Finding Hope in the Mess of Life

 

Rev. Josh Hartog

Text: Ruth 1:1-22

 

 I don’t know about you, but sometimes, in fact quite regularly I’m struck by just how messed up our world is. You only have to watch the evening news and see the murders and the hatred and the anger and bitterness to see just how messed up our own country is, let alone what’s happening overseas. 

And I used to think that it’s only out there in the secular world where people are so messed up, that is until I became a pastor. Now I know people are just as messed up in here as they are out there. I’ve seen people in the church twisted by bitterness, or anger, or unforgiveness. I’ve seen families broken apart by divorce. I’ve seen people with addictions slowly destroying their health. 

What’s worse is that I’ve become even more aware of just how messed up I am. I’m just as unable to live up to God’s ideals as anyone else is in this world. I struggle with insecurities and fears and sin just like everyone else. The truth is, this world is messed up, we are messed up. 

The story of Ruth is a story of the pain and tragedy of life, story of just how messed up life can get. But it’s also a story of how we can have hope in the midst of mess. It’s a story of how pain and grief can be transformed into joy and peace. Ruth’s story is a story of God redeeming messed up situations. 

  

1) Making Questionable Decisions 

The story starts, ‘¹ In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land… (Ruth 1:1a)’ In the days of the Judges, ‘everyone did as he saw fit. (Judg 17:6; 21:25)’ God’s people turned their backs on God and rejected his ways and things got messy as a result. 

The days when the judges ruled were defined by oppression and war and injustice and famine and hardship. The thing about when life gets messy is that often we make questionable decisions. When things don’t seem to be working out as we expect we do stuff to get ahead, we do anything to get ahead. That’s what happens here in the story of Ruth. 

We read in the midst of this famine that, ‘¹ …a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. ² The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there. (Ruth 1:1b2)’ 

Things were messed up and so this guy Elimelech makes the decision to go to Moab. 

a) The Reasons for Elimelech’s decisions

Let’s take a quick look at the reasons for Elimelech’s decisions. 

i) Famine 

Firstly, there’s the issue of the famine. There was no food in Bethlehem. Actually, that’s a little ironic 

– Bethlehem means ‘the house of bread.’ There was no bread left in the house of bread and so Elimelech decides to leave. Maybe the famine was the result of God’s judgement upon His people, maybe it was the result of a drought or foreign invaders, but whatever the cause there was a famine in the land. 

ii) Moab 

Secondly, there’s the issue of Moab. For a start King Eglon of Moab had enslaved God’s people for eighteen years. There may have been peace between Moab and Israel at the time, but Moab had little love for God’s people. 

Secondly, there was Moab’s god Chemosh, who demanded human sacrifice. God calls him vile and detestable. You have to ask whether Elimelech is making a good decision taking his family to live in such a place. The guy whose name means ‘My God is King’ is moving to live in the land of a pagan god by his own choice. 

iii) Faith 

What does this decision say about Elimelech’s faith? Our passage doesn’t actually say Elimelech made a bad decision, but there’s also no evidence he consulted God either. Actually the names of Elimelech’s two sons are quite revealing. 

Mahlon and Kilion not only mean ‘sickly’ and ‘failing,’ but they are also Canaanite names. Elimelech seems to be making a statement about his faith in God, reverting to Canaanite names that hint at God’s failed promises of protection, peace and prosperity. 

iv) Comfort 

In fact, what seems to be motivating his decision is his desire for comfort and stability. Naomi makes the comment that, ‘²¹ I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. (Ruth 1:21a)’ The famine comes and rather than trusting in God to provide in their time of need Elimelech bails and goes where he hopes to maintain a rich and full life.  

The truth is we often make questionable decisions when things don’t seem to be going the way we planned. Like Elimelech we take matters into our own hands and make decisions based on what we think is best for us, rather than what God thinks. And as we’re about to see the results of our decisions don’t always work out the way we’d hope. 

b) The Result of Elimelech’s decisions 

So let’s take a look at how Elimelech’s decisions turn out. Verse 3, ‘³ Now Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. ⁴ They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, ⁵ both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband. (Ruth 1:3-5)’ Things don’t turn out very well at all.  

i) Elimelech dies 

Firstly, Elimelech dies and leaves Naomi a widow in a foreign land, with no wider family to support her, let alone the wider community of God’s people. 

ii) Elimelech’s sons marry Moabite women 

Secondly, Elimelech’s two sons marry foreign women, again, not the best result. God expressly forbade his people to marry foreigners (Dt 7:3-4), and yet that’s exactly what these guys do. 

iii) Elimelech’s sons die 

Thirdly, Elimelech’s sons both die. We’re not sure whether it was because they were actually sickly and failing in health as their names suggest, or whether God judged them for marrying Moabite women, or for some other reason. But suddenly Naomi finds herself a widow in a foreign land with no support and no future. Naomi’s life has turned into an absolute mess. 

