The Book of Ruth - Part 1

need Jesus. But tonight, we're going to go into the book of Ruth. And what I want to do is I I'm I'm 100% positive that the vast majority of the people in the sanctuary tonight are are really familiar with the story of Ruth. Now, that's a great thing, but what can sometimes happen with stories that we're familiar with is we can read them, but we don't really read them. Now, I'm guilty of that. I'm guilty of like, this is familiar. I know the I know the material. I'm just going to kind of skim through it as a bit of a refresher. But what we do often times, especially when it comes to the word of God, is we often miss these little subtle nuggets that are there.

So, what I want us to do tonight is we're going to be in chapter 1 all night. So, there you go. If you have your Bible, if you have an analog copy, you know, actual pages, you can open it up to Ruth chapter 1. If not, it'll be on the screens behind me. But what I want you to do is as we go verse by verse through chapter 1 tonight, and I begin to unfold the story that is there, I want you to just go slowly with me. Go over each word. And hopefully, by the end of tonight, maybe you have a little different perspective on the book of Ruth and the story that is there.

So, tonight's part 1 in the book of Ruth. We're going to be talking about when empty comes home. When empty comes home. So, this story of Ruth what I've noticed in my time of study in the last 20-something years I've poured myself into to consuming the word of God is that there are some stories in the Bible that make faith look easy. Have you noticed that? Like, you read them and you're like, oh man, that's that's that's God at work right there. That's obvious stories like, if I could have done that, I would be I would my faith would be on a 10 all the time, right?

And and there are times in life when when those kind of things happen to us where we we pray and God does a work. Anybody ever had that happen? You prayed and God just instantly did whatever it was you prayed about. Touched your body, provided a financial need, what whatever it was. You just prayed, and those those are great moments, right? We we kind of walk around with a little bit of a strut like, "Yeah, look what God and I did." So, our faith is kind of high in those moments, but it isn't every time. Have you noticed it doesn't work that way every time?

We want it to, right? We want it to be an instant We want it every time I say, "God, I need God, would you?" and he just answers. That would be awesome, but it doesn't work that way for me. I don't know about you. There are often stories where we're having to slow down because of it's not an immediate answer because often times there are prayers that go unanswered. Sometimes good people get hurt. Have you noticed that? Sometimes there are stories where people who love God experience things they can't explain. And those stories are important too because our faith if it only works when everything's going the way I want it to doesn't really require a whole lot of faith on my part at all.

See, often times the things that grow our faith the most are when he doesn't answer immediately. We got to go through a little bit of a trial or a tribulation or a struggle or a fight or a climb or whatever the case may be. The book of Ruth begins with one of these uncomfortable places. So, we're going to go to to Ruth chapter 1 verse number 1 and my wife is going to be reading scripture for you tonight. So, Chastity, would you mind reading verse number 1 for me? >> Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled that there was a famine in the land and a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, went to dwell in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.

>> Now don't move past that opening statement too quickly because it says in the days when judges ruled. Now, for a little bit of a history lesson here, those were interesting times. They were uncomfortable times. In fact, we read in Judges 17 and 6 it says, "In those days there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes." That kind of reminds me of 2026. Something we're reading in the scriptures, but it's a whole lot like the world that we're living in today where everybody just did what they felt was right. And that's that's the world in which this story is set.

That's the narrative that we're reading into is that people were doing what people wanted to do regardless of how it made anybody else feel. They were always justifying their decisions because it's what they desired to do. It's like our culture and our society today. So, this isn't a far-fetched story. The setting is very similar in a lot of ways to where you and I are living at today. Israel repeatedly wandered away from God. They experienced oppression, and they cried out to God, and God would raise up a deliverer. So, we see this cycle. And the cycle goes this way. It was a cycle of compromise and consequences and crying and then deliverance.

In the middle of all that story that's unfolding in that cycle that went over and over and over and over again, we find in the middle of all that this ordinary family that's that's just simply trying to survive. But, there's something strange about this opening because the Bible says that there was a famine in the land. Now, let me ask you this question. Where did they live? Now, let me answer that. I'll give it to you. It was Bethlehem. Bethlehem. Bethlehem interpreted means what? House of bread. Now, I find it find it very ironic that the house of bread had no bread. That was funny.

It's okay to laugh. The word of God has funny stuff there. So, they're living in the house of bread, yet there there's no bread being there. Sometimes, I want you if you're note takers, here's a note for you, okay? Sometimes, you can be exactly where you thought you were supposed to be and it still experience a a season you don't understand. I'm going to say that again cuz it's worth repeating. Sometimes, you can be exactly where you thought you were supposed to be and still experience a season you don't understand. Sometimes, there's a famine in the house of bread. Sometimes, your marriage struggles. Sometimes, your business just slows down for no reason.

