The Mysterious Mercy of Almighty God

My name is, is Carlos. I'm one of the pastors here. For those of you who don't know who I am, it's my privilege to come before you to preach the word of God. Pastor Milton gets the day off, I guess you would call it that.

He's here with us, but he gets to just kick back and relax, and Lord willing, enjoy, and so, in order to, see to it that that's more likely to happen, would you pray with me? Let's take a moment to pray. A dear gracious heavenly Father, We come before you in the name of Jesus. And we quiet our hearts before you.

We approach your throne of grace with boldness. To receive mercy and to find help in our time of need, we need for you to reveal yourself to us, that Lord, you would give us eyes to behold you and ears to hear what you wanna say to us. I pray, Lord, on behalf of my family here, my brothers and sisters in Christ, that Lord, you would, open the eyes of our understanding. That we would behold you through the pages of scripture.

Lord, I pray that if there be anyone who is here. Who does not know you. If there is anyone who is here who has yet to be born again. If there is anyone who is here, Lord, who is in need of the miraculous work of salvation that only you can accomplish, I pray for that person, for those persons.

That Lord, you would draw them by your irresistible grace to yourself, and that Lord, you would give life to those people. Lord God, we thank you that you are in fact here with us. We thank you, Lord, above all things for Jesus, who died on the cross for us so that our sins would be atoned for, who was raised for our justification, who ascended onto the right hand of the Father who is alive and who was there making intercession for us. We thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit.

who has been placed inside of us who believe, who cries out to you and moanings and groanings too deep for words, and we thank you, Lord, that you use such an occasion as this. to minister to the hearts of your people. I pray, Lord, that you would use me, an unworthy servant, to accomplish your purposes. I ask these things in Jesus' name.

Amen. The Book of Ruth. is one of the greatest stories ever told. It is a love story of epic proportions and it is not just one love story.

It reveals a beautiful, loving relationship between a man and her between a woman and her daughter-in-law. It draws us into the developing romance between a widowed woman and a godly man named Boaz who seemed committed to the bachelor tilt Rapture Club until he became smitten by the beauty of this Moabite woman. But above all, this book reveals the incomprehensible love of a God who reaches out to the depraved and the destitute. Ruth is a story within a story pointing us to the greatest of all stories in which our sovereign and merciful God is the ultimate redeemer who purchases his people from their depravity and destitution through the blood of His own Son.

We identify with the characters in Ruth. We feel their pain. Some of us have experienced their pain in our own lives. It is a story filled with unexpected twists and turns.

In the story, we find ourselves riveted as we progress from one scene to the next, from one conversation to the next, until we are brought face to face with a God who triumphs over tragedy. We are reminded afresh that our God is in control. Amazingly, he forces even our poor decisions to submit to his purposes. He moves in mysterious ways.

And as we journey through life in a fallen world, we experience the mysterious mercy of an almighty God. Perhaps the most satisfying part of the entire story is delivered at the end in the form of a lineage, and when we read that lineage, we are reduced to tears as we are reminded once again of how good our God is. There is a lineage, as we learned from Matthew's Gospel that stems from Ruth and marches ahead towards a manger scene in which the savior is born, who would eventually die on a cross for our sins and be raised bodily from the dead.

My initial goal was to cover the entire book of Ruth in one sermon.

However, in my struggle to reduce the book to one fifty-minute message, I have decided to preach through the book, one chapter at a time. One time every 2 months, so it'll take me, I guess, 8 months if I'm thinking right, to preach through the Book of Ruth, being that I get to preach once every 2 months. this will begin then a 4-part series through the Book of Ruth. The series will be entitled The Book of Ruth.

I want the drama to unfold for itself. We're gonna take a look at one verse at a time, a chapter at a time, and so today, we look at chapter one. Today's message then is entitled The Mysterious Mercy of Almighty God, The Mysterious Mercy of Almighty God. We will look at 7 developments along a tragic path.

That is marked with rays of hope. Development number one. Alemelech leads his family from Bethlehem into Moab. Read with me in Ruth chapter one verse one.

If you do not have your Bible, I have it behind me. I'm reading out of the NASB version. Ruth chapter one, verse one says, now it came about in the days when the judges governed that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons, and the name of the man was Alimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Melon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah.

