Ruth part 3 A pleasant believer.

14^th October 2018

P.A.Thatcher

The Mustard Seed Evangelical Church.

Series: “The best is yet to come!” {Lessons from the book of Ruth Part 3}

Naomi. A pleasant believer.

Ruth chapter 1:

In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.

Now Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.

When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.

Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, ‘Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.’

Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud and said to her, ‘We will go back with you to your people.’

But Naomi said, ‘Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me – even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons – would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!’

At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.

‘Look,’ said Naomi, ‘your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.’

But Ruth replied, ‘Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.’ When Naomi realised that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, ‘Can this be Naomi?’

‘Don’t call me Naomi,’ she told them. ‘Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.’

So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.

NIV UK.

Last time we considered Ruth as a model friend, this time we will consider Naomi as a pleasant believer. Unlike Ruth, Naomi is a complex character. She is one of those people who wears her heart on her sleeve and has a somewhat prickly nature. Her name means pleasant, but at times she might appear to have been named quite wrongly. As we shall soon see, it is a mistake to believe that of her.

To understand Naomi, we need to re-consider her circumstances and then to assess her true character. Often we can be guilty of making assumptions about a person without paying any attention to the circumstances of that persons life. All of us are shaped by what we have and are going through. We only see that from the outside, and that being from a brief encounter. The great thing about this book of Ruth is that both Ruth and Naomi have gone through a lot together and as such they know each other really well. I am always impressed by their in-law relationship. Mother in law to daughter in law relationships are so often tense affairs, but there is no evidence of that between these amazing ladies.

We will consider:

• A wrong interpretation.

• An amazing woman.

A wrong interpretation:

In Cardiff, there is apparently a song that is always played in disco's, at the end of the New Years eve celebrations. The same song has the reputation of being the most popular at funerals. It is a song that somehow sums up Naomi's mindset as she was leaving Bethlehem for Moab. I can only quote a part of the song because the lyrics move into crudity. It is also from a film that is in itself guilty of gross blasphemy and ought not be promoted or watched by Christians. The song is:

Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse
When you're chewing on life's gristle
Don't grumble, give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best
And
Always look on the bright side of life
Always look on the light side of life

If life seems jolly rotten
There's something you've forgotten
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing
When you're feeling in the dumps
Don't be silly chumps
Just purse your lips and whistle, that's the thing
And
Always look on the bright side of life
(Come on)
Always look on the right side of life

For life is quite absurd
And death's the final word
You must always face the curtain with a bow
Forget about your sin
Give the audience a grin
Enjoy it, it's your last chance anyhow

So always look on the bright side of death
A just before you draw your terminal breath

Naomi, looks back on her life and concludes that she left Bethlehem full and returned empty. The Lord in her understanding had dealt her a harsh blow and that she was a victim of His anger. Both her and Elimelech had gone with the mindset that the grass was greener on the Moab side of the border. It was true that there was food there and no drought, but it was outside of God's purpose for His people. The problem that we have with that statement is that God was also working His purposes out through Naomi even though they clearly made wrong decisions. It is Naomi's state of mind that is important for our study this morning. Just look at the things that she says, but all of the time keep in mind the fact that she is a desperately hurting lady who will not find any real relief from her pain for a long time to come. In fact she will never get over the grief that she is experiencing.

Naomi hears that the famine is over in Judah and decides to return. At first she is happy for Orpah and Ruth to tag along and preparations are made, they start out on the journey and Naomi has second thoughts. We can only imagine what was going through her mind. How could she provide for three people? What would her friends and family say about the foreign daughters in law?

Whatever caused it, Naomi decided to thank the girls and send them back to their people, their family and their gods. She desires that they will find substitute husbands but from the people of Moab. From a people without hope before God. Naomi's decision is from a poor interpretation of the events and also the purposes of God.

Naomi is not only guilty of a wrong interpretation she is also guilty of a lack of trust. She, as we will find out later on in our studies, had a good understanding of God's law of provision for widows but she could not trust God for Him to provide for Ruth and Orpah.