Sometimes, prayers just go unanswered, and you were expecting them to be fulfilled. The door doesn't always open. Somebody you love gets sick. Sometimes there's something that you thought would always be there, and suddenly it's not there anymore. And one of the dangerous things that happens to you and I as followers of Jesus Christ, as people who believe in him, is to assume that every difficult season has to have an explanation. Have you noticed that? It's like, I need the explanation. I need that handle to hang on to because if I know the why, then it helps me process my pain. We desire that. I mean, think about it for just a minute.

How many of you have went through some kind of a season like what we're experiencing in this story here, and you didn't have a why behind it, and how frustrated were you? Yeah. I think all of us we have that has been there would be like, I don't get it. I don't like it. Why? Can you give me the why, God? And he says, "Quiet." And that's the hard lesson of being patient and trusting and allowing your faith to grow because we want to know who did something wrong. Whose fault is this? God, why would you allow this to happen in my life? What lesson are you trying to teach me?

But Ruth doesn't begin by answering those questions. It just simply says that there was a famine. That's the fact we have, that there was a famine in the house of bread. And because there was a famine, there was a man named Elimelech who had to make a decision. We we pick up on this chapter if you go back and read verse one and two for me. >> Now, it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled that there was a famine in the land, and a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, went to dwell in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.

The name of the man was Elimelech, the name of his wife was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to the country of Moab and remained there. >> So, we see here in the story Elimelech, who's the head of the family, has to make a decision. We can't stay here. There's not provision for us. We got to find provision somewhere. So, he makes a decision and he packs his family up and leaves from Bethlehem and goes to Moab. Now, we got to be careful here cuz oftentimes we we go through this and we we preach this backwards.

We already know what happens in the story, so a lot of us are tempted to get ahead of the chapter. So, this is one of those moments when I need you to stop that. Just look at your neighbor and say, "Stop that." Don't do that. Cuz they didn't have knowledge of chapter 2, 3, and 4. You do. We do. They didn't. So, you need to stop for just a minute and live through this the way you would live through it if it was you. You don't have the knowledge yet what's going to take place. We already know what happens. Elimelech should have never left and gone to Moab.

Maybe. Maybe. I say maybe because I'm going to ask you the question, is that what you discover when you read the story in the Bible or is that your opinion? Do you have scripture that you can point out where Elimelech was warned not to go? No, you don't. You know, we we we we read in the story and it never tells us that the sons died because they married Moabite women. We're not given the reason why they died. Now, we like to jump to conclusions, don't we? Why? Because we want to justify the wrong. That's what we do. We like to form the narrative in our own mind, but I'm telling you, stop it.

Stop forming the narrative. Just because you know what the next chapter reads like, stop cuz that's not how life unfolds. We go through one chapter at a time. Here's part of the story. Life hurts oftentimes without giving us an explanation. We don't always get the why. You know what? We still got to go on. We can cry about it. We can get mad about it. We can fuss about it. We can pray about it. But it doesn't mean God's going to always explain himself because he's real good about being God. We should let him do his job. What we know is they arrive in Moab looking for bread, but instead Naomi encounters brokenness.

Verse number three. >> And then Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left and her two sons. >> Imagine this sentence from Naomi's perspective. She's already left her home. She's living in a foreign country. She's surrounded by unfamiliar people and a culture that she can't identify with. And now she loses her husband. But at least she still has her sons, right? You know, and now eventually they are married to Moabite women named Orpah and Ruth, and life continues. And maybe she's thinking to herself, you know what? I miss Elimelech, but at least I still have my sons. At least they have married wives, and maybe just maybe I'm going to have some grandbabies one day because they tell me, I don't know this, but they tell me they're pretty powerful things, those grandchildren.

Anybody testify about they're pretty powerful? Yeah, I heard it said the best that uh is I think it was Brother Graham at Camp Meeting. He said he said grandkids are God's gift for you not killing your teenagers. Yeah. Yeah. I think there's some truth to that. I don't know yet. I don't know. But then the Bible gives us another devastating sentence. Verse number five. >> Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died. So the woman survived her two sons and her husband. >> Think about this. In five verses she loses her home. She loses her husband, and she loses two sons. And with all those losses, she also has lost the future that she thought she would have.

Now, therein is where it gets hard for us, guys. Not that it's not hard to lose people that you love in your life. Those things are terrible. They're devastating. They're They're They're things that often times you you definitely have to have God help you process that kind of grief and that kind of struggle. But there's also the reality that she already had, just like you and just like me, she already had a narrative in her mind of how life was going to be. Don't act like you don't have that narrative, you do. I don't care how old you are in this room, you still have a narrative of how you want life to go.

So, she's now dealing with this reality of how I thought things were going to be, that no longer exists for me. So, what do you do when you've been dealt all of these difficult things one after another after another? It's hard. Let's be honest with ourselves. It's hard to let faith rise up when it feels like every time it rises up, it gets smacked back to the ground. I know of a few stories in this room that you can identify 100% with exactly what Naomi's experiencing in her life, but I'm here to tell you, stop. Don't get ahead of the story. Some of the hardest losses to process happen without explanation.

