AVOIDING DEAD-END SHORTCUTS
Ruth 1:1-5
INTRO:
Shortcuts that don’t turn out so well: The shortcut to Lake Success
Some shortcuts aren’t just inconvenient, they are deadly.
Shortcuts that lead to dead-ends: Jim Madsen on Yosemite’s El Capitan in 1968. A veteran and skilled climber, he rappelled from the top of El Capitan to rescue some friends. In his haste to reach them, he apparently neglected to check his rope – it wasn’t knotted at the end and he rappelled right off the end, falling 2500 feet to his death. In his hurry, he also did not take the time to establish a belay, which would have prevented his fall.
Taking shortcuts can lead to trouble. Cutting corners can kill you.
PREV:
In our text today we are going to see a family that took a shortcut, and it led to a dead-end - literally. They cut corners on an important decision, and the result was deadly. As we look at their story, we will discover how we can keep from taking shortcuts that lead to dead-ends. How we can avoid cutting corners that prove deadly. We will also see what to do if you have already taken a shortcut that has you headed down a dead-end road.
It is all found as we begin a series exploring the wonderful little OT book of Ruth. The book of Ruth is a dramatic story, told in six separate scenes, that promise to grab you in a powerful way. The Book of Ruth has been described as a “veritable masterpiece of the storyteller’s art.” [J. Lilley, “Ruth,” ZPEB, 5:176] But it is far more than a great story. Its has some profound and important truths to teach us about God, about grace, about ourselves. But it starts with a guy taking a shortcut.
Turn with me to Ruth, chapter 1. As I read Ruth 1:1-2, notice the cast of characters we are introduced to scene 1.
A. Elimelech takes a shortcut
This story, at its outset, is about a man named Elimelech, a woman named Naomi, and their sons, named Mahlon and Kilion. In essence, we learn that the family has decided to move from their home in Bethlehem, in Judah, to the neighboring country of Moab.
Now, anytime a family decided to move out of their hometown, that’s a big decision. But when a family leaves their hometown to move to another country, it’s a bigger deal still. It doesn’t happen every day. It makes one curious. Why would they do that?
It is even more curious when you consider that as Hebrews living in Judah, this family would have lived on land that was literally given to them by God. They lived in “the promised land.” Since God gave you your land, selling it or leaving it was just not something you did. But they did. Why? The text gives us some insight:
This was during the time that “the judges ruled” Ruth 1:1
This story takes place after Moses has brought the Hebrews out of Egyptian slavery, and after they have wandered in the desert for 40 years. These events are recorded in the first five books of the OT, Genesis through Deuteronomy. This story takes place after Joshua led the people out of the desert to conquer the land promised to them by God. Those events are recorded in the next OT book, Joshua. After Joshua comes the book of Judges which describes the time after the Hebrews had taken possession of and began to settle the promised land, the land of Canaan. Essentially what we think of today as Israel.
During this time, Israel had no king. The people were governed by a series of ‘judges’ whom God raised up from time to time as they were needed. With no central government, this was a very unstable time politically. The book of Judges describes it this way: Judges 17:6
6In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.
With an uncertain, potentially alarming future, it appears Elimelech and his family began to look for a place where the grass was greener. Can you blame them?
Times of political instability are times when people sometimes get out while they can. In our own times we see on the news sometimes streams of people leaving troubled places like the Sudan and Rwanda.
But there was another problem to go along with the unstable political situation: there was a famine in the land. Ruth 1:1
In an economy largely based on agricultural, a famine is obviously very serious. Not only do people risk starvation, but the whole economy is in peril – agriculture is how people make their money, find their employment, etc.
Certainly Pueblo knows the devastation of having a population centered around a single industry and then having that industry take a major hit. The population of Pueblo shrank measurably in the 80’s when the still mill slowed down, almost to a halt.
Economic collapse certainly gave them a reason to leave. When there is no work, no prospects, people head off to other places in hopes of finding greener pastures.
In addition to the political and economic hardships, there was another reason they may have decided to leave town. It says in Ruth 1:2 that they were Ephrathites. Research indicates that the Ephrathites were the upper class, the aristocracy of Bethlehem. Perhaps with their social standing they stood more to lose in these times than some others, enough that it was worth the risk of an adventure to Moab.