How often do our present problems arise from questionable decisions, our own or someone else’s? How often do we make decisions in our own strength or for our own selfish ends? How often do we make decisions without first approaching God and seeking his will in the matter? I think many of us can identify with Naomi. 

Some of you know the pain of bereavement, the bitterness of past decisions, the sting of broken relationships, or the frustrations of unemployment. And the question, ‘where did I go wrong?’ is often followed by ‘why did God let this happen to me?’ Most of us can identify with Naomi. 

2) Responding to Bitter Experiences 

Life can be messy, but the question I want to ask you this morning is how do you respond to bitter experiences in life? When life gets messy what do you do? Let’s go back to the story and see how Naomi responds to her situation. 

Verse 6, ‘⁶ When she heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, Naomi and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. (Ruth 1:6)’ 

The turning point in Naomi’s experience comes when God intervenes and provides food for his people. 

1. Naomi responds to God’s activity 

Naomi hears that the famine has broken in Israel and she sees the Lord’s hand in it. The famine is over because God had come to the aid of his people. But what’s more, she not only sees God’s intervention, it motivates her to return to Israel. Naomi responds to God’s activity. 

Sure it makes common sense, she has nothing in Moab and now there’s food back home, but spiritually that decision is a move towards God, rather than away from him. And there’s something significant in this that I want you to see. 

The book of Ruth is all about God’s sovereign control over history as he brings about his redemptive plan, but there’s no hint that God’s sovereign control limits the personal freedom of the people in this story. Elimelech makes a questionable decision to move to Moab, and now Ruth makes the decision to move back to Israel, and yet as we’ll see by the end of this series, God is in complete control of these events. 

The book of Ruth reveals God’s hidden activity even in the mess that we sometimes make of our lives. Even in the midst of her mess Namoi responds to what God is doing. 

1. Namoi cares for others 

Secondly, we see Naomi’s care for others. As she prepares to leave Moab she turns to her daughters-in-law and says, ‘¹¹ …Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? ¹² Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— ¹³ would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? (Ruth 1:11-13a)’ 

Naomi knows that leaving Moab will be difficult for her daughters-in-law. It will mean leaving behind their families and friends, their culture, even their religion. Furthermore she is in no position to provide for them, she’s too old to get remarried and have more sons for them to marry. That sounds a little strange doesn’t it, but that was the custom at that time. 

The law says, ‘⁵ If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son… her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. ⁶ The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel. (Dt 25:5-6)’ 

In the case of Naomi this is impossible, she was obviously past childbearing age, but as we shall see later on in this series this idea, called the kinsman-redeemer, becomes central to the story. The point however, is Naomi is concerned with the well-being of her daughters-in-law. She wants to make sure they are cared for and protected, and she isn’t in a position to do that for them. 

1. Naomi turns to God in prayer 

In fact we see this concern echoed in her prayer. She may not be able to provide for them, but she knows someone who can, and so she turns to God in prayer. She says, ‘⁸ …May the Lord show kindness to you, as you have shown to your dead and to me. ⁹ May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband… (Ruth 1:8b-9a)’ Even in the midst of her pain Naomi prays that God would show them his loving kindness and grant them rest. Both of those words are significant. 

1. God’s covenantal love 

The first word translated as ‘kindness’ is the Hebrew word hesed. It refers to God’s covenantal love. It is often translated as God’s loving kindness, or His grace towards his people. Naomi asks God to show his love and grace to her two daughters-in-law. It’s a beautiful thing to pray for someone. Even in the midst of her bitterness she prays that God will shower them with love. 

The greatest display of God’s hesed is captured by the Apostle John, ‘¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 Jn 4:10)’ That’s hesed – God displays the extent of his love for us through Jesus’ death on the cross. That’s the love that God has for us, that’s the love that we’re to have for others. 

1. God’s peace and safety 

Secondly, Naomi prays that they will find rest in the home of another husband. She desires for them the peace and security that a good husband would bring. But the word translated as rest is most often used for the peace that God gives. It’s the rest found in the Promised Land. It’s the rest found in God’s presence. She is praying not just for a new husband but for God’s peace in their lives. 

