By Ron. v. Leerdam
Brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ,
Life is full of twists and turns but in the end the Lord works all things for the good of those who love Him. Recently, my Mum shared some of her dad’s story. – what would he be to me? Opa was bought up in a nominal christian family. When he was 14 yrs. old his older sister took him to church. There he met his future wife.
He worked hard in partnership with his dad building a butcher shop.
All went well as he invested his savings into the business.
One day they spoke about putting things down on paper – three days later his dad died and his mum said that she knew nothing about her sons contribution to the business.
He lost his life savings.
From Holland they migrated to Australia in 1951.
Perhaps you can relate to his story.
By the grace of God, many came to know the Father in heaven through the knowledge of His beloved Son Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit were given faith that endured to the end. As I have said before, if you do not have faith, you have nothing. If you do have saving faith you have eternal life.
Some of us can relate to Ruth’s faith journey.
Others barely know a time when they did not know God’s love – being taught to sing, “Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so… from early childhood.
Ruth was not part of God’s family when she was born. Ruth was a Moabitess – not a descendant of Abraham, but a descendant of Lot, the product of an incestuous relationship with his daughter. Genesis 19:37
We are not told if Ruth adopted the faith of her husband when she married. But her declaration of faith rings out loud and clear when her mother-inlay was returning to Bethlehem. We like Ruth also made a declaration of faith when we came to know Christ as our Saviour and Lord. I am sure that you are all familiar with the saying, “ONCE UPON A TIME … AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER.”
In some ways the story of Naomi is like that. It is not a fairy tale.
It really did happen.
It is a part of history.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
None of us know the future.
Yet the children of God put their trust in God – no matter how bleak things may look. Who would have thought that the name of Ruth would be a part of Jesus family tree. The reason why everything did turn out for good is because she believed in an ALMIGHTY GOD who is able to do the impossible and who desires to turn all things out for good for His children, because His is a FAITHFUL FATHER. Let’s look at the story of Ruth for a moment in more detail for God wants you and me to learn at least three (3) important things.
The story of Ruth took place when the Judges ruled over Israel – most likely in the time of the Mideonite invasions – a significant nation,
A prophecy against Moab:
Ar in Moab is ruined,
destroyed in a night!
Kir in Moab is ruined,
destroyed in a night!
Dibon goes up to its temple,
to its high places to weep;
Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba.
Every head is shaved
and every beard cut off.
In the streets they wear sackcloth;
on the roofs and in the public squares
they all wail,
prostrate with weeping.
Heshbon and Elealeh cry out,
their voices are heard all the way to Jahaz.
Therefore the armed men of Moab cry out,
and their hearts are faint. My heart cries out over Moab;
her fugitives flee as far as Zoar,
as far as Eglath Shelishiyah.
They go up the hill to Luhith,
weeping as they go;
on the road to Horonaim
they lament their destruction.
The waters of Nimrim are dried up
and the grass is withered;
the vegetation is gone
and nothing green is left.
So the wealth they have acquired and stored up
they carry away over the Ravine of the Poplars.
Their outcry echoes along the border of Moab;
their wailing reaches as far as Eglaim,
their lamentation as far as Beer Elim.
The waters of Dimon are full of blood,
but I will bring still more upon Dimon —
a lion upon the fugitives of Moab
and upon those who remain in the land. Isaiah 15.
To understand the historical background of the book of Ruth we need to read through the book of Judges. The familiar echo of the book of Judges is this:
“After the generation of Joshua had died,
another generation grew up that did not know
the Lord or what He had done for Israel.
They forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers
and served false gods.” -Baal etc.
In His anger the Lord handed Israel over to the their enemies all around who plundered them. The Mideonites would make regular raids into Israel and Judah. This continued until the time of Gideon. This regular plundering probably explains the famine that caused Elimelech and Naomi to migrate with their two sons, Malon and Chilion. If you want to see a tragedy – not that we believe in tragedies – look at the family of Elimelech. Within 10 yrs He and both sons were dead. Naomi was left with 2 daughter in laws. Naomi decided to return to Judah for she heard that the Lord had delivered his people, the famine over.
What good was it to have food and drink in Moab – what good is it to have the whole world and no inheritance in the kingdom of God. Naomi looks again to the promised land. Without any hope in the world- her husband’s line (descendants) finished- she wants to at least live in God’s presence. Her decision changes her life and that of Ruth.