Even worse than all of this is her self pity, now who can blame her for the next statement?She said to Naomi after Orpah had followed her advice and left, “it is more bitter for me, than for you, because the Lord's hand has gone out against me!” She was unthinking towards young Ruth who had her own griefs to carry and also her loving concern towards a distraught mother in law! She later wanted to be known as Mara, meaning bitterness because that is how she felt. In our own problems of life it is so easy to miss the fact that others are suffering themselves and need caring for, even by us. She thought that she had gone away full but was now empty. The reality was that she and Elimelech went away full of their own plans but empty of God's directives. Now Naomi is returning empty of her own plans, she returns desperate and by circumstance with nothing BUT she is full in God's purpose. Jesus is coming into the situation!

As we saw last week Naomi derailed in her argument by Ruth's statement. Ruth has become like Naomi, she has left all that she was and has adhered to Naomi's people and more importantly to God.

APPLICATION:

What can we learn from Naomi today? There is an expectation in our country that happiness is what we should all expect, all of the time. Laughter is of more value than tears. That sort of mentality has affected the church and all of us as Christians. When did you last pray for God's will to be done in difficult days rather than relief from the problem? There is an insidious theology that is similar to Naomi's ideal. If only we do the right thing then the blessing will be measured by our success, whether it be in the church, usually marked by large numbers, or in our own personal lives, which is marked by health, wealth and prosperity. The crucible of suffering brings about pure faith. Richard Wurmbrand said “I don't feel frustrated to have lost many years in prison, I have seen beautiful things!” If only Naomi had understood at that moment that she was urging Ruth to leave that through that very woman she would truly see a beautiful grandson who would be a descendent of the Lord Jesus! Naomi herself is a direct descendent of God the Son! That is the greatest blessing known to man, belonging to the family of God!!!

An amazing woman:

We must not leave this morning without recognising the qualities of Naomi. We have been impresses with both Orpah and Ruth's obvious love for Naomi. Even though she was hurting so deeply, they was her as lovely. Even Orpah left weeping! It is when Naomi arrives in Bethlehem that we see something more of her character. The townsfolk clearly loved her. We will see later that Ruth was admired because of the way that she had cared for their friend Naomi. The townswomen never refer to her as Mara, she was always Naomi to them. These are all signs of respect to this remarkable woman.

When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred. The equivalent of social media came into full force! When they see her, they can hardly recognise who she is. Moab has taken it's toll, the problems of life show in her very person. She has aged, the pleasant character is masked, but it is Naomi, and the people of the town are pleased. That again is evidenced by the following chapters of the book.

We will see in later chapters that Naomi is a Godly lady who knows the law of God and lives by the law. She trusted God later on and directed Ruth in the right way. Ruth even knew that she could rely on God's provision as a poor person in the land. These things can only have come to her by Naomi's influence and teaching.

So far from being a bitter and hopeless believer, who kept her spirituality to herself Naomi really did, even in impossible circumstances, have a truly pleasant nature. Her faith was seen through her character. How else could Ruth so desired to follow the God of Naomi?

APPLICATION:

It is interesting that God never changed Naomi's name to Mara, to Him she was Pleasant, she was Naomi and to others they saw that pleasing character. When we became Christians we were given a name that is full of meaning. We became sons of God, adopted into His family. Heirs and co-heirs with Christ and as brothers to Him! The name that He gives is righteous and made holy. It is summed up as Christ within or to us Christian. It means that wherever we go and in whatever circumstance we are Christian! How does that work our?????

There is one other thing that we need to consider as we conclude our thoughts on Naomi. Paul tells us in Corinthians that the scripture records the problems of the past for our benefit. That is true of this whole account of the experience of Naomi and Ruth. One of the interesting things about this story is that great store is made concerning names, that is why we have focussed on the characters. As we are considering Naomi two bible principles come to my mind, the first being that we will never be tested beyond what we can cope with. Naomi demonstrates that perfectly. She must have been some character to have coped with such dire problems, that at the time of returning to Bethlehem, were not over. She had widowhood, childlessness and poverty staring her in the face. But, yet she was an amazing testimony of God's grace, even though she could not see it for herself.

We are equally entrusted with our issues of life. How do we cope with them?

The second one is the point that Paul was making in 1 Corinthians, we can learn from Naomi.

So what do we learn?

• God allows His people to experience the problems of normal life and death. No room for health, wealth and prosperity types of gospel! We live in the real world as real people but with God as our help and comfort. That is the hope that we need to take to others, as did Naomi.
• Even though we are hurting inside and not handling it that well, the people that we are brushing shoulders with are watching with interest and wondering how we are coping. e.g. Pam's cancer diagnosis. Our bitter spirit is seen as pleasant to outsiders, if we really are true followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.

