“Can This Be Naomi?” (Part 2 of 2)

We all face events in life that can be devastating. events that leave us feeling fearful, bitter, uncertain about the future. Today, on Truth for Life, we'll learn how a widow named Naomi dealt with this kind of tragedy, and we'll find out how her daughter-in-law's decision to remain with her. points forward to a decision each of us must eventually make.

Alastair Begg is teaching today from the opening verses in the book of Ruth. And that sorry scene, it is. A lonely widow? Living in a foreign country. without either the protection and provision of a husband or that which may come by way of her sons. in a male-dominated society. It was a hopeless setup.

Who's to know whether she thought it was a great idea to go to Moab or not? Who's to know the discussions that took place in the family room before they left? Did she say to a limelight, Elimalak, I don't know if I really want to go to Moab. And he said, Oh, come on, I think it's the best thing to do. Or was she the champion of it? Did she lead the charge? Did she say, you know, Elimelech, I think we should get out of here and go to Moab?

When she heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them. Somehow or another the news was getting back from home. Here's a little ray of sunshine in the darkness. God is intervening in providing His people with food.

She said, Well, I'm going home. And we read that Naomi and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. She leads the Exodus. It was customary in a context like this, even if the daughters-in-law were not planning on coming the whole way with her, that they would make the journey out of town with her.

She's going down the road and so they're going down the road as just a done thing. Of course, there's the added question here, will the daughters-in-law go the whole way down the road? Because she's on her way to Judah, she's on her way to Bethlehem.

She said to her two daughters-in-law, you go back now. Presumably, she got far away from Moab to ensure that they couldn't urge her to stay. If she'd tried to say goodbye to them in the front room, as it were, or in the front garden, they might have said to her, You know what? Things are really fine here, please don't leave.

She said, go back to your mother's house. Well, what are we to make of this? Well, the only thing that I could discover was this. That this phraseology apparently has some connotation in relationship to love and to marriage. In fact, the translation may actually be: go back to your mother's bedroom.

She said, I understand that. As soon as my boys were dead, you could have said, Well, we're done with her. We don't need a mother-in-law in any case. We can get on with our lives. She said, But you've been so kind to me. Now she says, may the Lord grant that each of you, the two of you, that you will both find rest in the home of another husband.

And then she said to them, Come here. And she kissed them. And then, just what you would expect with three women, they all start crying like crazy.

Naomi says, Listen, let me say it to you again: go home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons who would become your husbands? Now, there's a sense in which, of course, she's not going to have any more sons that would become their husbands.

She says, You need to understand, my daughters, it is more bitter for me than for you. Because the Lord's hand has gone out against me.

When she gets back into the village, and we'll come to that another time, she says, Don't call me Naomi, call me Mara, because El Shaddai, that's the word there, El Shaddai has made my life very bitter.

And then she said to them, Come here. And she kissed them. And then, just what you would expect with three women, they all start crying like crazy.

Ruth Clung to her. In other words, Orpa did, if you like. the expected and the sensible thing. She put the pieces of the puzzle together. She said, you know what, you're right. I'm going home. Ruth put the pieces of the puzzle together and said, You're right. I'm not going home. I'm staying with you.

And in verse fifteen, Naomi tries one more time. She says, Hey, listen, look, your sister-in-law is not too far up the road. She's on her way back. Why don't you go and catch her up? If you run, you can catch her.

She realized that to go back up that road into the Moabite community, given all that she had now understood from Naomi and Elimelech of the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, would be for her to turn her back on everything she had come to discover as truth.

And it would definitely be not only to go back to her people, but to go back to her gods, and so she says. And I don't think I can quote it exactly from the King James, I don't have it here, but it's far better in the King James than anything any of these modern translations could do.

Entreat me not to leave thee. Nor to return. from following after thee. For where thou goest, I will go. And where thou dwellest I will dwell. Thy people will be my people. And thy God My God. And where thou diest, I will die. And where thou art buried, I will be buried.

And suddenly fast-forward it down through the corridors of time. And watch as Jesus stands in the valley of decision and he says to men and women, Do you want to be my disciple? Or do you want to return to your people and your own gods?

Who is there, he says, who will forsake his father and his mother and everything that he knows that represents security, all that represents orthodoxy and stability for her in her life? Which girl is there then who will stand up and follow after me? Who will make the words of Ruth? The words of commitment to Christ.

Where you go, Jesus, I'm going. Though none should join me, still I will follow. I am decided. To follow Naomi, says Ruth. And it points forward. to the valley of decision. A valley in which each of us stands this evening, and each of us stands on a daily basis.

Am I going to go back to my people and my gods, or am I going to follow? The way. Of truth.

And when Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her. Yeah. She stopped urging her.

And so the two mermen went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred, and the women said, Can this be Naomi?

And then the story continues from there. It's a great story. At least I like it.

Let's pray. Father, in a day and time when Commitments hard to find. We're tempted to bounce between opinions. to blow hot and cold in our convictions about truth.

When our allegiances in human friendship ebb and flow, When people don't know where they stand with us, because one day we're this way, the next day we're another way. We marvel as the mirror of your word confronts us with this Beautiful pastoral scene.

And this striking encounter between these women. Father, teach us from your word. All the things that matter. And all the things that are important.

And grant to us. The spirit of Faith and humility and tenacity and dependence. such as is displayed in these immense words of Ruth.

We know, Lord, as from reading the story on, that you more than honored her commitment, because there's no good thing that you will withhold from those who walk uprightly.

That when we delight ourselves in the Lord, you will give us the desires of our hearts. That when we seek first your kingdom and your righteousness, all the other stuff is added unto us.

I pray that you'd burn this into our lives. As we think about our retirements and how much money we have and where we're going to stay, as we think about our middle years and what we're going to do and how we're going to spend our time, as we think about our college careers and what it really means to get a degree and to find employment, Lord, mark us out as different.

May we be those. who are unreservedly committed to you.

We thank you. that out of this union that was to follow. was to come The progenitor of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

So that this little encounter on the street between the Jew and the Gentile. was not a passing fancy. But it was under your providential care. Vital. Crucial. In the arrival of Jesus.

Teach us then that all our days and all our deeds matter for something and for someone when we're prepared to walk humbly before you.

And we thank you that you are sovereign over these affairs.

And that when the day ends here and the dawn breaks somewhere else. That Jesus Christ's name is praised and honored.

And again, we thank you for the privilege of adding our voices to the chorus.

As we pray in Christ's name. Amen.