This is a lot of motivation, a lot of impetus to make a decision, to act. But even with all these political, economic and social stresses, moving to Moab was still a dangerous decision. Moab was still a foreign country, one that historically was none to kind to the people of Israel. Who knows what kind of reception Elimelech and Naomi would receive? In Moab they didn’t follow the one God that the Hebrews did; they had their own convoluted religious system. Their was the danger and challenge of raising your family in a spiritually hostile environment. And marrying Moabites wasn’t actually forbidden by the Hebrew Law, but intermarriage with them had consequences. The Moabite spouse and children of such a marriage would be prohibited from Jewish worship and family fellowship.
No doubt they considered all of this, and it looks like their plan was to avoid some of these difficulties by only staying in Moab temporarily, until there were better prospects at home. The text says in Ruth 1:1 that they “went to live there for a while.” That translates a Hebrew word meaning to sojourn. It means a short, temporary stay. No permanence intended. They would rent, not buy. They wouldn’t sink any roots. When things improved, the family would move back home.
All in all, it seemed like the best plan of action to them.
Rather than stick things out in famine-ravished Judah, they decide to make a move that will be a shortcut to better times. It seemed reasonable, logical, right in their eyes. Let’s see how it turned out.
B. The shortcut leads to a dead end
Notice the result of this decision as I read Ruth 1:3
Elimelech’s search for greener pastures ends in a dead-end – literally. He doesn’t survive the relocation. The text gives us the sense that he died fairly soon after he arrived; not much time seems to have passed since they moved.
Now the drama of the story picks up. Now we have a story. The text doesn’t tell us how Elimelech died, or why. It doesn’t say it was a judgment of God on him for leaving his God-given homeland, although many commentators and rabbis through the centuries have taught that. Maybe it was. Maybe it wasn’t. Maybe his ticker just gave out. Who knows? Whatever the reason, he was now dead.
And the impact is severe. Our attention is now focused on Naomi. We come to find out that this story is really going to be about Naomi, not Elimelech. He’s out of the picture. Naomi reaps the consequences of this shortcut: She’s left without her husband with two sons to raise, in a foreign country. No family nearby to comfort her as she grieves. No community to pitch in and help bear her load. She is alone, with her sons. As tough as being a single mom, and a widow to boot, is in our culture, it was even worse then. There were no government services to help fill in the gaps. There were no economic prospects for her to work either.
Their shortcut to Moab turns into a dead-end, and Naomi and the boys will bear the consequences.
C. It was a shortcut because he excluded God
By know you might be thinking, “Why does he keep calling it a shortcut?” Why do I keep talking about this family’s move to Moab as a shortcut? After all, weren’t there good reasons? Certainly there were. The reason this is a shortcut is because they made this decision without inquiring of God. The corner they cut was God. They left him out of the decision making process.
In our passage, we are introduced to many characters. There are many names listed. But significant is the one that is missing: God There is no mention of or reference to God in their plans to move to Moab. In fact, in the six well-defined scenes in the book of Ruth, this is the only one where God is not mentioned.
In making the decision to move to Moab, they relied on their understanding, they did what seemed best, what they saw fit to do in their own eyes, as was the custom of their times. They missed the opportunity to receive guidance from their Lord God.
Here is wisdom from the Scriptures on making decisions, on choosing paths in life: Proverbes 3:5-6
5Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight
Elimelech leaned on his own understanding…
D. When we exclude God from our decisions we also take shortcuts that could lead to dead ends
We face the same situation. In our day we are also tempted to make our decisions, to choose our path, based on our own understanding. How often we fail to involve or include God. When we do this, we take spiritual shortcuts, and they can lead to dead ends.
Where are you being tempted to take a short cut? What decision are you making, situation are you facing where you might just cut a corner that could be deadly?
• A career decision?
• A life-partner?
• A relationship?
• A financial decision or purchase?
Students, this applies to you as well:
• Lying
• Cheating
• Sleeping with your boyfriend or girlfriend
• School work
If you are pursuing this kind of decision or situation without leaning on God instead of yourself, you are liable to take a shortcut that leads to a dead end.
