This is the Truth Network. Forever thy word is settled in heaven, O Lord. Psalm one nineteen, verse eighty nine. I'm Stu Erverson. Welcome to this special Wednesday in the Word leader podcast, where we prepare and equip our leaders of this special Bible study outreach breakfast every week to teach through the scriptures.
13 Dario locations. There's a men's group meeting and several of the Locations host the women on Thursday morning. Stay tuned. Be encouraged as we jump into this week's Wednesday in the Word. What is the price of loyalty?
Who? Would you Go to the wall for? Go to the mat for? Who would you be willing to die for? Loyalty is hard to come by these days.
But we see a brilliant picture of loyalty. In our study of Ruth, the whole book, but especially this week in these profound verses. Ruth chapter one, our second week. diving in and Wednesday in the word Dr. Horn.
This is quite a book for those that have heard the stories and watched the flannel graph. Bible studies, right? When we were kids, and the Sunday school teachers were trying to present this to us, but man, when you deep dive these scriptures, something comes alive, doesn't it? Yeah, I mean You know, it's just really amazing what God does. I look at the book of Ruth and You know, there's so many rabbit trails that you can go down, and each one of them leads you to a good place.
A lot of times, rabbit trails lead you astray, but these ones. No matter where you go in the book, no matter what you decide to pursue, you're going to get somewhere good. And not just good, but sweet, you know. We were talking last time and looking at the book and the idea of God's sovereignty and God's providence and God's righteousness and God's goodness. Are like the four big ideas, right?
God's providence. In chapter two, God's sovereignty in chapter one, God's providence in chapter two, God's righteousness. In chapter three, and then God's goodness. In bringing fruitfulness to everybody in chapter four. That's what I want for my life.
You know, I want God's sovereignty and God's providence. And God's goodness, you know, really to come out of the righteousness that. he has provided you know through his own kinsman redeemer and so rude's a precious book i'm glad we're doing this well You know, in all of that, you have a lot of brokenness, you have a lot of famine, you have a lot of death. And that's really, and you kind of started in. We do try to do a.
A review each week of last week's study to bring people into the context of where we are today. And then we do a preview of the upcoming verses. This week we're looking at. Ruth chapter 1. Verses 11 through 22, which will round out chapter one of our study.
Dr. Horn. It's, you think, one of the sermons on Ruth. Chapter one that I just started listening to from a pastor out west. He said, When you think things couldn't get any worse, you know, you have just calamity and darkness and brokenness and devastation that fell upon this Hebrew family.
But like you pointed out last week and jump in here with a little bit of a review. From last week, it started when they went to pagan land, when they went away from the land of their fathers. There was a famine that. You could say drove them there, but Elimelech, whose name means God is my king, went to a godless. Country, an enemy of the Jews, a country that was idolatrous, take us there.
And then the death that followed, in which all of a sudden we got three widows left standing after all this mess.
Well, I think we started by reminding ourselves that this book Took place. The writer of this book wanted you to know when it took place, and it took place in the time of the judges. The judges were these military champions that God sent. to deliver his people. from the oppressive Um Slavery that came upon them because of their sin.
And during those years, The thing that marked the people of God that kept taking them back to the pigpen of sin was everybody did that which was right in their own eyes. And that's exactly what we find here. There is a man, a very, very worthy man. We're going to meet. that word a second time.
First off, we meet a worthy man. There was a man. And the word for that term, man, is worthy. There was a worthy one. And then we're going to see that same term show up again with BOAS.
So here is this sort of exalted figure. Everybody knew who he was. We talked about his heritage, his relationship through marriage to some of the most important names in Israel. And he is in the best possible place to be. He is at Bethlehem, the house of bread.
This is the bread basket of the nation. And during the book of Ruth, what we discovered, we noted that everybody in the book, except for one dude, does what's right. And the one dude that does what's wrong does what's right in his own eyes, right?
So he looks around and he sees this famine and I don't think we're reading into this. on the basis of what happened i mean he he decided to turn his back on on the Lord. And on his people and on his place. And so he trucks out. From Bethlehem, and he doesn't just go to some other part in Israel, he trucks out to the very worst place you could go.
It would be if you decided you were tick-tick God and you were done with him and you were done with all of his people and all of his laws. Um the the place you would go was Moab. And that's where he goes. And so the problem is when you head, when you head to Moab, you rarely go alone. And so here is this man in frustration and in anger toward God.
