When you read through the book of Ruth, one thing stands out that is extraordinary.
Well, actually ordinary. As we all know, day-to-day life is full of opportunities and challenges that require good planning. Today on Truth for Life we'll consider a plan that Ruth made that was not exactly rock solid or risk free.
So how do we rightly balance careful planning with trusting God. Alistair Begg takes us to God's Word for the answer. Father, thank you that all of the circumstances of our lives, all of the apparent inconsequential meetings are really ordained by your mighty providence. We're grateful for them all. We thank you for the ongoing relationship that we have with so many in Christ who are scattered far from us here this evening.
And as we study together, we commend them into your care. And we pray that you will be our teacher now from the Bible for Jesus' sake. Amen. For those of you who are visiting, we're studying in the evenings in this little book of Ruth. which takes us back some three thousand years in history.
Ruth nestles into the time period when the judges ruled. which is around approximately 1200 years B C. We have been discovering some very important and practical lessons that have emerged from looking at this section of the Bible. And I think in much the same way as when we studied Joseph, we have found ourselves greatly stirred and encouraged. We dealt last time with the opening little section.
It was all that we really had time for of chapter 3. And we discovered that Naomi's concern was in chapter three, as it had been in chapter one and verse eleven, that in this instance her daughter in law, Ruth, would be provided for, that she would be settled in her life. And there is a lesson in this that I failed to point out, and I don't want us to miss. Namely, that Naomi could at this Juncture in her life has become a kind of miserable character. She does say that there is a bitterness that is attached to her, but it is beginning to dissipate.
But even though she says, Do not call me naomi, which means pleasant, but call me mara, which means bitter, nevertheless, she doesn't exude a spirit of bitterness. And she doesn't actually convey to us as we read of her life. the kind of preoccupation that can be the part and parcel of someone who has been bereaved in a particular way as she has. She has lost her husband and she has lost both of her sons. But apparently, her preoccupation now is not with her constantly referencing the fact of her loss.
but is of her genuine interest In seeing others who have been similarly bereaved settled in their life. And it is a reminder to us in passing. that the best proof Which You and I can give. of our affection For someone whom we loved and who has been taken from us. is to show proper attention to the happiness And the comfort Of the persons who were dearest in life to the one.
Who has been taken? And the same is true for the bereaved. In the loss, for example, of your mother. Then you may have had a particular friend. Then, instead of sitting in a pool of pity agonizing over your own loss, recognize that this friend of your mother's has also had a great loss, and you may now show your esteem and affection for your mother by caring most directly for the one who is also aware of loss.
And also you recognize that Naomi wasn't one of these old women who grudge younger women the comforts and advantages which they themselves are now too old to enjoy or to relish. You find that in people. They grow old and instead of being able to rejoice in what is happening to those coming up behind them, they're constantly bemoaning the fact that it isn't happening to them. or that they are no longer able to enjoy it. or that they're not going on vacation.
Or that they no longer have the companionship.
Now, dear friends, this is a lesson first to me, and if it means something to you, then make a note of it. But what we will be in that arena of our lives when we get there is simply an extension of what we are now. And if we are self-possessed now, If we are totally self-focused now, then we will be even worse if we make it to 70.
So let us learn then not to grudge to the generation coming up behind us the comforts and the benefits that they may enjoy because of their age and because of their opportunity. Let us learn from Naomi. She's not sitting in the house bemoaning the fact of her widowhood. She's saying to her daughter-in-law, now come on, you need to be settled in your life. And here I have some plans and ideas for you.
And why don't you go ahead and do this and follow my advice and proceed on the journey. And you will remember from last time, and indeed I think it has been the focus of quite a bit of conversation, if I'm paying attention to what I'm being told, that she gave very clear directions as to how she should go and approach Boaz, exercising his responsibilities on the threshing floor and then finally falling asleep after his meal. And I made quite a play on the fact that parents have a responsibility to usher their children into a framework in which they may find the kind of spouse that will be compatible for them in their lives. And I said it in such a way that I think upon reflection, and I don't say this because anyone has said this to me, but I've been thinking about it during the week, I said it in such a way as to perhaps create the impression in the minds of some that parents have a legitimate right to choose. For their children, the kind of husband or wife that they, the parents, would like.