ARE YOU?

Ruth part 2 Everybody needs a friend.

23^rd September 2018

P.A.Thatcher

The Mustard Seed Evangelical Church.

Series: “The best is yet to come!” {Lessons from the book of Ruth Part 2}

Everybody needs a friend.

Ruth chapter 1:

In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.

Now Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.

When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.

Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, ‘Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.’

Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud and said to her, ‘We will go back with you to your people.’

But Naomi said, ‘Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me – even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons – would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!’

At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.

‘Look,’ said Naomi, ‘your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.’

But Ruth replied, ‘Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.’ When Naomi realised that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, ‘Can this be Naomi?’

‘Don’t call me Naomi,’ she told them. ‘Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.’

So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.

NIV UK.

Wishbone Ash sang:

Trust in me, I'll try to do
Everything to help you that I can
Broken wings can heal and mend again
Don't be afraid to cry your tears out loud
Everybody needs to have a friend

It's only love that I can give
And I give to you the only love I have
When I see you're so unhappy
It makes me want to try and understand
Everybody needs a helping hand

If everything should turn around
And it's me who feels so down and out
You could be the kind of company
To share a load and know how bad it feels
Everybody needs to have a friend

Ruth possibly would have a said similar thing to Naomi. Ruth, whose name simply means friend, was a true friend to her mother-in-law. She had no legal responsibility to her, but she would rather be with Naomi than stay at home with her family, neighbours and friends. What an amazing declaration of love and respect that was. At that moment she was making a commitment to widowhood and childlessness. Naomi could not marry and have a replacement son for Ruth to carry the family line with. This decision of Ruth's was massive.

Her decision was also made even more pertinent by the fact that she was not just moving home, she was emigrating to another country with a very different culture and belief system. She was moving to live amongst a people who did not welcome the foreigner, and especially a Moabite, and a woman at that. Ruth was certainly putting her whole life on the line, BUT God was in all of this!

If we go back to our thoughts of last week for a few moments, it will maybe help us to understand just how much God is working out His plan, within this vitally important story. The family are just an ordinary family of believers, they have made an unwise decision and gone to live in Moab at a time when God was punishing Israel, due to their sin and idolatry.

God at the same time was working out His purposes in an even bigger way than we might at first imagine.

It is good for us that we know the end of the story, and we remind ourselves that the family had to live it out on a daily basis. Just as we have to they had to live and cope with the circumstances that they found themselves in. As we do they made decisions in line with their experience and their personal wisdom and understanding. Emotions clearly played an important role in their decision making.

As each one of us are, this was a small family living life's experiences.

Some decisions were righteous and good, others not so good!

As God was working with them so He works with us today!

APPLY.

Whilst all of this was happening in a small and seemingly insignificant family, God was also doing other things amongst His people. Firstly we notice that the famine was over. That indicates that the people had sought Him in repentance and He was once again blessing them. Naomi now discovered what it was like to be living in a land of plenty (Moab) but being outside of the true blessing of God. What was it that happened? We do not know, but we are assured that God was working His purpose out, which would include this humble young widow being a part of the family line of the the Lord Jesus Christ!

We might not have an accurate dating to the happenings to Elimelech's family, but we can surmise and work back and get an idea as to what the date was roughly.

In the lab, if we wanted to weigh something accurately, we always would weigh by difference. That means we would accurately weigh the jar with more than we needed of it's contents and then remove an amount carefully into another container, the difference in weight would then tell us accurately how much we have taken away. We can apply a similar strategy to the bible, in order to work out when all of this is most likely to have happened. For instance David's father was Jesse, David was a generation younger than Saul, therefore David's parents and Saul would have been of similar age. Samuel was a generation above Saul which means that Obed was born at the time the Samuel was judging Israel. This means that Hannah who was Samuel's mother was approximately of the same generation as was Ruth. It is not accurate I am sure, but the timing must be there abouts.

Why do I say this?

Remember Hannah was broken hearted because she had no children, but God was bringing a judge who would righteously lead Israel, at around the time when Naomi and Ruth were returning to Bethlehem. Here we have two fascinating parallels of God's provision for His people. One would be Samuel who would bring about the end of the judges era, which would lead to the monarchy, but not the one of God's intention. Through Ruth, David was on his way, he was to be the foundation for the true King to come.!

