Running On Empty

In cars, the gas tank sensor will detect how much fuel is left. When you're driving with the indicator on empty,

you say, "I'm running on empty."

You know, this also applied to people.

If you are exhausted and feel like you can't go on much longer, you can say, "I'm running on empty."

Beloved, I'm sure many of you like myself know how it feels to run on empty in life. Bad relationships, children, family, work, or friends can be exhausting.

Life situations at times seem to drain all our energy. Dreams and

unmet dreams or expectations can drain your energy level also.

There are times our energy level is so depleted thinking about replenishing our life's tank is arduous.

Lately, I’ve been spending some time reflecting on my life and how it’s turned out so far. I can think back upon the dreams for my life that I had in my youth, and I can safely say that very few of them have survived the passage of the years. And maybe you can relate to that as well.

There are shattered dreams, and broken hopes, and unmet expectations that litter the years of our lives. Now that doesn’t necessarily mean that life hasn’t been good. It also doesn’t mean that new dreams haven’t been reached for and attained, nor does it mean we need to live with sorrow today because we regret the past either.

But it does mean that there have been times of sorrow and sadness, times of deep questioning and searching, times of hurt and anger, and maybe even bitterness or despair that have left their mark upon our lives.

Beloved, I think Naomi could probably relate to some of that. Life indeed had not turned out like she had hoped it would. Her life, in many ways, had been burdensome, full of shattered dreams and disappointments, not to mention heartache and loss. Bit by bit, everything she had held on to and put her happiness and joy into she lost.

Now allow me to give you a little backdrop here: The famine led them to leave their home in Bethlehem, part with family and friends and all things familiar, and go to a foreign land where they did not know God.

In that land of Moab, her husband would pass away, leaving Naomi to raise their two sons alone.

Things looked up as they grew into men, met the young women who would become their wives, and got married. It was a chance for Naomi to live again, to enjoy getting to know her daughters-in-law, to anticipate the arrival of grandchildren, to know that her children would care for her in her old age.

Yet all those dreams are shattered. That's because Naomi's sons meet their end in the land of Moab just as their father had.

Once again, Beloved, Naomi is left, in many ways alone, and without hope for the future. Life goes on, but she's running on empty. There seems to be nothing left to give and nothing left to live for. And maybe you can relate because you've been there too; perhaps you are even in that place today. You feel like giving up, but you keep pressing on even though you are running on empty.

Life in Moab, while it once seemed to promise so much, has, in the end, become very bitter for Naomi. She has hit bottom, reached the lowest of the lows, and it's when she's in that deep midnight hour of the soul that she decides to head home, to return to Judah, the place of praise.

It's from out of that dark space that she begins the journey back to God, but she doesn't walk that road alone; Ruth will walk it with her, and that's where we pick up their story this morning, Ruth, chapter 1, beginning in verse 19.

*19 So Naomi and Ruth went on until they came to the town of Bethlehem. When they entered Bethlehem,

all the people became very excited. The women of the town said, "Is this really Naomi?" *20 Naomi answered the people. "Don't call me Naomi. Call me Mara because the Almighty has made my life very sad.

*21 When I left, I had all I wanted, but now, the Lord has brought me home with nothing. Why should you call me Naomi when the Lord has spoken against me, and the Almighty has given me so much trouble?" *22 So Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth, the Moabite, returned from Moab and arrived at Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Now let's look at their journey.

The journey back would have been difficult for two women traveling alone. It would take them some 7-10 days of solid travel to reach their destination. And along the way, they would have to cross the Jordan River and climb from the plains of Moab, which is some 2000 feet in height, to reach Bethlehem.