Redeeming Love - Studies in the Book of Ruth
3 - When Trials Come
We are told in the opening verses of Ruth chapter one that Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and his two sons Mahlon and Kilion had moved to the land of Moab. They went there because a severe famine had come to Israel. Elimelech took his family there to avoid starvation and death. We saw last time that this was a decision based on a lack of trust in God. The Lord was able to deal with the famine and provide for Elimelech and the whole nation of Israel. The famine was cause by God’s judgement on a disobedient nation. This is implied in chapter one verse six where it says: “When she heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of the people by providing food for them, Naomi and her daughter-in-law prepared to return home from there.” During the times of the Judges, when the events of Ruth took place, God would discipline the nation through invading armies. They pillaged the land and took the harvest. When Israel repented God would send a deliverer. Once again God had shown mercy to Israel and come to their aid.
Ironically, Elimelech had died soon after his arrival in Moab. In chapter one verse three we read, “Now Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died and she was left with her two sons.” The two sons married Moabite women named Orpah and Ruth. Then tragedy struck again because after they had lived in Moab for about ten years, both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and so Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband. Women in those times had no right to inheritance, so Naomi was in a serious situation. She was left destitute in a strange land and away from her family and friends in Israel.
Have you ever been through a traumatic time in your life? Perhaps you are in such a time just now. You may have had to move home, and now you are living away from close family and friends. Possibly you have experienced bereavement and lost a love one. Are you experiencing turmoil in you life and you feel confused and uncertain? Could it be that you have doubted God’s goodness and his wisdom? Maybe you have wondered, “Where is God in all that I am going through? Sometimes we experience these dark hours of the soul when everything seems bleak and black. We can be left emotionally exhausted. In the first chapter of the Book of Ruth we see the darker side of providence. By providence I mean God’s activity in our everyday lives and circumstances. Sometimes God permits difficult times for us. There are times when the pain seems unbearable and our circumstances unfair. We may have many questions but no answers.
Several years ago I moved to a new pastorate. This involved moving house and leaving the area where we had lived for many years. At the same time my father died and my wife went through a time of serious illness from which I am pleased to say she has now recovered. Someone in the church came to me and said that he had been reading a book on psychology. In it was a stress factor guide of 1 to 10 on which you gauged your potential stress level according to what you were experiencing in life. 1 was a low stress potential and 10 was high. He said I scored 10 out of 10! How do we cope in these situations? How did Naomi cope? It was through faith. Naomi’s faith had been battered and buffeted by what she had experienced. But in all the problems she faced in Moab, she never lost her faith. We know this because of the way she referred to God even though the way was tough for her. In verse eight she says to Orpah and Ruth, “May the Lord show kindness to you.” Her trials had not made her bitter. She still held on to the truth that god is essentially kind. In verse nine she says, “May the lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband. Naomi still believed in the God of goodness and provision.
Sometimes you hear people say, “I used to have faith until I lost my husband, or until I lost my wife”, or “Until I suffered a serious set back in my health, then I lost my faith.” All sorts of other problems are mentioned as reasons for the loss of trust in the Lord. The Bible teacher Warren Wiersbe said, “A faith that can’t be tested, can’t be trusted.” As much as we feel for people like that, it has to be said that the faith they professed was never really there to lose in the first place. A Christian man I know nursed his wife for fourteen years. She suffered with Alzheimer’s disease and eventually she died. A social worker came to see him and noticed his library full of Christian books. She said, “I am sure the events of the last number of years have affected your faith. What do you think about God now? Do you still have faith?” “Oh, yes,” he said, “in fact my faith has grown stronger. It has been through these sad and difficult times that I’ve proved God’s strength and faithfulness.” True faith rides the storms and proves God’s grace in the furnace of affliction. Real faith opens up opportunities for witness as we testify to God’s love in the turbulent storm. God allows us to pass through problems and difficulties for the same reason. They are times of testing. It is during these times that we see how strong our faith is, or how weak it may be.
In Mark chapter four we read that the disciples of Jesus were in a boat on Lake Galilee. In verse twenty-seven it says, “A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.” The disciples panicked and went to Jesus who was asleep in the stern of the boat. They woke him and said, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” Jesus got up and rebuked the wind and commanded the sea to be calm and said to the disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” I we are honest, we are just like those men in the storm. We panic and start to question God’s goodness and care for us. We must pass the test of life’s storms and show that we have a firm confidence in God that He knows our troubles and is able and willing to keep us through them.