There is also another helpful co-incidence, Boaz' father was Salmon who was the son of Nahshon whose wife was Rahab, she of course was the woman of Jericho. Rahab, like Ruth was a foreign woman, who put God's people before her own. Rahab was included into the line of the Lord Jesus. God was working His purposes out through a man called Boaz whose grandmother was a foreigner, no wonder that he had a friendly disposition towards another foreign lady, who had his nation at heart. It is good to look at the tapestry of God's plans and purposes being worked out through His people's ordinary and mundane lives. Through our experiences, both bitter and sweet, He has a purpose, which He will fulfil. This makes it all the more important that we live the life that He has set before us, our daily decisions, both as individuals and as the church do have eternal consequences. Let us covenant to make right decisions in all things.

Of course we must not leave that there, we must apply it. Rahab was a prostitute and a pagan but yet was converted and as a result she befriended God's people, she belonged to them and was key in the building of the nation. The same was true of Ruth and it is true of us today. We are aliens to God and His people until we are converted and then we become a friend of God which means that we become friends with His people!

So what does that friendship look like?

But Ruth replied, ‘Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.’ When Naomi realised that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

Let us learn from Ruth's statement to Naomi. Naomi for whatever purpose was trying to encourage Orpah and Ruth to return to Moab, Orpah whose name means “back of the neck” went back to her family, her people and their traditions. She turned her back on the opportunity to become a part of the people of God. On the other hand Ruth, whose name means friend, wanted friendship primarily with Naomi and then with God's people, but more importantly with Naomi's God.

She began by stopping Naomi in her tracks, she told her “don't talk to me in this way!” “Stop urging me to leave you and to go back, I do not want to do that!” Friendship begins with honesty and continues in a straightforward way.

See how it develops with Ruth, “where you go I will go, where you go I will stay.” This is covenantal, it is a promise, Ruth was telling Naomi that from this moment on they were joined at the hip. True friends want to be together. Do you have this friendship, that wants to be together?

But, this friendship is built on more than just circumstance. Ruth also tells Naomi, “Your people will be my people and your God my God.” In other words Ruth was saying that all she had ever been was now behind her. Moab was no longer of importance, God's people are now of far greater importance because God is now singularly most important to Ruth. Naomi's God is her God and she is now His servant, and so her place is with His people, of which Naomi is her first priority.

Do you have this same faith in Jesus Christ? Is He everything to you just as God was to Ruth?

Would you leave absolutely everything for Him?

Have you left everything for Him?

Just think again of the things that Ruth left behind, she left her family and any inheritance that she might have had. She left her reputation, and from this decision onwards, she would be the Moabite girl that left home to go off with foreigners, and to make matters worse the Israelites. She left friends and security, familiarity and tradition. She left her husband's grave and so many other things and then went off on the journey of her lifetime. We know how it all turned out for Ruth, but she could never imagine the blessing that was to come. Ruth upon her declaration to Naomi was taking on a whole new existence and that is exactly what we do when we become Christians!

This is the journey of our lifetime!

On the other hand Orpah could not go that far, a short journey towards the land of promise was enough for her, the pull of Moab and family and friends. Her security and familiarity were all too much for her to give up. Poor old Orpah, she went back to Moab and never became friends with God. There are so many who profess to be Christian that do such things. I pray that there is nobody here today who are like Orpah. There might even be somebody who is worse off than she was, she gave up after a few miles down the road. You might have been travelling along the church road for a long time, and have not yet acknowledged the God of the church to be your God! You might have promised to be with the people, to be a part of the church, you might even have been baptised and become a member but are not yet in true friendship with God! I urge you if that is your state to deal with it now.

You see “everybody needs a friend!” Ruth is a friend to Naomi, she is a friend of God but she is also a friend of ours because she speaks by her life of a Friend who sticks closer than a brother. He is Jesus who just happened to be a distant descendant of this amazing woman.

Ruth part 1 A journey of a lifetime.

23^rd September 2018

P.A.Thatcher

The Mustard Seed Evangelical Church.

Series: “The best is yet to come!” {Lessons from the book of Ruth Part 1}

A journey of a lifetime.

Ruth 1:1-5

In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.

Now Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.

