BOOK OF RUTH:
“P***** Off At God”
Ruth 1:1-4:22
INTRODUCTION… Maggie’s Story http://therebelution.com/blog/2013/08/im-angry-at-god/ #disqus _thread
As we begin this morning, listen to the words of Maggie:
“…I am so angry at where I have ended up and feel in such deep despair. I am a domestic abuse and rape victim who has had the table[s] turned on her. My abuser is being supported by the Church, the state and has my home and my children. I have been called a liar and worse in court. I now live a tiny damp apartment, have no money and I feel [like I have] no future. If I had the courage suicide would be a great option. I do not need [a] trite praise the Lord. I think God hates me. I am facing my 4th Christmas without my children, all because I had the courage to call the police. They let me down badly. I do still read my Bible but struggle to pray… I wish it all would end.”
EMOTIONS
Anger. Bitterness. Furious. Resentful. Sulky. Fuming. Irritated. Mad. Disappointed. Frustrated. Despondent. Unsatisfied.
These are the negative feelings that we will be talking about today and they are not light emotions or easy to talk about, but are intense and often hard to explain. Emotions are a normal part of being a human being and they can be in control or out of control or directed at ourselves or at others. Anger is a powerful emotion that can touch all areas of our lives. It is possible even to be angry with God.
As the background to our conversation this morning, we will be looking at the life of Naomi from the Book of Ruth. Naomi’s story is not one that begins full of hope and flowers and fluffy clouds, but is rather a story full of drought, death, and despair.
READ RUTH 1:1-5
“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.”
We find in Naomi’s story that her life was not an easy one. First, the country in which she lived underwent a severe drought. No crops. No water. Hard living. Second, in the midst of this hardship, her husband uproots the family to another country in hopes that their lives would be better. This means a loss of family ties, familiar surroundings, and a close community she had grown up with. Third, after she had endured hardship and change she endures the loss of her husband and her two sons.
CIRCUMSTANCES
One root of our anger with God comes from bad and uncomfortable circumstances in our lives. Circumstances, such as death, often arouse our anger or frustration because we have questions of God that do not have answers… or we get answers that we do not like. Why did my baby die? Why did my son die? Why did my wife pass so painfully? There are other circumstances, not just death, which cause us to look upward and shake our fist angrily at God. Perhaps a company we have worked for fires us and we are left without a job and all our financial dreams are gone. We understand that it is the company that has done us wrong, but it feels like God should have blessed us better or taken better care of us. God why did this have to happen to me? Why didn’t you prevent them from laying me off? Why not someone else? Circumstances like a life threatening illness cause us to question God… after all… He is sovereign and in charge and should prevent us from getting catastrophic illnesses. Why did I have to get cancer? Why did I have to get painful arthritis?
ILLUSTRATION… Lori Kucharski Story http://www.ibelieve.com/faith/angry-at-god.html
Listen to Lori K’s Story:
Several years ago, two friends of mine from college died from cancer. Both in their twenties. Both were mothers. Both were beautiful, vibrant, genuinely kind women—they were strong Christians with a tough faith.
When I learned of their deaths, I felt the rush of memories of people I had not seen in some time, the sadness for their families, and the unfairness of it all. Their deaths affected me for a time, but life continued… Several years later, I met my husband. We had our first child in April 2012, and are expecting our second in January 2014. I had never felt a love so fierce, so protective, so pure until I gave birth to our son. I understood after that why people said parenthood teaches you about God’s love for us. I would hold him as he slept, and as I put him in his crib at night, I prayed confidently for angels to protect him... Then, about eight weeks after I delivered my son, in July, 2012, my husband and I were getting pizza for dinner, our son with us. My right arm began tingling and feeling numb at the same time. I thought I had pinched a nerve or that my arm had fallen asleep, and I kept shaking it, trying to get the feeling to come back. It had just thunder-stormed and there was a beautiful rainbow outside. I pointed it out to my husband, but I couldn’t think of the word, “rainbow.” My brain wanted to say, “refrigerator,” but I only knew this word in concept. I couldn’t come up with the actual noun… And then the realization that something was wrong hit me, and my husband and I headed to the emergency room… [The doctor] He painted a picture of me possibly having a major stroke in the near future and dying, leaving my husband alone to raise our motherless son… I’ve had dark nights, but this was the darkest… [Later] I held my son, realizing my faith was completely rocked. I remembered my two beautiful, amazing friends who became mothers and then were taken from their children. And I was ANGRY. My thoughts were not faith-filled. What kind of God allows children to be taken from their parents or parents from their children? How dare He allow my friends to have babies, only to let them die from cancer?... [What about me?]… How could He consider and call Himself a loving God when things like this happen?
READ RUTH 1:19 – 22
“So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, "Can this be Naomi?" 20 "Don't call me Naomi," she told them. "Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. 21 I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me." 22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.”
