Providence Brings Together, 2

Again, I'd like to take a moment to highlight the announcement of Preview Day at ACU on the ninth of May, and invite all of you who are students who are considering university or have students in your home who are considering university to come for Preview Day. If you know of someone who may be interested, please let them know about it. Perhaps you can bring them to Preview Day. But I encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity to just come and be a part of what's happening at ACU and get a picture and a better understanding of our university, your university, and remember that that's what this is. So please take advantage of that day ninth May. All right with that, would you please open to the Book of Ruth again. We're still in Ruth chapter one. In Ruth chapter one, and I want to invite you to consider something with me. I want to invite you to consider that one day in the life of Ruth and Boaz, they had a major disagreement. It was something that they had probably disagreed about before. Maybe many times they got frustrated with each other, maybe said things that they regretted. Now I know what you're thinking, Well, that's not in the Bible. Nope, But it's in every marriage. Amen, somebody, there's nobody in the history of marriage who's been married and hasn't been there. This is okay, all right, no married people out there going really what, I've never imagined such a thing. This happens in every marriage. This happens when, as one book titles, they said, when sinners say, I do so we know that Ruth and Boaz did not have a marriage without conflict, without difficulty, and they probably experienced the same kinds of difficulties that other people experience. What does this have to do with Ruth Chapter one? It has everything to do with Ruth Chapter one, because there are moments in every marriage where it becomes necessary for you to look back at God's providence in order to remind you where you've come from and that God did this. Amen. Because our tendency in moments like that is to say, oh, I must have made a mistake. People come to pastors, friends and others all the time. I must have made a mistake. This must be the wrong one, because here's the misconception that we have. The misconception that we have is that when when we find love, and when we get married, it will be the love to end all loves and the marriage to end all marriages. Our we will wake up in the morning and our breath will smell like butterflies and rose petals. Just we will never have a bad day. This is the way we walk into it. I mean, because again, there's never been anything like this before, but there has, and now all of a sudden you run into those difficulties that marriages run into. And if you don't have the right perspective, immediately, immediately you think I must have made a mistake, because if I hadn't made a mistake, then I would have marriage without difficulty, without hardship, and that doesn't exist. And when that happens, it's important that we remind ourselves that God is not in the business of making mistakes. Amen. One of the ways we do that is we look back and we trace its providence, We trace how he brought us together. And the problem we have culturally is that, you know, we have this sort of mythological understanding that Greco Roman myth of romantic love. You know that there's even a person associated with it. If you want Cupid, what does Cupid do. Cupid is a little charit who flies around with a bow and arrow, and he strikes people in the heart, and all of a sudden he hits you. You're done. And we fall in love. And we use phrases like the heart wants what it wants, and this thing is bigger than both of us. We don't choose who we fall in love with. These are the kind of phrases that we use because this is the way we understand. So when we trace back our relationship, we usually like to trace it back to the moment when we met right or that moment when bam, we fell in love, that moment when it happened wrong. Answer, the providence of God goes back even further than that. And if you want to read and understand the Book of Ruth, you have to read it backwards. This is not just a love story. In fact, he's not a love story at all from a human standpoint. From a divine standpoint, it is absolutely a love story when you look at it backwards. Here's what this is about. This is how Great King David's great grandparents came together. That's how you read Ruth. If you want to understand Ruth rightly, if you want to get providence rightly in Ruth, you have to look at it from the standpoint of David. Going backwards, we are looking into history from David's life and answering the question how did his ancestors come together during Israel's darkest days? I promise you when you do this, the Book of Ruth looks different. Today. We're going to look at the latter part of chapter one, and we're going to look at what is undoubtedly the most well known and most beloved verse in all of the Book of Ruth, Ruth one sixteen, which is rather ironic. You know the verse. You've heard the verse. Some of you may have even had the verse read at your wedding right where you go, I'll go, or you lodge, our lodge, maybe even had it read at your wedding. The great irony of this is that is not a romantic statement. That's a woman speaking to her mother in law. Right, this is a mother speaking. This is a woman speaking to her mother in law. This statement is powerful in at least three ways. Number One, it's a powerful statement about Ruth's love and God's love for Naomi. Secondly, it's powerful statement when we look at it and see it in this context about God's love for Ruth. But thirdly, as we continue on in the Book of Ruth, you need to understand that this statement becomes the foundation upon which Boaz's attraction to Ruth is built. Now, I don't want to steal too much Thunder, but it'll be a while before we get there. But just know this Ruth is never described physically. We don't know what she looked like, but we know that Boaz was crazy about this woman. And one of the main reasons is what