God, we are so thankful that we can sing of your goodness. Everyone who has ever walked with you has been able to look back and identify that you are good in all of your ways. God, you are good. Lord, I pray that you would help us to rightly identify your goodness, even when it feels like we can't see it. When we look around us and all we see is chaos and confusion and brokenness, perhaps even in our own lives, I pray that you would help us to continue to press in and look for your goodness. For we know it's there. We know it's there. So we thank you. Lord Jesus, we are so grateful that we are able to look back on your work at the cross. And there remind ourselves that you have proven your love. That even when we can't see your work in the present, we know you care. We know that. We know you're here. So I pray that you would help us to cling to you. Father, we've come before you this morning to worship you in song, to worship you in fellowship with brothers and sisters, to bear one another's burdens. but also to worship you through submission to your word. And so I pray that as we open up your word and as we read it and think about it and seek to study it this morning, I pray that you would help us to submit our hearts to it. I pray that you would teach us. I pray that you would encourage us. And I pray that you'd go before us through your spirit. We recognize again this morning that we've got nothing apart from you. I declare my dependence upon you and I do so for my friends. God, we need you. So we ask for your help in this moment and to walk it out. In Jesus name, amen. Amen, you may be seated. Last week, as you know, we introduced this series through the book of Ruth. As we walk through the first five verses and we noted that this beautiful story begins on empty. It starts on empty. It is set in a time in which there was no king and no real character. It was chaos and corruption. all around the land of Israel. And then as we zoomed in on a particular family there in Bethlehem, we also saw that this family of four, a husband, wife, and two boys, were in the midst of a famine. There was no king, no character, now no food. And so this family of four begins to go about a survival mode journey to the land of Moab in search of food. But there in Moab, it gets all the more empty. For this family of four is reduced to one. One by one, the men in the family die. Starting with Elimelech, Naomi's husband, he dies. Then her two boys die and this family of four that left Bethlehem is now down to one. It's Naomi and she is empty. She is broken. Thus we asked the question last week, what do you do when life comes up empty? What do you do? How do you respond when it seems like everything in your world has collapsed, collapsed around you? Perhaps a particular part or facet of your world has collapsed around you. What do you do when life comes up empty? What do you do when it feels to you as if there is no hope on the horizon for you? Well, last week we took a sort of high level glance at where this story goes, and we rejoiced together that when God is in the picture, Emptiness always gets filled. In fact, we rejoiced together last week that when God is writing your story, emptiness is actually a good place to start. We saw as we peeked ahead that as this story progresses, God is going to fill the emptiness in spectacular fashion. It's going to be great to watch. But what I want to do this morning is pull back a little bit. As we pull back to chapter one, I wanna pull back to that opening question for a moment. What do you do when life comes up empty? What do you do when your world collapses around you and it feels as if you have no hope? What do you do when you're in the thick of it? And you're like, I don't wanna hear anyone else say, hey man, it's gonna work out. Like it's all going to work together for good. I've been with a number of people over the years who've said to me in moments of raw, if I hear one more person say to me in this space, it's all gonna work together for good, man, I might hit them. Because I would just say to you, my friends, that while that might sound a little tough, it's what many feel when they're not given space for real processing of grief, for real honest reflection of their heart and their mind in a particular moment. So when the hurting heart is wrestling, my friends, in the midst of pain and in the midst of sorrow and grief, there are at times moments in which it seems like a real paradox between the reality of their circumstances and the promise of a good God. Perhaps you've been in that space before in which you go, I know it's true. Like I know the verses and I can repeat them for you. And I know that God is ultimately good, but right now I don't see it. Like I can't square the two in this moment. Right now it feels like this couldn't possibly be good. Like what I'm encountering, what I'm facing right now couldn't possibly be coming to me from the hand of a good God. Maybe this is acutely relevant for you today. I would say to us, if it's not, it will be at some point in time in your life. Moreover, you will be around people who are in that space In the midst of that