The future that she had pictured in her life was not going to come to play anymore. And here's what I appreciate about the word of God, it doesn't sanitize Naomi's pain. It doesn't try to take it away. It doesn't try to make it feel like it's less than what it really is. I mean, think about it. It doesn't rush her through grief. You don't read this and get that the Bible's trying to get you to an end. It's not. It doesn't tell her to straighten up and have more faith. It doesn't give her three easy steps to get her joy back. It doesn't offer, you know, a 7-day devotional about how to put a smile back on your face.

It doesn't do those things. And I'm thankful it doesn't. It doesn't tell her these. In fact, before the chapter's finished, Naomi's going to look at the women of Bethlehem and say, "Don't call me Naomi, call me Mara." Don't Don't you even dare refer to me as pleasant. I am bitter because of what has happened to me in my life. She thinks that she has lost everything, but yet, God's not finished. That's the part we often rush past in our own everyday life. As we only see what we have And rarely do we stop and just ask ourselves, what do I still have? Cuz here's what I've realized in life, and this is a difficult okay, I'm fixing to say a statement that can be a little bit controversial.

But I believe when God takes things from us, it wasn't because they're always bad for us, but it was because he had something better in mind. Or or or often times the things that he removes from us were things that we were tempted to make idols. Mhm. Sit on that for just a minute. Naomi, here's what I know. She's deeply wounded. And yet Naomi cannot see in chapter 1 that God is already working. She doesn't see that there's still somebody sitting beside her who's walking through the pain with her. She doesn't see it. She She's so blinded and we we were all guilty of it.

She's so blinded by her own loss and her own struggle and her own pain that she doesn't realize that God has never left her. He's still there operating in the background of her life, the way God always does. He works in the background. She thinks she's lost everything, but yet there's a young Moabite widow standing beside her, too, named Ruth. She thinks her future has disappeared and there's no hope and there's no point of going on, but there's a man in Bethlehem she hasn't met yet named Boaz. She thinks she's returning to Bethlehem with nothing, but the Bible's going to tell us something fascinating that when she finally gets home, it's the beginning of the barley harvest.

But Naomi doesn't know that yet. All she knows, and these are here these are her words, we're going to read them in just a minute. She says this, "I went out full and I came home empty." But the entire book is is to teach us something about God. Here's another note for you. Empty doesn't mean finished. Empty in God's economy, empty does not mean he's finished because you can be empty and still headed towards a harvest. So, on this road back home, we're going to pick up in chapter and excuse me, chapter 1 verse number 6. Read it for us. >> Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab.

For she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had visited his people by giving them bread. >> Something finally changes and one day she hears that the house of bread now has bread again. And there's a reason. There's a reason to bring some hope because in the subtle of everyday life, when you're looking, you can find that God's still providing everyday miracles. But only if you're looking. Only if you're looking. If you're very caught up in your way and what you want to do and if you're blinded by your own ambition and own determination, oftentimes you miss the most subtle of everyday miracles in your life, but it's when you finally stop and say, "God, open my eyes to see that you were with me every day." He will reveal himself.

He is always trying to talk to you. We're just not always listening. Or we've allowed far too many distractions and that's the problem in our world. That's the problem in 2026 is we are far due to too distracted of people to hear the voice when God's always speaking cuz he's such a gentleman. He's never going He's rarely going to shout at you. Rarely. So, she cannot change what happened in Moab, but she's got a reason now to go forward. She can't resurrect her husband or bring her sons back. She can't undo yesterday, but she can decide what direction she's going to walk today. And sometimes that's where a relationship begins.

Not with an explanation. Not with you figuring it all out. Not with everything suddenly getting better. Sometimes restoration begins with the simple decision, "I'm going to go home." I think about this story and I couldn't help but immediately jump to the story of the prodigal son in Luke chapter 15. That whole moment when he's in the pig pen and it says he came to himself and said, "You know what? I didn't realize how good I actually had it in my father's house. The things that I thought I was missing out on, the things that I thought were going to be important, the things that I thought were going to bring me the fulfillment and the satisfaction, I've discovered are really empty and hollow and they have left me wanting." And when he came to himself, he said, "You know what?

I just want to go back home because at home I had much more than ever dreamed of. I didn't realize it." And I want you to know, I too have had moments like that in the pig pen. How about you? Why is it we always have to have things removed to appreciate them? Man, we're we're we're we're difficult people, you know what? We're a piece of work, all of us are. We like to read the scriptures and we like to we like to to cast down judgment on what Israel did in that cycle I talked about about falling away, but how many times are we exactly like them?