NIV UK Version.

Background:

Our series is set in the times of the Judges, which was the 400 year period after Israel had entered the promised land under the leadership of Joshua (approx. 1500 -1100 BC). The setting of the book is laid out in verse 1 which follows on in our bibles from the last verse of Judges which describes the period as being lawless: Judges 21: 25 “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.” Proverbs 16:25 (which had not yet been written) would have been most a appropriate warning for the people; “There is a way that seems right to a man, but it's end is the way of death!”

It is this theme that is key to our understanding of the first chapter of Ruth.

The times of the judges were very dark days that were punctuated by God's blessing and salvation for His rebellious people. When reading Judges we discover that the people would sin, God would send enemies against them, as He promised that He would in the law of Moses. When things became unbearable the people prayed and God rescued them. Judges is a book that shows how depraved even the people of God can be but it also shows that God judges their sinfulness but is gracious in bringing relief to their suffering when they repent. This is most significant for our understanding of this fascinating account of a small family during those days.

So what do we learn from the verses that we read this morning. There are many lessons that might not at first be obvious. Let us consider:

• The dangers of being led by circumstance.

• The dangers of outside influences.

• The importance of the family.

The dangers of being led by circumstance:

As we begin our studies in Ruth, we must remind ourselves that the bible is always an accurate account of events that does not always comment upon the details and reasons for decisions made. The circumstances that Elimelech and Naomi found themselves in caused them to make a big decision in life. They emigrated from Bethlehem to Moab because there was famine in Israel. That was a pragmatic decision that I guess any parent would make in order to ensure that their family were fed. That might be especially true for Elimelech and Naomi, you see they had two boys to feed. The names of the boys suggest that they were both unwell, Mahlon means sickly and Chilion means wasting away. Names in the bible are usually of great significance, that being the case, who can blame their parents for taking them to a place where food is freely available? Circumstance is often a good guide for our decision making but as with this family, it can also be a poor guide.

There was famine in Bethlehem, which out of interest means house of bread, that suggests that there is something of greater significance at hand. The destination of their emigration was Moab, which was one of Israel's mortal enemies. The time of the judges was a time when tensions between the two nations were at a very low ebb. Moab were descendants of Lot by his incestuous relationship with one of his daughters. The Ammonites were descendants of Lot through the son of his incestuous relationship with his other daughter. Both Moab and the Ammonites hated the Israelites and due to their abuse towards Israel. If you read through Joshua and Judges you will soon discover some of the evil ways that this nation had treated Israel, but now Elimelech emigrates to their land. That would suggest that it was at a time in the 400 years of the judges when tensions were less problematic. It would be quite logical to conclude that the Lord was directing them to go there, just as it might have been to conclude that when Jonah was on the run, a ship was heading to Tarshish, guided him to go aboard. There are other issues at hand that suggest that to be a wrong premise.

We need to consider who Israel are, they are the people of God. Bethlehem is named such because it reminded them that God supplies bread to His faithful people. The law of Moses teaches that perfectly. God blesses His obedient people, some of the signs of which are, rain in season, sun in season, growing time and harvest time in great abundance. Famine in the land and also enemies invading, which Moab were prone to doing were signs of God's displeasure at the sin of Israel. Simply because Moab were their friends currently does not negate the significance of the failed harvest! The law of God teaches that He will withdraw the harvest when His people sin. We would do well to take this on board in the church, we will see no harvest of souls when the plans are carried out from sinful motives.

Elimelech whose name means God is King, was not being true to his name when he emigrated. Israel were under God's discipline and the only way of escape was through repentance. Remember our proverb “There is a way that seems right to a man, but it's end is the way of death!” That is exactly what Elimelech experienced!

In 1 Corinthians10:6 Paul tells us that, “the experiences of the Old Testament took place as an example for us, in order that we might not make the same mistakes that people like Elimelech did!”

So what is the lesson for us to learn?

Our name is important also, we are called Christians, which simply means that Our Saviour is king of our lives. Just as Elimelech was called to trust His God as king, through thick and thin then so are we to trust Christ for all things. Elimelech didn't trust God when his nation was under judgement and as a righteous man never influenced his people to repentance, which would have brought about relief from the famine! Instead Elimelech followed what he believed to be blessing, the grass was certainly greener in Moab but God was not with him there. His own plans were the death of him and also of his children. Sometimes in our Christian experience we go through famines of blessing, they might be attributed to personal sin or the corporate sin of the church. The last thing we should do is up sticks and run to where we believe there is blessing. We need to repent of any wrong doing and trust God for His blessing and together see God at work amongst us!