He takes. three people with him. He takes his sweet wife Naomi. Her name means pleasantness. And he takes his two young boys and they didn't just go for a little visit.
They were there for many years. Those boys grew up and they married. Moabitis women. And God brought Judgment. on top of the famine.
So they went to get away from a famine and they got more, more famine, but this time it was a famine of children. Their wombs were barren. And then on top of that, we find there were three funerals by the time you get very early on in the book. Famine has become funeral, and here is this woman who has to navigate all of this. without any hope.
and without any help. Her name is Naomi. And so she decides to go back. because she heard something.
Somehow, a word had come to her. Isn't it interesting that God always sends a word? And here was the word, there is bread. in Bethlehem. And so God had favored his people.
And she decides. to go back to Bethlehem without any hope for a future. She was a woman. Her husband had walked away. Everybody knew what had happened to her.
And so obviously, when she comes in the gate of Bethlehem, everybody is that Naomi? Is that who I think it is? Because she was not unknown even after all of these years. That's how well known their family was. And so Here we are, and as we noted, God's judgment fell, but even in judgment, there was the divine sovereignty of God.
That was orchestrating all of this. He orchestrated the famine, he orchestrated the funerals, and he orchestrates the way back. for Naomi and all of this. Orchestration, God's sovereign hand is ultimately going to lead to blessing and fruitfulness. You know, sometimes when we talk about God's sovereignty to people, they get the idea that God is this God who's just manipulating and moving human beings around like little pawns on a game board.
Uh, for his own selfish purposes, but if you look at the sovereignty of God as it plays out, it is always doing two things: it is always exalting his glory and it is always bringing good for his people. And that's exactly what we see in the book, that the sovereignty of God is at work. And so we left Naomi standing at the border of Israel with two daughter-in-laws. who have no husbands. Orpa and Ruth.
She exhorts them to go back to their families. And the reason she exhorts them to go back to their families is. First of all, you don't belong to Israel. You're not Israelites. You don't worship our gods.
That tells you something. That tells you how bad a Limelech. and his two boys were. I mean to to have not introduced The god of heaven to their lives to have lived among Moab, so that these women are still identifying with the Moabite. deities, the horrible deities of Moab.
And so Ruth says go or Naomi rather says go back to your families. I have nothing for you. If you come with me. you will have less than nothing. Because you're coming to a land that's not even going to receive me more than likely.
They're certainly not going to receive you too. And it's a different land, it's a different culture, it's a different God. And when I come back, I don't have a future. There's nobody that is going to take me in. I don't have any more sons to give you.
And even if I got married tomorrow, it would be at least, you know, 20 years before you would have a husband.
So go back. And that's what Orpa does. She weeps and she kisses Naomi goodbye and she goes back to her culture. She goes back where she came from. But Ruth does an amazing thing.
Ruth clings to Naomi. and says to her these famous words, Where you go, I will go. Where you dwell, I will dwell. Your God will be my God, and where you die, I will die. This is a stunning statement from this wonderful, beautiful woman who's not even an Israelite.
You know, she's like another. Another woman that we don't meet in the story, but that's related to Boaz. You know, Boaz is ancestress. was a woman named Rahab, another pagan idolatress. that God rescued with his word.
She said to the two spies, we have heard, just like Naomi heard, a word had come to Rahab, and now a word comes to Naomi and to Ruth. And that word changes everything. Wow. Such profound words in scripture that has been the theme of all kinds of writings, commentaries, poems.
Songs, lyrics, just a real blessing. Words of loyalty, but words that go deeper than just. You think about Many have died loyal to their country, loyal to their flag. and have given their life. And what and these are heroes and we celebrate them.
But there's no greater love than Then the love Jesus says in John 15, 13, where a man lays down his life for his friends, and this is the love. That Ruth is conveying to Naomi, her mother-in-law, not even a blood relative, really, a relative by. By marriage to a man who their only connection was already buried in a tomb. Dr. Sam Horn is our special guest.
This is the Wednesday in the Word podcast. I'm Stu Epperson. We do this each week to equip our leaders who are preparing to teach their groups at this wonderful fast casual restaurant concept, who's an amazing host, Dario, all across 13 spots, all across. North Carolina, welcome to the folks at Harrisburg. just outside, just in the area of Charlotte in the Beltway there.
