Ruth 1:1-22: Our Faithful God Working Out His Purposes Even in Devastation
Our Faithful God Working Out His Purposes Even in Devastation
(Derived from the notes taken from Pastor *Jesse-Meekins* at Kishwaukee Bible Church in Sycamore Il.)
Ruth 1: 1-22 Kevin E. Jesmer
Key verse 1:6, 22 11-29-20
“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 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.”
In this book we will learn what God has accomplished in his daughter Ruth. By his sovereign hand, he was calling her and establishing her to be the great grandmother of King David. God has made Ruth’s story a real Cinderella story. God is the sovereign Lord. He is faithful to fulfill his purposes in this world, in all things and through all things. His ever-faithful love resounds throughout the world…all of creation for that matter. First, God’s love resounds in the midst of disaster. Second, God is faithful in the midst of personal tragedy. Third, the time of God’s judgement was over.
First, God’s love resounds in the midst of disaster. The people of God were experiencing disaster at this time. It was the time that the Judges rules. (1) They were not led by a king. They had compromised their faith by mixing with the false religions of the nations that surrounded them. Their political leaders and their spiritual leaders were compromised. They were not growing in the knowledge of God through his word. They were going through cycles where a judge would be raised up and they would be delivered from their enemies and have a few decades of peace. Then there were other times when the people would receive God’s training and discipline for their sins. Look at verse 1 again. “there was a famine in the land.” Naomi and her family were living where the people of Israel were experiencing famine, which was God’s training and judgement. These were times of judgement meant to help his people to repent of their sins and return to God for forgiveness and new life.
Famines were very severe. There were no food rations being airdropped in. People could have been asking themselves, “Where is God in all of this devastation?” In this famine devastation, as well as in any devastation then and now, God is at work, guiding all of us according to his plan. God’s plan was being worked out in Ruth’s life. God is faithful in any happenstance. We can be certain that God works all things according to his purpose and his will. (Romans 8:28).
Second, God is faithful in the midst of personal tragedy. There was so much suffering amongst this family. There was famine, death, transplanting, poverty. There was so much loss. Look at verse 5. Naomi and her two daughters-in-law were left alone to cry with nothing to cling to. But yet in this time of personal tragedy, God is guiding by his sovereign hand. He is the process of bringing them back to the Promised Land. Some may argue that they could have been a better way, but God, in his vast wisdom, chose to do it this way. God is faithfully at work, moving history to his desired ends.
There are times when we suffer greatly. At these times we must learn that Jesus is the only one that we can cling to and cry out to. He has promised us, “For I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5) God is not the one we should ever shake a finger at. He is the one that we must trust in all things. Look at how he delt with Naomi and Ruth. We need eyes to see that he is moving history to his desired end. God’s faithfulness is revealed in the foreigner, Ruth!
Third, the time of God’s judgement was over. Naomi and Ruth came to the land of the Israelites. Naomi was broken. She asked to be called Mara because the Lord brought her back empty. (21) But we know it always darkest before the dawn. God is ever faithful to work out his salvation plan in someone’s darkness to reveal his glorious light. Eventually, this will lead, as we will see, to the light of his One and Only Son, Jesus Christ. God does this usually in the midst of devastation. There is not a time that God is not directing and guiding to Jesus. And so, the question is this, are we going to trust the one who is holding the brush and painting the lights on the dark canvas or do we think we know better than the artist himself?
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