WOMEN OF WONDER - Ruth: Determined to be Faithful
May 19, 2019
Ruth 1:16-18 (p. 182)
Introduction:
[An old man and old woman were sitting on their back porch as the sun set…It was a beautiful evening and the old man was overcome with emotion and looked at his wife and said, “I’m proud of you.” She said, “What?” He said, “I said I’m proud of you!” (louder) She responded “WHAT?!!” He shouts “I’M PROUD OF YOU” and she shouts back “I’M TIRED OF YOU TOO!!!”]
The truth is every relationship has “I’m tired of you moments.” But, loyalty is the characteristic of never giving up, never quitting, no matter how tough things get…And let me tell you…It’s a rare and precious commodity in today’s world.
Alexander and Leola Vance made a life together for 64 years. They met while building barges together for the military in 1941. Alexander was 20, Leola was 16…
Leola would later say, “I liked his personality and the twinkle in his eye.” Alexander said, “I liked everything about her.” They married December 19, 1941.
Alexander worked for Alma products for 40 years…retiring as General Foreman about 20 years ago…Leola stayed at home caring for their children and was a homemaker.
In February because of advanced Parkinson’s Disease, Alexander had to move into a nursing home. Earlier this month Leola was diagnosed with Alzheimers and began complaining that her head hurt…she had an aneurism…both now were in the nursing home.
Their son Phil said, “It was almost like a race. They always said they wanted to go together.”
Alexander Vance died at 9:45 am on a Wednesday…and that evening as family members sang hymns around Leola’s bedside she stopped breathing just before midnight…Alexander and Leola died 14 hours apart after 64 years of marriage…Their son Phil said, “That’s a beautiful love story.”
That’s why Ruth’s story in the Bible makes her a Woman of Wonder. She is loyalty personified. In the midst of death, grief, anxiety, fear and loneliness true love surfaces.
The story of Ruth begins with despair and ends with pure delight.
Romans 15:14 says this about the Old Testament: “Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of Scripture we might have hope.”
The story of Ruth is a story of endurance, encouragement and hope…It teaches us God has a plan for our heartbreak.
How do we handle life when it seems
I. THE LORD’S HAND HAS TURNED AGAINST US?
RUTH 1:1-13 (p. 182)
A man named Elimelek has taken his family from Bethlehem to Moab because of a famine…His wife’s name is Naomi…and they have 2 sons…Mahlon and Kilion…These 2 sons marry Moabite women…one named Orpah, the other Ruth. But then tragedy strikes…Elimelek dies…10 years later…both Naomi’s sons die…Verse 5 powerfully states her heartbreak…“Naomi was left without her two sons and husband.”
A widow in a strange land would have no protection, no provider…They’d come to Moab because of famine, but now Naomi, Ruth and Orpah are widows…Naomi is heading back home and she tells her daughter in laws “Return home…why would you go with me…I’ve got no more sons…I have no future prospects…It’s more bitter for me than for you…because the Lord’s hand has turned against me.”
It’s hard to imagine burying your husband and 2 sons in a 10 year period. Ruth and Orpah are still fairly young…They have a chance to start over…Naomi, in her pain, says, “It’s too late for me.”
[I stood at a funeral service last Monday night with a 52 year old widow and her 2 daughters…13 and 23…Malcolm was a dear friend, loved Jesus passionately so there was no doubt about his destination…But his widow wonders…Where do I go now? What about my future here…my partner is gone…There’s a big hole and right now it feels bottomless.]
What hope is there for her…what hope does Naomi have, or maybe you are at the same place and it seems “the Lord’s hand has turned against you…
Here is our hope…
II. GOD HAS A PLAN FOR OUR FUTURE
RUTH 1:14-22 (p. 182)
Naomi told her two daughter in laws…There’s no reason for you to come with me…I have no more sons…I’m too old to give you husbands…even if I got married and got pregnant tonight…would you wait for them to grow up?
