Date:   05/10/09

Text:   Ruth 1:1-5; 4:13-22

Title:   A Heart's Journey-----Naomi

Theme: God often uses other people to bring His love and kindness into our lives.

Introduction:

  In Wednesday's paper in the Dear Abby column, there was the following letter: “Dear Abby: I stole a large sum of money from the company I worked for and was fired. I agreed to work out a repayment plan for all the money I owe. Although I feel extremely lucky about the outcome, I also feel a great deal of remorse and shame for what I did.” This person made a wrong choice and is suffering from its consequences.

We make choices everyday. There are choices we are proud of, some we regret and others we are not sure. There is another kind of choice. Choices that are thrown upon us. They could be from the society or someone close to us. This past week, Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former senator and presidential candidate, in an interview said when she found out that her husband, John Edwards was having an affair during her bout with cancer, she went into the bathroom, cried, screamed and vomited. Her husband's choices were literally thrown upon her. I feel that some the mothers and wives among us, have experienced the pain and frustration of choices our spouses or children may have made and thrown upon us. We know the frustration, even anger and bitterness that result from them.

  On this Mother's Day, we want to look at one biblical character, Naomi. Have you ever wondered why a book that begins and ends with Naomi, is titled Ruth? There are several themes in this book, but this morning we'll just follow Naomi, the mother and mother-in-law of Ruth. We will discover her heart's condition and the change it experienced from the beginning to the end of this book of Ruth.

  To properly understand this book, we need to know its setting in the OT. It follows the book of Judges. The last verse in Judges read, “ 25 In those days there was no king in Israel . Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” The beginning of Ruth, “ 1 In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land,…” It appears that this book becomes an example of how everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Yet, in the midst of this, we also see God's lasting love and kindness towards his people.

I •  When choices are thrown upon us.

In vs.1,2, “ 1 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. 2 The name of the man was Elimelech and his wife, Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah . They went into the country of Moab and remained there.” In these two verses we learn the following. First, there was a famine in the land of Judah . In the context of Judges, this famine signaled God's punishment for his people's rebellions against Him. Secondly, there were several names. Elimelech, which means My God is King, was from Bethlehem which literally means the House of Bread. Elimelech's wife is Naomi which means Pleasant. They have two sons. Thirdly, verse 1 tells us that Elimelech took his family to sojourn in the land of Moab . Not to stay but to travel, maybe just to avoid the famine. Moab was a land considered unfriendly to the Jews. For the king of Moab hired Balaak to curse the Israelites when they first left Egypt . The women of Moab were considered stumbling blocks for the Israelites as they would seduce them to worship foreign gods. Then, throughout the short history of the Israelites, the Moabites were constantly oppressing them. So the irony in these verses is this: this man who claimed that my God is king, in the time of famine, decided to leave the town, the house of bread and went to this foreign land, the enemy of God. Instead of trusting that God will provide, he, instead went to trust God's enemy. Moreover, in vs. 2, we learned that he remained there. Vs. 1 was sojourned, and now they got their green cards and decided to remain there for good. The two sons married the women of the land. In this simple description, the author of this book is actually hinting that these are not pleasing to God. After Elimelech died, 10 years later, the two sons also died. Take note that in vs.1 we read that a man, he and his wife and his two sons….. Now in vs.5, …so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband. When Naomi left Bethlehem , she had her husband and two sons, now, without her two sons and her husband. She left full and returned empty, kind of.

We are not sure about Naomi's role in the decision to leave. But one thing we know is that this decision and its subsequent consequences were literally thrown at her face. It must have been terrible and miserable. Have you ever gone through such experiences? Not really your choice, but because you love and care for your husband, because you feel it is the right thing to submit to him even when you doubt his wisdom in making such a choice, you reluctantly went along. And now, look at the consequences.

What did such an experience bring to Naomi?

II •  Unwanted choices can result in bitterness of heart.

After living in the land of Moab for at least over 10 years, Naomi decided to return to God's promised land, and the city called House of Bread. Its like the story of the Prodigal son in the NT. After spending all his money, having become empty, he decided to go home, back to his father's house. What was Naomi's condition at this time? She had two daughter-in-laws, but they were Moabites, gentiles, or even worse, people of their enemy. Going home with two gentiles, it sure didn't look good, it's kind of like losing face. Naomi tried to convince them to return to their family of origin, not to follow her. One of them, Orpah listened and went home, but Ruth refused. As Naomi pleaded with her, it only escalated Ruth's loyalty to her, “ 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 will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” This is a very touching statement. We like it so much that it is often used in weddings, in teachings on in-law relationships, we would even print, frame and hang it in our homes.

Yet, what was Ruth's response to this? vs.18, “ 18 And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.” In the original language it is a very strong word; she said nothing. At least she could have said, thank you so much, Ruth. Your loyalty has certainly touched me deeply. I really don't deserve such love and loyalty. But Ruth said nothing. Could this reveal the inner turmoil that Naomi was experiencing? Could it be that she was very bitter with what had happened to her that she didn't even hear clearly what was spoken? Let's move on.

She finally came back to Bethlehem . The townspeople saw two women, Naomi and Ruth. Notice what the women said, “is this Naomi?” But wait, Ruth was there too, at least they could have asked, who is this young lady with you? No, no mention of Ruth, it was as if she was invisible. How do you like meeting your mother-in-law's friends and not being noticed? Well, that is another story. Let's look at Naomi. She said in 20-21, “ 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?” don't call me Naomi (which means pleasant), but call me Mara, meaning bitter. The Israelites knew about this Mara. This was the place where their ancestors complained to God about the water being bitter. It was a rebellious act against God. Naomi now blamed God for all that happened to her and her family. It was God that made her life so miserable. What do we see here? there was no hint of her accepting her or her husband's responsibility on this matter. Yes, she had come home, like the prodigal son, but without a broken and repentant spirit over their Moab experience. A woman full of bitterness towards God.