North Carolina, and we've got 13 men's groups that meet, and we've got six women's groups that meet. Women in the word that most of them meet on a On a Thursday morning, and some meet on a Tuesday morning. Dr. Sam Horn's a pastor, author, he is a radio host, and he's been. In the word a long time.
He's been a mentor and friend to me, and we're so glad you're along, sir, for this. I hope people will. Go back to last time's Wednesday Word podcast and listen to the discussion of the history of the Moabites. They were always just an absolute pain in the side, thorn in the side of the Israelites from When uh Moab was spawned through a an incestuous Unfortunate situation with Lot and his daughter in Genesis 19. We went into all of that and how this.
Group through even the false prophet Balaam and the king Balak. Plagued Israel in the wilderness all the way to its modern-day Jordan, the area of Moab just east of the Dead Sea. But so this is where they went. All that detail is in last week's podcast. Dr.
Horn, you did a great review and And you already jumped into the preview these mighty powerful words of Ruth These words of loyalty. You know, Naomi, two things. One of our pastors, Dr. Davey, whose sermons I referenced, who taught, did a great exposition through Ruth, he did eight or nine messages of the book. He titled his message on Elimelech going to Moab is the grass is greener, you know, on the other side, right?
That's kind of what you know, you see, you see it, but then and then he quoted one author who. was toying with writing a book called The Grass is Always Greener. Over the septic tank, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, but anyway, but that ended up being a land of idolatry. And you just shared that information so well. Another thing he said. Which is uh fascinating. And he observed, this is just in the text, that Four times.
Naomi compels her two daughter-in-laws, her two Moabite daughter-in-laws, to go home. Go to your own mothers. Go to your own. I mean, imagine what Ruth's mom would have said. You know, what are you thinking?
Your husband's dead. We don't serve the true God. We have our own God, you know, Shemereth. We have our own rites of worship. We have our own idolatry.
We have our own gospel. Customs, we have our own pagan rituals. What are you doing, following, taking up with Naomi? Your husband's dead. You have no tie.
She's telling you to stay here with me. And yet, you know, against all of that. Potential advice that they were getting, both Orpa and Ruth. Nomi tells them four times: go back, go back, and Orva, it says she kisses Naomi. They both fell on Naomi's neck and they both wept.
You know, that's mentioned a couple of times. And then the climactic moment, it says Orpa. It says she kissed Naomi, but it says Ruth. Clung to Naomi, and I think Javer and McGee was the one that said. That this is kind of typical of two different categories of Christians today.
You got the professing Christians, which is kind of like almost every American, right? That is seen in Orpa. you know, the kissing, the lip service. And then you've got the true possessing, not professing, but possessing. Christians who really do take up their cross, who really do follow Jesus.
And Dr. Horn, we have those two contrasts here. Amid Naomi's pleas to go back, one of them stayed. One of them went back to the land of their gods and their customs, and the easy decision was to stay in Moab. Where they had been all their life.
The tough decision was to follow Naomi, and Ruth not only follows Naomi. She says, I want to be buried where you're buried. I mean, I'm going to go, I'm in, I'm all in. There's no little halfway, there's no hedging. I'm going all in for you.
And these words end up being some of the most prolific, powerful, impactful words in all of the canon of scripture. And they take us right into the end of this chapter, don't they, Dr. Horne? Right.
Well, you know, let me just, if I were. you know going to lead a study on on ruth in this particular section of ruth Um You know, as you've mentioned, there's all kinds of guys out there that are writing on Ruth, and they've done some tremendous helps out there. I really like John Piper's little book. on Ruth that he wrote many years ago called A Sweet and Bitter Providence. And it might be a resource that if you're leading a group, you may just want to mention that to your people.
So one resource. Is that little commentary by John Piper? It's very readable. It's not even 100 pages. It's a very, very user-friendly.
Little homily on Ruth that I would highly recommend. And the second resource I would recommend to people who are looking at Ruth is Alistair Begg. has a little series on Ruth. That is just outstanding. If you've never heard Alistair preach.
He's a phenomenal preacher. He has a unique way of looking at scripture, and he brings this. incredible dry humor to the table that just helps it stick. And so it's like a good bowl of oatmeal in the morning. You still, you're not hungry at 11 o'clock because it sticks to your ribs.
Well, well, and when Alistair speaks on Ruth, it sticks to your ribs. And when you read Piper, it kind of opens your eyes.