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The dangers of outside influences:

I am sure that if you have not said it yourself, then you have heard it said to a wayward child; “From your attitude, I know who you have been with!” From this account we easily deduce who Elimelech and Naomi had been associating with. Naomi and Elimelech were Ephrathites which simply means that they were Bethlehem born and bred. Ephrath (meaning fruitful) was the original Canaan name for Bethlehem, it was known as the place that epitomised God's provision for His people, and yet when the going got tough Elimelech left for more fertile ground. Before that happened there was clearly something not right in the family, the names of the boys denoted their physical health, sickly and wasting away suggests that the blessing was not there. Elimelech was guilty of not living up to his name. The names Mahlon and Chilion are not Hebrew names but are from the Canaanite nations. I suppose it would be something like A Christian calling his son Mohammed. It was not normal. Elimelech clearly had other influences long before he left Israel.

The boys then took Moabite wives, there seems to be no concern that Moab had been doing so much harm to the children of Israel. There is another issue that might be easily missed, Moabites were barred from entering the temple for worship. God had seen fit to ban them from His presence in the temple due to their sin at the time of Balaam. The outcome of all of this is that the family from Judah now were not pure in their family worship of God Almighty.

Thje family made Moab their home and were seemingly at home in that country. Through all of these things we can clearly see the influence that was on their lives. We can see where their hearts lay and it was not with the people of God and they were certainly not concerned about the true worship of their God.

When God's people follow their own wants and desires they will soon find themselves guilty of compromise in worship. To be able to accommodate our backsliding we soon embrace wrong influences and then justify them by promoting ourselves as enlightened or more spiritual than others. There has never been a day when this has been more relevant than it is today! Christians and churches are so concerned with being modern and relevant in society that very often we are guilty of embracing worldly ways rather than following the regulative principles as laid down in scripture. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being modern as long as it does not compromise scripture. That is equally true of being traditional or old fashioned! We must be faithful to the word of God rather than any other influence. We live in the modern equivalent of Moab, the world outside is barred from the worship of God because of sin. At this point we must jump forward in our thoughts to the influence that Naomi had over Ruth and Ruth's ultimate confession of trust in God. Ruth the Moabitess was included in with the people of God because she turned to God almighty for her eternal security. As we live in our foreign land we like Naomi need to bring people to know our God through Jesus Christ and then they too will be included in the true worship of God.

God wants us to be faithful to Him alone, to put aside all of our personal and corporate compromises and to trust in Him alone in all circumstances. It is this single minded faith and trust that He requires of us as individuals and as the church and then He will bless us beyond what we cane ever imagine.

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The importance of the family:

When all seemed to be ok the plans of Elimelech and Naomi came to fruition, death resulted. For Naomi it was disastrous, their journey of a lifetime became a nightmare. Three funerals came in quick succession and Naomi found herself all alone in a foreign land and to cap it all, blessing had come to Israel. The famine was over and Naomi was miles away in Moab, so she left Moab to return to Bethlehem, with Orpah and Ruth her daughters in law. As we know the end from the beginning we know that Ruth became a wonderful help to Naomi but also the way of redemption of the sad situation. But, Naomi did not know that, she was a woman in desperate grief. We need to understand why she later says the things that she does and the reasons for her attitude. I am so glad that she had a Ruth whose name means friend!

God is working His purpose out in this family and what a purpose He had. The Lord Jesus was going to be born of this Moabitess' line. How amazing is that! We will come back to it again as we continue through the book! But for now we conclude this morning's thoughts with this truth. Within the family Naomi had a friend that was so much better than she could ever imagine at the time.

It is the same with the church, we are called to be the family of God. We are each to be Ruth's (friends) with each other! Friends who support each other when the going gets tough and when griefs and sorrows cause us to react badly. Ruth just loved Naomi despite her apparent bitterness in grief. The Lord Jesus is the friend of sinners who loves us unconditionally. When we get it wrong He does not reject us,He encourages us to faithfulness.

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Do we love and encourage each other as Ruth did Naomi?

Or as Jesus does us???