seeming paradox, how can God be good and allow this? I would say to us, my friends, this text helps us. So what do you do? As I said a moment ago, I've sat with a number of people over the years who've been in this space of raw, and I thought about one particular lady this week, a precious friend. of Catherine and myself and in that space, she would often say this little refrain. She would say, right foot, left foot. In fact, sometimes she was saying, Catherine and I, a text with that in shorthand, R-F-L-F. Right foot, And that was just her way in which to say, I'm just trying to put one foot in front of the other. And that's all I can do. That's all I can think about in this moment. Just take another step. And friends, I think you see in that a flicker of faith. an element of faith and wisdom. And so the first thing I want to say to you this morning from this text is simply this. I don't know if this is on. Here we go. Take a step in the right direction. Check out your text, Ruth chapter one. If you're not already there, go there with me. Ruth chapter one and verse six. I would suggest this is exactly what Naomi does. Verse six, then she arose, this is in reference to Naomi, 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. 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. Naomi, I want to suggest to you, is taking a step in the right direction. These are not brilliant strides, this is not the kind of thing that is going to make it into some Christian biography, right? It's not some dynamic step of faith, but it is a step, I would suggest, it is a step nonetheless. It might look more like a shuffle. than a stride or a sprint, but it is a step. For my friends, I just want you to think about this with me. What should, what could she have responded with? When Naomi here in the fields of Moab, which by the way is significant for us, right? It's not a drought or a famine in Moab at this time. So this is not going to be Naomi leaving the drought or the famine in Moab to go back home. Rather, she's in the fields. Right? There's food in Moab. She's made a life there. Right? And in fact, her only two immediate family members left are her daughters-in-law. And they're there with her in the country of Moab. What could she have said when she hears about the grace of God being manifested again amongst her people back in Israel? She could have said, forget God. Right? Forget God. Like, where was he when I needed him? He wasn't there for me. Forget God. I'm staying here. I'm worshiping these guys. They've got food here. I've built a life for myself here. I'm staying put. But this is not what Naomi does. My friends, it's not abundantly evident in the text, but I think it's subtly there in the text that Naomi is taking a step in the right direction. She hears of the manifestation of the grace of God and she moves toward it. She takes a step. And I think as the text continues, we'll find that she takes another one. Note with me verse eight. I want to suggest that she takes a step towards God and towards her people. But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, go, return each of you to her mother's house. And this is a way of saying, you guys are still eligible to be married. So go back to your parents' home, to your mother's house, and thereby declare yourself eligible again to be married, to start a family, to have a life of your own. So Naomi's like, guys, don't come with me. There's no hope with me. Return. But now notice with me what she says to them. May the Lord, may Yahweh deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me. So she commends her daughters-in-law for how they have treated her sons and how they have treated her. They are, it seems, a tight-knit family. There's a lot of love and we'll see that reflected in the text. There's a lot of love here. But Naomi now says in kind of form of prayer, may the Lord deal kindly with you. This is significant because the language, the Hebrew language underneath deal kindly is the Hebrew word hesed, which is a beautiful word. It's one of those Hebrew words that cannot be translated in one singular English word. It is a combination of loyalty, and a covenant faithfulness. It is that with love and kindness and gentleness. It is a beautiful term. So Naomi is sort of praying this over her daughters-in-law to say, guys, I love you. I love being with you. I love to keep you with me, but I'm gonna look out for you. And I'm praying that God's kindness would go with you, but you need to stay. You guys have a life here. There is no future for you with me. See that as the text continues. If I should say I have hope, even if I should, verse 12, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, would you therefore wait till they were grown? I think in this moment you find something that's a little bit humorous. Now, I think I skipped a verse there, but essentially what you have is this initial moment in which Naomi pulls her daughter's in-law close, and the tears are starting to flow, right? They're weeping together, they're embracing together, as Naomi's like, you gotta go. And then they stop. Orpah and Ruth, they stop Naomi in process, and