So, for example, let me just show you a little bit of what I'm talking about. Piper points out five things in this section of Ruth that are interesting. And I think really it doesn't take a lot to apply that. Uh tonight, first of all, Ruth. the commitments he makes.
here, as you pointed out, is stunning. She uses the covenant name of God, Yahweh. And this is the first time it comes out of her mouth. I mean, she is using language. That an Israelite would use, right?
So she starts down this path with. Naomi, she knows exactly what it's going to cost her. And it was very costly. First of all, it meant that she had to leave her family. and her land.
This was a big deal in the ancient world. you know people today we move all the time it's not it's nothing for somebody to sell their house. in North Carolina and move to California or to sell their house in Illinois and to move down to Florida. We move all the time. The average person in this country is probably going to make three to five moves.
In their life from state to state.
Sometimes you might even move to a different country for a period of time. But in the ancient world, you didn't do that. You were anchored to your land, to your country. You were anchored to your tribe. You were anchored to your.
to your village, to your piece of property. And that was very meaningful because that was part of your identity. We're gonna find out. that Elimelex land Is a land that has to be redeemed. That's how deeply ingrained.
was your connection to your homeland and to your your home and to your the land you grew up on and so ruth is going to have to leave all of that and it is not a temporary departure Right.
So she's going to leave. her family and her land. Secondly, she's going to embrace... a life of hardship From what she can tell, she's going to embrace widowhood. She's going to embrace the fact that she's not going to have a child.
Because there's the likelihood of her going with Naomi. And given who Naomi is and what has happened to her and what she's done and the things Naomi is actually saying to her really forcefully would indicate if I go with this woman, I'm pretty much heading into a life of widowhood and a life of barrenness. Because this woman I'm going with has nobody to give me. And there's really Nobody that's tied in. And so there's no hope for all the things that mattered in the ancient world.
My land is gone. My family is gone. My future is bleak. Thirdly, she was going to a completely unknown land with a new group of people, a new custom, and all kinds of different changes. I mean, when think about what happened, we studied the book of Daniel together.
When Daniel left Israel and he went to Babylon, that was not a small little adjustment. And for Ruth to leave Moab and come to Bethlehem. That was a massive cultural shift. New customs. new language, new people.
And then fourthly, she was committing her whole life to this. She actually says where you die. I will die and there I will be buried. I mean, she's making an oath here. This is not just like a nice thing she's saying.
She, in the eyes of God, is making an oath. She's saying to Naomi. I'm going to go with you. And I know when I get there, at some point, you're going to die. And I'm going to remain because they're not both going to die on the same day.
So when you die, I'm not coming back to Moab. I'm going to stay there and I'm going to die there.
So she is actually making a complete break with everything that she knows. And the reason she is doing this is because of the fifth thing. This is where it's all going. I'm willing to leave my land. I'm willing to leave my family.
I'm willing to embrace a bleak future. I'm willing to go to a place where I don't know anybody. I don't know the culture, the customs. And I'm prepared to go there and spend the rest of my earthly life there. And I'm going to do that because.
I want your God. Your God, Naomi, will be my God.
Now, think about what just happened. Naomi just said something before she says this, like before Ruth says, where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge, and your people will be my people, and your God will be my God, and where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. And she takes this oath: may the Lord do so and more to me also, if anything but death parts me from you.
So she's serious about this. And just before, like. In my mind. Like A minute before she makes this amazing statement, Naomi says, it is exceedingly bitter to me. for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me.
It's like Naomi says, well, let me tell you about the Lord. He has been exceptionally harsh with me. And the next thing out of Ruth's mouth is, I want that God. Naomi, I want to be a devoted follower of your God. This is a conversion statement.
If I were going to put this in like Christian terms, like we would say at our church, this woman became a genuine follower of God. In New Testament language, she became a Christian, although Christ hadn't showed up yet, right?
So we didn't use that term in the Old Testament. She became a devoted, faithful worshipper. of a god she didn't know But she had seen in a woman who had experienced some of the harshest. Things that got to come.
So here's my two things I want to say. One, I think Ruth gives this stunning conversion statement. that is rightly, rightly exalted, and that's where the focus ought to be. Right.
Let's not forget Naomi. I think Naomi gets a bad rap. I think sometimes we present Naomi as this bitter, dried-out husk. This angry, bitter person who wants nothing to do with God, and she's going back to Bethlehem because it's worse for her if she stays in Moab. I actually wonder if we kind of give her a little bit of a bad rap.