we read about here and what she does when she has an opportunity to go back home and instead cleans to nail. So again, when we read this in its context, when we read it backwards, it changes things. Let's look here, beginning in verse six, there is an abrupt change. You remember those first five verses again, the most miserable five verses probably anywhere in the Bible, those verses. You know, I know you guys probably don't listen to a lot of country music, but you know I come from Texas and country music is big in Texas, and those first five verses sound like a country song. Right. That's sad Dog Died the Cow wasn't given milk. And you know, tornado came and knocked the house down and all you know, And now we move on to verse six quickly. Then then she arose with her daughters in law to return from the country of Moab. For she had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and given them food. For so she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters in law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. Now what's important about this, What's as important as what's stated, is what's not stated. We don't know anything about their life in Moab. We don't get any picture of what their existence is. That's not important. What's important here is that they left. They left Israel because there was no bread in the city of Bread, and now they're going back. And notice why because she heard, she didn't hear. Notice the terms that are used. It doesn't say Naomi heard that a favorable wind had changed from the Mediterranean and brought rain, and that the drought was over because the meteorological can didn't know God had visited his people and brought food. That's what she heard. She did not hear that the drought was over. She did not hear that the weather changed. And even if she heard that the weather changed and the drought was over, when those words hit her ears, what they communicated was God visited his people. Amen, this is her worldview. This is the way she sees things. You know, I'm afraid that some of us have become so well educated, some of us have so figured out why and how things happen, that we have forgotten that there is a God who rules the world. Amen, I don't forget. It was a seminary class, one of my first classes in seminary. I think it was like my first semester in the seminary. And the beginning of class were taking prayer request and one person had a praise report and apparently some a child and his family had fallen out of a window and they were so afraid and they went out and they picked the child up and the child was fine. And another student in the class began to talk about, Ah, man, you know, it's it's great that at that age you know their bones or so this and their bones or so. And the professor stops and says, it's great that we serve a great God who saved that child. All of that. All of that may be true. Right, if that had been an old person with brittal bones, it would have been a different story. That may be true. But even though we understand the scientific mechanisms surrounding the way things happen, you have to remember that providence has to do with God giving those things, those proper these in the first place. Amen. So it's not well, if you can't explain it scientifically, then it's providence, absolutely not, because providence even cover science. There is a reason that things have the properties that they do. There is a reason that things continue operating according to the properties that God has given them. And so what she heard was God has visited his people and God has brought them fruit. And when we are thinking providentially, that's the way we have to look at things. God did this. Because here's the question, Remember what is this story all about? This story this is somebody telling that think about King David as a little boy, and somebody saying, King David, let me tell you a story about your great great grandparents and how God and his providence brought them together. Story starts out famine, worst time in Israel's history, worst season that time of the judges. Everyone's doing was right in his own eyes. They have to leave and go out to Moab. Of all places, they end up in Moab. Daddy dies, the two sons die, the Helmi's left there by herself, and yet the famine ended. Everything changes now, because if you're a young David listening to this story, you're going, that's how great great grandma actually got to Israel. That's the question that's being answered here, and that's why we don't get a whole lot of other details at this point. But Naomi said to her two daughters in law, go now, remember they've left and they're on their journey. 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. The Lord grant that you may find rest each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. You see, David, there was a moment where great great Grandma Ruth had a chance to go back, and she didn't. There was a moment when she was on her way to a foreign land, probably very fearful. Three women traveling alone over a great distance, probably with not much, and she could have gone back home, but she didn't. In God's providence, she didn't. Have you ever thought about that? Have you ever looked at your own marriage relationship and thought about those moments where this could have happened but it didn't. Perhaps some of you have an experience where there's an opportunity for you to meet someone else and instead you met the one that you've ended up married too. That's tracing the hand of providence. Nothing happens by accident. She had an opportunity to go back, and she didn't. And we continue look at verse ten. Not only was there an opportunity to go back, but there was good reason to go back, or so Naomi thought. And they said to her, no, we will return with you to your people. But Naomi said, turn back, my daughters. Why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husband's Turn back, my daughters, go your way, For I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying no, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake, that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me. Then