No, they don't. No, we don't. We have a responsibility to encourage our children All things being considered, to marry the kind of fellow or girl most agreeable to themselves. The kind of fellow or girl who will make them glad. This idea of, well, I never had a ball player, and so my daughter is going to marry a ball player because I want somebody to go out in the backyard and throw and pitch to, you may want to do that.
You may have to wait until your grandchildren, Grandpa, because that may not be just exactly what your daughter has in mind. And the fact that you think that she needs to marry this character because of the way he's put together, because he's always doing stuff like this and everything and pressing like this, she doesn't find that remotely attractive.
So send them home. And listen to your daughter. This is the flip side of what I was saying last time, because some of you are dangerous, you know. You get one little thing like this, and you're off into some kind of Islamic trip. And uh That is not what we're saying at all.
Gentle persuasions. And serious advice. may frequently be put to good use. Compulsion. belongs not to a parent.
but to a tyrant. Compulsion belongs not to a parent. But to a tyrant.
Now that is just to redress any danger that the pendulum went out too far.
Now, when you come to verse 6 and 7, you realize that as a result of Naomi's initiative and Ruth's obedience. The latter, namely Ruth, has placed herself in a situation of extreme vulnerability. Because where is she?
Well, she is in a barn, and the barn is filled with what? filled with men.
So here is a single woman in a barn filled with men.
Furthermore, in a barn filled with men who are apparently in exceptionally good spirits. As a result, first of all, of having completed their Task, namely the bringing in of the harvest, and secondly, as a result of having concluded their meal. And now, having been successful in their endeavors. and rejoicing in their relaxations. They're all beginning to lie down and find their bed for the night, throwing themselves down on the barn floor.
And of course, the instruction that has been given to Ruth and which she has been in accord with. is that she should go down to the threshing floor. Not interrupt Boas while he's having his meal, but make sure that she finds out where it is that he lies down, because once he's gone off to sleep and under cover of darkness, she's actually going to show up. And uncover his feet. And Naomi doesn't want her uncovering the wrong feet, because that could lead to all kinds of disasters that are not planned, at least in the mind of Naomi.
So, Ruth was vulnerable. She was vulnerable in relationship to her safety. Because there's no saying what these guys are going to do. And she was vulnerable also in relationship to her motives. Because there's no saying what people are going to say about a young girl who goes down into a barn of men in the middle of the night.
In fact, the kind of things that most people are going to say are not the kind of things that you want written on your resume or send home in in a note to your mother. In fact, the more I've thought about this during the week, I'm not sure I like Naomi's plan.
Now, I don't think she cares whether I like it or not, and I'm not sure that you're particularly interested, but I just wanted you to know. In fact, I think as much as I am commending Ruth for her obedience. I was hoping during the week that she might have had just a little bit more savvy herself. That she might have challenged this notion. She might have said, you know, You really want me to go down in there and go in the middle of the night in in amongst uh a bunch of men in a in a barn?
Because after all, think about this. I'm not sure that we would want to use this now as a model. for giving advice to our daughters about finding a husband. Would we? Any who would see me afterwards, we need to have a serious talk.
Or that we would use it as a strategy, calling our daughters at university and saying to them, Listen, I just read an amazing story in Ruth chapter three. I've got an idea for you. You might want to go down to one of the men's dorms and see if you can un un uncover somebody's feet.
Okay, you see why I'm interacting with Naomi's plan here? I'm saying this is an interesting plan. It's a reminder to us as well that everything that is described in the Bible is not prescribed in the Bible. And the reason I mention this is because people rest the scriptures to their own destruction. In other words, they fiddle about with the Bible and try and make it say what they want it to say, and teenage girls and teenage boys are masterful at it.
They may never have read their Bible in 17 weeks, but as soon as they find a passage like this, they're off to the races.
Now they're phenomenally interested in Ruth chapter 3. And they've got all kinds of reasons as to why they're going to a party over at Rodney's house and they're planning on uncovering a few people's feet.
