chapter number one that's a tough one to find isn't it right between judges and first Samuel Ruth chapter 1 and verse number 1 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 sojourn in the country of Moab he and his wife and his two sons And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi, and the name of the two sons, Malon and Kilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem Judah, and they came into the country of Moab and continued there. And Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left and her two sons, and they took them wives of the women of Moab. The name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other, Ruth, and they dwelled there about 10 years. And Malon and Kilion died, also both of them, and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband. 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 how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread. Wherefore, she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her, and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah. Now, just for time's sake, we'll skip ahead to verse number 19. It said, So they went until they came to Bethlehem, and it came to pass, when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them. And they said, Is this Naomi? And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Marah, for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty. Why then call you me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me? So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law with her, which returned out of the country of Moab, and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest. Father, thank you again for this day, for your goodness to us, Thank you that you're the God that gives us a song in our heart, and we bless you for that. Thank you we've been able to worship you as we've sung and thought about what we were singing. Lord, every one of us has those places in our life. Your word called them Ebenezers, where we can say, hitherto the Lord's helped us. And Lord, all of us, by your grace, have come to where we're at in our lives today. And I pray, Lord, that you'll bless us through your word. You know the individual needs of our hearts. I pray you'll speak to us and you'll help us through the word of God today. Thank you for who you are, that you never change. And I pray that you'll bless us now and guide us into your truth. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I want to take my title for our message this morning. From verse number 21 where Naomi is testifying to the people of her home country She's come home. They've said is this Naomi? She said call me not Naomi for the Lord hath dealt very or the Almighty rather hath dealt very bitterly with me And she said I went out full and the Lord hath brought me home again empty and I want to preach to you this morning on the God of the emptiness and nestled between The 21 chapters of Judges and the 31 chapters of 1 Samuel is this little four-chapter story of Ruth. And it is by far the shortest of the historical books of the Old Testament. Ezra has 10 chapters in it, and Esther has 10 chapters in it. And by the way, Esther is the only other book in the Bible that is titled after a woman. And each of those are short, but they're 2 1�2 times longer than the story of Ruth. It's an interesting book. It's kind of a brief narrative that really, if you're not careful, you might start wondering, why is this even in here? Right in the middle of Israel's history is four chapters, four chapters given specifically to this woman, Naomi, and her Moabitess daughter-in-law, Ruth. Why is it named after a Moabitess? Naomi's in it from beginning to end, why not after the Jewess? Why is this book in here? What makes it so special? What makes the story so significant? Well, when you get to the end of the story, we'll get there by the end of the message, but just very briefly, you read verses 18 to verse number 22, of chapter four. Now, these are the generations of Phares. Phares begat Hesron, and Hesron begat Ram, and Ram begat Amenadab, and Amenadab begat Nashon, and Nashon begat Salmon, and Salmon begat Boaz, and Boaz begat Obed, and Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David. You get all them begats? All right. Well, this seems to be the most significant aspect of the story of Ruth, is these last five verses. that tell us exactly where David came from. And of course, if you'll read a little bit further in your Bible, you're going to find these verses are repeated in Matthew chapter 1, verses 3 to 6 in the lineage of our Lord Jesus. Now, the spelling is a little different, but the names are exactly the same. And just so you know, when you read Matthew chapter 1 and it speaks of the man that it looks like it says Booz, B-O-O-Z, his name is not Booz, he would have pronounced that Boaz, which is the Boaz of the book of Ruth. Alright, and so the significance of the book is we see where David came from through it, and through the line of David came, of course, our Lord Jesus. And whatever the reason that God saw fit to put these four chapters in the book, I'm not going to guess at, But I'll tell you that there are things we know of any scripture. Number one, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and it is profitable, alright? And so 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse number 16 tells us that we can find profit even in this short historical story of Ruth. And then also it could be given unto us for a warning. And there are a lot of warnings that we could find from the book of Ruth. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse number 11 talks about the things that are recorded of Israel's history that they're given unto us as in samples and for our admonition, that is, for our warning that we don't go in some of the same paths that they went on. Now, I don't want to get too far off course here, but I would tell you that there's a great warning for those who lead their household in the same manner that Elimelech led his household. In the time of famine, he left from Bethlehem and he went down into Moab, which was not a place where God's people were to be found. The Moabites were a cursed people in the sight of God. But in order to provide for his family as he thought he was supposed to, Elimelech took Naomi and took their two boys down to the land of Moab. He did not walk by faith. And this is a warning to every one of us in our times of famine. not to lean unto our own understanding, but to stay upon our God and to wait upon God. And time and again in the Scriptures, you'll find, interestingly enough, that when famines hit, men often made poor decisions and went the wrong way, going all the way back to Father Abraham. When a famine came into their land, he sojourned going on south toward Egypt, and he dwelled there and brought a lot of problems, not only on his household, but upon this world. It was in Egypt that he found a little handmaid for his wife named Hagar. And you know all that we're dealing with today because of Abraham's relationship with Hagar and the Ishmaelites, all right? And so I'm just saying there is a warning to all of us. Don't follow after the same pattern that Elimelech laid out for us. Walk by faith and not by sight. And then we could talk about the two sons and how they married women who were not of their own. They should have never married the Moabitess women. This again was a cursed people. And there is a warning to all of us of the troubles that may come upon us if we are unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Now, I'm just saying we can find warnings throughout. And then also I would point out to you, and I'll have to tell you this without telling the whole story of Ruth. By the end of it, Ruth had, she was redeemed and married what was called a kinsman redeemer. but there was one kinsman redeemer that was closer in line that had the first pick if he wanted Ruth, if I can say it that way, and he chose not to pick her, and Boaz, the second in line, ended up being the husband of Ruth. History has not remembered the first redeemer that passed by Ruth, but history has remembered Boaz. In fact, chapter 4 and verse number 11, It said all the people that were in the gate and the elders said we're witnesses and they're speaking of the redemption of Ruth and the marriage of Ruth. The Lord make the woman that has come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah which too did build the house of Israel and do thou worthily in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. and let the house be like the house of fairies whom Tamar bear unto Judah and of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman and of course they are pronouncing blessing and remembrance upon the house of Boaz forever in Israel because of what was done and again I went back through and I was trying to figure out if the first man in line who had an opportunity to take Ruth was ever remembered and he wasn't but it was his obligation under the law and it was his responsibility. And he failed at his responsibility, and because of that, he is forgotten forever. And so it is for us. We need to remember our responsibilities. Again, these are things that are given that could be a warning for us. But there's one other verse of Scripture that come to my mind when I was just pondering the question, why is this written? Why do we have these four chapters of Ruth here? And it's Romans chapter 15 and verse number 4. It's a wonderful passage. It says, for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. While I can guarantee you that the words are profitable and that there are probably some warnings in the book of Ruth and why God gave it to us, we can look back on. I would tell you this reason of comfort and hope is one that is near to my heart and dear to my heart. Somewhere in these pages, we are going to find words of comfort for us as we read across them and words of hope for us as we read across them. Now, it certainly doesn't start that way, does it? You read about death. You read about famine. You read about bitterness and grief in the life of a woman. I did alliterate these points. You read about the dearth in the land, verse number one. The death of a husband and the death of two sons, verses three and verses five. The discouragement of a mother-in-law towards her daughter's-in-law. telling them in verse 12, turn again, my daughters, and go your way. They wanted to stay with her and go with her to the land of Bethlehem, and she discouraged them with these words, I'm too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, if I should have a husband also tonight, and should also bear sons, would you tarry for them till they were grown? Would you stay for them from having husbands? Nay, my daughters, for it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord is gone out against me." And of course the idea behind this is she is not going to be able to produce sons again that these two women, Orpah and Ruth, may have husbands from her. And so she is discouraging them from following after. And then we also read of departure, verse 14. When she said these words, it said, they lifted up their voice and wept. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth claimed unto her. And of course, Orpah left here and departed away from Ruth. Her mother-in-law took, her daughter-in-law, rather, took leave of her. And then there are these words of declaration in verse number 20. Again, we're looking for hope and we're looking for comfort, right? But you read these words, and there's not much hope or comfort in them. Call me not Naomi. Call me Mara, for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty. Why then call you me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me? And of course, again, these verses don't offer a whole lot of comfort to us, do they? They don't sound real good. Not a good start to the story. And it's this testimony of Naomi that caught my attention. I went out full, and I came back again empty. The Lord hath brought me home again empty. There are three things she speaks about herself right here. She speaks of her bitterness. Now, this doesn't deal with her being angry or anything like that. But it deals with what she is confronted with in her life. It deals with bitterness. She deals with emptiness. And she deals with affliction in these