Bitter Providence (Ruth 1)

Do you ever go on a walk around your neighborhood and ponder

these questions? Who makes the birds sing?

Who feeds the flowers? If you live in a farm, who cares

for the cows? Or anyone can relate?

Who pours down all the pollen every spring?

That blanket of yellow covering your car?

Who sends the rain? Who withholds it?

Who governs the dry grass? Who gives life?

Who takes life away? If you're not a Christian, have

you ever wondered, is there anyone running this show?

That is my life, friends. If you're not a believer, do you

believe that the world is a mechanical machine just

operating on its own accord? Or could it be that there is

someone working behind the scenes around the clock?

That someone is God, your Creator, who constantly cares

for his creation. Theologians refer to this

doctrine as Providence. We confess God's Providence in

the Heidelberg Catechism earlier in the service.

Turn back there in your bulletin.

This is what we believe about God.

God's Providence is His almighty and ever present power, whereby,

as with His hand, He still upholds heaven and earth and all

creatures, and so governs them that leaf and blade, rain and

drought, fruitful and barren years, food and drink, health

and sickness, riches and poverty, indeed, all things come

to us not by chance, but by His fatherly hand.

Friend, that means that every moment, every minute, everything

in your life comes to you, not by chance, but by God's hands.

This is the sweet doctrine of God's Providence.

But sometimes Providence isn't so sweet.

Today we begin a sermon series through the book of Ruth.

Turn your Bible to the book of Ruth.

If you didn't bring a Bible, maybe you don't own one.

Just raise a hand. Somebody will be glad to bring

you a Bible. Right now.

Ruth is near the beginning of the Bible.

It's just after Judges. If you're not familiar with the

Bible, the big numbers in the Bible, those are the chapters.

The little numbers, those are the verses will be in Ruth

Ruth 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1. Ruth chapter 1.

Ruth 1 · chapter mention

Ruth is a story of bitter Providence in the Old Testament.

God saved sometimes by powerful displays of signs and wonders,

like in the Exodus. But Ruth is not one of those

stories. Ruth is a story of God's hidden

work in the ordinary mess of our lives.

Grab a microscope and zoom into the book of Ruth with me.

There's the whole world. Zoom in now the nation of

Israel, zoom in again. There's the tribe of Judah one

more time. There's the little town of

Bethlehem. And there in the little town of

Bethlehem, there's a single seemingly insignificant family

facing a bitter Providence. As I read Ruth chapter 1, hear

Ruth 1 · chapter mention

the word of the Lord. In the days when the judges

ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem and

Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife

and his two sons. The name of the man was

Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his

two sons were Malan and Killian. They were Ephrathites from

Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of

Moab and remained there, but Elimelech, the husband of Naomi,

died and she was left with her two sons.

These took Moabite wives. The name of the one was Orpa,

and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about 10 years,

and both Malan and Killian died, so that the woman was left

without her two sons and her husband.

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.

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. But Naomi said to her two

daughters in law, go return each of you to your mother's house.

May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the

dead and with me. 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.

And they said to her, no, we will return with you to your

people. 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 husband's?

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.

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.

Then they lifted up their voices and wept again, and Orpa kissed

her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her and she said, See,

your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods

return after your sister-in-law. 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.

Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried.

May the Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death

departs me from you. And when Naomi saw that she was

determined to go with her, she said no more.

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? She said to them, Do not call me

Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly

with me. 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? 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. When God sends you a bitter

Providence, there are only two responses.

Turn to the Lord. Turn away from the Lord.

Those are the two responses. How will you respond today if

you're not a believer? My prayer for you is that you do

what may seem illogical and even impossible, that you would turn

from your sin, from this world to God in faith in Jesus Christ.

If you're in Christ, my prayer for you is that you'd return to

the Lord in every bitter Providence.

There's three scenes in chapter 1.

We'll walk through each. The first scene is a bitter

Providence versus 1 to 5A bitter Providence.

In verses 1 to 5, we see just how quickly life can come

undone. First there's a famine, then a

family sojourn, followed by three funerals.

What is happening to this little family in Israel?

Why? We're going to walk slowly

through verses 1 to 5 because the context is crucial.

In verse one, we get The Who, what, when, where, and most

importantly, the why. Look at verse one.

In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the

land. In the Bible, Ruth follows

Judges. Ruth takes place in the days of

Judges. This is not just a chronological

marker. This is a theological evaluation

of the times. In Judges, Israel lived in the

promised land. Israel is the Lord's bride.