I'll go ahead and put my hand up. You don't have to, but I'll put my hand up. I'm guilty, guilty as charged. Right here. Yep, me. So, Naomi is still hurting and she's still confused. In fact, she's she's going to arrive in Bethlehem and she's going to be bitter. She's going to be complaining. She's going to have a little bit of an attitude. But here's what I know, Naomi teaches us something different. You can walk towards God while you're still hurting. You don't have to fix yourself to go to God. Now, the enemy is going to try to disqualify you and always tell you the while the reasons why you shouldn't be doing that, but I'm here to tell you, take an example from the scriptures.

And Naomi, even though she was not whole, even though she was still dealing and grieving, she still was walking towards God. Sometimes you have to start walking before you start feeling better. Verse number seven. >> Therefore, she went out 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. >> I love that phrase. She went out from the place where she was. Cuz there comes a moment when you have to decide whether you're going to live forever in the place where your life was hurt or you're going to start walking towards the God who still has a future for you.

Now, you got to make a decision. You just going to stay there? Cuz more often than not, if you just sitting there, it ain't going to solve anything. You're just going to continue to wallow around in your grief and your frustration and your hurt and your pain and your loss. Sometimes, before you feel better, you have to start walking towards God. That's that's some good teaching right there. Three grieving widows start walking towards Bethlehem, but somewhere along the road Naomi stops because she realizes something. She may have a reason to go to Bethlehem, but Ruth and Orpah don't. They don't. We're going to see that.

Verse number eight and nine. >> And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go, return each to her mother's house. 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 in the house of her husband." So, she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. >> Now, she's not pushing them away because she doesn't love them. She's actually doing this because she loves them. She She knows what they're going to face when she goes to when they go back to Israel. They're two Moabite women. They're They're two strangers that are not going to be accepted in society and culture says In In my mind, as they start the process of walking back, Sister Branham, it hits her all of a sudden, "Hey, wait a minute.

I can't I can't bring them in. They're going to be ridiculed." You know, she She's actually loving them in the point of saying, "Look, look here you Look And then there's a whole dialogue that goes on, you know, what are you going to do? Can I Can I give you Are you going to wait around for me to have another son? If I If I find a husband and and we we have a child, or going to wait till he's old enough? See, what what is she doing? She's basically saying, "I love you enough to keep you from this pain." I'm trying to spare you what I know I can I can see down the road and know you guys are going to struggle there.

So, if I were you, just go back to go back to what you know, go back to your family, go back to the culture you were raised in, go back to the the things that you're familiar with in your life. And she's doing that because she loves them. And both women initially refused. We see that in verse number 10. >> And they said to her, "Surely we will return with you to your people." >> But Naomi keeps pressing. She explains the impossibility of their situation. You can't. There's no future in this. You should go back. And then we see this in verse number 14. >> Then they lifted up their voices and wept again.

And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. >> There it is. There it is. There's There's these two women, there's these two choices, there's these two directions. Orpah kissed, but Ruth Ruth clung. And I don't think we need to make Orpah a villain in the story in this moment, even though we most of us know that how the lineage plays out that Ruth ultimately is the great grandmother of David and Orpah's ultimately the great grandmother to Goliath. If you didn't know that, that's a really cool thing to go look up. It's kind of a cool story later on in the scriptures. But right now, let's not make her the villain, okay?

She's simply doing what Naomi was trying to convince her like you there's no future here with me. You don't need You don't need You go back to what you're familiar with. To me, when I see this, Naomi told her to go. Orpah made the more reasonable decision. It's Ruth who makes the radical choice that's here. We see this again in verse number 15. >> And she said, "Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. Return after your sister-in-law." >> See, this verse reveals us what's what's really at stake. This isn't merely about geography. This is about Moab versus Israel. Moab versus Bethlehem.

About where you're ultimately going to go. Naomi says to Orpah, "has returned to her people and to her gods." But now Ruth has to decide. Cuz here's what I know, I've lived enough life at this point in my 50 years to know this is the truth right here. That that there are moments in life when the road divides and you cannot keep walking in both directions. You have to make a choice. You have to. You got to make a decision. Ruth can go back to what she knows or she can move towards something she's never experienced. She can return back to the people in which she came from, but or she can put her faith in the God of Israel.

And here's what makes it even more remarkable, Ruth doesn't know the story and how it's going to unfold. She doesn't. This is truly faith operating. She doesn't know She doesn't know We know, right? We know the story and told you to stop it. We know there's a Boaz. We know that the the corners are not being reaped and there's some grain going to be left on the ground. We know that. We know that there's a kinsman redeemer. We we we have privy to this story. She doesn't know that. She doesn't know she's going to have a son named Obed. She doesn't have this information. She certainly doesn't know the decision on this road is eventually going to place her name in the lineage of David and connect her ultimately to Jesus Christ.

She doesn't know that. We do. But she doesn't. It's just like life. In crossroads, you don't always know how it's going to turn out. That's why you have to learn how to trust God's provision, protection, direction, and commands. Some points you got to make your mind up. If there's anything I glean from this story, I can't help but gravitate towards Ruth's commitment. I'm going to be with you. In fact, it goes a little bit deeper. We're going to see this in verse number 16. Look at this. >> But Ruth said, "Entreat me not to leave you or to turn back from following after you. For wherever you go, I will go.

