CLINGING TO THE LORD IN HOPE
Ruth 1:1-22
What is wrong?—Life becomes ‘bitter,’ and we lose hope
when we turn away from the Lord.
What is true?—The Lord restores hope by drawing us back to Him.
What to do—We must cling to the Lord in hope.
Why? Because…
I Hope in the Lord Leads to Obedience (Ruth 1:1-5)
1. Obedience Prevents Us from Offending the Lord (1:1-2)
(Negative Example: Elimelech’s departure from the Promised Land, an act of disobedience, was an offense to the God who gave the Land.)
‘In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons’ (v. 1).
2 Obedience Prevents Us from Compromising Others (1:3-5)
(Negative Example: Elimelech’s disobedience led to misery for the others in his life, who, thought innocent, were affected by his sin.)
‘But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons’ (v. 3).
II Hope in the Lord Leads to Repentance (Ruth 1:6-18)
1. Through Our Repentance, God Draws Us to Him (1:6-14)
‘Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the LORD had visited his people and given them food’ (1:6).
2. Through Our Repentance, God Draws Others to Him (1:15-18)
16 ‘But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return 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. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you”’ (1:16-17).
III Hope in the Lord Leads to Endurance (Ruth 1:19-22)
1. Endurance Means Accepting the Lord’s Discipline (1:19-21)
20 ‘She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the LORD has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?”’ (vv. 20-21).
2. Endurance Means Receiving the Lord’s Provision (1:22)
‘So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest’ (v. 22).