But in Judges, they've not been faithful to their husband.

You're not familiar with the book of Judges?

Maybe just look one page to the left in your Bible.

The last verse of Judges is a summary of the entire book.

In those days there was no king in Israel.

Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

In other words, these were days of a downward spiral of

disobedience. These were days where God's

people turned away from the Lord.

So the result in verse one, look at verse one, there was a famine

in the land. Many of us have never lived

through famine. Kids, Can you imagine a famine?

You come down for breakfast. Mom, what's for breakfast?

Nothing. What do you?

What do you mean nothing? There's nothing for breakfast.

What about lunch? Nothing.

Dinner. We have nothing.

It's hard to even picture what that's like.

In a subsistent aggregarian economy, famine function like a

death sentence. And do you see the irony here?

There's no bread in Bethlehem. Bethlehem's name means House of

Bread. That land flowing with milk and

honey has run dry. Israel's moved into the promised

land, and when they moved into the promised land, they signed a

renter's agreement with God. If you're renting, what do you

think your landlord's going to do if you quit paying your rent

month after month after month, They're going to kick you out.

But Israel's covenant with God was not based on finances.

It was based on faithfulness. In Deuteronomy 28 and 29, God

laid out the covenant stipulations.

There were blessings for obedience.

There were curses for disobedience, curses like

famine, curses like infertility, meaning the famine they face was

not random, nor was it just an outworking of the curse on the

ground. From Genesis chapter 3, the

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

famine was retribution. Facing famine, one family flees,

verse one, and a man of Bethlehem and Judah went to

sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two

sons. It seems reasonable enough,

doesn't it? But if the famine was a result

of unfaithfulness, the right response would have been

repentance, turning to the Lord, not leaving the promised land.

Now leaving the promised land was never prohibited, but the

departure was only ever described as a judgement from

God. So Elimelech, whose name means

my God is king, does what's right in his own eyes, and he

heads east to Moab. He departs the one place where

God's promised to bring blessing.

Elimelech leads his family away from the Lord in verse three.

He dies. His wife Naomi is left with two

sons. But like father, like son.

Look at verse 4. These took Moabite wives.

The name of the one was Orpa and the name of the other Ruth.

These two boys from Bethlehem, Mary Moabites.

What's so bad about that? Remember back to the Book of

Numbers. The king of Moab hired Balaam, a

sorcerer, to curse Israel into oblivion.

And when he didn't succeed, he then sent Moabite women into

Israel's camp to seduce them into apostasy.

So Deuteronomy 23 three forbids the entrance of Moabites into

the Lord's assembly to the 10th generation.

After 10 years and no children. In verse 5, Naomi's two sons

also die. Famine, funerals, infertility.

This is the backdrop of the book of Ruth.

And God in his mysterious Providence was behind it all.

Why? Live long enough and you'll

taste your own share of bitter Providence, overwhelming,

unexplainable, seemingly hopeless troubles.

And you'll ask, why isn't that the question we so often wonder?

Why is this my lot? Why is this happening to me?

In verses one to five, we learn that sometimes our suffering is

due to our sin. It's not a sin to lose your job,

but if you lie at work, you may get fired for it.

It's not a sin to have a broken relationship with your child,

but if you neglect your child over and over again, you might

lose that relationship. Now, to be clear, if you're

suffering today, it doesn't mean you've sinned.

But if you've sinned, sin always comes with suffering.

And Ruth, the author, has given us the covenantal context we

need to see the sin and its consequences.

Yet even in Ruth, the exact correlation between sin and

suffering is beyond our pay grade.

The formula is hidden from human eyes.

We can at least say that some of their suffering was due to their

sin. But God is too mysterious, He's

too wise, for us to fully comprehend his ways.

He's hidden his blueprints. So beware of simplistic

solutions to suffering and sin. For who has known the mind of

the Lord when you're suffering? You may be tempted to think back

and see, is this suffering due to some sin in my past?

That's often not helpful. Job's friends were confident,

certain, absolutely sure that the reason he suffered was

because of secret sin. It was in fact, the opposite.

He suffered for righteousness, and God never told him that.

He never knew why. On this side of eternity,

believer, you may never know why.

It's always helpful, though, before sinning, to look ahead

and see what suffering awaits. Sin always comes with a cost.

Sin always brings suffering. What suffering has your sin cost

you? We need to learn to think

soberly about sin and its consequences.

In verses 1 to 5, we also learn that sometimes our response to

our suffering is sinful. Divine trials.