Notice what she says. When she says, she introduces the idea to her daughters-in-law, she says, may the Lord deal kindly. with you. May the Lord be loyal. That word kindly is the word hath said.
May the Lord deal kindly with you. And then she's going to acknowledge: look, my years here have not been. They've not been easy years. They've been hard years. The hand of the Lord has been heavy.
On our family, and it's been heavy on me because of my husband and what he did. But the hand of the Lord has been heavy on me. And then she's going to come back at the end of the chapter and say to the ladies that welcome her back to Bethlehem: Don't call me Naomi. Call me Mara. Because it has gone harsh with me.
That word bitter can also mean heavy or harsh. It was gone heavy. I went out full. I had a husband. I had.
A reputation. I had a standing in the culture here. I had two boys and I came back with nothing.
Well, Actually, she came back. With the Lord, and she came back with Naomi. And by the time she gets to the end of that book, All of this barrenness is going to be bountiful fullness. And Dr. Horn, that's right there could provide a point of.
Good discussion. I don't want to say contention. Because some books in the Bible that talk about characters talk about. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Talk about this man and woman, Zachariah.
And Elizabeth and Luke 1, they feared the Lord, right? They were God-fearers. But there's not a statement. per se about Naomi like that. But, and you see this bitterness.
So, yeah, so she could get a bad rap. You know, I have you, I see both extremes of the pendulum here. You have one side that says, you know, she's this godly, saintly woman. She came home back to her God, so on and so forth. You have the other side that says she's bitter.
She wants to change her name to Mara. God's done bitterly with me. I've been dealt this horrible hand. Woe is me. And But somewhere in there, and I really kind of am leaning toward you the more I look at it, the more I study it, and what gets me.
leaning toward the godly side of Naomi. is this statement Jesus said when he said, wisdom is known by her children. Correct. And I believe he was either talking about John the Baptist or someone in that And that, what's the fruit? What's the product?
And you have. Just you have this Moabite woman Who grew up in a Moabite culture, not a God-fearing culture, not a. Not a culture that served Yahweh and trusted him in his law. Ruth, who suddenly just Of course, suddenly it's to over time she wants. What Naomi has.
She wants the God that Naomi serves. And she's pledging her loyalty and fidelity to this woman.
So there had to be something. in her, in Naomi, that that was of God. It was of God's grace. That attracted that this wisdom was known by her children. I just can't help but think that.
But I want to give people room to express because you don't want to. Denigrate or understate the bitterness. I mean, there are widows out there. My mom's a widow. You know, there are widows out there.
There is death. There is barrenness. There is forsakenness. People are hurting. There is so much pain in this first chapter.
Dr. Horn, and we really hit it hard last time, and now we're turning the corner. Where you know It's like Ruth embraces that, but she's really embracing the true God, that even in the darkness and even in the brokenness, the beauty of God comes out, which is kind of the overall theme of this book. Out of brokenness. comes beauty.
Well, here's something that really helped me with. um the two times in chapter one where naomi references the idea of bitterness She's talking about something that God did. Right.
She says. It is a bitter thing. It is exceedingly bitter to me. For your sake, that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me.
So, so something God did. has a bitter taste in Naomi's mouth. She's going to tell the same thing. To the women, the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me.
So something God has done. Tastes bitter to Naomi.
So I just think about it this way. Let me give you a really dumb illustration.
So When I go to a restaurant and somebody you know when i drink a coke or something i oftentimes like to put a lemon in my coke And when I I have a brand new granddaughter and we were at a restaurant the other day and I, for whatever reason, I handed her the lemon. And she does what every little, you know. 15 month kid does when you give them something, they put it in their mouth. And they put it in their mouth. And immediately.
Her face crinkled up because what she put in her mouth was bitter.
Now, I wouldn't say my granddaughter is a bitter kid. I would say what she got from my hand was bitter to her. And I think that's what Naomi is actually saying here. She's saying, What God did has a bitter taste for me. The loss of my husband.
is not a sweet loss it's a bitter it's a bitter hard thing any godly woman like your mom who loses a godly husband rejoices where their husband is but it's still a hard thing Right. It's still, it doesn't taste like a sweet thing. When we get to heaven, all of our sorrow is going to be eliminated. But I think that's actually what's happening to Naomi. She has been experiencing.
