Times of trials empties us of worldly things and fills us with godly things for His glory and our growth.
Ruth 1: 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 the name of 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. 3 But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years, 5 and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.
6 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. 7 So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. 8 But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. 9 The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. 10 And they said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.” 11 But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? 12 Turn back, my daughters; go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, 13 would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me.” 14 Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
15 And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” 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.” 18 And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.
19 So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. And the women said, “Is this Naomi?” 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?”
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.
How do you react in times of trials? Do you draw near to God or run away from Him? It may depend on your relationship with God. Let me give you an example. When my son, Asher, was very little, when we disciplined him, this little boy rather than running away from us, he would run toward us and cling to us which would melt Sarah and me forcing us to scoop him up, love, and forgive him. He had faith in our love, so he reacted accordingly.
The problem is the lack of faith in God’s love often causes people to blame God in times of trials. They need to know that their times of trials prove their faith in God, whether they will draw near to or run away from God.
As we begin the study of Ruth, Ruth 1 is the story of a Jewish family that chose to run away from God in times of trials. Yet they seem to blame God for their choices. How about you and me? Do we blame God for our choices in times of trials?
The big idea here is that rather than blaming and wondering where God is in times of trials, if we have faith in God’s love, we need to prove it by drawing near to Him and not retreating away from Him by following three principles for faithful living: in times of trials never doubt God’s presence, provision, and providence.
In Times of Trials, Never Doubt God’s Presence (Ruth 1:1-5)
Originally, the Book of Ruth was a part of the Book of Judges. The context of Ruth 1:1 is the last verse in Judges 21:25 which says, “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit” and then begins Ruth 1, “in the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land.”
“Land” refers to the promised land of Israel, the trial is the famine, and the spiritual issue at hand is doubting God’s presence in times of trials.
In the ancients’ minds, God’s pleasing presence was directly associated with the prosperity of the land and its people. This wrong theology is prevalent in many churches around the world today where poverty and sickness are associated with not pleasing God enough. The false teachers in the church now and in the early church taught that Christ’s pleasing sacrifice to hold God’s wrath is not enough, therefore believers have to do more.
Nothing can please God more than what His Son Jesus has already accomplished for believers. However, in the Old Testament under the covenant of law, in Deuteronomy 28, God did warn Israel that if they obeyed God, they would be blessed with prosperity of land, family, food, and victory over their enemies but if they disobeyed then the opposite was guaranteed.
Famine was probably the ultimate sign of God’s displeasure. In the days of the judges in which the story of Ruth is set, this came to pass. This approximately 300-year period after Joshua and before Samuel was a dark, dark time in the history of Israel when as the last verse in Judges said, everyone did as they saw fit.
Under Joshua, nations, small and mighty, feared Israel because there was no God like the God of Israel. However, after Joshua’s death, though Israel had the Promised Land to live in and God’s law to live by, Israel chose to follow other gods. They chose to trade their faith for fear of nations around them. They chose to become complacent and corrupt in every way possible.
Yet, they blamed God for their choices. God in His mercy, raised godly judges to draw Israel to repentance, but ungodly judges led Israel astray again. For about 300 years Israel persistently rebelled against God, repeatedly repented before God, and was constantly rescued by God.
Nevertheless, by and large, the time of judges was full of apostasy, idolatry, and immorality; thus God had to discipline His people, Israel. In these times of trials, Ruth 1:1-2 says, “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 the name of 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.”
We do not need to know much about his man, Elimelech, to see his lack of faith in the love of God of Israel. Leaving the Promised Land and living in the land of the enemy of God is enough. Spiritually speaking we do that too by leaving our Christian faith at home because we fear that our witness may cost us our jobs, reputation in society, or popularity among friends.
Did you know that “Christian” literally means “the little anointed ones?” Christ is in our name. Just like us, Elimelech which in Hebrew means “God his King,” in times of trials chose to be his own king to do as he saw fit like everyone else in the time of judges.
The problem with trials is that we can run from trials, but we cannot outrun trials. They will follow us wherever we go. They chased Elimelech and his family even in Moab. Verses 3-4 says, “3 But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4a These [sons] took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth.” After the death of Elimelech, rather than repenting and returning to the Promised Land, the family took another step in disobedience to God.
God in Deuteronomy 7:3-4 commanded the Israelites not to marry anyone who was not an Israelite and in Deuteronomy 23:3, God specifically said, “No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the LORD.” Yet that’s exactly what the family did. Ruth 1:4-5 continues, “4b They lived there about ten years, 5 and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.” They ran away from the Promised Land out of the fear of dying from famine with the desire to live, yet they ended up dying in a foreign land among foreign people in disobedience to God.
Recently, a man sat down with me. He feared his marriage is about to be over. I asked him if he and his wife studied the word together. He answered that his family don’t listen to him. I then asked if he listened to God.
Fathers and Husbands, listen! You set the spiritual tone of your home. When you obey, they obey, when you compromise, they compromise. When you run away from God in times of trials, they do too. Elimelech compromised his faith, so the family did too.