Dr. Elimelech and his family away from the Lord.

They exile themselves from God's presence.

See the progression of sin in response to suffering.

Verse one. They went to sojourn in the

country of Moab. Verse 2.

They remained there. Verse 4.

They lived there about 10 years. When you choose sin, you are

choosing A trajectory for your life.

You're choosing a path. When you look back at times of

suffering, how have you responded?

Did your trials lead you away from the Lord?

Did you take matters into your own hands?

Did you justify just a little sin and then a little more, or

did you turn to the Lord? Did you walk by faith?

Brothers and sisters, you are stewards of your suffering.

None of us desire suffering. Each of us will suffer.

We will receive bitter Providence from God's hand, and

He has good reasons for it, though we won't often understand

them. How will we respond?

Will we turn to the Lord or turn from Him?

In verses 6 to 18, Naomi responds.

Scene 2 a surprising repentance. Verses 6 to 18, a surprising

repentance. In verses 6 to 18, Naomi

responds to bitter Providence. She repents.

But Naomi's repentance isn't the most surprising of the story.

Look at verses 6:00 and 7:00. 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. 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.

The scene changes. Naomi begins the journey back to

Bethlehem. She returns.

See that word verse 6? Return.

See it again verse 7. They went on the way to return

to the land of Judah. The Hebrew word for return

happens to be the same for the Hebrew word for repentance.

Why does the author use this word?

Because the author presents Naomi's return home as more than

a physical return. Naomi's return to Bethlehem is a

return to the Lord. In other words, it's repentance.

We can easily miss the significance of this word here

because the Hebrew word for return is not always translated

as return in English. It's also translated in chapter

1 as turn back verses 11 and 12 and gone back verse 15 and also

brought back verse 21. In Hebrew, repetition is a key

way to emphasize the significance of an idea and how

important is the idea of repentance as the word appears

12 times in chapter, 112 times in 22 verses verse 6, verse 7,

verse 8, verse 10, verse 11, verse 12, two times in verse 15,

verse 16, verse 21, two times in verse 22.

Repentance is the melody of chapter 1.

The prodigal is returning home. What leads Naomi home?

Not simply her destitution. Verse 6.

She heard the Lord has visited his people and given them food.

What's changed? The good fortunes of Israel.

It's not good luck. It's not random chance.

This is divine Providence, divine intervention.

God visited his people. God gave them food.

It seems that rebellious Israel has also repented.

Remember, we're in the days of Judges.

In Judges, God promised peace and prosperity in response to

repentance. It is God's kindness to Israel

that leads Naomi to the road of repentance.

For the Christian, all of life is repentance.

Repentance is the way home. Are you believer walking in the

way of repentance today? When you're learning how to

walk, which I'm sure many of you have forgotten, eventually you

ditch your parents. You don't want them to hold your

hands. You can do it fine on your own.

When you're learning to ride a bike, eventually you ditch the

training wheels. Just two wheels here.

When you're learning to drive a car, which some of you maybe

are, eventually you ditch the parent in the passenger seat.

You need them no longer. But in this life, the Christian

never ditches the need for repentance.

We walk the way of repentance all the way home, which means

that each of us needs to regularly and personally repent.

Two motivations of repentance. 1A.

Sorrow for sin 2 The kindness of God.

In that sense, repentance is bittersweet.

Sin is bitter, but God's mercy in Christ is sweet.

Sin is the reason we need to repent, but God's kindness is

what brings us to repentance. 2 Practices of repentance.

Turning from sin and turning to God, we leave behind Moab and we

make a beeline for Bethlehem. Another way to say this is we

put sin to death and we bring godliness to life.

We kill sin, and we cultivate godliness to postures to discern

in repentance are between godly grief and worldly sorrow.

As Paul says in 2nd Corinthians 7 verse 10, godly grief produces

a repentance that leads to salvation without regret,

whereas worldly grief produces death.

Some questions to ask as you consider which one do you

display? Are you sorry because you got

caught or are you sorry because you grieved God?

Are you sorry for the consequences of sin or are you

sorry because you sinned? Do you hate what's happened

because of your sin, or do you hate your sin itself?

We need to discern the difference between godly grief

and worldly sorrow because it will help us see when we care

more about saving face than seeking God.

Two challenges 2. Repentance, blindness, and

excuses. A physically blind man never

denies his disability, but a spiritually blind man can't even

see that he's blind. How can you tell if you're

spiritually blind? If you can't see a need for

repentance, it's likely that you can't see yourself clearly.