You can feel the pain and hopelessness in those words…clearly she loves Orpah and Ruth…and clearly they love her…but it seems hopeless.
But our God specializes in the hopeless doesn’t He? When we can’t see around the corner…He stands there with a powerful plan…filled with grace.
It’s why Romans 8:28 is such a beloved verse…“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose.”
This scripture does not say that everything that happens to God’s people is good…It does say, “Wait…watch God work…He will take the most difficult and bitter circumstances and use them for good to accomplish His purpose.
When you think it’s more bitter because the Lord’s hand is against you…wait…because His hand is really working for you.
Orpah kisses her mother in law Naomi goodbye and with heartbroken tears she heads back home.
But Ruth stays…she will not leave she pledges…I go where you go…your people are my people…your God is my God…I die where you die and we’ll be buried together…nothing but death will separate us…May God hold me accountable to this promise!
Verse 22 says: “So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite.”
Oh, by the way…Coincidentally it’s barley harvest time in Bethlehem when they arrive…God’s got a plan my friends…
III. AND IT INVOLVES A REDEEMER
The book of Ruth is all about God’s plan that there be a Guardian Redeemer to rescue family members and people they love. It’s in the law of God for the Israelites that a close influential relative was responsible for carrying on the family line…if there is a death.
DEUTERONOMY 25:5-6 (p. 137)
They would be responsible for buying back enslaved relatives or family land sold during a crisis…The Guardian Redeemer was responsible for avenging a murder or for caring for relatives in different circumstances for the Israelites the Guardian Redeemer or “Goel” was an integral part of how their community functioned.
Listen to:
RUTH 2:1-12 (p. 182-183)
Naomi, Ruth’s mother in law, realizes God has set in motion an opportunity for redemption…And she tells Ruth what to do…
RUTH 3:1-9 (p. 183)
Chapter 3 will make you hold your breath and scratch your head. Ruth puts on perfume and dresses in her finest clothes and goes to the threshing floor to scope out sweaty Boaz. When Boaz falls asleep, Ruth takes the covers off his feet and lies down next to him! When Boaz turns over in the middle of the night, he discovers this woman lying at his feet and wants to know who she is. She identifies herself and then says in verse 9: “Spread the corner of your covering over me, for you are my family redeemer.” This same word is translated “wings” in 2:12, when Boaz says to Naomi, “May the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge, reward you fully.” Ruth is asking Boaz to shelter her under his wing and to redeem her. In short, she is making a marriage proposal to him!
But Boaz reveals a kink in the plan…although he’s a close relative…there is someone closer than him in line as the Guardian Redeemer…
But Boaz wants this responsibility…Ruth is an amazing Woman of Wonder and Boaz is truly a man with a redeemer’s heart…so he goes to the city gates and meets with the Elders who judge decisions like this…and this is what happens:
RUTH 4:1-12 (p. 184)
I love this story! I love God’s providential plan…I love how the Guardian Redeemer clearly points to Jesus…
God provided a redeemer for Naomi and Ruth. A man who steps in the gap and says, “I understand the responsibility…I’ll take Ruth as my wife…You are my witnesses.”
Jesus understood this plan…we all were lost in a foreign land by sin, death and pain. And Jesus, the perfect Son of God steps in the gap…He buys us back…and the price is His blood poured out at Calvary…Col. 1:13-14 tells us…“He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves. In whom we have REDEMPTION…the forgiveness of sins.”
Everyone loves a happy ending so listen to the closing of the book of Ruth:
RUTH 4:13-22 (p. 184)
If verse 16 doesn’t grab your heart…you are dead! “Then Naomi took the child (Ruth and Boaz’s baby) and laid him in her lap and cared for him.”
The hand that she thought had turned against her…laid that child in her lap and God helped rock that cradle…
Ruth…what a Woman of Wonder…the personification of loyalty…and a daughter in law that was better than 7 sons…who gave birth to the grandfather of David…and eventually the “Son of David” - Jesus Christ…the Guardian Redeemer of Mankind.