they lifted up their voices and wept again, and or But kissed her mother in law, but Ruth clung to her. This passage is filled with irony. Irony number one. Here's Naomi with two Moabite women, two more Bite women who are willing to go to the Land of Promise, to the Covenant community and become a part of the people of God. This is an evangelistic opportunity. Why would you not want these two young women who were married to your sons to come with you to Israel where they can meet God and be a part of the people of God and a part of all the blessings that God is pouring out on his people. But she's not thinking stray. We're going to see that even more in the next part of the series. She's not thinking stray. And by the way, this is good news for you and me. But why is it good news for you in me? Because you have days and I have days where we're not thinking straight. Amen. Praise God that he doesn't say, you know what I would have blessed you, but you're not thinking straight. We would all have very different lives if God dealt with us that way. Amen. Here's the other thing. Not only is she not thinking straight, think of the irony of this. Remember we're telling the story today, or this is Ruth and Boaz in the midst of this argument saying, really, we're gonna say we made a mistake. Do you remember what God did in order to get us together? Either way? Either way, here's how the story goes. That was an opportunity to turn back, and she didn't turn back. And here's the great ironing. Naomi is saying, turned back so that you can have a husband, because if you come with me, I'm not having any more kids. You're not going to get a husband from this old body right here. And even if you did, that would be kind of yeah, you're too old. Right. All the while, God is saying, actually, I am going to bring this one a husband, and he is going to come from you because he's your kinsman redeemer, which will make him her kinsman redeemer. That's the great ironing. She's standing there saying, go back to Moab because there's nothing for you in Israel. And God is saying, an on, girl, come to Israel, I got something for you. You ever been there, sayings? Have ever been there? Have you ever had one of those moments in your life where you come to the payoff moment and you're embarrassed? Have you ever come to one of those moments where the blessing of God just flows and you just have to laugh and say, you know what, if I'd had my way, I wouldn't be here right now to experience this because I couldn't have seen it. You know what that means. That means that if you're in the dark right now, remember God's at work. That means that if you don't see a way right now, remember God is not looking to you to find a way. He's the waymaker. This is an important practice because again, it's easy to get to that place where you say, you know what, it just shouldn't be this hard. It just shouldn't be this difficulty. We just shouldn't have these kinds of problems. And it's interesting. If you're early in your marriage, you'll say, you know what, we shouldn't have problems like this early on in our marriage. If you're late in your marriage, you know what, we shouldn't have problems like this late in our marriage. And before you open your mouth to say maybe we made a mistake, trace God's providence. Look back at those moments where it could have gone a different way, but it didn't. Look back at those moments where if you had had your own way, you would have done the exact opposite. Look back at those moments where you weren't thinking rightly, and yet God blessed you. Trace God's and remind yourself that God does not make mistakes. Amen, Let's look now at the statement begins in verse fifteen. She said, See, your sister in law has gone back to her people and to her gods return after her. Remember or Pa kissed her, Ruth clung to her. In other words, or Pa kissed her. Goodbye. Ruth says, ladies go back, and they say no, no, we're not going back. We're going with you. And then Ruth says, ladies, I don't have any more sons. Go back to Moabs so you can have a husband. Remember we talked on last week about women in the ancient Near East and not being able to own property. And again, what are your prospects with me? And Orpah says you know what you got a good point, kisses her and goes back. Not Ruth, see, your sister in law has gone back to her people and to her gods. Return after your sister in law. But Ruth said, do not urge me to leave you or to return 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 my god. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me. And more Also, if anything but death parts me from you. And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more. I bet she didn't. Three things I want you to see here. First, you have to back up to Naomi's statement before you read Ruth's statement to understand it. Because Naomi's statement put Ruth's words in a religious context. In a spiritual context, Naomi is urging her not just to return, but to return to her gods as their sister in law has done. Ruth doesn't just say go home, go to your people, go to your gods. In other words, I'm going to yahweh you go to your God again. Naomi's not thinking straight. What child of God in their right mind would say, I'm going to God, don't follow me, go to another God. But essentially that's what she says, I'm going to my God. You go to your God. Secondly, Ruth's response takes on the form of a direct response to Naomi. Naomi says, your sister in law has gone back to her people. Ruth says, your people shall be my people. Naomi says, your sister in law has gone back to her God's. Ruth says, your God will be my God. Naomi says, return after your sister in law, and Ruth says, where you go, I go, where you lodge, I lodge. In other words, she responds point by point to what it is Naomi has said. Third room. The third feature that demands our attention is her statement about burial. Will you die and die? Were you buried? I'm buried. To take this in its historical context and in