You're spiritually blind if you don't regularly confess your

sins. It's likely that you don't

realize that you sin regularly. But sometimes we see our sin or

it's presented to us by brother or sister in the church.

But in response we excuse it. Or we hide our sin with vague

language like I messed up or I'm struggling.

How should we talk about our sin?

Here's what the Westminster Confession of Faith says.

It is every man's duty to endeavor to repent of his

particular sins particularly. In other words, we should use

specific words and biblical categories to describe our sin.

Brother, sister, repent today. If God's exposed sin in your

heart, if your conscience is birding you right now, do not

delay. Turn from the sin which is

making you miserable. Turn to the God who gives you

more grace. Turn home.

It's time to come home. That's what Naomi does.

She returns home. But first she tries to persuade

her daughters in law, Orpa and Ruth, to go back to Moab in

verses 8 to 18. Naomi tells her daughters in law

three times to turn back. Look at verses 8 to 10.

The first time Naomi says to turn back.

She prays that the Lord would deal kindly with them, just as

they've dealt kindly with her and with her family.

She kisses them to depart, but they both weep and refuse.

In verses 11 to 14, Naomi says to turn back a second time.

She explains the great cost if they follow her.

Naomi's a widow. She's too old to have another

husband. She cannot guarantee them

husbands either, or children. Or even hope.

Naomi cannot promise them provision.

They both weep again, but this time there's a parting of ways.

Verse 14 and Orpa kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to

her. Orpa makes the rational

decision. She returns home, back to Moab,

back to her family, back to her gods.

In verse 14, Orpa exits the scene.

Naomi is left alone with Ruth. Ruth clings to Naomi.

She doesn't turn back. She stays put.

The word the author chooses here, cling, is a covenantal

term. It's the same term used in

Genesis 224 to describe the responsibility a man has to

cling to his wife in marriage. It's also the word used

throughout Deuteronomy to describe Israel's responsibility

to cling to the Lord. The author here implicitly shows

us a glimpse of Ruth's devotion not just to Naomi, but to the

Lord himself. In verses 15 to 18, Ruth makes

her devotion explicit for the third time.

Naomi tells Ruth to turn back. Naomi says your sister-in-law

turned back to her people and to her God.

Turn back like her. So Ruth must make a choice here.

It's not just a choice between her own mother and her

mother-in-law or between Moab and Israel, but between the gods

of Moab and the one true God of Israel.

Here Ruth's declaration in verse 16, 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. Where you die, I will die, and

there I will be buried. May the Lord do so to me and

more. Also, if anything but death

departs me from you. Naomi has nothing left to say.

Silence. Do you see what's happened to

Ruth here? This is the surprising

repentance of the chapter. This is Ruth's conversion.

This is her declaration of faith.

See the faith of this Moabite. Ruth commits herself irrevocably

to Naomi. She departs Moab for the

Promised Land. She forsakes her gods for the

one true God. She determines never to go back.

Her resolve is total, extending even to death and she confirms

her commitment commitment with an oath to her new found Lord.

That is the faith of this Moabite.

When God made his covenant with his people, he said, Exodus 3,

Exodus 6, I will be your God and you shall be my people.

After being told to turn back three times, Ruth says to Naomi,

Your people shall be my people, your God, my God.

Ruth, a Moabite, an enemy of God and his people, becomes a

friend. Her declaration of faith is the

climax of this chapter because her faith makes no worldly sense

whatsoever. The original audience would have

been shocked that a Moabite repented and returned to the

Lord, and they would have been encouraged to follow in her

footsteps. Friends, today you have the same

choice as Orpah and Ruth. Will you turn to God or will you

turn from God? Will you walk with God or will

you walk away from God? Each of us must repent of our

own sins, for none of us is good according to God.

We've rebelled against God, we've disobeyed His commands,

we've fallen short of his glory, we've broken His covenant, and

so we've received His judgement. Death in this life, judgement

forever. But friend, do you see the

steadfast love on display in the book of Ruth?

That God, through a bitter Providence, would save a Sinner?

A woman who once lived in Moab now dwells in heaven.

That is the kindness of God. Friend, would you let the

steadfast love of God on display in Jesus Christ lead you to

repentance 2000 years ago? He came for our salvation.

God sent His only Son to save sinners.

The only man who never needed to repent of his own sins died on

the cross to save us from our sins.

And on the cross, He bore God's judgment for sinners.

And three days later, he rose from the grave.

