The Spoken Word

Ruth 1:1 – 18

1.)        Let’s turn on our GPS today and see what we can discover about a woman named Ruth.  Why is her story in the Bible and how can her story connect to ours?

Three words that I focus on are; Love, Risk, Belief.  Let’s look at her story.

2.)        The story begins with Naomi and Elimelech, Israelites who are living in Bethlehem.  They have two sons.  Scripture tells us that during the time of the judges there was a famine in the land.  Those two statements might not give you any particular insights but what they reveal is important.

First, during the time of the judges the rule of law and order was not strict and organized.  It was a time when people lived out of their own ideas of right and wrong.  Different people ruled over different parts of the land.  It was kind of a loose confederacy, almost an “every man for himself” type of system.  So, you couldn’t count on much help from others.

Secondly, the famine meant that in that region if you couldn’t raise crops you had no food, no one was going to help you.  In that nomadic culture and because of that famine conditions you had to move to where you could support yourself.

So Elimelech and Naomi moved to Moab, a region east of Bethlehem approximately 50 miles away.  It was a foreign land and not a place to move to, but times were tough so they did.

3.)        While the family is there Elimelech dies.  Naomi’s two sons then marry Moabite women and ten years after they move to Moah her two sons die.  There is Naomi with Orphah and Ruth in the land of Moab, the three of them.

Naomi hears that the Lord has given favor to those back in Bethlehem with food so she prepares to go back to Bethlehem, where she came from.

Naomi believes that it is best for Orphah and Ruth to stay in Moab and go to their mother’s home.  She blesses them and desires the Lord to be with them for the ways she has been shown love through them.  She kisses them and expects them to go.  But they say that they will go with Naomi.

Then Naomi tells them that there is no life for them back in Bethlehem.  She can’t promise them any husbands or security for their lives.  Orphah kisses Naomi and she begins traveling back home, but Ruth clings to Naomi.  Naomi again tries to persuade her  to return but Ruth says, “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 anything but death separates you and me” (Ruth 1:16, 17)

Those are powerful, wonderful words that communicate what is in her heart.  Those three words; Love, Risk and Belief are revealed.  Let’s hold on those words as we look at the rest of Ruth’s story.

4.)        So, Ruth and Naomi go back to Bethlehem and people welcome them.  They meet and hear about Ruth and what she has done for Naomi.  People are blessed when they hear about Ruth.  Ruth then begins gleaning (taking crops from the edges) from the fields for food and meets Boaz, one of Elimelech’s relatives.  Boaz helps Ruth out with provisions from the field.  Eventually Boaz marries Ruth and Ruth has a son.  Naomi is blessed and filled with joy, she is a grandmother.

We discover that her grandson, named Obed is the father of Jesse, who is the father of David.  Ruth is the great grandmother to David, whose lineage goes to Jesus.

A part of the big story of Ruth, a woman from Moab, who was not in the Jewish lineage, by birth, is used by God to bring about God’s plan for history, through David and Jesus.  She has a vital link in the big story.

We never know how our journey on this earth will be used and shaped by God for His Holy purposes.  Life happens and when we look back we can see things clearer.

5.)        As part of the little story of Ruth are those three words; Love, Risk and Belief.

Love. Ruth’s love for Naomi was incredible, caring, giving and compassionate.  She cared for her mother in law promising to be with her.  For ten years Ruth had loved her and felt that she could not leave her.  Ruth choose to love Naomi, who was right with her, more than her own life in Moab.  The quality of love we see in Ruth was bright.

Risk. Ruth was willing to risk her entire future.  She was willing to give up her life in Moab to go to a different country.  She would risk being with people that were not her family and wondering how they would treat her.  She had an ability to risk.

Belief. She believed in the God of Naomi, though this belief was not her tradition, it was new.  She left the traditions, ideas and practices to follow the one true God.  She understood her new belief in God and even made a vow that the Lord could treat her severely if she ever left Naomi.  She had a strong sense of belief.  This gave her greater capacities to love and risk.

6.)        As I thought about Ruth, her story and these three words two other women came to mind.  One woman, that passed away in 1997, had an incredible quality of love in her, had an ability to risk and sacrifice, and had a strong belief in the Lord God.