Now, unless you understand what you're doing with the Bible, you're going to be completely at sea. That's why I mentioned this to you. The circumstances for that to take place. would have to be the same as the circumstances here twelve hundred BC. The good news is, they're not.
That's your first out, Dad. The Jewish laws would have to be in place concerning marriage. They are not. That's your second out. Therefore, We need to apply another principle.
In relationship to those who may be tempted to take this descriptive passage and say, you know, I think this is a very interesting strategy for interpersonal relationships and for getting closer to the opposite sex. And we've developed a whole booklet on this now. And, you know, I can just see within a very short period of time, somebody's got a tape series on this called Uncovering the Feet of Your Future Spouse. And it becomes a whole deal. No, what we have to do is recognize that the Bible said that we should abstain from all appearance of evil.
We should abstain from all appearance of evil.
So you tell your daughter you better come home, honey. Oh, I'm not doing anything, Dad. I know you're not. You've got to abstain from all appearance of evil. I think it's okay.
There's lots of people there. There's lots of other people's parents there, and blah, blah, blah. And it's always the same old nonsense. Yeah, you better come home, honey. You gotta abstain from all appearance of evil.
Yeah, well, there's a thing the other night with Ruth, and she went down in the barn with all the guys and everything. Why can't I do that?
Well, because this isn't 1200 BC and this is not the laws of the leveret, and just shut up and get in the car. Mm-hmm. You see, even good men and women can give bad examples. Right? You can get a bad example from a good person.
It doesn't mean they're a bad person, it just means they're a good person that sets a bad example, and bad examples, when they come from good people, are not to be imitated. Therefore, that is why, as we trace our line through here, it is very important for us to recognize. That behind this process here, behind this unfolding drama, and certainly this is the high point of the story of Ruth here in chapter 3. Behind these highly unusual actions, What we discover is a sincere trust in Yahweh's care and protection. Naomi is trusting in God.
Ruth is trusting in God. Boaz is trusting in God. And although the events and the actions and the details seem distinctly strange to our 21st-century way of thinking. Nevertheless, here God providentially overrules all of this for the well-being of his people. And so it is that Ruth proceeds with the plan.
I'll do whatever you say, verse 5.
So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do. Notice in passing that as Ruth proceeds with the plan, she gives to us here a wonderful illustration. of the fact that you cannot necessarily deal with all of the implications and all of the eventualities of a course of action before you embark upon a course of action. Were there elements of this that were unknown to Ruth? Yes, many of them.
In fact, it didn't go very far before the message was, he will tell you what to do.
So on the strength of the word of Naomi, Trusting in the providence of God, she proceeds with the plan. If she had waited until she had all the details, she would never have gone ahead.
Now, in this, there is a point in passing as well, a reminder to each of us, that there will be occasions, there are occasions in our Christian life, when we cannot see much beyond the next step. At that point, we have to trust God and venture out on the basis of His word. It's not uncommon to find well-meaning believers who frankly have made very little progress in their Christian life. They're safe, they're under control, there is not very much about them that smacks of the supernatural. There is nothing very much about them that says, you know, I really trusted God, I went out on the limb, because all of the time they're spending their lives in the waiting room.
And they're in their waiting room and they're waiting to make sure that all of the implications of their actions are detailed for them, that the eventualities of what would happen if they went there, and then, of course, if the road divided here and they took a right, then that would, of course, place them here, which would in turn make it difficult for them to get there, and so on. These people are absolutely neutralized. They want details before they're prepared to trust God. They're so afraid of making mistakes that they never make anything. They're so afraid of going in the wrong direction that they go in no direction.
Ruth didn't know but beyond wash your face, put on your clothes, put some perfume on, uncover his feet, and then take it from there. That's not exactly what you would call a rock-solid plan, is it? There's a bit of uncertainty there, and yet she proceeds. And I want to say to some of you. You need to start to think about this.
You need to start to dream dreams. You need to start to think about possibilities. You need to look up and beyond the horizon. Give up your small ideas, your paltry schemes, the safe territory. You see, provided your life is in a right relationship with God.
Provided you honestly want to go his way and not your own way. Then the Bible gives us all kinds of permission to launch out in faith. to take risks for his sake. even to get it wrong and to fail and to have to come back. But Ruth is a wonderful example.