In fact this is the same word Jesus uses when he says, ‘²⁸ Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Mt 11:28-29)’ 

Again, what a beautiful thing to pray for someone, that they will find rest from life’s burdens, that they would find rest for their souls. And remember Naomi prays that in the midst of her pain. It’s so easy to see nothing but Naomi’s bitterness and overlook her faith in God and her love for her daughters-in-law. 

d) Naomi accepts God’s sovereignty 

Finally, Naomi accepts God’s sovereignty. When she arrives back in Bethlehem she says, ‘²⁰ Don’t call me Naomi, call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. ²¹ I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.” (Ruth 1:20-21)’ 

Naomi is brutally honest in these verses. She doesn’t hold in her feelings, she admits her bitterness, but she also admits the Lord’s hand in her circumstances. She holds those two extremes together. On one hand there is her pain and grief and bitterness, and on the other hand there is the Lord, Yahweh, the covenant God. 

When Naomi changes her name to Mara, she isn’t saying she is bitter with God, but just that her experiences have been bitter. She knows that the things that have happened in her life aren’t chance, she recognizes that God is Almighty, the Hebrew is El Shaddai. God is sovereign, God is in control, God rules. Naomi understands this important truth. 

If God isn’t sovereign either he doesn’t know our pain, or he doesn’t care, but that’s not the God who has revealed himself in Scripture, that’s not the God Naomi knows. He is El Shaddai, Yahweh, he is the Almighty, the God of Israel. We don’t always know why certain things happen, but we can trust that God is in control and that God cares, and ultimately that God will work out all things for the good of those who love him. 

In our easy and comfortable and materialistic lives God often empties us, in order to fill us with his goodness. God often reminds us that we should not put our faith in wealth, but in him and his steadfast love. God often tests our faith in him. 

Like Job can we say, ‘¹⁵ Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him… (Job 13:15a)’ Like Naomi can we hold on to God even in the midst of our pain and suffering? We even see it on the cross, when Jesus takes upon himself our griefs and sorrows, our bitterness and anger, our sin and guilt, and just like the rest of us Jesus cries out ‘My God, why?’ 

God knows what is like to feel grief and pain and bitterness. Our God has been there, he understands, he empathizes. In fact, all he asks is that we put our faith in him, that we trust his character, even when life seems all messed up. 

 

3) Growing in our Faith 

And it’s this faith that we see growing in Naomi’s daughter-in-law Ruth. Verse 14 says, ‘¹⁴ At [Naomi’s words] they wept again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-by, but Ruth clung to her. (Ruth 1:14)’ 

Ruth won’t leave Naomi, no matter what, she clings to her. Ruth says, ‘¹⁶ …Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. ¹⁷ Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. (Ruth 1:16-17a)’ 

Everything Ruth has learnt about God has come from Naomi and she wants what Naomi has. She says, where you go I will go, where you stay I will stay, where you die I will die, your people will be my people. Ruth had seen Naomi’s strength in the face of her grief and suffering, and she admires her for it. She was intensely loyal to Naomi, she had seen the difference that knowing God could make. In fact, by clinging to Naomi she came to believe in Naomi’s God. 

Ruth’s faith goes from something she admires in Naomi to something she wants for herself. She says, ‘Your God will be my God.’ Ruth’s faith becomes personal. In fact verse 17 shows just how committed she is to Naomi’s God. She says, ‘¹⁷ …May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me. (Ruth 1:17b)’ 

This is the turning point in Ruth’s life. All Ruth knows is Moab and her family and friends, her language and culture, and the religion of Chemosh. But over the years she has come to knows Naomi, and through Naomi she knows God, and her faith has become strong enough that in the midst of her own grief and loss she is willing to take a step of faith and leave Moab for the unknown. Ruth was willing to step into the unknown, with all her pain and her problems knowing that she could trust God.  

Strangely enough the chapter ends by reminding us that the barley harvest was beginning, and that there would be food for them both, and who knows what other possibilities. The chapter ends with a reminder that God provides, that for those who put their trust in God the future is always bright, even in the midst of the mess, even in the midst of pain and suffering, grief and bitterness, even in the face of the unknown. In the mess of life we can find hope in God when we put our faith in him, knowing he is in control and that he is faithful. 

  

This story of these three characters, Elimelech, Naomi and Ruth challenges us in three ways. 

Firstly, Elimelech challenges us to seek God’s will before we make questionable decisions in life. There are consequences when we decide to move away from God, or when we take matters into our own hands, when we seek after our own comfort instead of trusting in God’s provision. 

Secondly, Naomi challenges us to continue doing what is right even in the face of our grief and despair. Even in the midst of her bitter experience she responds to God’s activity, she cares for others, she prays for God’s blessing and she trusts in His sovereign control. 

Finally, Ruth challenges us to put our faith in God even when we can’t see what lies ahead, even as we step into the unknown. I don’t know what mess you are dealing with in your life at this moment, but I do know that even in the worst of messes you can find hope in God, the God who is faithful no matter what, the God is in control, no matter how messed up life gets. Amen.