And wherever you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people and your God, my God." >> Now, we've heard these words at weddings, right? We we we've probably seen them in needlepoint and on something over a mantle somewhere that my wife would want to buy in the antique shop. We we we we've seen these things, right? They're there. And they are very poetic and they they do mean a lot. But stop and really think about what she's saying. How radical this is. Don't miss this isn't a wedding vow. This is the farewell to Moab. Ruth is standing somewhere between the life she's always known and the future she can't see.

But there's something drawing her. There's something about this connection that she has with her mother-in-law that's not allowing her to go back. Even if she can't explain it, there's still something there that that makes her have these bold statements that she's saying, "I'm not going to go back to my family. I'm not going to go back to the history that I have, even though it's all familiar. You know, even though you've given me permission, I still feel like wherever you go, that's where I'm going to go. I've made my decision. She says, "Entreat me not to leave you or to turn back." Listen to those words.

Again, we read them. We we've read this story so much, but stop for just a minute and listen to what she's saying. She's like, "I don't want to hear talk about me going back to my family anymore. I'm determined. In fact, I'm going to make a declaration. Listen to the progression of her of her of her commitment here. She says, "Wherever you go, I will go." That's a change of direction. That's what's That's what she's saying. She's declaring, "Wherever you go, that's where I'm going. I'm changing my direction to follow the path that you're on. Wherever you lodge, I will lodge." That's a change of dwelling.

"Your people shall be my people." That's a change of identity. "And your God, my God." That's a change of allegiance. So, if you're a note-taker, there's something important here. If you're going to have this because this isn't what the And I can get on my candy stick in just a minute and talk about mainstream Christianity, right? And then how how how we're supposed to just tolerate a whole lot of stuff. But I'm telling you, if you're going to be obedient and follow after God, you're going to change your direction, your dwelling, your identity, and your allegiance. Ruth isn't adding Israel's gods to her god that she already believes in.

No, she's not going to say I'm going to try this I'm going to try this out for a while like I'm trying on a new pair of shoes. That No, no, she's wholesale going in. Completely committed. Like I everything that I have been, everything I have known, I'm I'm walking away from it all. And wherever you go, I go. Wherever you lodge, I lodge. Your people become my people. Your God becomes my God. Is that how you're following after Jesus Christ? Ruth isn't just leaving a place. Guys, she's leaving a life. The only life she's ever known. And there's just something here that speaks so powerful about discipleship because we live in a culture that likes the idea of adding Jesus into our lives.

I'm going to say that again, that just likes adding Jesus into their lives. We want to put Jesus into our plans. And we want to fit Jesus into our priorities. We want to fit Jesus into our preferences. And and and whatever else we we want to surrender over if we feel like it, that's where we'll put Jesus. But that's not what he desires. There are moments when we follow God and it's going to require more than just adding something new. Sometimes it's going to require that you walk away from something old. After all, I think Jesus said it pretty plainly in Luke chapter 9 verse 23, "If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." Notice the progression.

Before you can follow him, you have to do what? Look at it. It's right there. Before you can follow, you have to do what? Deny. You got to deny you. There are some things that you just absolutely have to walk away from. You can't justify it. You can't reason with it. He doesn't want any part of it and he's not going to be a piece apart. He's going to only going to come in as whole. As I've said many, many times teaching and preaching around here, he's either Lord of all or he's not Lord at all. He's not Lord in part. That isn't how he works.

He didn't go put part of his body on the cross. Calvary, he gave it all. And all he asked in return is the very thing he's already given to you. He doesn't ask you for more. And he always goes first. So, as I've said before, if you want to understand what it means to follow after Jesus Christ, you look at Calvary. These are red-letter words. If you want to follow, if you want to come after me, you have to deny yourself. You can't follow until you've denied yourself. He's not going to fit into your mold. We got to be conformed into his image. There's a follow me, but they have to deny ourself.

I'm not going to go back to the person I used to be. I'm not going to go back to the things that used to control me. I'm not going to go back to the gods I once served, back to the values that once defined me, because you cannot walk towards Bethlehem while continually turning around from Moab. After all, that was the whole point in Sodom and Gomorrah and why Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt. I don't understand. I can't hardly get my head around. There's literal brimstone and fire raining down from the heavens. Angels, angelic beings, are dragging you and your family to safety, and your one instruction is, "Don't look back." And she looks back.

Because you cannot make your point of refuge if you're always looking back at your past. But the enemy loves to remind you of all the things you've done wrong and all the things you're missing out on and all the sacrifices that you shouldn't have to make. I'm here to tell you, you got to go all in. Look at Ruth. This is wasn't somebody who was wishy-washy. This is somebody who pushed, you know, pushed it all in, pushed all chips in, and said, "Look, I'm not giving part or piece. I'm not going to I'm not just risking two-thirds. I'm going 100%." Wherever you go, I go.