Now they entered the land of Moab and they remained there. And so take note, when the judges governed, mark this in your Bible, it is the period of the judges. It represents the time between Joshua leading the Israelites back into the land and the day Israel received Saul as her first king. This is about a 450 year period in which Israel went through many cycles of giving herself over to evil.

The common refrain in the book of Judges is that Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and again Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. At the end of Judges, we are told that it was a period when Israel had no king and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. And so the stage is being set.

We are in the historical period when the judges governed. Then we read that there was famine in the land. Food was scarce and folks were going hungry. The land that God gave to his people was failing to produce.

And now we are introduced to a very important person, but take notice how he is introduced. The text says, and a certain man and a certain man. Rabbinic scholars note that this man is not introduced by his name because he fails to live up to the meaning of his name. We will later learn that his name is Elimelech, meaning God is king.

But this certain man does not lead his family as if God is king. The passage goes on to say that this certain man is of Bethlehem in Judah. Bethlehem means house of bread, and implied in the name is that it is a place where one can anticipate the provision of bread. Bethlehem is located within Judah, which means to praise.

This is the land God promised to Abraham and his descendants, and this certain man is living in the land of promise. But notice what this man does. It says that he went to sojourn in the land of Moab. He leaves the land of promise for the land of Moab.

He, in effect, removes himself from under the umbrella of God's blessing. He It's hard times and he takes matters into his own hands. There is no hint of him consulting God. He decides to leave the land of promise, forsake God's people, and set out for the greener pastures of Moab.

I don't wanna be too hard on him. He was trying to figure things out. He needed to feed his family. Nevertheless, he made a very poor decision, and this is highlighted by the fact that he settled in Moab.

Moab was cursed by God due to her wickedness. Moab was formed from an incestuous relationship when Lot and his daughter gave birth to Moab. Moab's mother was his half-sister. The Moabites worshiped the god Kamash, and they routinely offered children as burnt offerings to their God.

Throughout history, Moab was enemy to Israel and therefore cursed by God. However, there is provision for the curse to be lifted should a person turn to God. As evil and wicked as the Moabites were, they could be forgiven and brought into relationship with God. And notice that the text says that the certain man went with his wife and his two sons, and the name of the man was Alemelech and the name of his wife Naomi.

And the names of his two sons were Melon and Chilion, Ephrithites of Bethlehem and Judah, and now they entered the land of Moab and they remained. They remained there. And so the stage is set. The story begins with Alimelech making a poor decision and leading his family from Bethlehem into Moab.

Men of God. Be sure to keep yourself in the place of God's blessing. Do not depart from the promises of God. You are sure to be tempted.

You may find yourself in a situation where you think you need to take matters into your own hands. You may be tempted to depart from faith and to operate out of sight, and as a result, you may lead your family down a painful path. We see Alemelech taking this path, and such a path poses danger as we see in the second development. Development number 2, I am so sorry.

I tried practicing this name again and again, and my greatest fear I am realizing. That I am not gonna be able to say the name. It's like a tongue twister to me. Elele, can I say Eli for short and would you just forgive me?

Let's see, Alemelech, Elemelech's family experiences tragedy. Which isn't funny. Verse 3, it says, then Elimelech, Naomi's husband died and she was left with her two sons and they took for themselves Moabite women as wives. The name of the one was Orpa and the name of the other Ruth, and they lived there about 10 years.

Then both Melon, name means sickly and Chilion, meaning pining, also died, and the woman was bereft of her two children and her husband. Here we have 10 years of history being condensed in just a few passages. The details are given in rapid succession. Alemelech's decision to leave Bethlehem and settle in Moab is marked by tragedy.

The tragedy begins with the premature death of Alemelech. Humanly speaking, he should not have died so young. The text draws attention to the fact that he was Naomi's husband. Thus, he leaves behind a widow and two fatherless sons.

It is not easy to raise children alone. It is not easy to grow up without a father. And his death marks the beginning of tragedy, and the tragedy continues with Naomi's sons taking for themselves Moabite women as their wives. They should not have married Moabites.

This was forbidden. By the Pentateuch. They really needed a father to help guide their decisions, but they likely learned the art of compromise from their dad, and there is no reason to believe that Naomi would have approved of such marriages. In fact, such marriages would have added to Naomi's pain.

