A Path for the Brokenhearted

August 14, 2022

 

  • Preaching path: We are going through the portion of Joshua, Judges and Ruth. We did Joshua last Summer, and just finished Judges. I was surprised how hard Ruth turned out to be. It emotionally leveled me because it so close to home in this season of life.
  • Ever see someone become bitter, cold or hard hearted because of pain in their life?

 

I. Naomi: A woman with some honest hurt

1. Her husband’s

  • Ruth 1:1, the events take place in the era of the Judges. We cannot pinpoint exactly which Judge, since the Judges themselves overlap.
  • Ruth 1:1, the family moved to Moab. This was a bad step. Moab had hired Baalam to curse Israel. They also sent women into the camp of Israel to seduce the men. During the Judges, Moab had invaded and ruled by a wicked king named Eglon. And, they worshipped the pagan deity Chemosh. So this family left the land promised to Abraham and secured by Joshua, to go to a people who had cursed them.
  • Elimelech means, “My God is King.”
  • Naomi means sweet, pleasant or good.
  • Mahlon means Puny or sickly.
  • Chilion means Pining. It is the idea of longing for home.

2. Her

  • Ruth 1:3, this is tragic and painful.
  • She is left to raise two sons on her own.

3. Her sons

  • Ruth 1:4, this could not have been how she pictured her sons wedding.
  • Ruth 1:4, both marriages are marked by infertility. As Lord withheld rain and thus produced famine, so he withheld children.

4. Her

  • Ruth 1:5, notice Ruth was earlier left “with” her sons, but is now left “without” her two sons. She is being emptied.
  • The Hebrew Commentary (called, “The tagrum”) attributes the deaths of the two sons to the sin of marrying Moabites. Naomi is left with these two women, she may actually feel it is these two women who have brought disaster on her sons.
  • Ruth 1:8, “May the Lord deal kindly” Kindly is the word “Hessed.” It is all of God’s positive qualities. Love, covenant faithfulness, kindness, mercy, loyalty.
  • Orpah is a play on words: It’s the name of the back of your neck. What she did to Naomi. She turned her neck away from Naomi and went home.
  • Ruth 1:16-17, are not wedding vows, but a covenant made to a mother-in-law. The promises that they will not be separated by space, race, religion or even death.
  • Ruth 1:17, Ruth renounced all other gods. If Elimelech means, “My God is King” this girl responds, “Your God truly will be my king.”
  • Ruth 1:19, the trip to Bethlehem would have involved the two women ascending the Moabite highlands, then down into the Jordan valley, then up the ascent to Bethlehem to walk the desert territory through the wilderness of Judah.
  • Ruth 1:20, Mara means bitter. (Like the bitter waters they came to in Exodus 15:23)
  • Timothy Keller: “Worry is fear that God will get it wrong and bitterness is believing that He did.”

She had experienced:

  • Financial ruin (Famine)
  • Death. And more death. More death.
  • Feeling of total emptiness. Says to women: I can’t even give you sons again.
  • God not only feels far; it seems to her that God is actively cursing her.

–v.20: Lord dealt bitterly with me.

–v.21: Lord brought me back empty.

–v.31: Lord testified against me. (Think he hates me!)

–V.31: The Lord brought Calamity upon me. (Niv: Afflicted me)

 

II. Encouragements to the Brokenhearted:

1. Welcome

2. Trust that God is still good

 

3. Ask for God’s

Psalm 34:18: “The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” (ESV)

Isa. 6:1: “He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners”

4. Believe that God

 

 

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