Wherever you dwell, that's where I dwell. Whoever your people are, they're now my people. And whoever your God is, he's now my God. I'm telling you, if there's ever been a time to have the spirit and attitude of Ruth, it's 2026, guys. We cannot be lulled to sleep by all the modern conveniences around here and everything that mainstream Christianity says it's okay, cuz I'm telling you guys, you got to deny yourself. You got to push in. You got to be willing to give it all up to him. It's It's all or nothing. It's the only way it works. It's all or nothing. You got to go all in.

Are you willing to go all in? >> >> Verse number 17. >> Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts you and me. >> I saved this verse as as a part of separate from what I just talked about because, look, she's literally saying, I have no plan B. Like you We We miss that. We We We get all hyped up on the where Wherever you go, I'll go. Wherever you live, I'll live. Whoever's your people is my people. Your God is my God. But then she says, "Wherever you are going to die, that's where I'm going to die." Think about the declaration.

Think about the boldness of someone who says, "Look, I'm in it for life." Cuz that's the only way you can do this, guys. This isn't optional. This isn't about a season of living for God. It's my life. My life is committed to you. So, wherever you lead me, God, that's where I'm going to be. And wherever Wherever Wherever you die is where I'm going to die. Remember, she doesn't know what's waiting. Always keep that in mind. We rush ahead. She doesn't have the story the way we do. She's never met Boaz. She doesn't know about hands full of grain or kinsman redeemer. She doesn't know there's going to be a wedding.

She doesn't know there's going to be babies. She doesn't know how the story's going in. All she knows is your God will be my God. That's faith. That's faith. That's walking in faith, knowing I don't know I just I'm at a crossroads and you're saying go back to Moab and and I'm saying I don't want to go back. There's something drawing me to Bethlehem. I got to go with wherever you go, that's where I'm going. I'm all in. I'm committed. Faith is saying yes to God when you can't see the next step. We sometimes want God to show us the Bethlehem before we leave Moab.

But Ruth leaves without any answers. Yeah. Well, let's let's be honest. I I would love for God to always explain every narrative to me. I would love it. I would love if I got downloaded every day a little booklet I could open up and said, "Today you're going to face this and when you leave out the driveway you're going to face this. There's going to be somebody cuts you off in traffic because of this." And that That would be awesome. That's not what happens to me. And I dare say that's not what happens to you. There are moments There are moments Guys, let's be honest.

that our faith only grows when we actually take a step out even where I don't know where my foot's going to always land. We just take that step. But I know I stand in the room full of people who have made that step before. And you can say it was one of the most powerful moments in my life. I didn't know where I was going to land, but I just knew that God was drawing me and he did. And you experience circumstances situations that you could have never known about had you not taken the step. How good is our God? How good is our God?

And I look at this story and I think, man, how amazing is this Moabite woman who's willing to say, "You know what? I'm not going to take the comfort and convenience of what I've had. I feel like there's something greater in store for me." Ruth leaves without any answers. And maybe that's one of the greatest lessons of Ruth chapter 1. You don't surrender because you know what God's going to give you. You surrender because you decided who your God is going to be. That's a big difference. Who's your God? Can you trust him? So, there's a big difference. If Ruth's decision is based on Boaz, cuz we know about Boaz, right?

We're going to get to Boaz tomorrow. I mean, the next week. But, she doesn't know about Boaz. But, if that's the reason if she's if the decision is based on Boaz, listen to this. If it's based on Boaz, then Ruth isn't following God. She's following benefits. That's why we have Santa Claus, right? Surely, God's more than Santa Claus to you. There's no Boaz in chapter 1. If there's only a road, then only know Naomi, that's all she has. There is no Bethlehem somewhere ahead. And notice what happens next, verse number 18. >> When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her.

>> I love that word, determined. She realized something settled in this girl. Like, I'm not going to talk her out of this. She's She's going to go with me, so I'm just going to let her go. I'm not going to say anything. I'm not going to bring it up again. Her mind is made up. I wonder. I just wonder if those who are opposing you know your mind's made up. Or do they see something in there that's a little bit unsettled, and that's why they keep asking you? Does the enemy know? Is the reason he keeps pestering you is because he's picking up on some apprehension and some hesitation?

I don't know. I don't know. I'm actually asking you. To think. Cuz even though he's not he's not all knowing, he's a real good observer. He takes really good notes. So, is there something that's picked up on, or can he say, "They're determined. I'm not going to bring it up anymore." Something settled inside Ruth. She's finished negotiating. She's finished considering the alternatives, and she's not looking back. She's moving forward, and there's tremendous power in a mind that's been made up because there comes a point in every walk with God when conviction has to become a commitment. Not just a conviction, but a commitment. Joshua said, "Choose for yourself this day whom you're going to serve." in Joshua 24.