FAIRNESS AND UNFAIRNESS
In this passage, we find Naomi bitter to her core about what God had allowed to happen in her life. She already said earlier in Chapter 1 that she felt like God’s hand was against her (1:13). She tells that to herself and now as she returns home to Bethlehem she tells it to all the people who are welcoming her back. As Naomi thinks on her life over the past decade, she is probably overwhelmed with the unfairness of it all.
One of the great truths about life on this planet is that life is not fair. In fact, life is rarely fair. It was Pastor Andy Stanley who said, “Fairness ended at the Garden of Eden” (Catalyst Conference 2011). Ecclesiastes 9:11 reminds us, “The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.” Matthew 5:45 says, “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
Was it fair for Naomi to endure a severe drought? Was it fair for her to lose her beloved husband? Was it fair for her to lose both sons in death? Was it fair for her to ask her now widowed daughters-in-law to live a life of poverty with her? Was it fair that because her husband and sons were gone that she would probably starve to death? Absolutely not! None of that is fair! From what I can tell, there is no reason or logic given in Ruth Chapter 1 for any of this to have happened to Naomi and her family. None of it seems fair. No answers are given either.
ILLUSTRATION… Ruth Dean’s Story http://ruthiedean.com/2013/10/09/when-god-gives-her-a-husband-and-youre-still-single/
Listen to Ruth D’s Story:
“How could God give her a husband and not me? I’ve gone home alone a million times when she went home with a guy. I’ve waited and saved myself for my husband and she hasn’t. She’s cleaned up her act recently but she’s only spent 6 months dating the “right way” and she gets the amazing Christian man?! I mean her husband is perfect. I’m so heartbroken. I’m not even mad at my friend. I’m mad at God. How could He? How could I do all the right things and him bless her instead of me? It’s like it doesn’t even matter what I do or who I date. . .”
You do the right thing and God blesses your friend who chose the wrong path. You wait for marriage, your friend doesn’t–and she and her husband have carefree, easy sex while you struggle. You followed all the rules during your pregnancy, she didn’t, and your baby has something wrong. You chose a career in full-time ministry and it feels like God blesses everyone else except you. She gets the husband and you’re still alone.
We follow Jesus and the path is wrecked with heartbreak.”
EXPECTATIONS
One of the roots of our fury with God comes from broken expectations. Expectations are the strong belief that something is true or something will happen. Expectations are present in many areas of our lives, but as people of faith, we have expectations of God. These expectations come from Bible stories we remember, Bible verses that we memorize, some Bible verses we misquote, personal experience, and what we are generally taught in church in traditions.
We expect that God will always be forgiving, grace-filled, and loving.
We expect that God will guide us, protect us from harm, and always work for our good.
We expect that God will never give us more than we can bear.
We expect that God will bless us with good health and wealth log enough to live.
We expect that it is God’s will that our children and grandchildren outlive us.
We expect that God will work things so we are happy.
We expect all of these things and more… and when life turns out to be beet juice instead of lemonade we get furious at the God who is supposed to be running the whole show like some kind of expert.
DANGERS OF BEING ANGRY WITH GOD
I firmly believe that being angry with God is a normal part of being a person of faith. I say that because anger with God is a part of my journey of faith and I’d like to think I am a normal person. To deny that it is not normal shuts out human emotions, ignores our reactions to circumstances, subtracts our views of fairness, and disregards our expectations from us. I am not saying any of these things are right or good… just that they are part of us as normal human beings. In fact…
… our emotions can lead us to sin.
… our reactions to circumstances can be sin.
… our views of fairness are often skewed and improper.
… our expectations are often not valid.
One of the biggest dangers in being angry with God is that we get so furious or resentful or disappointed that we turn away from God completely. At that point, I believe your eternal soul is in jeopardy. I firmly believe that when we stop praying, stop going to church, stop reading the Bible, and we harbor nothing but ill-will towards God in our hearts we are in danger of eternally rejecting God. Rejecting God is the sin that cannot be forgiven described in the Gospels by Jesus (Matthew 12:32, Luke 12:10). When we reject God, He lets us go (Job 8:4, Psalm 81:12, Romans 1:24-32). That is why anger with God is so dangerous because it can lead you to willfully cut yourself off from God completely and because He allows us free will, He will let us go.
ILLUSTRATION… http://www.circleofmoms.com/motherhood-after-the-death-of-a-child-pregnancy-infant/lost-of-faith-and-angry-at-god-after-losing-a-baby-141216
Listen to the words of Mimmy:
“I know this is a very sensitive subject. But I want to know if anyone went through the same thing I'm going through.... Ever since our son Alex died, I have no faith and I'm very angry at God. I can't understand how supposedly a loving Father can put anyone through what we've been through.... Don't tell me he was here for a reason, it does not make any sense to me! He was here for 3 days and my life has been hell ever since he died.