they're like, no, no, no, no, we're gonna stay, right? Tears flowing, you can imagine this. We're gonna stay with you. Right? We're going to go back to Israel with you. And Naomi's like, I love you, girls, I love you, but no, you're not. There's no future there with me. Right? And I think at this point, when you read this, and this is just my own thoughts, okay, not inspired, but I think there's a bit of humor here. I think there's some chuckling going on between this older lady and her two young daughters-in-law. And she's like, guys, I mean, just think about it. Even if I had a husband right now, which I don't, and I got pregnant tonight, which I won't, and I had twins, are you guys going to wait around 20 years to get a husband from me again? Now this is referencing a leveret law, which we'll talk about later in the study of Ruth. But essentially what Naomi is saying to them in this moment is, there's no future for you with me. Right? Wink, wink, nod, nod, not going to happen. Right? So how do they respond? Verse 13, 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. And so verse 14, then they lifted up their voices and wept again. I should say that even like a director for a Hallmark movie, even they might say this is a little too much weeping, but they weep again, right? They've already had their moment. The tears are flowing. Naomi says, no, you can't come. So they say, all right, we'll go. They weep again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but notice this, but Ruth clung to her. Again, interesting language. For this language, Ruth clung to her is the same language that you find in Genesis chapter 2 for what it looks like for a man to leave father and mother and cleave to his wife. Same language. So you might say as you watch the scene unfold Ruth is hugging her and she's holding on but in the language of clung to her it's a little more perhaps than just a prolonged hug which is exactly what you find as the text continues. So I would say to you Naomi is not the only one in this moment Naomi's not the only one that's taking a step in the right direction. Ruth is as well. So see it in your text, verse 15. And she said, see, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people, this is Naomi again, and to her gods. Return after your sister-in-law. So again, Naomi's trying to give her girls a way out. And in particular in this moment, she's giving Ruth that last opportunity. You really can go. Ruth, it's okay. You can go. There's no future for you with me. But, verse 16, Ruth said, and here we are all on the precipice of one of the most beautiful speeches in the Bible. Ruth said, do not urge me. Naomi, mom, 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." What a speech. One commentator put it this way, few utterances in the Bible match her speech for sheer poetic beauty and the extraordinary courage and spirituality it expresses. So in this moment, one of the two daughters-in-law takes center stage. Ruth is now front and center with this pledge of loyal love back to Naomi. So this is beautiful in my view. Naomi has already prayed God's chesed over Ruth and Orpah, but now in this speech and in Ruth's loyalty back to Naomi, Ruth is the embodiment of God's chesed back to Naomi. Naomi may not see it in full at this point or at this juncture, but Ruth is now embodying for Naomi God's loyal and faithful love back to her. What a profound moment. So Ruth in this moment is unbelievably convictional. If you look at the language of this, where you go, I will go. Where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people will be my people. Your God, my God. Where you die, I will die. Where you will be buried, I will be buried. And God stands as witness over this pledge, over this covenant oath that I'm making to you. What a profound statement. So convictional. So Ruth is saying, I'm not going back. She's burning the ships. Right? I'm going to die in your land. I'm not coming back to Moab. I'm going with you. It's convictional. It is utterly selfless, self-sacrificing love, but it's also confessional, if I could put it that way. Ruth is not only pledging her life to Naomi, but she's also pledging her life to Naomi's God. This is beautiful. Your God, she says in this text, your God will be my God. So in one moment, Ruth pivots and perhaps she's heard through being a member of this family about Yahweh. about how great Yahweh is, how Yahweh has brought his people out of bondage in Egypt to the promised land, and how he has fulfilled his promise in countless ways. Time and time again, God has displayed his greatness. He's displayed his power. Perhaps Ruth has heard the stories through Naomi, through her husband. We don't know all the details of it. What we do know is this. She's good with Yahweh, and she's happy to abandon the Moabite gods in order to pledge her entire self, body, soul, spirit to Naomi and to Naomi's God. She's locked in. And by the way, it's important, I think, for us to remember in this moment that Ruth is also in the midst of grief. She's also a widow, right? She has also lost her husband. And yet here in the midst of grief, in the midst of