Elijah said, "How long are you going to halt between two opinions?" Yeah. Make a decision. Anybody been frustrated around somebody who can make a decision? I'm not looking this way. Yeah. Yeah. Isn't that frustrating when you're just like, "Just pick one." I don't know what that's about, but Ruth stands on the road outside of Moab and gives her answer, "Your God will be my God." She doesn't know everything about him. She doesn't understand everything that he's doing, and she certainly doesn't know where he's taking her, but she made a decision. And here's what Ruth cannot possibly know standing on that road. The decision that feels like it's costing her everything is actually positioned her for something that she could have never ever imagined.

She couldn't have dreamed of it. There's no way. There's no way. Just like I know that there are times in our life we have no idea the consequences at play in the decisions we're making. Cuz ladies and gentlemen, every decision has consequences, both for the good and for the bad. And here's what Ruth couldn't possibly know is that how powerful that was going to be because Ruth thinks that she's simply walking towards Bethlehem with Naomi, but what I know and what you know because we read ahead is she's actually walking towards redemption. She's walking towards redemption. She has no clue what's about to unfold. She's walking into a story that will lead all the way to Jesus Christ all because somewhere on the road out of Moab Ruth decided, "You know what?

I'm not going back." I'm determined. I love that word. I'm determined. Where you going? That's where I'm headed. So, we see this what happens when empty comes on verse number 19. >> The two of them went until they came to Bethlehem, and it happened when they had come to Bethlehem that all the city was excited because of them, and the women said, "Is this Naomi?" >> Finally. Finally, Naomi's home. And the same woman who walked out of Bethlehem years earlier is now walked back in, but she's not the same woman. Now, you can you can read into this all you want. I mean, I don't know.

I mean, life has a way of changing us all. There was a There was literally yesterday was a picture popped up on my computer from me 12 years ago. And man, I was young and good-looking and had hair. And I don't know if like 12 years ago has been that long. But I'm weathered. What have I been doing for the last 12 years? Oh, wait. Pastor and you guys. That's right. That's why Maybe there's something there. Maybe there's something about that. Yeah. Yeah. I'll just leave that one out there alone. Yeah. That was free. She walks in, and the question's asked, "Is this Naomi?" Obviously, she's changed because there are seasons that we will walk through that there's no other way to say it.

There are seasons you're going to go through that they they leave marks in our life. And we will we will forever be altered by those things. We We can't undo them. So, there's something there, and Naomi doesn't pretend otherwise. She says this first, number 20. >> But she said to them, "Do not call me Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me." >> Naomi means pleasant, Mara means bitter. So, she's she's saying, "The woman that you remember doesn't live here anymore." Don't call me that. That's not who I am. That's not what I represent. Those are not the things in my life anymore.

I've lost those things. Just call me bitter. And here's something I appreciate about scripture. God simply lets Naomi say it. Now, if you for the next I got 9 minutes. Hang on for 9 minutes, okay? Because there's something there's an important principle right here that often times we skip over as the body of Christ, all right? There's I'm I'm going to talk to the church for just a minute. I want you to I'm going to read what I wrote because I want to make sure I say it the way I feel like God gave it to me, okay? So, listen listen to me here. God lets Naomi say it.

Nobody immediately rebukes her or lectures her about her having a bitter attitude. They let her hurt. They let her live in her pain for a minute because sometimes the most spiritual thing that you can do for somebody who is suffering is not to explain their pain. It's simply to stand beside them and let them feel you near. Guys, there's some There's been some things that have happened in my time of ministry that I mean, awful. I had no words and and I prayed about what to say and and and and I felt strongly God said, "You just tell them you don't know what to say." So, that's what I said.

I don't know what to say right now. But, I'm here. Sometimes you just need to be present. So, this is another little nugget when you read through the scriptures that often times we just simply look over, but the word of God doesn't correct her. It doesn't say no one says, "Stop saying that." Cuz that's how she felt. Sometimes you need to know where you are before you can figure out how to get out of where you are. Ruth hasn't given Naomi an explanation for Moab. She just stayed. Because that's what Ruth has been doing the whole time in this story. Sometimes people don't need our answers nearly as much as they need our presence.

Sometimes ministry is sitting beside someone when you don't know what to say. Sometimes ministry is simply letting them know you don't have to walk through this alone. That's what I feel like Ruth's doing in this. It's simply letting her know, "I'm here." I'm here. You know, I've I've had some moments in my life and and I'm I'm getting ready in a couple weeks to tell the church more about some more stuff I've experienced this year. I've been talking about it and I will. I'm getting my head around it. But I've had some lonely times this past year. This this year we're in a lot of change.

A lot of stuff has gone on with me. There's been some times that it was just so good to have somebody call me. Just let them know somebody cares. Sometimes it was just a simple text message that simply said, "Hey, you were on my mind today. I just want you to know I'm praying for you." Like you just don't know what that means to someone. How powerful that is. So, I encourage you one of the best things we can do in be in being the body of Christ is just simply be sensitive. If somebody comes to your mind, it doesn't cost you anything to send them a text message.