its biblical context. In its historical context, even up to today, people tend to be buried and to want to be buried near their home, near their family. In the biblical context, remember that when the children of Israel left Egypt, Joseph had given very specific instructions when you leave and go to the promised land, take my bones, don't bury me here. There's even a phrase for it in the Bible. He was gathered to his people. That was symbolized by being buried where your people are buried. He was gathered to his people. The great insult was to be scattered from your people, to die, and to not be taken back, and to be buried where your people are buried. And so in the biblical context and in the historical context, Ruth is saying something powerful here. She's saying, I'm going with Yahweh. I'm going with Yaway's people, and I'm going to be buried there because they're going to be my people. In other words, Moad, it's not my people anymore. You're my people now. We'd be pushing it to say that this was her conversion moment. It could be the case, but this is a strong statement about her commitment to Naomi and her commitment to Naomi's God. Not only the fact that Naomi's statement literally says, I'm going to Yahweh, you go to your gods. Not only because she answers point by point, because of this powerful statement, I'm going to be buried where you're buried. You're going to be gathered to your people, and I'm going to be gathered with you because you're my people. This is a pivotal moment. She had an opportunity to leave, she didn't. She had a reason to leave, she didn't, and then she made a covenant commitment. Don't miss the last part of what she says. The last part of what she says is, may the Lord do so to me and more. Also, if anything but death parts me from you. She entered into a covenant. She bound herself by her word, by her words, into a covenant commitment to Naomi. May the Lord do to me and more. If I don't keep this covenant, she's making the covenant with Naomi. She's making a covenant with the people of God. And this will eventually lead to the covenant with Boas. Why cause as we're going to see Boas does not just come see Ruth get hit by Cuban's arrow and say, oh, I've got to have this woman. Boas is an Israelite who's related to Naomi, who happens to be in a position to be able to take on an obligation based on the covenant community. And if Ruth does not commit herself to the Covenant community, she doesn't get in on this blessing. Do you see God's providence here? And here's the other thing she's not doing. She doesn't know about lever right marriage. The one who knows about lever right marriage has told her I've got nothing for you, go back, and yet she makes this commitment. And in Boaz's eyes, this if someone is if someone was to say, you know, when you think about Ruth, what would you say is her most beautiful feature? The covenant commitment that she made to Naomi before she even set eyes on Israel. That is by far the most beautiful thing about it. There is nothing else about her that drew me to her as much as that. Did you see this? We've gotten it so twisted. When we think about marriage, we don't think about God's providence, we don't think about God's people, we don't think about a covenant relationship. We think about Cupid and his arrow and being sacked and fallen in love and overwhelmed with emotion, and that's everything for us. And then when difficulty comes, if that's all we've got, what is going to hold you together? What is going to tie you down. But if in the midst of your worst days, you could say, hold on, hold on, hold on. Remember Remember God said a famine so that Naomi could come and live in your land. God gave you a husband, and he died in his youth, leaving you a young widow. God brought food back to Israel. And as you started on your journey, you were given an opportunity to leave, and you didn't. And then you were given a reason to leave, and you didn't. And instead of leaving with an opportunity and a reason, you made a covenant with your lips to Naomi and to her God and he heard you. And that's why we're married. And that's why it wasn't a mistake, because God doesn't make mistakes. Do you see this? You see this? What room is there in this for? Well, we just don't feel like we used to feel. The spark is gone. If you're married for a spark, you're in trouble. But if you're looking at the providence of God, and if you see the bigger picture, because remember the bigger picture here is God is redeeming Israel. Remember, marriage is a picture of the relationship between Christ and the Church. Here this is a marriage through which God is going to redeem Israel in the middle of their darkest days, in the time of the Judges, this three hundred and fifty year period of woe. And after the period of the Judges comes the period of the Monarchs, and you have prophets, priests and kings and the greatest days that Israel ever sees. And this is about how their greatest king came to be, the one with whom God made the Dividic Covenant saying that he would always have a man on the throne. And Jesus is that man who will always be on the throne. People, listen to me. This is not only David's genealogy. This is jesus genealogy. This is part of the providence of God that brings Jesus our kinsman, redeemer, our Savior. When you're in your darkest days of marriage, don't try to find a spark, Try to find God's hand of providence. Try to remind yourself of what God did to bring you together for his glory and how it is that He intends for your marriage to continue as a living, breathing picture of the relationship between Christ and the church. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. Let's bring Father, we thank you for your providential care for us. Grant by your grace that we might cling to it. Granted in our dark days and our difficult moments, we might rally and remind ourselves of what you have done, and of how you never make mistakes, And that either we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you are with us. Grant this we pray in Christ name of it.