sorrow, she tethers her entire world to her mother-in-law. It seems she simply believes this is the right thing to do. This is the right move to make. And so with convictional clarity and confessional devotion to her God, Ruth is all in. And so together they return, check out verse 19. We find there that Naomi hears Ruth's pledge, her speech as a kind of mic drop, she has no answer. When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her she said no more. So she's coming with me. So the two of them now return. Check out your text, verse 19. So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. And the women said, is this Naomi? When I was a kid growing up in the 80s and early 90s, it was like impossible to say I'll be back without an Austrian accent. You guys know what I'm talking about? Good old Arnold Terminator, right? In fact, I thought about having Pastor Graziano say it and put a little Brooklyn twist on top of that Austrian accent this morning. I don't know if Naomi said, I'll be back to her friends there in Bethlehem when she left the first time. But I do know this, regardless of what she said when she left, she did not envision ever coming back like this. Right? Naomi walks back into town after having been gone for at least a decade. She's a mess. and the women are buzzing. Presumably the guys are in the field and the women are gathered in the town square and they see someone coming and they're like, I think it's Naomi, right? It's sort of looks like Naomi, but where's her husband and where are her boys and who's that? Who's the girl from Moab? Right? There's lots of questions. This is the buzz versus 19 and 20. And Naomi, friends, Naomi, she doesn't shy away from it. And I think all of us would say if we were coming back somewhere, like if we can imagine ourselves going back for a high school reunion, or maybe a college graduation reunion or something like that, family reunion, we all want to come back looking okay, right? I mean, we're not what we once were in our 20s or whatever, but we don't want to come back and people are like, who is that? Right? We want people to say like, yeah, okay, you look good. You've done well for yourself. Naomi in this moment, she comes back and they're like, is it her? Is it her? She looks rough. She looks worse for the wear. And to her credit, she owns it. Right? She owns it. I mean, she's honest about it. She is anything but plastic in this moment. She's anything but fake, Naomi gets real. And I think, brothers and sisters, there's a second thing we learn here. When everything in your world feels like it's falling apart or collapsing around you, what do you do? I just want to encourage you this morning, take steps, even if they feel like baby steps, take steps in the right direction. But then secondly, take a risk and open up. Take a risk and open up. This is exactly what Naomi does. She doesn't bury this. She doesn't pretend it didn't happen. She doesn't put some weird spin on it. She looks haggard and her speech matches that. So check it out in the text. Verse 20, she said to them, do not call me Naomi, which means pleasant. Naomi's like, there's nothing pleasant about me. There's nothing pleasant about my life. Don't call me Naomi, call me Mara. For the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity on me." I mean, she just lets it go, right? Naomi is totally raw. And interestingly, with four succinct statements, she lays the blame squarely on the shoulders of God. I mean, see it in your text. Notice verses 20 and 21, these four phrases, the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. It's the Almighty, the Almighty, the one who is able to do whatever he wants to do. This is how he has treated me. He has dealt very bitterly with me. Verse 21, the Lord has brought me back empty. Furthermore, verse 21, the Lord has testified against me. And then finally, the Almighty has brought calamity upon me. And this is all added to what she's already stated in verse 13, that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me. So Naomi's like, change my name. I mean, just call me the female Job. The Lord has dealt so bitterly with me. In fact, her language is colorful. Perhaps in this language of empty to full, she's invoking the image of a clay pot that's empty. She's like, when you think or see a clay pot that has no food left in it, think of me. That's me. With this language of someone testifying against, when you see a criminal condemned by a judge, Naomi's like, think of me. That's me. The Lord has brought calamity on me. When you think of someone who's been snake bitten and just one raw deal after another, think of me. That's me. That's my life. This is what God has allowed or ordained for me. The Lord has gone out against me. My life is shot. And maybe you're thinking to yourself, well, Naomi, wow. Tell us how you really feel, right? I would suggest to you that this is appropriate at a level because can you imagine what that re-entry would be like? Can you imagine going away, losing your husband, and then losing your boys? and then coming back and everyone's like, I think that's Naomi, but what happened? And over and over and