A phone call. You have no idea what good you may do. I feel like that's the story here of what Ruth's is she's simply saying, "You're not walking alone." As we continue to read, Naomi says something that reveals just how deeply her pain has affected her perspective. Cuz this is what she says in verse number 21. >> I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me? >> When empty comes home. I went out full. I find that interesting that she says that because when Naomi left Bethlehem, there was a famine.

Kind of doubt she felt full when she left. I would imagine she was probably hangry. That's why she left. They were looking for something of substance. But looking backwards, isn't this always the way it is? Looking backwards through the lens of everything she's lost, Naomi realizes, "I had more than I knew. I had a husband. I had a family. I had a future. I thought I was empty, but now I know what empty really feels like. There's another problem in Naomi's statement. Cuz she says the Lord has brought me home again empty. Really, Naomi? Really? Empty? Are you not aware that Ruth is standing right beside you?

Are you so captivated with what you don't have that you can't see what you still do have? I know I'm coming back to this point again in this message because I feel like I need to drive this point home. Stop focusing on what you've lost and start asking God to open your eyes to see what you still have. What is he What is he still allowed be in your life? Because I promise you there's goodness there because he is a good God. The Lord says or excuse me, she says the Lord brought me back empty. Now, I don't want to criticize Naomi, but I think this reveals something greater that's very very specific to humanity.

Pain can make us count what we've lost greater than what we overlook what God has still left in our life as a good. Naomi isn't lying. She's grieving and her losses are real. They are. That kind of grief, that's that's that's real pain. That's stuff that's going to have to be unpacked. That's stuff that God's going to have to probably help help her process and work through. Her husband, her sons are gone and nothing about Ruth replaces them, but Naomi's pain has made it more difficult for her to see through that God has not left her with nothing. God is rarely loud in the book of Ruth.

I'm going to listen to me when I say this. God is very rarely loud in the book of Ruth and there's not a spectacular miracle in every page, but instead he's quietly working through relationships and ordinary decisions, seemingly coincidental meetings and his faithfulness in ordinary people because that's what God does. God steps down into the everyday ordinary mundane of our life and if we're not paying attention, he's always working on our behalf. That's why it's important that we ask him, "Help me see so that I don't miss what you're doing." But the writer gives us one final detail. Almost feels like a footnote, but it's not.

Verse number 22. >> So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. Now they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest. >> And don't miss that. Don't miss that cuz she declared, "I come back empty." That's what her words are. "I've come back empty." But God says, "It's harvest time." Did you catch that? It's harvest time. Naomi sees that she's what all that she's lost in Moab. God sees what's growing in Bethlehem. Naomi only sees what what she had yesterday and God's already preparing a tomorrow for her. And what makes this so powerful is Naomi doesn't know anything about chapter 2 yet.

And neither do you, remember? You don't know chapter 2. But what we do have, what information we have, is that it was harvest time. What you and I know is that Ruth's going to walk into a field. She's going to meet a man named Boaz. He's going to be the kinsman redeemer. She doesn't know if any of this is going to go on. All she knows is I came home empty, but heaven knows something Naomi doesn't know. Empty has arrived at the beginning of harvest. Because God always always always has more for you than you ever imagine. He always does. Don't confuse what you can't see with everything that God is doing because while Naomi was grieving, barley was growing.

While Naomi was burying, God was preparing. While Naomi was weeping, Boaz was already in Bethlehem. Just because you haven't seen God's provision, doesn't mean he hasn't already prepared it for you. Just because you can't see it, that doesn't negate what God's doing. I'm thankful I have a God who works outside of what I can dream up and think of. I'm glad that his ways are higher than my ways. That he has the ability to do things that I can't even imagine. That's my God. My God is not limited by my ability to see and and I hope you feel the same way. So, if you're still in the story, I want us to read verse 22 one more time.

I'm sorry. I'll read it. So, Naomi returned and Ruth the Moabite is her daughter-in-law with her who returned from the country of Moab. Now, they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. I love the way this chapter ends. Because nothing is completely fixed yet. Now, that leaves some of you in angst, right? Because you need completion. But, this is a series. You got to be patient. Don't read ahead. Naomi is still grieving. And Ruth is still a widow. And they still don't have much. And there's still some questions that they have not had answered yet. But, here's what I know. They're home.

Maybe that's the word to wrap up with today. You don't have to have everything figured out to start walking towards God. Just start walking towards God. Just start making your way home. And I promise you, I promise you there's a harvest that's waiting for you. As you stand with me tonight. Don't give up on God. Just because you can't see it doesn't mean he's not doing it. I promise you he does more in the background of our lives than we can ever imagine. And I'm thankful for that. Are you? Let's Let's praise him right now. Jesus, I thank you for your faithfulness in my life and your goodness, Lord, in the ways that I can't even