RUTH 1:14-22 RUTH'S COMMITMENT AND NAOMI'S BITTERNESS

The Testimony of Ruth 14-18 The Committed Believer, an Israelite at Heart

V14 but Ruth clung to her.

Naomi was trying to cover up; Orpah had given up, but Ruth was prepared to stand up! She refused to listen to her mother-in-law’s pleas or follow her sister-in-law’s bad example. Why? Because she had come to trust in the God of Israel (Ru 2:12 "The LORD repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge."). She had experienced trials and disappointments, but instead of blaming God, she had trusted Him and was not ashamed to confess her faith. In spite of the bad example of her disobedient in-laws Ruth had come to know the true and living God; and she wanted to be with His people and dwell in His land.^[1]

v 15 Naomi says if you are smart you would follow your sister back to Moab

Pr 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.

Ruth’s statement in Ruth 1:16–17 is one of the most magnificent confessions found anywhere in Scripture. First, she confessed her love for Naomi and her desire to stay with her mother-in-law even unto death. Then she confessed her faith in the true and living God and her decision to worship Him alone. She was willing to forsake father and mother (2:11) in order to cleave to Naomi and the God of her people. Ruth was steadfastly “determined to accompany Naomi (1:18) and live in Bethlehem with God’s covenant people.^[1]

1.     V16 She is a surrendered person

2.     She is a separated person

o   From her pagan people

Your people shall be my people,

o   From her pagan gods, a step of faith

And your God, my God.

1Th 1:9

V17 She is a serving person

o   Making a vow that cannot be reversed, saying goodbye to Moab and cutting all ties

Lu 9:62

Deut 23 a vow to God, God would strike you dead under the Old Covenant

V18 When you read the genealogy of Jesus Christ in Matthew 4, you find the names of five women, four of whom have very questionable credentials: Tamar committed incest with her father-in-law (Gen. 38:3); Rahab was a Gentile harlot (Josh. 2:5); Ruth was an outcast Gentile Moabitess (Ruth 1:5); and “the wife of Uriah was an adulteress (2 Sam. 11:6). How did they ever become a part of the family of the Messiah? Through the sovereign grace and mercy of God! God is “long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9, NKJV). (Mary is the fifth woman in the genealogy, and she was included because of God’s grace and her faith. See Luke 1:26–56.)

V20 Naomi’s Bitterness

We can’t control the circumstances of life, but we can control how we respond to them. That’s what faith is all about, daring to believe that God is working everything for our good even when we don’t feel like it or see it happening. “In everything give thanks (1 Thes. 5:18) isn’t always easy to obey, but obeying this command is the best antidote against a bitter and critical spirit. The Scottish preacher George H. Morrison said, “Nine-tenths of our unhappiness is selfishness, and is an insult cast in the face of God. Because Naomi was imprisoned by selfishness, she was bitter against God.

Naomi accused the Lord of dealing very bitterly with her

Trials can make you bitter or better

She was a woman with empty hands, an empty home, and an empty heart. Because she didn’t surrender to the Lord and accept His loving chastening, she did not experience “the peaceful fruit of righteousness

Heb 12:11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Lessons

1. Living out of the will of God will make you miserable – Example of disobedience

John 10:10 Thief comes to steal kill and destroy

2. Count the cost of Living for God or the world - Orpah was never heard of again

Lu 14:25 Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, 26 "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. 27 "And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28 "For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it -- 29 "lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,

3. Ruth provides an example of real Faith –she was like Abraham,

Heb 11:8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.