Of somebody who, as soon as she got the rudiments of it together, she said, Fine, I'm going for it. I'm going for it. What was she going for? She was going for the future. She was going for obedience.
She was going on the basis of trust. May I ask you, what are you going for? What are you going for? What is there about your Christian life at the moment that speaks only of faith?
Something that you are contemplating doing. A place that you are planning to go. A venture that you are undertaking, someone to whom you're going to speak. whatever it may be, that is all about faith. You don't know the eventualities and you don't know the implications.
To the extent that the answer to that is frankly I haven't got a clue, then the word of God comes to us with great resonance, doesn't it? Lest we spend our lives very safe, very comfortable, very cold, very refrigerated, stuck in the waiting room. And what is true of individuals is certainly true of a church. Put your perfume on, get your clothes on, wash your face, go down. Uncover his feet.
Okay, I'm on my way. And verse 9 to 13, then you have the dialogue in the darkness. Dialogue in the darkness. She goes down. He's lying at the far end of the grain pile.
Not exactly what you would call a romantic picture, is it? He's got all his clothes on, presumably.
So there he is. snoring down at the end of the grain pile. And Ruth. Cause her mother-in-law said It's going down and next she has to uncover his feet. Which he does.
And in the middle of the night, verse 8, something startled the man. And he turned over. And he discovered a woman lying at his feet. Who are you in? Fast.
He said, What do you mean, who are you? He asked. He knew who Ruth was. Listen, have you ever wakened up in the middle of the night and asked your wife who you are? I've had my wife come in the bedroom in the middle of the night and I go, who are you?
I'm your wife. What are you talking about? Oh, sorry, okay, that's fine. Who are you? I'm your serving Ruth, she said.
Wow, okay. You see, also To take all of the kind of sensuality out of this, all of the sort of. 21st century imposed sexuality, the idea of Ruth going down to the threshing floor, sort of strutting her stuff, you know. All dressed up to the nines and ready for action is just nowhere in the passage. This actually speaks to the anonymity that was so much a part of Eastern dress.
That it wouldn't be immediately apparent to him, especially in the darkness, just exactly who it was he was dealing with. And so she says, Well, I'm your servant, Ruth. Notice how she describes herself. And then immediately she goes offline. What do you mean she goes offline?
Well, this wasn't in the script. See? You to get yourself washed up, perfume yourself, put on your best clothes, verse 3, go down to the threshing floor, don't let them know you're there. When he lies down, note where he is, then go uncover his feet and he will tell you what to do.
So she's done everything, uncovered his feet, he wakes up, he says, who are you? She says, I am Ruth. And then before waiting for him to tell her what to do, she starts asking him to do something for her. Hmm? I just thought that was interesting.
I thought I'd point it out. You're listening to Truth for Life with Alistair Begg. We'll hear Ruth's request and Boaz's response. on Monday. Yeah.
Well the Book of Ruth is certainly a great love story, but it is so much more than that. It's the story of God's extraordinary intervention in the lives of ordinary people going about their everyday lives. And if you'd like to make this encouraging story the topic of your fall Bible study or your Sunday school class, you'll want to request the resource we're recommending today. It's a new verse by verse study through Ruth. It's called God of the Ordinary.
This is a six-week study that pairs with brand new video teaching from Alistair, so, in a sense, it's like having him in your home as your small group leader. If you'd like to watch a preview of the videos, you'll find a brief clip at truthforlife.org/slash Ruth Study. Ask for your copy of the God of the Ordinary Study Guide today when you donate to support the Ministry of Truth for Life. You can give online at truthforlife. org slash donate or call us at eight eight eight five eight eight seven eight eight four.
And if you request the study with a donation and would like extra copies for the rest of your group, they're available for purchase at our cost of eight dollars in our online store. Visit truthforlife.org/slash store. Thanks for studying the Bible with us this week. Hope you enjoy the weekend and are able to worship with your local church. On Monday, we'll find out how Boaz's response to Ruth is a foreshadowing of Jesus, our ultimate kinsman-redeemer.
The Bible teaching of Alastair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life. Where the Learning is for Living.