Young man Young woman, single person, do not marry a Moabite, do not marry a non-believer, do not compromise. Seek to be the man or the woman that God wants you to be and wait upon the Lord for His timing to bring into your path the person. that he wants you to marry. In the meantime, be pure, be holy, seek after the face of God, be what God wants you to be, and I can guarantee you that if it is His will in due time, he will lead you to that person that he wants you to marry.

The Lord right now is fighting for your future, and he wants you to settle for nothing less than his best for you. As we continue in the passage, the theme of tragedy continues with the death of Naomi's sons. Rabbinic tradition says the sons suffered premature deaths as a result of their disobedience to the Lord. Before you take me to task for presenting such a harsh view of God, consider the fact that thousands of Israelites were laid low in the wilderness as a result of their sin.

In the New Testament, Ananias and Sepphia were struck dead as a result of their deception, struck dead by Almighty God. Consider where Paul says that some had died as a result of taking the Lord's supper in an unworthy manner. I remember years ago, the former pastor of Cornerstone telling me about a man who he had warned to repent of his adultery, and the man says, well, what will happen if I don't stop? And Jim said to him, well, the Lord might take your life.

It did not take long before this man had passed away. Whatever we make of this, we would all agree that in Naomi's case, it was tragic for her to have to bury her two sons. About 18 months ago, my wife and I lost our 5th child to miscarriage. I have the sonogram photo in my bedroom at home.

I feel sadness whenever I look at the photo. But I cannot imagine the pain that Naomi felt with the passing of each of her sons, boys that he had raised, whom she had seen marry, whom she had spent many years developing relationship with, and then all of a sudden. They are gone. Another dimension of Naomi's pain is the fact that neither son left behind children.

She had no grandsons to carry on the family name. No grandsons. And then there is the fact that each son left behind a widow who is left grieving the loss of her husband, and there we have it, 10 long tragic years condensed in 3 short verses. The stage is now set for the next development along a tragic path marked with rays of hope.

Development #3. Naomi sets out for the land of Judah, accompanied by her two daughters-in-law. Read with me in verse 6, it says, then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the land of Moab, for she had heard in the land of Moab, She had heard in the land of Moab that the Lord had visited His people in giving them food, so she departed from the place where she was and her two daughters-in-law with her, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.

This passage is pretty straightforward.

Naomi decides to return home, but she is not alone. Ruth and Orpa accompany her, but I want you to note the reason given in this passage for Naomi's decision to return home. Naomi was motivated to return home. The passage says, for she had heard in the land of Moab that the Lord had visited his people in giving them food.

This is a ray of hope, and let's break it down. Naomi had heard. We do not know when she heard, but at some point she heard. We can assume she heard by word of mouth.

She did not hear via cell phone. She did not hear via cable television. She did not read about it over the internet. No, she heard via word of mouth.

In the day when news traveled slowly, Naomi heard some good news. Someone put the bug in Naomi's ear. Hey, Naomi, Naomi, did you hear? The Lord has visited his people.

The famine in Judah has ended. And so we have a ray of hope, and for Naomi, this is motivation to return home. Consider the mysterious mercy of Almighty God. He has visited his people.

The famine is over. Someone brought the news, the good news to Naomi, and Naomi is widowed. Her sons are dead. She had little reason not to return home, and perhaps in her heart of hearts, she always wanted to go back.

She no doubt missed some of the folks that she left behind some 10+ years ago. God is always doing 1000 things. He wants her home. He wants her.

To lead her daughter-in-law into the land, there is in Bethlehem a godly man who has been waiting upon the Lord for the woman that he will marry. Ruth will marry this man, and together they will have Obed. Obed needs to grow up, get married, and have a son named Jesse, Jesse, who will give birth to David, the king of Israel, and from whom King Jesus will eventually. come.

Naomi is unable to see behind the curtain all that the Lord intends to do. Little does she know that the bearer of this good news, the Lord has visited his people. Little does she know that this good news that motivates her to return will set into motion a redemption story of epic proportion. The mercy of Almighty God is at times mysterious.

We do not always see it. We experience tragedy and we ask, where is God? Does God care? Why me, oh Lord?