Don't we sometimes feel like this? We look at our circumstances, disobedient children, uncooperative or unfaithful spouses, they break our hearts. In the interview, Elizabeth Edwards said, “When we first got married, the one thing I asked John to give me was: faithfulness.” His unfaithfulness had certainly broken her heart. Some of our hearts may also be broken over choices our spouse or children made. As a result of that, we may have turned against God. It's God that brought all this to me. How could he have done something like this to me? Or, if God is really loving and kind, how could he have taken my sister, or my father, or my husband and son away in such a way? How can he be so unreasonable?

Yet, please note how chapter 1 ends, vs.22, “ 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 barley harvest. They came back to the house of bread. When? At the beginning of the barley harvest. Here, the author is hinting that something else is happening. Yes, all Naomi could see was misfortune, her bitterness was directed against God. However, the author is hinting that Naomi's perspective was not all that accurate. In her bitterness towards God, she missed something. Tune on to something more….

III •  God's invisible hands at work in our bitter hearts.

After the return to Bethlehem , Naomi and Ruth had to find a way to sustain themselves. Since this is the harvest time, Ruth went into the field to pick barley. Here, there is no mention of Naomi making an effort to go along. She may not be that old at this time. Could it be that her despair had somehow immobilized her? We can only speculate on this. Notice in 2:3, “ 3 So she (Ruth) set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech.” She happened to be in Boaz's field. Then vs.4, “ 4 And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem . And he said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you!” Now, for the first time Boaz and Ruth, the beginning of that perfect story we are all familiar with. Again, this will have to be left for another time, another sermon. We would say, like the author did, what a coincidence. But wait, in Divine economy, is there such a thing as coincidence? Humanly speaking, many of our encounters are pure coincidence. I happened to meet this person in this restaurant or in this company. But coincidence from God's perspective, not really, right?

The story continues. After Boaz found out who Ruth was, he treated her generously and made sure that she would bring back an equivalent of 6 gallons of barley. That is a lot for one day's work. Ruth came back and told Naomi what happened. Now, let's look at Naomi's response. Vs. 20, “ 20 And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!” the first time in this book, Naomi begins to speak positively about God. She mentioned God's kindness, love. Also note that in the original language, the living, the dead were in plurals. Naomi was including Ruth. Its no longer just me, myself and I. Now, there is also Ruth.

We see Naomi's bitter heart beginning to melt. Facing the undeniable experience of God's goodness and grace, contrary to earlier thoughts, she begins to realize that God has not stopped showing her his grace and kindness. Previously she was so blinded by her despair and bitterness, it was all God's fault. But now, it is different. And then the author ends this chapter with these words, vs.23, “……And she lived with her mother-in-law.” This is obvious, right? Why should the author remind us of this? it is to show us, the readers, that God's kindness has really never left Naomi. Now, there is more.

  Chapter 3 is the continuation of the love story between Ruth and Boaz. But again, we'll leave this to another sermon, another time. J . in Chapter 3 we read about Naomi giving Ruth instruction on what to do with Boaz. Ruth listened and she did something beyond Naomi's suggestion. She requested that Boaz would marry her. This is almost unheard of in that culture. Boaz responded very positively. Ruth went home, and again, told everything to Naomi. When Naomi saw Ruth coming home early in the morning, she asked, 3:16, “How did you fare, my daughter?” it sounds like, how did it go, my daughter? But the original word being: who are you, my daughter? Of course Naomi knew who she was. So it didn't fit quite well in this passage. Therefore the translators put it this way: how did it go? Seeing Ruth, Naomi was confused. Who was this girl that had been with her all these years? Was she the gentile that might have become a burden for her? The reality pointed it the other way. But who was she? Was she the one through whom God was showing his kindness and love?

  Now, we need to press the fast forward button. Boaz ended up marrying Ruth. Ruth gave birth to a son, and he became the ancestor of king David, and later Jesus Christ. The women said to Naomi, vs.14, “ 14 Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel! 15 He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.”

  From being a bitter person, Naomi is a blessed woman. This one daughter-in-law means more to Naomi than seven sons. Naomi was empty, now full. How? The women reminded Naomi that the Lord has not left her without a redeemer. The Lord had always been her redeemer. This story brought out the essential truth that God shows us his mercy, kindness and love through people around us. in a very unexpected way, God used Ruth and Boaz to show Naomi His loving Kindness. God has never left Naomi. This book begins and ends with Naomi, yet it is titled, the book of Ruth. Why? Because this Naomi can be anyone of us; individuals with resentment and bitterness towards God. Yet God want to show us that He could use Ruth, an alien, a stranger and unexpected person to show us his loving kindness.

  Some of us may find ourselves still filled with bitterness and resentment towards God. Why have you forgotten me? Why have you left me with this mess? How come I still can't see and feel your grace towards me? If God is so loving and kind, why have you taken my spouse, my child, my father away? Such living is miserable, right? But wait, did God really leave you? Take a look at people around you. Remember the days when individuals would relentlessly pray for you and your family? How about the strangers reaching out to you, offering you rides, cooking meals for you? Then there are the friendships built during those hard times. They are not just coincidences. Instead, they were God's means of showing you his loving kindness. They are the Ruth's in our lives.