a kinsmen-redeemer had the right to act on behalf of a relative who was in trouble or danger.
The kinsmen-redeemer had three responsibilities: First, he could redeem the property of a relative. If someone was in financial trouble they might sell their land to someone who was not a relative in order to pay off their debt. A kinsmen-redeemer could buy the land back and restore it to the one who lost it in the first place.
Secondly, there were times when a person might sell themselves into slavery in order to provide for their needs or to pay off a debt. The kinsmen-redeemer could purchase their freedom.
And finally, and most importantly for Ruth’s story, should a man die leaving no male heir, the kinsmen-redeemer, usually the deceased’s brother, was to marry the widow in order to raise up a child in the name of the dead relative. It’s a very odd custom to our way of thinking today but it was actually meant, in part, to provide for the needs of widows who, as Naomi and Ruth were discovering, didn’t have a lot of hope to go on.
In order for someone to be a kinsmen-redeemer though they had to meet three criteria. First of all, they had to be related. Secondly they had to be able to redeem. And thirdly, they had to be willing to redeem.
This then is the background, when Naomi suddenly realizes that Boaz, this man who has already treated them with so much grace, is in fact, a kinsmen-redeemer. And that is going to make all the difference for the future of these two women. The fact that God has not forgotten them, that God has not forsaken them, that God has not rejected them nor cast them away from His presence, but that His grace and His provision is abounding to them, not just in the bounty of the harvest, but in the person of the kinsmen-redeemer as well.
In verse 21 we see that Boaz has not just richly blessed Ruth with a one day windfall, but that he has invited her to stay in his fields all throughout the harvest, and to reap the benefits of his generosity. Boaz wants to bless Ruth to such a degree that she wouldn’t dream of gleaning in someone else’s field. He is jealous for her in the good sense of the word. Scripture tells us, that God is a jealous God, meaning that He desires not just a part, but the whole of our lives. His desire is that we experience such grace in His fields that we don’t run off to the world, if you will, to have our needs met, but that we will stay, and trust in Him, and experience His boundless and amazing grace in our own lives.
And where Naomi once only saw hopelessness and despair, she has begun to see something else – she begins to see the potential for a future that she had never even dreamed possible. And perhaps you’ve been in the desert places of life for some time and hope has been lost and the future seems bleak. If that’s the case I encourage you to look to God, and come to Him, call out to Him in your need and begin to discover a future beyond what you might have imagined. For in His Son Jesus, we discover we have a redeemer of our own – one who can buy us back from the darkness of sin and shame and despair, and who can turn our hearts to a new life, and a new future in Him.
And may we discover, that which Naomi and Ruth are discovering as well, that the gracious hand of God often moves through the gracious acts of men and women who have been called by His name and touched by His grace. This is God’s “hesed” – His loving kindness to us, that together we may experience His grace and provision in the darker moments of our lives.
Let’s pray …