And we will hasten on to see the mysterious mercy of Almighty God in the next development. Number 4, Naomi kindly urges her two daughters-in-law to return to their people. It says beginning in verse 8, and Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, go return each of you to her mother's house. May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me.

May the Lord grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them and they lifted up their voices and they wept, and they said to her, no, but we will surely return with you to your people. At first read, one might think that Naomi is being rude, telling her daughters-in-law who love her to return home. What is her problem?

Does she not appreciate what they are determining to do? Does she not want their love, but this is not at all what is going on. You see, Naomi's selflessness is on display. She has her own problems to worry about.

But she is thinking long and hard about the choice Ruth and Opa are making. They are making great sacrifices, leaving their homeland, leaving their family, choosing to live in an unfamiliar land. Naomi wants the best for them. She wants them both to marry, and she is beginning to think that they would be better off to return to MA.

Such display of kindness is an expression of God's mysterious mercy. Despite all that she had gone through, she finds herself more concerned about her daughters-in-law than she is about herself. This kindness of Naomi parallels a future date when the Lord will hang on a cross, suffering excruciating agony and pain. The hands and feet of our Savior were brutally nailed to a cross.

He had a crown of thorns pressed upon his head, and his body was bathed in his own blood. He was dying a death. He did not deserve to die. He was falsely accused and even forsaken by his own friends.

If ever in history, there was a person having every reason to be concerned for his own affairs, it was Jesus. But a kindness beyond comprehension was displayed when he died for you and me, and we cherish the kindness of his words when he prayed for us. Father, forgive them. And here in this passage, we see Naomi's kind concern for her daughters-in-law.

This is an expression of the work of God in her life that she could display such godly character. But Naomi does not receive the response that she is looking for. The text says that the girls wept. Take note of the tender emotion between the daughters-in-law and Naomi, and then the passage records them saying, we will surely return with you to your people.

This is not what Naomi wanted to hear. So she will unpack more of her thoughts. She is determined their lives won't be ruined on account of her. And so we continue in verse 11, where we, we read.

Verse 11, but Naomi said, She's seeking to prevail upon them with her line of argumentation and she says, return my daughters, my daughters, my, my very own daughters. It is here as if they owe me, she's referring to them as her own family, her own blood. This is a term of affection and she loves them so much. My daughter's return.

Why should you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb? That they may be your husbands. Return, my daughters, go, for I am too old to have a husband.

If I said I have hope, if I should even have a husband tonight and also bear sons, would you therefore wait until they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is harder for me than for you, for the hand of the Lord has gone forth against me. And they lifted up their voices and it says they wept again and Orpa kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.

You will notice that Naomi's thinking is completely void of hope. Yet contained in her thinking is a ray of hope for a future she could never have imagined. She knows that the custom in Israel rooted in Deuteronomy 25:5-6 says, when brothers And this would include close relatives such as cousins. When they live together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a strange man.

Her husband's brother shall go into her and take her to himself as wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her, and it shall be that the firstborn whom she bears shall assume the name of his dead brother and that his name may not be blotted out from Israel. You see, Naomi knows this custom, but it leaves her without hope. She has no living sons. She has no hope at her age of ever getting married.

Even if she could marry and have sons, it is unrealistic for Ruth and Orpa to wait that long to marry and bear their own children, and so Naomi urges them to go back. But as I said, contained inside of Naomi's thinking is a ray of hope that she fails to see. What she does not know is that in Bethlehem, there are living relatives who might perform the duty of a brother. Perhaps she had thoughts about such A possibility, but assumed that the men were already married.

Whatever her thinking, it is clear that she has no hope for her daughters-in-law to enter into Bethlehem, to live by their customs, and to find happiness in marriage and child rearing. At this stage, Naomi did not have the bandwidth to believe that God's word in Deuteronomy 25 actually serves as a foundation for hope for her. And so Naomi applies her understanding of God's word to her situation and actually concludes that it is best to urge Ruth and Orpi to return home. And so let's turn to the next development to see what happens.

Development number 5, Ruth determines never to leave her mother-in-law. Ruth determines never to leave her mother-in-law. Verse 15 says, then she said, Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods. Return after your sister-in-law.