over again, you got to answer that question. Like every day for weeks, you got to relive everything that happened. It's my husband, then my boys, and yeah, my world collapsed. Can you imagine that? So right out the gates, Naomi just gets real. She just puts it all out there to say, this is my life. God's hand has been against me. My life has become bitter. With Naomi, you don't have to imagine what happened. She just tells you. She just puts it all out there in raw, unvarnished expression. And I think my friends, we can learn from this. We can learn from this. Because at a level, and I really want you guys to think with me on this and wrestle with this in your own soul. At a level, I would suggest to you that he or she is again moving toward God. Naomi is moving toward God. which by the way is the difference, the signature difference between a Godward lament and bitter, angry hatred that's growing cold. The difference is in the movement. So Naomi is, again, she's not back in Moab saying, forget God. It's not her. Rather, Naomi has been moving subtly in small steps. She's been moving back toward God and to the manifestation of God's grace. My friends, this is, I think, an example of a Godward lament where she is saying, this is where I'm at and I don't get it. I don't get it. I don't fully understand it. But this is where I'm at. This is the lot of my life right now. I'm broken. It's been hard. And I'm struggling to see the goodness of God in all of this. So I think you can see This kind of God would lament not only in her movement, for that's how the entire chapter works. It starts in the fields of Moab and then moves all the way to the barley harvest in the fields of Bethlehem. You see it not only there, but also in her remarkable God consciousness. Isn't her God-consciousness in this text astonishing to you? I mean, seven times, guys, through this text, seven times, she invokes the name of God, either the Almighty or Yahweh, His personal name. Seven times, she's talking about God, and yes, she's getting real about it. Like, this is what I feel He's doing in my life. But friends, she's God-conscious. She's thinking about her God. She's thinking about who he is. So I'm not saying that everything she says here is necessarily right, but it is real. All right? It is real. And it is headed in a God word direction. And I would just say to you, this is good. So friends, when you face sorrow, maybe incredible sorrow like this, I just want to, I encourage you, you need brothers and sisters. You need a church family and you need a God that you can get real with. You guys with me? That you can just get real with. And I worded it that you have to take a risk because I think for many of us, Okay, maybe there's some in here that are like, just always an open book. All right. But I think for many of us, if not most of us, it takes a risk. Because if we share how we are really feeling, the thoughts we're really meditating on, we fear that people will be like, is he even a believer? Right? Does she even love God at all? Right? Or that people will get nervous and shut down, move away from us. Like, I don't want that person in my life. These are fears I think that we have. Perhaps, maybe even as Naomi may have experienced, perhaps people are thinking and you're fearful of this. Well, you kind of had it coming. Can you imagine Naomi going back to Bethlehem? and feeling maybe some condescending gazes like you shouldn't have left, right? Or maybe she goes back to Bethlehem and some of the people there maybe even trying to be helpful are like, well, it has been a few months, right, since your husband's gone. You're over it, right? You're good, right? Friends, I would just tell you one of the things I've learned in being a pastor now for 20 plus years is that grief is not on a timeline. It's not on a schedule. Everybody processes differently. I just want to encourage us as a family of faith that if and when Your brothers and sisters get real and they're just sharing their candid, honest heart with where they're at. Listen, let's just be quick to listen. There are times in which the most spiritual thing we can do is not quote a verse, but to weep with those who weep. And just listen and be present with a brother or sister in pain. I think at a level we can commend what Naomi does. Again, I'm not saying everything she says here is necessarily right, but it's real. It's real. It's raw. It's honest. And this story is moving somewhere. My friends, it's moving somewhere. A book that I read recently, I found so many things in this helpful, but one with regard to the risk that we must take in moments of raw. One person said, I found that many people are afraid of lament. They find it too honest, too open, or too risky. But there's something far worse, silent despair. Giving God the silent treatment is the ultimate manifestation of unbelief. Despair lives under the hopeless resignation that God doesn't care, that he doesn't hear, and nothing is ever going to change. People who believe this stop praying. They give up. This silence is a soul killer. I just want to suggest to you that in this text, Naomi doesn't stuff it, shut