Her daughters-in-law according to the custom of the times felt bound to Naomi so they begin to journey to Judah. Naomi urges them to return to their own land. Perhaps the Lord would yet give them a future with a family of their own among their own people. At first neither listen. Naomi says to them-“what expectation could you still have of this family? It is doomed to die out. That causes me even more bitterness than you. The hand of the Lord is against me.”
Orphah returned to her family. But Ruth wasn’t just bound to her husband’s family, but also to her husband’s nation – Israel. She was bound to Israel because she was bound to Israel’s God. By God’s grace, her heart had been opened to the covenant the Lord made – God living with his people. That is why she said to Naomi those unforgettable words.
“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. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.” Ruth 1:16-17
From this we learn the first lesson. To become a child of God we need to make a personal declaration of faith.
Some people mistakenly think that having believing parents automatically makes them Christians. Just because Ruth had married into the family of God, it did not mean she automatically embraced the God of her husband as her God. God requires a personal declaration of faith in Him from everyone. Now the second lesson we learn is that although a declaration of faith is indispensable – that is not all there is to being a part of the family of God. We also must live out our declaration of faith.
You could say the declaration is the talk.
But the living it out is the walk.
Again we see the sovereign grace of God at work. Nothing happens by chance or accident. Even the seemingly worst situation: An Israelite marrying a foreigner – a Moabitess – God uses for good. It seemed that the Lord had forsaken this family because there was no son to carry on the family name and inherit the land the Lord had given them, but God, in his grace, wished to redeem this family and their inheritance. Ruth the Moabite was willing to trust God would grant her an inheritance along with His people. There is a real parallel here for us. Because of our sin and rebellion against God, the names of all of us should disappear forever, that is
being forever banished from the presence of God and die the second death. If God was not merciful there would be no hope. By grace God gives people faith and an inheritance they do not deserve.
We see God’s grace in the meal of the covenant – the Lord’s Supper.
Who may celebrate the supper?
Only those who are confessing their sins with godly sorrow and turning from their sin and putting their total trust in the saving blood of Jesus. Jesus is the ultimate redeemer/saviour of the world. In the story of Ruth we see God providing a redeemer for a foreigner and restoration – a new beginning – for the family of Elimelech. In his providence the man Boaz is drawn to fall in love with Ruth the Moabitess who gleans in his field.
Why does Boaz fall in love with Ruth and what moves this Jew to marry a foreigner?
She walked the faith talk.
Ruth trusted the Lord would be with her.
She was obedient doing what God asked of her.
She provided for her mother-in-law and served her and loved her.
Listen to why Ruth is so attractive to Boaz,
He said to her,
“I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband – how you left your father and your mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before.
May the Lord repay you for what you have done.
May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”
True faith is seen by others – by the way we live.
Do our lives reflect the faith we profess?
Are we walking the faith talk?
Are people able to see your servant attitude?
Are you committed to serve God and those around you?
A life of faith has a reward that is awesome.
This is the 3rd lesson we learn.
God graciously reward’s Ruth’s obedience to the faith by giving her a new husband and blessed her with a son and amazingly – a place in the family tree of the Saviour of the world. Ruth was included in the genealogy of God’s Son Jesus Christ.
Naomi could not see beyond Obed to Jesse and then David and then the great Son of David- the true redeemer, Jesus of Nazareth. However, we see that what the women said to Naomi came true in a way beyond all expectation
“The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.” Ruth 4:14-15
God through His son (a descendant of Boaz and Ruth) the Christ restores the names of his own for all time and gives them an eternal inheritance. Do You remember how I began? And they lived happily ever after. Whilst saved by grace alone in Christ alone, a life of faithful service has an eternal reward, living in the new heaven and the new earth for ever and ever.
“To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” Revelation 2:7b
So do not give up or give in to the temptations to abandon serving the one true God. In this story God accomplished the impossible. God’s plan works itself out through small events. Every detail is in His hand. – No chance. luck etc Even our sin with its consequences God turns for good.
In God’s plan all things work for the good of those who love him- who are called and chosen in Christ. When we doubt God’s control over the present situation, then we must admit we cannot comprehend the scope of his plan.
When tragedy or sorrow or trials come our way, we are called to live by faith in our Lord and Saviour fixing our eyes on Him. Remember our Lord has promised, “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”
Our God is the same God as that of Naomi and Ruth and Boaz.
He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
He works all things for the good of those who seek refuge under the shelter of His wings.
AMEN.
Mama by the water 
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