We see here that Naomi's counsel prevails upon Opa. She finally relents and agrees to return home. Naomi is quick to point that out and urges Ruth to follow suit. And verse 16 says, but Ruth said, But Ruth said, by way of contrast, Do not urge me to leave you or turn back 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 shall be my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me and worse if anything but death parts you and me.

When she saw. When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said no more to her end of discussion. Ruth will have nothing to do with returning home. She is willing to forsake all things.

This is a picture of complete surrender and unfaltering love. She would rather remain a widow and die a barren woman than allow Naomi to live the rest of her life alone. She is committed to live. With her mother-in-law, and she is also willing to embrace the people of God.

She knows that as a Moabite, it will take some time for the Israelites to warm up to her, but she is willing to give them time. Ruth has long been ready to reject the false gods of her upbringing and embrace the one and only true God. She knows that Naomi's God is the only God. Ruth is here making the most important decision of her entire life.

She is laying everything on the line and pledging her commitment to the God of Israel. She has no intention of ever turning back. She will die with Naomi and be buried with her, and she expresses her heart's prayer to the Lord when she says, That she would rather experience death and even worse than death than to be separated from Naomi, her people, and her God. I have a question.

Where did Ruth's unwavering faith come from? How did a Moabite such as herself arrive at a place in her life where she was willing to exercise this faith, this surrender? How did this happen? And I submit to you that her commitment to the Lord was shaped.

By Naomi's influence in her life. Remember, Naomi was a godly woman whose faith was on display for Ruth to see. Ruth saw Naomi. When Naomi lost her husband and she saw in her faith.

Ruth saw Naomi when Naomi lost her son, and she saw in her trust and faith, and Ruth saw in Naomi when she lost her other son, trust and faith, and no doubt Naomi would have had an influence in Ruth's life. And herein is another ray of hope. Naomi has reason to be encouraged. Part of God's sovereign plan was to bring her into a godless place where he would use Naomi to lead a Moabite woman.

to faith. This testifies to the mysterious mercy of Almighty God. God submitted the poor decision of Alimelech to his sovereign plan by using a beautiful woman of God and leading her daughter-in-law to faith, and Ruth is an extremely important part of God's redemption story. Naomi.

I know you struggle to see the rays of hope. I know you struggle to see how the Lord is dealing with you according to His loving kindness and tender mercies. I know that you struggle to experience the peace of God, but the hand of Almighty God is painting a picture that someday will leave you absolutely breathless. And the passage says that when Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.

You get the sense. That there was little talking the remainder of the journey. It was a quiet trip back into Bethlehem from this time on. And perhaps Naomi is left speechless as she ponders her return to Bethlehem accompanied by a Moabite woman.

Well, let us turn to the next development. Number 6, Naomi and Ruth arrived safely in Bethlehem. They arrived safely in Bethlehem. It says in verse 19.

So they both went until they came to Bethlehem. The house of bread, Bethlehem means house of bread. It is a place where provision would be discovered. This is the place where the, the one who refers to himself as the bread of life would be born.

The journey for Ruth and Naomi would have been close to about 80 miles depending on how they went there with a steady increase in elevation, it would have taken some 10 days. It would not have been a safe journey as highway bandits and robbers often lurked. Naomi and Ruth could have been hurt along the way, and yet they arrived safely. Once again we see the mysterious mercy of Almighty God.

God has protected them. God's plan was for them to arrive safely in Bethlehem. God is setting the stage in a way that these two destitute women could never have imagined. And the passage says, and it came about when they had come to Bethlehem that all the city was stirred because of them, and the women said.

Is this Naomi? The entire city was stirred. They knew who Naomi was. Some of them witnessed Naomi leave with her family some 10 years earlier, so the folks came out to greet Naomi, but noticed the question that is asked, Is this Naomi?

When they saw her, they struggled to recognize her. They could see but a faint glimpse of the Naomi that they remembered. The years have been hard on Naomi. She looks different.

It is as if the women were saying, this is not the Naomi we remember, something is different. Not only did Naomi look aged, but her countenance was different. The women would have noticed the absence of Naomi's husband and her two boys, and they would have noticed the Moabite who had accompanied her, and so the question that is raised invokes a reaction which reveals a decade plus of pain. In verse 20 we read, and Naomi said to them.