verses. The Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. The word bitterly right here, it simply means he's dealt very grievous with me. Grievously. He has brought hard things into my path. It is the same word that we find in verse number 13 where she said, Nay, my daughters, it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord is gone out against me. The Lord hath dealt with me in a very grievous manner. And then she said, he brought me home again empty. Now this word empty bears with it the idea of without purpose, to have no purpose. Now, up to this point in her life, she's had a whole lot of purpose. In ten years in the land of Moab, it's changed a lot of things for Naomi. But she went out full and the Lord hath brought her home again with no purpose. She said she doesn't have a husband to serve, a household to serve any longer. She doesn't have two boys to nurture and to raise and to love and to be gracious to any longer. And she feels that the Lord has brought her with really no purpose back other than just to find the bread that led them out of the land to start with. And she said in verse number 21, the Almighty hath afflicted me. In this word, afflicted, it means to be broken in pieces. Figuratively, it means to make me good for nothing. Now, I want you to picture this from the stage of Naomi's life that she is in. She has already testified that she is an older lady. Her two sons are gone. Her husband is gone. She doesn't feel like she's got a whole lot of purpose in living anymore. She's empty in her heart. And she is seemingly saying that God has made me good for nothing. Good for nothing. There's nothing I can accomplish now in my life. I would point out as well who she attributes these troubles to. She doesn't just say the Lord did it, but she uses the title the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly against me. And of course when you see the title the Almighty, this bears with it the idea of the God who is all-powerful, and the God with whom nothing is impossible. As we read already in your hearing, he asked Sarah, who was well past the age of bearing children, is anything too hard for the Lord? And he could have well said right there, is anything too hard for the Almighty? God can do all things. And this is how she identifies the Lord who has dealt with her in this matter as the God with whom nothing is possible, the God who is all-powerful, and yet she says, He has dealt bitterly with me. Now, of course, we think about the power of God, we rejoice in it, don't we? We should. God's able to do all things. There's nothing you and I will ever face in our lives that God is not able to help us with. No problem that's going to be big for God. Now, it'll be big for us. We have things that make our hair fall out or turn gray one or the other, but you know there ain't nothing ever come up like that that's troubled God. He's almighty. He can handle anything. We build storm shelters to protect us from storms, but God creates the storm and direct its paths. directs its path. Even he asked, Sarah, is anything too hard for the Lord? And again, he reiterated this question to Jeremiah the prophet with all of his struggles. Jeremiah, is anything too hard for me, saith the Lord. And we think of him being almighty, we know that he's the God who can prevent problems from coming in our lives, isn't he? Testified this morning and asked you to pray for a church in Kentucky that just dealt with a shooting and four people Two dead and two wounded, four people were shot by a man that came in there. Now, sometimes we often think, can God prevent those things? Well, sure he can. He could have dropped a tree down in the path of that man before he got to the church. God can do all things. God can prevent problems from coming in our lives. He is almighty and we rejoice in that. He's the God of provision, isn't He? And we rejoice that He's able to meet all of our needs. He's the same God that took five loaves and two fishes and made them into a lunch fit for 5,000 and enough for 12 baskets left over after. Nothing is too hard for our God. He's the almighty. And we rejoice in that when we start looking at things and can't make math work out and start wondering about what's coming tomorrow for us. He can provide and we can believe Him to provide. She identifies Him as the Almighty, the one who can do all things. He can protect us. He's the God who can pardon. There's none that have been outside the reach of God's forgiveness, and we know that, but sometimes those that we are praying the most for, to know the forgiveness of God, it seems that His almighty hand is not touching them and opening up their hearts and their understanding, but you know He can. In the same way He got ahold of you and pardoned you of your iniquities, the same way He can get ahold of anybody, He is the almighty God, one with whom nothing is too hard. And she said, because of this Almighty God, I went out full. The God of all glory and the God of all grace and the God of all power had provided for her many things in her life that she wanted and things that she needed. And she rejoices in this. He is the Almighty God and we rejoice in that. And I love the fact that there are times when we do enjoy all of the fullness of God, both spiritually and materially in our lives. He can do these things for us. She said about the Almighty, well really to the people before she spoke of Him, she said, call me not Naomi. And this name Naomi literally means my delight. And the picture here is that she understood in times past that she was a delight unto the Lord, that He delighted in her and found pleasantness in her. That's what her name means. But she said, call me not Naomi. Don't reference me as though I am the delight of God. Call me Mara, call me bitter because that's how God has dealt with my life and dealt with my soul. And when it seems His almighty power is there to protect us or there to prevent problems from coming, and we know that He can, we rejoice in Him. But I wonder how much rejoicing do we do when we feel that His hand has turned against us and His ear is not listening to us. And while He is the God that can prevent things from coming into our