The judgment of God that fell on her husband because of her sin, and it was hard. It was bitter in her mouth. That doesn't make her a better person. It just acknowledges she's had a hard time.
So like in the famine times. During the days of Elijah, because of the sins of Israel, all the righteous people like Elijah were also thirsty. They were also suffering. They were tasting the bitterness. of what other people send produced.
And that's what I think Naomi's doing. And that's why I think Naomi is such a powerful Uh player in the book. I actually think that she's the key player in the book because she brings Ruth to the table. She instructs Ruth. She's going to remind Ruth.
She identifies who Boaz is. She gives Ruth instruction about how to get Boaz into the equation. And so there's just this amazing story that you don't immediately see. You don't immediately pick up. about Naomi.
And so here's here's what if I were a group leader, I would be helping people recognize this. When God wrote this story, he wrote it on multiple levels, just like he writes your story on multiple levels. And what, when you first read the story, you might come to certain ideas. And then when you go back and read it again and again and again, it's like it becomes clearer. The more I read Ruth, the clearer picture I get in my head about Naomi.
Now, to your point, I want to give people a lot of room. I, you know, people may say, You know, Pastor Sam, I totally get it, but I disagree. I think Naomi was better.
Okay, great. That's not going to change the ultimate trajectory of God's sovereignty in this passage. or in the book. It's just a reminder to us that as we read the scripture. And God writes these stories.
He's always doing 10,000 things and we only may pick up on one or two.
Well, that's what he's doing in my life. You know, the thing that, you know, you were talking to me. Earlier today, about a block of ice that came and smashed right into your windshield. And thankfully, God spared you. Thankfully, God just was so kind to you.
But you read that and you realize, okay, God's writing something in Stu Epperson Jr.'s story. And I don't know what it is yet, but this piece was not there to do you harm. It was there to do you good, but it tanked your day. Right.
You had to go and, you know, you didn't walk out of there going, oh, what a sweet thing for that ice block to come cranking in on my windshield. That didn't taste sweet. But it didn't make you bitter. It could make you better. But it didn't, right?
And so that's, I think, where I would go with this as you kind of look as we wrap up our chapter. What you find is the God of heaven. Has been at work. Elimelech took his family to the place they never should have been, and God has finally got them back. and here comes naomi and look at verse 22 naomi returned that's a big word Returned, I mean, underline it, circle it.
color it star it You know, put all kinds of things around it. Naomi returned. And when she returned, everything changed. You know, we can get so far out there, either because of our own journey or somebody else dragged us along with them that it almost seems like we can never get back. But we can get back.
There is always a return way home. And so Naomi returned. And Ruth the Moabite, her daughter with her, who returned, there's the word again, from the country of Moab, and they came to Bethlehem. And then here's the deal, right? At the beginning of something, they left.
in verse one because there was a famine. And now they're coming back at the beginning of a harvest. Mm. It's And it's not just going to be a barley harvest, and it's not just going to be a bumper harvest, it is going to be a huge harvest. And, you know, when we wander from the Lord.
And he graciously brings us back and we return. He doesn't make us sit in the back corner. and and just sort of feed us bread and crumbs. Man, he does what he does. best.
He lavishes goodness on us. And so here we are at the end of chapter one, and the sovereignty of God has been so at work. I can't wait to see what the providence of God has in store for us in chapter two, and what the righteousness of God has in store for us in chapter three, and what the goodness of God has for us in chapter four. Amen.
Well said, Dr. Horny. The loving father has his arms stretched out and he's looking. for that prodigal prodigal to come home. The Savior is saying, Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, I will give you rest.
There's always. This call of God to come home. I love that song. You know, ye who are weary, come home, come home, come home. And maybe this will be a way through this study.
God's calling someone listening. Maybe someone just tapped upon this. This broadcast podcast, and God's calling you home. He's waiting up for you. He's, he's, uh, Longing for you to come back, and we see the road to restoration.
Beauty that has come out of brokenness in this amazing story of Ruth. You know, Dr. Horne, two things quickly. One, This week. At the very end, I just asked a question, then I shut up, which is hard for me to do, as you know.
You've known me too long. And my question was simply. Uh uh to the to the guys hey how has god Broad Beauty out of your brokenness. And I just listened. And man, I'm glad I did because a gentleman stood up and talked about losing his son.
And how hard that was. And we're all men. You know, men are supposed to kind of, we're supposed to hang out on the. More of the shallow end of the pool, right? You know, this is uh.