I. We avoid dead end shortcuts when we lean on God instead of ourselves
Proverbs 3:5-6 is an amazing verse. It says we should always lean on God and never lean on ourselves. The result is that he will make out paths straight – keep us from dead-end shortcuts.
Transition: But what if you have already taken a shortcut, cut a corner, and it has you on a dead-end road? What do you do then? That’s exactly the situation Naomi faced, along with her sons after Elimelech died. Let’s see how scene 1 ends as I read Ruth 1:3-5
A. Naomi kept going on her dead-end road
So Naomi is faced with a dead-end situation. Things have not gone the way she planned. What should she do? What would she do? What do you do when you find yourself on a dead-end road? You turn around! But Naomi didn’t turn around did she? The text says she stayed and her boys married Moabite women. One is named Orpah, and the other is Ruth, whom this book is named after. Instead of cutting her losses and heading home, instead of recognizing something may have been wrong in her original decision making, instead of turning to God for help, she just keeps going down this road.
They began to settle into this decision, and it will make it hard to get out of. In verse 1 it says they originally went to live in Moab “for a while” – that’s our word sojourn. But then in verse two, the verb changes. They “lived” there. The Hebrew writer changes words, and it’s very significant. This word “lived” means “remained.” In other words they decided to stay, to not just be there temporarily. Now in verse 4 we find they lived there for 10 years. They had no intention of returning, it seems. Temporary became permanent.
Further complicating things, the boys both got married to women from Moab. As we have said, this wasn’t expressly forbidden, but it was certainly frowned upon, basically because the Moabites didn’t worship God, and God is not keen on his people hooking up with those who don’t care about him. The wives and children from such a marriage would be excluded from Jewish worship and family fellowship. In other words, it would be very difficult for the boys and their wives to ever head back home to Bethlehem.
Again, it seems they are leaning on their own understanding, and not God’s.
B. This left her ‘empty’
This leads to further tragedy. Both sons die. Again, we don’t know why or how. But the result is severe: Naomi is now left without her husband and her sons, and she has no way to provide for herself. Plus, she now has these two daughters-in-law to care for. She was left, literally, ‘empty.’ That’s what the text says. She came to Moab to get filled, and she finds herself empty. Desolate.
C. We escape dead-end shortcuts when we turn around
Sometimes you just have to know when to turn around. If you find yourself on a dead-end, instead of stubbornly pushing on, you have to turn around.
Illus.: Lost on the way to a luau in Hawaii, I should have turned around, but didn’t. The outcome could have been deadly…
Spiritually this means when we realize we are on a dead-end because we haven’t trusted God and followed his ways, we have to turn back to him, whatever the cost, and ask him to guide us.
Illus.: A number of you did this last month, telling me you were going to bail out of co-signing arrangements.
Illus.: I’ve told more than one couple to stop living together before they get married.
D. We escape dead-end shortcuts when we don’t despair
But there is something else I want you to see as well. There is a second way to escape dead-end shortcuts that we find ourselves on. We escape dead-end shortcuts when we don’t despair. With God, it is never too late to get off a dead-end shortcut. He loves it when we turn from trusting ourselves to trusting him. And he happens to be a specialist at turning our dead ends into doorways. The things we think are going to kill us, he often uses to take us where he wants us.
On the surface, Naomi being widowed and losing her sons in a foreign country, and being saddled with the additional responsibility of two daughters-in-law seems like a dead-end. But as we will see, one of those girls, Ruth, becomes the instrument of God’s blessing in Naomi’s life. God will use Ruth to provide a future for Naomi. And God will use Ruth in a powerful way. It may seem like she’s in a place she never should have been, but God steps in and brings great blessing. Stay tuned.
II. We escape dead-end shortcuts when we turn around and don’t despair
Are you on a dead-end road? Gotten yourself into a relationship or a financial situation because you trusted yourself instead of God? Why not turn around right now, and trust God to turn it into a doorway?
CONCL:
Where are you being tempted to take a short cut? What decision, what situation is looming for you that requires a decision. Where do you need to back up and lean on God rather than your own understanding? Maybe you are already on a shortcut, and you may very well be headed for a dead end. In what areas do you need to turn around and head the other way? In what part of your life do you need to hear God say to you, “Don’t despair. I am going to turn this dead-end into a doorway?”