Do not call me Naomi. Her name means pleasant. Call me Mara, bitter, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, but the Lord has brought me back empty.

Why? Why do you call me Naomi? Since the Lord has witnessed against me and the Almighty has afflicted me. And here we witness an expression of raw emotion.

10 years of pain served as the foundation of this outburst. Naomi's heart has been absolutely crushed and every bitter memory is surfaced on the other side of her return home, and the probing question, is this Naomi? In Naomi's mind, she is no longer Naomi. Her name means pleasant and nothing she thought could be farther from the truth.

So she rejects the very name given by God through her parents. Her very name is too much for her to bear. It is a mockery of what is true in her life. She is not Naomi, Rather, she is bitter, so she says, call me bitter.

And then she provides an explanation for why those surrounding her should call her bitter. She says, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. So what do we make of Naomi's theology?

We should be amazed that after all that she has gone through, that she is unshaken and sure about the following truths that God does exist and that God is sovereign over the affairs of man, and that God has afflicted her. The problem with Naomi here is that she has forgotten the story of Joseph, who also went into a foreign country. It wasn't Joseph's choice. Betrayed by brothers, sold as a slave, framed by an adulteress and thrown into prison, he had every reason to say with Naomi, the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me, but he trusted in God who turned it all around for his personal good and for Israel's national good.

And remember Joseph, Joseph's Infamous words near the end of the story, when surrounded by his fearful brothers, he said, do not be afraid, for am I in God's place, and as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result to preserve many people alive. Naomi is right to believe in a sovereign almighty God who governs the affairs of nations and families and gives each day it's part of pain and pleasure, but she needs to embrace the mysterious mercy of Almighty God.

It was God who used her as an instrument of grace to lead a Moabite woman to faith, God who ended the famine and opened a way to return home, God who gave her the unmatchable, unmatchable love of a daughter-in-law who would see to it that she would be cared for. God protected her on the journey and brought her safely to Bethlehem.

Naomi I hear you. But you are so wrong. You have not returned empty. You have your faith, as shaken as it might be, you have your life, you have the love of a daughter-in-law who is proving to be better than 7 sons, you are not empty.

What would you say? What would you say if I told you that in Ruth, you would gain a man-child, who would be the grandfather of the greatest king of Israel, and that this king would foreshadow the King of kings, Jesus Christ, the Lord of the universe, the savior of the world, Naomi. Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust in Him for His grace. Behind a frowning providence, he hides a smiling face.

I trust that you are seeing the rays of hope that so far have dotted Naomi's path. Naomi has without argument, gone through the wringer. She has experienced unspeakable pain. She feels as if the rug has been pulled out from under her feet.

Her dreams have been dashed. She would never. have scripted her life the way it is unfolding, but God in His mysterious mercy has dotted her path with rays of hope, and there is yet one more ray that we will see in the 7th development. Development number 7.

It happens to be the beginning of barley harvest when Naomi and Ruth arrived in Bethlehem. It happens to be the beginning of barley harvest. Verse 22 says, So Naomi returned. And with her, Ruth the Moabbidi, her daughter-in-law, who returned from the land of Moab, and they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.

This is a summary statement of the whole chapter. When we get into the next chapter, much of the focus will be on Boaz, who happens to be a kinsman of Naomi's deceased husband. Keep in mind that Naomi has just requested a name change, but the Holy Spirit here in this verse calls her Naomi. The fact that Ruth is a Moabitis is emphasized, and such an emphasis illumines God's mercy to those raised as pagans.

We have already established the fact that she has come to faith, but there is so much more to her story that we will see in the subsequent chapters. Interestingly, we are told with specificity when they arrived. It was the beginning of barley harvest. there are a few things that we can note about this.

First, the fact that barley is being harvested is a good sign for Naomi and Ruth. It serves as a ray of hope for two destitute women who came to Bethlehem in part for food. Second, the barley harvest takes place in early spring and on the Hebrew calendar is associated with the feast of Passover. The barley harvest is associated with the feast of Passover.

