Ruth 1:1-22
Ruth’s Redeeming Romance (Series)
Unbelief: We can’t run away from God’s will.
Ruth 1:1-5 (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.
When things are difficult and we try to play God, life goes from bad to worse.
Psalm 33:11
But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.
Because God gave us freedom of choice, we can fight, disobey, and argue against God’s will. Don’t be deceived, God’s will stands forever.
Mark 9:24
Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
Belief is trusting, even when we are struggling with that trust
Deception: When we try to hide our missteps.
Ruth 1:6-18 (16)
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.
Three significant testimonies: Naomi, Orpah and Ruth.
Ruth was an outcast, widowed, gentile, Moabite. How did Ruth become a part of the family of the Messiah? Through the sovereign grace and mercy of God. When we trust God, even in times of death and struggle, God redeems it all.
Bitterness: Blaming God for our struggles.
Ruth 1:19-22
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?” 20 “Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. 21 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.” 22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.
We can’t control the circumstances of life, but we can control how we respond to them.