Can anyone guess?  I am talking about Mother Teresa.  She is someone who personified Ruth.  She loved, she risked and she believed.  Here is a story about her.

“The criticism that Mother Teresa faced, especially in non-Christian countries, was that the ultimate goal of her work was to proselytize.  The Hindu priests at a Kali temple were unhappy when Mother and the Sisters began their work at Nirmal Hriday in Kalighat close to the temple.  Then something happened that brought about a complete change of heart.

Mother heard that one of the priests of the temple was dying of an infectious disease and nobody would touch him.  She collected his emaciated body in her arms and brought him to her home.

The local people asked her to stay.  A Hindu priest of the temple said to her with folded hands, “for thirty years I have worshipped the goddess Kali in stone, but today the goddess Mother stands before me alive.”   (Deeds, Not Words page 68  “Mother Teresa’s  Reaching Out in Love” compiled and edited by Edward Le Joly and Jaya Chaliha)

Here is a story that Mother Teresa liked to tell that exemplifies her heart.

“Those who have had the good fortune to meet Mother Teresa can never forget her smile.  As she grew older and her face more wrinkled, every crease added to her loving smile.  Children had a very special place in her heart and their little offerings were to her bigger than the biggest donation she ever received.

Once, there was a sugar shortage in Calcutta and the Sisters came in relays from Shishu Bhavan to Mother, each one saying that there was no sugar for the children.  In their preoccupation with the sugar crisis no one, except Mother, noticed that a four-year-old boy was standing in front of her and looking up into her face.  She put her arms around the child and said, Mother Teresa has no sugar for the children.

The boy went home and told his parents: ‘I will not eat sugar for three days.  I will give my sugar to Mother Teresa.’

A few days later, the boy led his parents to Mother House and in lisping syllables asked to see Mother.  As soon as he saw her coming, he held out the bottle of sugar that he was firmly clutching in his two hands.

Mother repeated this story many times with great feeling and each time she would say, ‘That little boy who could hardly pronounce my name loved with great love and that little one taught me that it is not how much we give, but how much love we put in that giving.”  (“Mother Teresa Has No Sugar, page 95.  “Mother Teresa’s  Reaching Out in Love” compiled and edited by Edward Le Joly and Jaya Chaliha)

Mother Teresa was someone who put a lot of love in her giving.

7.)        The other woman I was thinking about was Leigh Anne Tuohy.  Have any of you heard about her?  She also exemplified Love, Risk and Belief.  Her story was portrayed in the movie, “The Blind Side,” based on the true story of Michael Oher.

Did Leigh Anne Tuohy love Michael?  Did she risk a lot to have Michael live with them?  Did she believe in the Lord?  Yes, yes, and yes!

8.)        Ruth, Mother Teresa, Leigh Anne Tuohy.  What can we take from their stories and apply to ours?

Love. Look at the people closest to you.  Take a long, slow, look.  Are they receiving the love that you  have in your heart?  Are you withholding it from them?    Look at the needs of the people nearest you.  Is there a need that is calling out to you?  Is there a need that you can do something about?    Look at the people near you and see where they are hurting?  What can you do to bring hope, comfort and strength to them?  Let love be strong to those near you.

Risk. What is it that you fear?  Is fear so strong that it rules your life?  What will you lose if you risk something?  What will you lose if you don’t risk something?  What fears do you have about people, about your future, about yourself?  Be willing to risk our life for God, for those things you believe in, for people you care about.

Belief. You might be someone who does not believe the God of the Bible.  It all might be new to you.  Faith and belief is always new to each person.  Believe in God and in His Son, Jesus and the Holy Spirit by asking Christ to come in.  Then live out of that believe as you put your faith into action.

9.)        Which of these three words is getting your attention today?  Take that word and hold on to it and apply it to your life journey.

What do you need to take from Ruth’s story today?  It might be that you need to focus on love for those closest to you.  It might be that you need to risk something, that your fears are holding you from being and doing what God desires.  It might be that you need to believe in the Lord of all who loves you with an everlasting love.