For the Israelite, the Passover was a reminder of lamb's blood spread over their door frames as a sign. To the angel of death that their homes were to be protected, but the Passover is a foreshadowing of good things to come. It anticipates the day when Christ, our Passover Lamb, will die on the cross for the sins of His people. And I believe that it is significant that Naomi and Ruth came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

This is a foreshadowing of good things to come. It opens wide the door for Ruth to find herself gleaning in a certain field owned by a certain redeemer. This is no coincidence. I love that this is how the chapter ends with a beginning.

We have seen that a very dark cloud has been cast, but such a cloud is no match for the rays of hope that we have seen along the way. Indeed, the mysterious mercy of an almighty God breaks through time and time again, and so we close this chapter with the beginning of barley harvest. You have heard that when God closes a door, he opens a window. That open window in our chapter today is the beginning of barley harvest, and this will serve as the backdrop for our introduction to a kinsman redeemer named Boaz.

I can't wait to meet Boaz when we consider chapter 2 next time. In closing I would like to briefly consider some of the folks that we have met in Ruth chapter one this morning. Let me see if I can say his name right. Alemelech.

Alemelech. Think about this man. He failed to live up to his name. God is king.

This is a man who left the land of promise, the land God had given, the provision of God, the people of God, and he leads his family from Bethlehem to a godless place called Moab. I doubt that the Lord led him there. I doubt that the Lord told him go, but God in His sovereignty did in fact allow him to make this poor decision, and he was there, and God is at work, and God knows what he is doing, but Elimelech practices. His poor leadership and he suffers a premature death and as a result of his poor leadership, his wife is left absolutely bitter because of the fact of her situation, because of the situation that she found herself in.

Do not be an Alimelech. And then there is Ruth. She is a godless woman at first. She was a Moabite woman.

Yet she experiences God's amazing grace in her life, and she undergoes a conversion in her life where she forsook the ways of her upbringing and she embraced the truth of God. what this tells me? That it doesn't matter how bad or how wicked or how evil that we have been, it doesn't matter the background, that our background is no match for the grace of God, and God loves to choose people like this and display them as trophies of His grace. Do that there are only 2 books in the Bible named after women?

And one of those books is the Book of Ruth, and she happens to be, of all things, a Moabite woman, and we see on display amazing grace beyond comprehension. And then let us consider Naomi. Naomi pleasant, call me bitter. She is a godly woman who experiences a season of bitterness like Job she experienced the loss of virtually all that she had.

Though there is no reason to believe that she had done anything wrong, she experienced tragedy and somewhere along the way, perhaps it can be said that she crossed the line. Somewhere along the way, it's hard to pinpoint exactly when it happened. Maybe it was that when she was finally in Bethlehem and she just explodes with her, with her brokenness and sadness and bitterness, don't call me Naomi. Call me bitter.

Perhaps it was then that she crossed the line. Nevertheless, she was a godly woman. She experienced tragedy, somewhere along the way crossed the line, but nevertheless, she truly experienced the mysterious mercy of Almighty God. God is at work in her life.

God has not forsaken her. God in His sovereignty has allowed the difficulties, but he has a plan that is going to be revealed in due time, that is gonna cause her to be, to be completely astounded by his love and grace and care and concern for her. Well, let us end here with a few action points, a few action points. Embrace and act upon the promises of God.

That's what Alemelech did not do. He forsook the promises. He left the land. And don't be like him, and so I'm saying to you today, embrace and act upon the promises of God, the promises that belong to us through the gospel.

Let those promises, spur your faith on. Anticipate that you will experience pain in this fallen world. Don't be surprised. When pain comes your way.

Don't be surprised when you hear that a loved one is going to die. Don't be surprised when all of a sudden, a car going 92 MPH smacks into the car that your wife is driving and she finds herself dead and as a husband, you are left having to deal with that. We heard about this just recently. I forget the name of the man, but he was a coach for a professional basketball team.

And in the eulogy, he spent about 8 minutes speaking about the situation. He displayed a trust in the Lord that is beyond comprehension. He understood the mysterious mercy. Of his God, seek to exert influence in the midst of your suffering.

Naomi had an impact on the life of Ruth, and in the midst of your suffering, don't waver in seeking to be the example that God calls you to be. Don't waver in seeking to influence others for Christ. And what? God will even use the pain in your life to put on display to others, God's goodness in your life.