down and shut everyone else out and just stay in Moab. No, she takes steps. She takes steps back towards the manifestation of God's grace. And when she arrives, she just gets real. It's real, it's raw, it's honest. This author goes on to say, you might think lament is the opposite of praise, but it isn't. Instead, lament is a path to praise. It is the path from heartbreak to hope. The path from heartbreak to hope. So when your world or part of it collapses around you, what do you do? I just want to encourage you this morning, take steps in the right direction. Take a risk and get real. Be honest before God and before brothers and sisters. But I want to leave you with a third one that I don't think Naomi does in this text, but I believe the author is trying to help us do. Alright, you'll find it in verse 22. And it's this, take inventory, guys, take inventory of the grace of God. So verse 22, so Naomi returned. And Ruth, the Moabite, her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab, and they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest. I said a moment ago, This part of the narrative begins in the fields of Moab where Naomi hears of the grace of God. It has come down to bring bread back to Bethlehem and provision back to Israel. It starts in the fields of Moab and then ends in the fields of Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest. I think what the author is trying to help us see is that though Naomi doesn't see it yet, God's grace is all around her. God's grace is all around her life. First of all, in the presence of Naomi, excuse me, of Ruth, who has pledged and in fact embodied God's chesed towards her, God's loyal, faithful, covenant, kind love towards Naomi. But moreover, God has blessed his people again with bread. I just want to say to you, We may not understand God or his plan at any given moment. We may not understand it, but in the midst of grief, we do always have the privilege of knowing that God cares. At bottom baseline, God cares. And when we stop, I just wanna encourage you, friends, when we stop to take inventory, and to start just sort of tracking the ways in which God is just giving his kindness to us. It may be just a lot of little small things, but when we start to take inventory of those things, you know what happens? God begins to warm our heart. God begins to gently remind us, I've never left you. Son of mine, daughter of mine, I've never left you. I've been here the whole time. I will never leave you. I will never leave you. You can trust me." So friends, you and I have the privilege of doing something that Naomi didn't have the privilege of doing yet. We get to look back to the cross, amen? We get to look back to the cross and there we see God's chief manifestation of grace, God's chief manifestation of his love. as the father pours his wrath upon the son who freely takes it in this awesome and scandalous moment. Friends, Jesus is saying, these are the lengths to which I'm willing to go to get you into my family. That's astonishing love. Moreover, as we talked two weeks ago from John 15, that you might know true joy. Now just a little bit, abundant, overflowing joy. This is your God, my friends. This is your God. So I just want to encourage you, take inventory of the grace of God. Look, open your eyes and just look for all the little ways in which God is seeking to fill your cup. So in moments of grief, sorrow, pain, tragedy, confusion, I think Ruth chapter one offers us some good stuff. One is take a step in the right direction. It's like right foot, left foot. If that's all you can do, that's good. My friends, it's a flicker of faith. Number two, take a risk and open up to God. Express your heart. the reality of your soul and mind towards the Lord and to brothers and sisters, that they might be an embodiment of the grace of God in your life. And then thirdly, take inventory of the grace of God all around you. Here's what I want to say in closing. You'll never go wrong with a step toward home. You'll never regret getting real with him. and you'll never run out of an inventory of His grace. Let's pray. God, thank you so much for your great grace. We are glad to be able to read a chapter that starts on empty and ends at harvest. And yet in between, Father, we see a lot of hard, a lot of heavy. And it's a hard and heavy and a sorrow that many in this room have dealt with in recent days. And Lord, I pray this morning that you would help us if we're in this space or help us if we're around those that are in this space to think of these truths of taking a step, taking a risk, and counting our blessings. I pray that there would be people in this room this morning that maybe for the first time would just get real with a brother or sister. Maybe get real with you instead of stuffing it. Instead of quietly kind of moving away from you, Father, I pray that you would help them to open up. And I pray that this body, this family of faith, this church would be a place that is dominated with an atmosphere of grace. That we would be quick to listen, to weep with those who weep, to bear the burdens of brother and sister. Grow us in this God, I pray.