Redeeming Love - Studies in the Book of Ruth
2 - Trusting God in the Hard Times
We continue to look at the Book of Ruth and the lessons we can learn from it. So far we have seen how Elimelech and his family have left Israel and gone to live in Moab. Elimelech too his wife, Naomi, and his two sons Mahlon and Kilion. Their home town was Bethlehem. Why did Elimelech decide to move from Israel and go to Moab? After all, Israel was still the land of promise. It was there that God had done great things during the course of Israelite history and even in recent times.
There was a practical reason for moving. This is found in chapter one verse one, ”There was a famine in the land.” That should not surprise us. At this time in history when the Judges ruled, the nation had been constantly attacked by the surrounding nations. They plundered the land and stole the crops. This experience was the result of Israel’s sin. We read in the Book of Judges chapter six verse one, “Again Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years He gave them into the hands of the Midianites. Again in chapter six verses three to five: “Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country ….they ruined their crops….they invaded the land to ravage it.” This happened on many occasions and Israel could only cope with it for so long. They were often left destitute.
Things were clearly very bad as far as Elimelech was concerned. In a sense you can understand his worry and his concern for his family. You might even say, “Well under the same sort of circumstances I probably would have done the same thing. After all, you have to think of your own family’s well being and provide for them the best way you cam.” Most of us might reason like that. But there is a problem here. Elimelech lived in Bethlehem. Bethlehem means “House of Bread”. The very name of his home town speaks of promise. The real reason for Elimelech leaving Bethlehem was that he panicked. He lost confidence in the God of Israel, and the God of provision, who could make Bethlehem the “House of Bread” again even though for a time it was left without a crumb. Elimelech had become weary with this vicious circle of planting, sowing and plundering that seemed to take place as regularly as night follows day. He assumed that the only way to stay alive would be to head for Moab. So he packed his belongings and headed off to the north east of the Dead Sea and settled in that land. He seems to have forgotten that God had always raised up a deliverer who dealt with the problem whenever Israel cried out to Him in repentance.
When we lose our trust in God then we try to resolve problems in our own way and in our own strength. Abraham did the same thing. When he lived in a place called Gerar he told the people that Sarah his wife was his sister. He did this out of fear. What he said was partly true because Sarah was in fact his half-sister. Because of this the king of Gerar decided to take Sarah for himself. However, God came to him in a dream and told him that Sarah was really Abraham’s wife. We read in Genesis chapter twenty verse eleven the reason that Abraham gave when he was challenged about this. He said, “I said to myself, ‘There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’” Abraham had stopped looking to the Lord. God had said to him, in Genesis chapter twelve verse two, “I will make you a great nation and I will bless you.” This had not happened yet but Abraham should have believed that he would have lost nothing by being honest. The Lord would have protected him in that godless city. The amazing thing is that this was the second time that Abraham had told this lie. He said the same thing to Pharaoh when he stayed in Egypt. Both Elimelech and Abraham failed to remember the promise of God. Abraham needed to recall that God would nor forsake him because He had promised him personally a great future. He would become a great nation. Elimelech needed to recall that God would never utterly forsake his covenant people. He still had great plans for the future of the nation. The problem in both cases was their inability to believe God and their attempt to solve the problem in their own strength and according to their own human wisdom and plans.
How do you react when you face a problem? Isn’t it true that we are more like Abraham and Elimelech than we ought to be? Very often we face a difficult situation and we take the matter into our own hands instead of leaving them in God’s hands and trusting Him. The Christian writer F. E. Marsh once made this challenging observation: “When we leave God out of our reckoning, difficulties will daunt us, temptations will triumph over us, sin will seduce us, self will sway us, the world will warp us, seeming impossibilities will irritate us, unbelief will undermine our faith, Christian work will worry us, fear will frighten us, and all things will wear a sombre hue. But when God is recognised as the One who undertakes for us, then difficulties are opportunities to trust Him, temptations are the forerunners of victory, sin has no attraction, self is denied, unbelief is ignored, service is a delight, contentment sings in the heart, and all things are possible.” As soon as we do what Elimelech and Abraham did and lose our faith-focus on God, then temptation will triumph over us. The key to facing the problems you face is a spiritual mind. You must remember, if you are a Christian believer, that at all times God is with you to be your helper. We read in Hebrews chapter thirteen verses five and six, “God has said, ‘never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ So we may say with confidence, ‘the Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’” Never think that in your trials God has left you to fend for yourself. In the dark He is there. When the sun does not appear to be shining He is there beside you to help.
The early American Indians had a method for training young braves. On the boy’s thirteenth birthday he would be trained to hunt and fish. The final test was for him to be blindfolded and led out at night into the dark forest. He must spend the night alone. The blindfold would be removed and he would stand there in the pitch black, dense forest. Any sudden noise was terrifying as he imagined a wild beast ready to pounce on him. Throughout the night he would hear the rustling of leaves and twigs snapping. Eventually the dawn would break and light would shine. He would look and see trees and flowers and a pathway. And then, there sat on a rock a few feet from him, a man armed with a bow and arrow. It was his father who had been up all through the night watching over his son.
Trust God in the dark. Lean on him and not on your own understanding. Don’t panic, because when there is a famine in the land He is still able to turn things round and restore the house of bread.