Please do not reply and try to "convert" me as I do not want to hear "he was here for a reason" again - I heard it too many times. It has been 4 and a half years since Alex died and I'm still in pain everyday. I can look at the "half full glass" because I do have 2 beautiful and healthy children but my glass gets "half empty" pretty often. I wonder everyday what Alex would look like, I wonder every time even when my 2 kids fight if Alex would be fighting with them or not. How would he do in school..... I'm sad and angry and I just want to know "why me"...”
The story of Naomi of Bethlehem is not one that stays rooted in bitterness and anger with God. The story of Naomi takes a turn in Chapter 2 and as the story takes its turn, you and I will discover what we are to do when we are bitter, angry, and furious with God.
READ RUTH 2:19-23
“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. 20 "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." 21 Then Ruth the Moabitess said, "He even said to me, 'Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.'" 22 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." 23 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.”
TWO TRUTHS
In the course of Naomi’s story, her daughter-in-law Ruth ends up in the field of a man named Boaz. He is a good godly man who is well respected (Ruth 2:4). He takes notice of Ruth and protects her, provides for her during the work day, and directs his harvesters to treat her well (Ruth 2:5-18). This is such a blessing. I want you to take note of what Naomi says in verse 20. First, she asks for God to bless Boaz. Secondly, she says “HE” has not stopped showing HIS kindness to the living and the dead.” Who is the HE and HIS that she is speaking of? Naomi sees that God is working in the situation with Ruth and Boaz.
Naomi’s statement leads us to two truths that we must keep in mind as we are angry and furious with God. I believe keeping these two in our hearts will keep us from crossing any lines when it comes to being furious with God. As I said before, fury with God may lead you to a path of fully rejecting Him and this is eternally dangerous for us.
First in verse 20, we see that Naomi kept her eyes and heart open so that when God did something, she could see it. Naomi made the choice to keep her faith alive. In the midst of her hardship, grief, questions without answers, frustrations with God’s actions and inactions, Naomi kept her basic faith in God. Naomi kept believing that God was real. Naomi also kept her eyes open, in the midst of her anger, to see what God would do in her life. Naomi did not, and we should not, cut off ourselves from our faith. This is a significant challenge to us since we are angry and we feel like shutting God out of every aspect of our life. We might also decide that because God did or did not act in a certain manner that He is not real. That is a choice we can make… an eternally fateful one.
Second in verse 20, Naomi understood that in all things, God is good and He works for our good in the midst of whatever happens in our lives. Joseph in the Old Testament reminds us, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20). 1 Chronicles 19:13 tells us, “The LORD will do what is good in his sight.” In Mark 10:18/Luke18:19 Jesus Himself reminds us, “No one is good – except God alone.” Romans 8:28 reminds us, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Philippians 2:13 says, “for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” Naomi believed something significant about God and we must believe the same. Naomi understood what you and I must also understand. We must believe that God is good. We must also believe that God works for our good even though we cannot see it… especially when we cannot see it and when we hate what is happening in our lives. This is a significant challenge since we will not see, hear, taste, touch, or feel anything good. Yet, we must maintain our faith that God is good and He works for our good in the midst of whatever happens in our lives.
There is one last truth that we find in Naomi’s story that is a key for us as we work through our disappointment, frustration, despondency, and dissatisfaction with God. This truth does not make its way into our hearts until Chapter 4 of Ruth.
READ RUTH 4:13-16
“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.”
ONE MORE TRUTH
The truth is given to us by the kind words the women of Bethlehem give to Naomi in the midst of her grandchild being born. The women tell Naomi that God has provided her a kinsman-redeemer and that this child will renew her life. The additional truth that we need to take into our hearts is that God at His very core is a redeemer and a renewer.
Goodness is God’s nature.
Redemption is God’s nature.
Renewing is God’s nature.
Emotions can get the better of us and bitterness can dig down roots deep in our hearts. God can renew us. Circumstances in our lives can dash our world to pieces, but God can redeem any situation for His good and for our good that we find ourselves in. Whatever is going on that is unfair… God can redeem from the pit of despair and renew us. Our expectations about life can be cut up and thrown away, but God can renew us in our lives and give us new expectations.
God is all about redemption:
Psalm 49:15, “God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself.”
Psalm 130:7, “O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.”
Isaiah 43:1, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.”
Isaiah 48:17, “This is what the LORD says—your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.”
2 Corinthians 4:16-18, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
Our God, by His very nature, will work in our lives for our good and for our benefit amidst the garbage and hurt that happens in life. Emotions overtake us. Circumstances out of our control ruin our lives. Unfair things and people stack up. Expectations of our lives seemed to be dismissed. God can and will work to redeem those for our benefit and for His. This is a truth we must believe in.
CONCLUSION