life, He does not prevent things from coming into our life. He's the God who could have prevented the famine from ever coming in the land. We don't know how her husband died. We don't know how her sons died. We just know they did. It could be directly related to them going down to Moab. We don't know. We do know there are chain-link effects in life, though, don't we? Cause and effect we learned about even in elementary school. Because of this, then this. And because of this, then this. And things can sometimes stack up upon one another. And a question to be asked is when it seems that His almighty hand has been turned against you, that is He doesn't prevent the famine, He doesn't protect your family, He doesn't pardon your loved ones, and He doesn't provide for your need, so as you can tell at least, do we still rejoice in our God? And can we still see that He finds us to be His delight? Call me not Naomi, she said, but call me Mara, for the Lord hath dealt very bitterly with me. But of course, we know the answer to some of these questions. He is still almighty and we can still rejoice in him, right? Amen. He is still the God that can prevent and does prevent things in our life and protect us and provide and all those things. And even when the hand of God may seem to be against you and things may be going ill in our life, you still are, you are His peculiar treasure and you are His delight and that does not change as the people of God. Circumstance has no effect upon our relationship with the God of heaven. He's the God of our fullness. Brother and sister, He's also the God of our emptiness. He's the God that blesses us, and at times, if He sees fit, He is the God that takes some of those blessings away from us. Emptiness has never drawn the heart of man away from God, or it should not. It certainly doesn't draw the heart of His children away from Him. but fullness often has. And if God sees the fullness that He is blessing us with as getting in the way of our walk with Him and our love life with Him, He may take some of that fullness away, give us a taste of emptiness that we might draw closer to Him. Nobody with a full cupboard is bent on praying, give us this day our daily bread. If you go to the cupboard and it starts running bare and you don't know what's next, you have a tendency to draw nigh to God, don't you? And God will put things in our lives to get us closer to Him and to shape us and to make us into His image. And as we look at the story of Ruth and the story really of Naomi this morning, the self-proclaimed Mara will before long be the widely pronounced blessed Naomi. He is the God of our fullness, but He's also the God of our emptiness. And if His hand has made us to be empty for whatever cause, though we may not see it, we need to patiently wait upon our God and see through whatever He is doing in our lives. You'll find by the end of this book that Naomi enjoys the rich blessings of the Lord all over again. It's almost like there's an abbreviated version of the book of Job in here somewhere. Where Job could acknowledge in one hand the Lord hath given and also with an honest heart and still a worshipful heart to God say He hath also taken away and blessed be the name of God. And I want to remind us of this as the people of God. When we rejoice in His almighty hand that is filling us, we can still rejoice when it seems that His hand is not doing for us all that we know that He can. And He may give, and He may take away, but it does not change who He is, and it does not change His love, and it does not change His character. And we love Him anyway and worship Him anyway. Don't let the emptiness turn your heart from God. And don't let it cause you to think ill of God. Difficult things come into your life Remember God is a God of wisdom who chooses rightly what to give us and when to give it to us. Amen Naomi will become pronounced blessed She comes back into Bethlehem There's a gathering around her. Everybody's like I know her. This is Naomi. It's got to be Naomi, right? Been what 10 years since we've seen her but it in that Naomi. She's don't don't don't call me Naomi You know, when you knew me last, I was His delight. God did delight in me, but now He's dealt very, very bitterly with me and He's turned His hand against me. And you remember me when I went out full, but I've come back again empty. I'm not what you remember. And while that's true of Naomi, what's also true is that her God is still the same God that sent her out full. By the time we get to the end of this story, chapter 4, Verse number 13, Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife. Now, remember here, Ruth really is simply the leftover of Naomi and Elimelech's failure. They left out of Bethlehem, and they went down to Moab in the time of famine. They didn't trust God as they should have. They should have stayed put, but they didn't do it. And when she comes back home, she doesn't have a husband any longer, and she doesn't have two sons any longer. And she's got this Moabitess gal, this cursed generation and people, this gal coming back in with her. And she really is just the baggage that she is bringing back in from her mistakes. Well, I'm glad God takes what we might view as the baggage of our mistakes and He takes our little crooked sticks and He draws straight lines with them. I know I preached a little bit on these lines a couple of weeks ago. God is going to turn Ruth, that individual who seemingly is only a remembrance of His hand being against her and her family, God is going to turn this gal into a great blessing unto Naomi. She is a part of her emptiness. And yet she will become a part of her fullness at the same hand of the same God. Ruth was a cursed Moabitess. I don't have the reference in front of me, but I know the Moabites were cursed under the seventh generation, if I'm remembering that right. A cursed people. They were not to enter into the congregation of the people of God. This is her daughter-in-law. and she will eventually be pronounced as blessed and mentioned in the same light as Rachel and Leah these are the mothers of the patriarchs, friend verse number 11 of chapter 4, I got a little ahead of myself, give me just