In the middle of your pain, look for rays of hope. You see, Naomi struggled, I believe, to see these rays of hope, but in the middle of your pain, you always have a reason to rejoice, even to a small degree. In the middle of your pain, in the middle of your suffering, in the middle of your heartbreak, you always have reason to give thanks to the Lord. There are times that I can remember in my own life where I have experienced discouragement and sadness, and it's in those times that I find myself in my depravity, struggling to be thankful, but I have learned how to say, Lord, thank you.

For the air. That I breathe. Thank you, Lord. For the relative health.

That I have, I have clothes on my back. I have a home that I live in, and sometimes you have to learn how to be thankful for the little things while you're going through difficult times. And above all, guys, we have every reason to be thankful because our Lord Jesus died on the cross for us and to whatever degree that we must suffer and experience pain, those are opportunities for us to understand the gospel, those are opportunities for us to share in the sufferings of Christ, to know what it's like to walk in His steps, and God allows us pain so that we can more appreciate the pain of our.

Savior when he was on the cross, suffering pain, excruciating agony and pain, and there he is abandoned by his friends and abandoned by his brothers.

He knows what it's like to hurt physically and to hurt emotionally and to feel all alone. And when we have those times of pain in our life, God is wanting for us to look to Christ and to understand what he has done for us. and to appreciate our God. He knows what it's like to experience pain and so he is a savior that we can run to and he will, he will weep with us in the midst of our sorrow.

Also, don't act surprised when you see godly people struggle with sin. Naomi was a godly woman. And, and she struggled to a degree. And godly people will struggle.

And that does not take away from them, the fact that God is at work in their lives, and that God has a plan in their life, and that God will complete the work that he began. Remember, he moves in mysterious ways and sometimes we look at another believer and we see the sin and we are tempted to point the finger, but do what? God God knows what he is doing and God is at work. If they are a believer, we can trust in God to work in their lives and so we come along as an encourager and as a person who can weep with them in their sorrows and point them to the promises of God and pray with them and pray for them and just cry with them in the middle of their pain.

Don't be surprised when godly people struggle. In their sin and realize that you are part of a larger narrative that God is scripting for His glory. It's more than just what's going on in your own little life. God is at work.

He is sovereign over the affairs of mankind. He causes all things to work after the counsel of his own will. There is nothing that happens that does not have sovereignty stamped over it. I don't completely understand that.

But God is sovereign, He allows difficulties, he allows hardships, he allows you to be sinned against, sometimes in severe ways because he has a plan and he has a purpose, and there's a bigger picture that you have no clue, oftentimes that he is up to and so understand that you are part of a larger narrative that God is scripting for his own glory and therefore by way of conclusion, I would say trust in God. Trust him. He works all things together for the good of those who love him, all things together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose.

You can take that to the bank.

He works everything together for the good. Have you had a difficult week? Have you heard bad news recently? Do you find yourself in Naomi's shoes?

God is at work. He never sleeps, he never slumbers. He is sovereign and he is good. And he will see to it that the work that he has begun in you will be completed.

Brothers and sisters, the day is coming when this life will end, we will breathe our last, and we will enter into eternity. And it is there that all will be well. He will wipe away every tear. He will relieve us of whatever sickness and disease we might have.

We will be with him in eternity, future, beholding Christ without pain, without sin, without spot, without wrinkle, absolutely glorified in the presence of Almighty God. We have every reason to look to the future and to smile. Would you close with me in prayer? And as the ushers come forward and, as you prepare to give of your offerings to the Lord, Heavenly Father, we just come before Your throne of grace and we thank you, Lord, for your word.

We thank You, Lord, for, for Naomi. We thank you for Ruth. We thank you for this, for this book. That serves as a great encouragement to us.

Lord, as we give of our offerings, Lord, of, of what you have given to us, just a small portion we give back to you, we ask, Lord, that you would take what we give for your glory, that you would spread the cause of the kingdom through cornerstone and beyond, that Lord, you would be pleased with what we give to you. We give thankfully, we give joyfully, we give with attitudes of praise to you, oh God. Lord, as we, as we take time now to sing this closure, we just ask Lord that you would help, help us to sing to you in a way that is pleasing to you.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.