Uh the Foreign Territory Force, another man stood up and and shared about a loss in his life and how it's just difficult in the Valley and This is where Naomi was living, and this is where God. meets us. This is the beauty of our God. Who meets us in our brokenness. And you can't help, and this is the second thing I wanted to say, which we've touched on a bit: is you want to go.
to the one who was A man of sorrows. and acquainted with grief. The one who was a friend of sinners, the one who experienced the greatest depth. of brokenness, Jesus Christ. And we want to make sure that, folks, we end up with him because he's not just the.
Alpha, he's the omega. He's the beginning and the end. And it's in his You know, this is all, we don't want to try to be more like Ruth. This isn't a character study and loyalty. Yes, there's some great things to glean.
But we want to Realize that we want to follow the God that Ruth followed, and we want to lean into Him. We want to go to Him because Ruth can't fix us when we're in a hole. She can't redeem us as a kinsman redeemer. Jesus Christ, he is the redeemer. He's the only redeemer.
And it is for these moments of darkness that his light shines the brightest. And so, Dr. Wynne, I want to make sure we drive that home this week's passage, Ruth 1, verses 11 through 22, really anchored in those key verses there, 14 through 16. And the kind of the the the path toward restoration And the power of Of a loyalty that can only come from God and can only be sustained by God's grace. Dr.
Horne, add anything you'd like, sir, and then will you close us out in prayer and just pray for everyone that's been kind of jumping in here with us.
Well, I think you you really hit something really Well, and I just want to end with this. You know, we all come to the book of Ruth with our own stories. You know, we're all a little bit like Naomi. And there are just times in our life where we have gone out full and whatever's happened out there, maybe somebody else's sin against us, maybe the providence of God in the hidden ways that we don't always see right away. We feel like we've lost things.
We feel like we're empty. You know, I went out full. I had this reputation, I had this job, I had this family, I had this marriage. I had this hope, I had this health, I had this. This amount of money in the bank.
And now here I am four years later, and I got nothing. My wife is gone. My kids are against me. My friends are gone. I had to leave my church.
My reputation's in tatters. I went out. loving God and I'm really struggling. We've all been there, right? We've all been, and it's not going to be the first time.
There are Naomis in every generation. Naomi's story is our story. You know, Ruth, Ruth is going to display for us. the answer to Naomi's story. She's going to trust Yahweh.
She's literally embracing all of the things that make life hard. And she's saying, Yahweh is more important to me than all of it. Mm-hmm. And so as we get to the end of chapter one, those two ideas when. When you come to that place where you feel like you went out full.
and you're looking around at your life and it's empty. Ruth would whisper in your ear. God is enough. Go with God. And she lived it, you know.
So we look at the text and we see it. It isn't just a story. I'm getting choked up here, but it isn't just a story. It is an anecdote. Against the bitterness that we've talked about.
How did Naomi resist bitterness? How did Ruth resist bitterness? Because they saw something sweet in God that was more valuable to them than any earthly treasure or sweeter to them than any earthly pleasure. And that's why. Ruth matters so much to us.
You know, if our men and women who study this book could get the idea that with God, you're always full, you just don't always see it. It's always sweet. And so that's my prayer.
So let me pray. And ask God to help us capture this with our dear people who are reading and studying Ruth. Lord, we are cognizant that we are just human instruments. trying to understand a magnificent book. that you wrote through your servant Samuel.
Lord, we acknowledge. Our need of Ruth, Stu and I both need this. Not our Bible study leaders or the people that are going to be at Dario's on Wednesday. We need this book. We need it for ourselves.
And it is sweet to talk about it together. And I pray that the people who hear this podcast would catch the sweetness. This isn't an academic exercise for two people. This is two brothers, two friends. hanging out together in the trenches of life, grasping for Things that will give us strength and sweetness.
And you do this every single day. through books like Ruth, and we're thankful. I pray for the leaders. I pray for those that will be. reading and studying and do a work in them.
that will radically shake this country for your glory and for the gospel. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you, Dr. Horn, and thank you for joining us for this Wednesday in the Word podcast. Learn more at wedintheword.com.
Follow us on YouTube. Facebook and all social media, including Instu Graham, and be encouraged, stay in the word, read it. Share it, study it, memorize it, and meditate on God's Word. Every word of God is pure. He is a shield to those who put their trust in him.
Proverbs 30 verse 5.