The application is, do not run away from God in times of trials. Rather lean on God to grow in Christ and to learn to listen to the voice of God. We will see that in Naomi’s life as we explore the second principle for faithful living in times of trials.
In Times of Trials, Never Doubt God’s Provision (Ruth 1:6-14)
In the ancients’ minds, God’s presence was associated with prosperity. Therefore, provision was the proof of God’s presence. This logic is prevalent in Naomi’s thought process from verse 6 onwards. Verse 6 reads, “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.” The language is important here. She said the Lord had visited His people which on some level conveys that God was away. In other words, God’s presence departed from Israel, therefore God’s provision stopped. Perhaps this logic justified their departure from the Promised Land. Did God leave His people? No not at all, He was waiting patiently for repentance.
When my son doesn’t obey, I do not abandon him. I guide him and wait patiently for his sincere remorse. When we rebel against God willingly and shamelessly when we engage in sinful behavior, we pull ourselves away from the presence of God, not the other way around. So don’t blame God because when we repent, we draw near to Him in His presence and He forgives us. God said that He will never leave us nor forsake us, but we leave Him.
All three widows start their journey back to Judah as said in Ruth 1:7, “So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.” However, at some point, verse 8-14 continues, “8 Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. 9 The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. 10 And they said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.” 11 But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Notice her human logic for provision here. Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? 12 Turn back, my daughters; go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, 13 would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me.” 14 Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.”
When I was doing missions work in Afghanistan, I saw women in blue and black bourkas begging everywhere in the streets of Kabul and Kandahar. I was told that it is because, in the tribal wars, those women lost their male guardians whether husbands, brothers, or sons and without the male guardians, this was the only work they were allowed to do.
Naomi was facing the same challenges. She was grieving the loss of her husband and sons but her two daughters-in-laws were giving her more pain. Now that can be genuine emotional distress for them or it might be worry about how Naomi will provide for them.
The application is, don’t be so focused on the provision of God that in times of trials. You mistake the lack of provision with the lack of presence of God. Never doubt God’s presence or His provision because of His providence. That is the third and final principle for faithful living in times of trials.
In Times of Trials, Never Doubt God’s Providence (Ruth 1:15-22)
In Ruth 1:15 Naomi said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” And in verse 16, Ruth replies, “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.”
Ruth’s conversion statement might be out of loyalty to Naomi or perhaps how she saw her mother-in-law praising her God and trusting Him during horrific trials. Nevertheless, it was God’s providence.
Please don’t confuse God’s provision with His providence. God’s providence includes all works of God, from the micro to the macro things in the universe. It means everything happens because of God’s perfect, purposeful, and personal, predetermined plan for His glory and for the benefit of the redeemed. Everything happens providentially by the wise, loving, gracious Will of God even when we rebel against His Will. He accomplishes His predetermined holy plan as He directs all affairs of life.
So, Ruth a Gentile, says in verse 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.”
Verses 18-20 continues, “18 And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more. 19 So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. And the women said, “Is this Naomi?” 20 She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.”
Her given name, Naomi, means pleasant and lovely in Hebrew but the name she wants to be called now is Mara which means bitter. I think she is bitter because her sorrow, in times of trials, has blinded her from seeing the providential hand of God in all this.
In verse 21 she explains why she is bitter, “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?”
Not too long ago, a mother was talking about how her son grew up in the church, believed in Christ, was baptized, and served in the church but now he no longer follows Jesus. Naomi’s response gives us all hope for our prodigals. Even in her grief, she acknowledges that it was she who went away but it is God who brought her back.
Ruth 1 closes with verse 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.” Ironically, this family left Bethlehem, which in Hebrew means “the house of bread,” in search of bread yet God in His providence not only brought the remnant of the family back to the house of bread, Bethlehem, but also brought Ruth, an ancestor of Jesus, to bring the eternal bread of life, Jesus Messiah, into this world who one day would be born in Bethlehem.
The application for is, in times of trials, don’t let human logic, human crises, and the human condition blind us to the presence, provision, and providence of God. He never leaves or forsakes us; it is us that leaves Him.
Imagine if your child chooses to not listen to you and always disobeys you and you never take any action to discipline him or her. Would that be good for your child?
The issue is that we want to live in sin, in a state of constant rebellion against God, yet we want God to continue to shower us with all His blessings, and when He does not, we doubt His presence, provision, and providence.
As I close the action step you can take, in times of trials or to prepare for them is, is to have faith in God’s love for you because His Son Jesus died for you.
My appeal to you is, rather than blaming and wondering where God is in times of trials, prove your faith by drawing near to Him and not running away from Him.
Naomi said she went away full, and the Lord has brought her back empty. No, she went away full of doubts about God’s presence, provision, providence and what is earthly so she had to be emptied first so that she could be filled up with faith and favor of God. To conform you to the image of Christ, sometimes God may first have to empty you of everything that belongs to the world to fill you with everything that belongs to Him. Times of trials serve that purpose for His glory and our growth.
Times of trials empties us of worldly things and fills us with godly things for His glory and our growth.
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