And the tomb is empty because he's seated at the right hand of

God the Father. And he will return to judge the

living and the dead. And you must respond.

How will you respond? Will you follow in Ruth's

footsteps? Would you return to the Lord?

Would you run home? Would you repent?

Would you let her faith be your faith?

Would you let her people be your people?

Would you let her God be your God?

That's the choice you must make today.

There's great cost of following Jesus Christ.

In some sense, that's what Naomi was trying to persuade Ruth of.

There is great cost to following the Lord.

Are you sure you want to follow the Lord?

But friend, there's more to gain than anything you'll lose in

this life. For if you gain God, you gain

everything. Brothers and sisters, there's

great cost to following Jesus Christ.

But God gives us one another to bear the burdens together.

God does not allow us to drink bitter Providence alone.

He doesn't allow us to suffer alone.

He gives us companions who will cling to us on our journey home.

Following Christ looks like clinging to God and clinging to

his people. Are you truly clinging to God if

you're not clinging to his people?

The Christian weeps. The church weeps with those who

weep. The Christian carries burdens.

The church bears one another's burdens.

The Christian and the church face bitter Providence together.

The Christian and the church walk in the way of repentance

together. There's one final scene to

consider in chapter 1. The story began in Bethlehem.

It's to Bethlehem we return. 3rd And finally, a foretaste of

deliverance. Verses 19 to 22.

Look at verses 19 to 22. We see a foretaste of

deliverance, but for Naomi, it doesn't feel like deliverance.

At least 10 years have passed since Naomi's been in Bethlehem.

She departed with her husband and her two sons.

She returns with Ruth in verse 19.

The whole town was stirred. The women said, Is this Naomi?

But Naomi corrects them. Verse 20 Do not call me Naomi,

call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.

She says 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? Naomi, whose name means pleasant

tasks to be called Mara, which means bitter.

That is her perspective of God's managing of her life.

It's bitter. This is the second time Naomi's

expressed this perspective in verse 13.

Look there, she said. It is exceedingly bitter to me

that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me.

Here again she says the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.

And in one sense she's absolutely right.

From a famine to three funerals, she's been driven to despair.

If God Almighty is against her, who could possibly help her?

But is Naomi right when she says the Lord has brought her back

empty? Empty.

Did she not return with a loyal daughter-in-law who's forsaken

everything to cling to her? Don't you see?

In Naomi's suffering she cannot see God's provision, which is

standing within arm's reach. In Ruth, she can't see.

God's hidden hand of Providence working for her good.

Behind the scenes in chapter 1, there are three conflicts.

The first is the famine, which has just been resolved, verse

22. They're back in Bethlehem at the

beginning of barley harvest. They're baking bread in the

House of bread. Again, this is a foretaste of

more deliverance. It's a sample.

Have you ever been to Costco at 11 AM?

That's my family's favorite time to go to Costco, 11:00 AM.

Because at 11 AM, they start serving samples.

Just a taste, just enough to whet your appetite.

They'll point you down the aisle where you can get more.

The bread in Bethlehem is a foretaste of deliverance because

there is more deliverance to come in this story.

The second conflict in Chapter 1, Ruth's infertility, will be

resolved at the end of the story.

The third conflict, which is more behind the scenes in the

book of Ruth, that there's no king in Israel, will also be

resolved through Ruth in a few generations.

Naomi's tasted A bitter Providence.

She thinks God is punishing her. She does not know that God is

really restoring her family through Ruth.

She thinks that God is against her.

She does not know that God is really rescuing a people through

her. She doesn't realize that God's

purposes and plans are so often hidden in the moment, but become

evident over time. She doesn't realize that the

little town of Bethlehem will be the birth place of the King of

Israel, David. She does not realize that

Bethlehem will be the birth place of the King of Kings,

Jesus Christ. She doesn't realize it yet.

Brothers and sisters, do you realize what great deliverance

God is working for you and through you, even in the most

mundane details, even in bitter Providence?

Do you realize that Christ's resurrection, which we celebrate

today, is a foretaste of further deliverance?

What great deliverance awaits you if you've trusted in Jesus

Christ? Do you realize that every moment

and every minute and everything in your life comes to you not by

chance, but by God's hand, even the bitter Providence?

Friend, let every bitter Providence return you to the

Lord. Let's pray.

Father, we declare that whatever you ordain is right, even the

bitter Providence that you send our way.

Would you help our church by the Spirit to return to the Lord in

repentance again and again and again, all the way home in Jesus

name, Amen.