“The Lord grant that you may find security …” New Revised Standard —Ruth 1:9a
1. The place we find security is Home
• Home is where one has food on the table,
• Home is where we have a place to lay our head and rest.
• Home is a place of shelter from storms of life the rain, snow, heat, cold
2. Naomi lost her security blanket
• She lost her provider who was her husband Elimelech and her two sons.
• In those days neither she nor her daughters are permitted to inherit property.
• In those days a woman belongs wholly and completely to her husband. Should she be widowed, her sons — who do have the right to inherit — are duty-bound to take some of those resources and use them to care for her. If there are no sons, her husband’s brother is required to take her in.
• Naomi security blanket is gone She has no husband. She has no sons. She has no brother-in-law. The only family she has — her two daughters-in-law — are Moabites. They will be taken care of because they are still young enough to bear children.
3. What does one do when we lost it all?
• Some time we turn towards family. “I wonder who’s living there now?” she asks herself. The famine is over, they say. Israel is prosperous again. “Surely there are still some kinfolk in Israel who will take me in,” Naomi says to her daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah. “I’ve made up my mind. I’m going home.”
• We turn towards Faith but that’s now what happened to Naomi. Don’t call me Naomi,[b]” she told them. “Call me Mara,[c] because the Almighty[d] 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[e] me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”
• Naomi may not have looked for Faith but Faith of God Found her Ruth 4:14 the women said, “Praise be to the lord who this day has not left you without a guardian redeemer Boaz, The Lord Jesus Christ,
4. Finally, Security can save you
• Security is our net of protection “A certain group of steelworkers discovered just how good a thing it is back in the 1930s as they were building San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. The construction company didn’t install safety devices during the first part of the project. Twenty-three workers fell to their deaths. For the last phase of the project, a huge net was deployed for the staggering cost (at the time) of $100,000. At least 10 men fell into the safety net and were saved. That was a marvel in itself. But the most remarkable thing of all is this: from the day the net was hung, the steelworkers accomplished 25 percent more work. That’s how important it was to be assured of their security!
• Home is our place we can find security, what do we do when like Naomi we lose it all, we can turn to family, we can turn to our Faith, never forget the Faith of God is turning towards us
• Remember the security net is there to save you Jesus is our kinsmen redeemer who wants to save us from our failures, our falls, from our faithlessness. Jesus says to us Come home come home all who are waiting and watching, ye who are weary come home, earnestly and tenderly Jesus is calling oh sinner come home.