a second here all the people that were in the gate and the elders said, we are witnesses the Lord make the woman that has come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah which too did build the house of Israel and do thou worthily in Ephrata and be famous in Bethlehem and let thy house be like the house of fairies who Tamar bear unto Judah of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman so Boaz took Ruth and she was his wife and when he went in unto her the Lord gave her conception and she bare a son this woman is pronounced blessed but then Naomi becomes blessed because of her and the women said unto Naomi Blessed be the Lord, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel, and he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life. Now, wait a minute. This is the woman who said, I have no purpose for living anymore. God's brought me empty, purposeless home. He has afflicted me. That is, he has made me good for nothing. He has broken me into pieces. And yet here the women are pronouncing of this same woman who said, I went out full and the Lord brought me back again empty. He shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life and a nourisher of thine old age. For thy daughter-in-law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath borne him. And Naomi took the child and laid it in her bosom and became nurse unto it. And the women, her neighbors, gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi. And they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David. And then they go on, verse 18, to the end of the book in that genealogy of David. The God of the emptiness is the same God of the fullness, and vice versa. And when we feel like so many things are against us that we've lost our way and we've lost our purpose and that God has broken us into pieces and He's made us good for nothing, it'll be good for us to remember the book of Ruth and the story of Ruth and of Naomi. Within three generations of this dear woman saying, the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me, there's going to be a king. and it's King David. Now, she can't see that right now in her emptiness. But God has a reason and a purpose for what He is doing for her and in her. Now, this is a little bit further down the road, but I hope you'll bear with me. Within 30 generations, there will come a Savior. And you don't read about some people in the lineage of the Lord Jesus. But you do read about that little baggage piece, that little cursed mole about us, that part of Naomi's emptiness, you do read her in the name of those from whom the line of our Savior came. These are long-term things. I mentioned a few weeks ago We can't always see what God is doing in the long term, can we? Everything that happens in our life is not always pleasant and it's not always enjoyable. And you may be in a season of your life right now where you feel like He's more the Almighty who has put His hand against you to bring emptiness rather than fullness to your life. But what I would say unto you is wait upon the Lord and He will renew your strength. And rather than lose hope, and rather than feel that God has made you good for nothing, as Naomi felt at this point, remember that as long as you are here, there is a purpose, and God does have something for you, and whatever He is bringing into your life, He will bring a great usefulness in you from it. All right? We don't see things long-term. She can't see three generations from now. I guarantee you this, though. She enjoys the blessing of that grandbaby being in her arms when she became a nurse to it. She's not looking in the face of Obed and saying, you know, I bet that Jesse is going to be born of you and then you're going to have a grandson named David and he is going to be the king of all Israel. She doesn't see any of that. She does see her emptiness gradually fading away and then more quickly each day she holds that baby in her arms. A short time after her statement, God blessed her with a grandson. A little longer time after the emptiness that God had brought into her life, out of her lineage comes a king, and then a much longer time down the road, a savior. I said all that to say, don't ever forget in your seasons of emptiness when God hasn't prevented troubles. And when God hasn't protected you from this or from that or even done something for your family that you've asked Him to do, and when it seems like things are stacking up and you're wondering, where is God in all this? Where is His provision in all this? Are His promises even really to be believed? Remember, He is also the God of the emptiness as well as the fullness. He's a God who turns our circumstances in ways that we can never dream of. He's still God. He's still the Almighty. He's still the Lord, even in the emptiness. Wherever you're at and whatever you're dealing with, don't listen to the whispers of the enemy. He is real good at trying to bring God into question, isn't he? The very beginning of the Word of God you'll find these words, as Satan tempted Eve in the garden, Yea, hath God said. And many times when we are looking to Him to fulfill His promises and we feel they are not being fulfilled in us and for us, we might be tempted to ask the same. But He is the God of the emptiness as well as the God of the fullness. Wait on Him and see what He does with your present circumstance. and see how he turns it from bitterness to blessing. Amen. He's a good God and you can trust him. And he's a God that can take the hardest things in our life and even end up making blessings out of those for us. Amen. Let's bow our heads together this morning. Do you know the Almighty? When troubles come and you know that God could have stopped it and didn't, do you still rejoice in Him as much as when all is well? Brother and sister, difficulties are going to come upon every one of us. And there are times that God breaks us down. knocks the pride out of us, knocks everything we're propped up on out from under us, and brings us to a place of full dependence upon Him. Rejoice in the emptiness, and even in the dark seasons rejoice, for God has a reason for what He's doing. He's the God of the full and the empty.