Have you ever made a decision that cost you, even though it wasn't a reckless decision? It was a choice that wasn't impulsive, and it actually seemed logical. Maybe it was a job that you took because it came with a pay raise, and it made sense on paper, but the culture turned out to be toxic. Maybe it was a relationship you started because there were no other options, but it's taking you further away from the person you wanted to be. Maybe it was a financial decision that looked like a great deal, but the cost has compounded in ways that you never would have expected. That's the thing about these types of decisions. They don't feel wrong when you make them. They just feel like the obvious next step. Suddenly you're forced to pivot or adapt to the situation. You might even have to start again. Thankfully, we have a God of second chances, and he is going to walk you through it.
Welcome to Mountain View Church. My name is Jeremy. Today we're launching a six-part teaching series from the book of Ruth called Finding God in the Ordinary. Ruth is a short book with only four chapters, but it's packed with lessons for life. We'll follow ordinary people making faithful choices and experiencing second chances. All the while, God is quietly at work in the background. Let's get started.
Good morning, my name is Jim. Our scripture reading today is from Ruth 1, 1-18. That is page 216 in this Bible, but if you open up your Bibles, you can look at the beginning and it will show you in the table of contents how you can find the book of Ruth. Alternatively, you can also download the Bible app or just visit Bible.com. Ruth chapter 1, 3-18.
In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem and Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab. He and his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Malon and Chilion. They were Ephratites from Bethlehem and Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. These took Moabite wives. The names of one was Orpah, and the name of the other, Ruth. They lived there about ten years, and both Malon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.
Then 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 that place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, Go, return each of you to her mother's house. May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. And they said to her, No, we will return with you to your people. But Naomi said, Turn back, my daughters. Why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands?
Turn back, my daughters. Go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, would you therefore wait till they were grown? 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. Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. And she said, See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. Return after your sister-in-law. But Ruth said, 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.
The book of Ruth opens during a challenging time in Israel's history known as the Judges. The last line written in the book of Judges explains everything. It says, This means that the moral compass of society was broken. People navigated life's choices by instinct and self-interest. Although there may have been faithful people striving to follow God, that might be true, there wasn't a cohesive leadership striving to live well and guide people toward God's way. And so, into that environment, a famine hits Bethlehem. Now, seasons of drought were common in that region. The land around Bethlehem depended on seasonal rainfall, so when the rains didn't come, food became scarce, obviously. That being said, under stable leadership, reserves could have and would have been established during times of plenty. But this isn't happening during the time of the judges. Israel is spiritually unstable and socially fractured.
There was no safety net. No one was looking out for anyone else but themselves. A famine in that environment could lead to significant desperation. And I think it did. Now, a man named Elimelech is trying to navigate the situation for his family. He decides to leave Bethlehem and travel to Moab. Why Moab, you might wonder. Lots of people have wondered. Scholars suggest it was likely the closest region unaffected by the famine. But the text doesn't tell us his reasoning.
What scholars do know is that Moab was a place with a long history of hostility toward Israel on every level, historically, spiritually, and culturally. Every Israelite would have known that Moab was not a great place for them, and what Moab represented for them. And yet, for Elimelech, the famine still pointed him to that place. We don't get a sense from the text that he was being reckless, but Moab still wasn't the best choice. He wasn't rebelling from God, he was making a practical call based on the situation.
And yet, unknowingly, he walked his family into 10 years of compounding loss. The text doesn't portray him as a villain, but it doesn't soften the trajectory either. It leads us to assume that he should have stayed and waited out the famine, which is our first lesson from the book of Ruth, that in life, sometimes the obvious choice can still be the wrong one. Now, before we unpack that lesson, let's pause to walk through some of the unstated details. You see, the original Hebrew text hides some clues that aren't always as obvious when reading this account in English.
First, Elimelech's name means my God is king. And second, he is from Bethlehem, which means house of bread. There's a bigger story being told in these names, that the man whose name declares God's kingship is walking out of the house of bread or the city named the house of bread. And he's doing it the moment provision gets difficult. He's not running from God in any sort of obvious or dramatic way, but he is trusting a potentially dangerous foreign destination over God's provision. Now, the obvious rebuttal is that Elimelech was only thinking about feeding his family, which is true, adding tension to the account for us to process. He wasn't wrong to want to provide, but he was wrong about where the provision was going to come from. The tension of the account increases when Elimelech dies.
We don't know if he was killed by the Moabites or had an accident or an illness. We only know that at some point after arrival, he died. Naomi, Elimelech's wife, and her two sons are left without their patriarchal leader to tell them when they should return to Bethlehem. The following verses fast track the timeline over 10 years, leaving us with some questions. It reads, These, the two sons, took Moabite wives. The name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other, Ruth. They lived there about 10 years, and both Malon and Chilon died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.
You may have the same questions I have. How old were the sons of Elimelech when he died? How old were they when they got married? How long after their father's death? Why did they choose Moabite wives? Why didn't the sons take their mom back to Bethlehem before getting married? So many more questions. Unfortunately, we're left hanging with all of them and more. You see, within a couple of verses, three widows are left with nothing. During this time, women without husbands were destitute, having to rely on extended family or to beg for food. These three women are in serious trouble.
Then 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. Notice the wording that was chosen. The author could have just said, when the family was over, Naomi went home to Bethlehem. But that would have removed the introductory tension related to God's provision. So God has once again provided food in Bethlehem, the house of bread. Before leaving, Naomi tells her daughters-in-law to turn back to their families. But in a plot twist, the daughters-in-law weep and cry and refuse to leave.
These women are at a vital crossroads, so Naomi is pleading with Orpah and Ruth again to go back to their families. She tells them there's nothing for them in Bethlehem, no husband, no security, no future that she can offer them. As readers, we're left shocked at this point. Why wouldn't they want to leave and go home to their birth mothers and their fathers? Clearly, a deep bond has formed between these three women over the years as they've walked through laws together. This is a struggle for us to comprehend in our modern era. We don't have situations like this. Nevertheless, after further weeping and Naomi pleading with them, Orpah finally relents and turns for home.
And of course, the text doesn't condemn her for it. It makes sense. She made the obvious and reasonable choice, and the choice that Naomi had requested of her. It makes sense. But then we get a second plot twist. Ruth refuses to turn away. She is committed to remaining with Naomi no matter what. No matter what the future might hold. They're together. So the two widows leave for Bethlehem. But for Ruth, the Moabite woman?
She's being brought into the story of God's people and will discover into God's providence. And Ruth foreshadows this through her commitment to Naomi. Check this out. She says, That's crazy, right? Ruth had nothing to gain from staying with Naomi. She had no husband, no sons, no property, nothing. But that points us back to the topic of choices and decisions. At the beginning of this account, Elimelech, the Hebrew father, makes the seemingly sensible choice to leave Bethlehem, which ends up being the wrong one. Now we have Ruth, the Moabite daughter-in-law, making a choice that makes no sense, which we'll find out in the weeks to come, is the right one. You see, Ruth was faithfully choosing God when the obvious choice was pointing somewhere else. Ruth shows us that the hard choice is often the faithful one.
And so as we reflect on this contrast of these two choices, it's striking how ordinary Elimelech's mistake was, especially considering the circumstances. Remember, he didn't worship an idol or commit adultery. He simply looked at his current situation, identified an obvious solution, and walked toward it. And if we're honest, I think most of us would have done the same thing. Although perhaps not as dramatic, these types of choices appear in your life and my life as well. It's the relationship that seemed like the answer, the career move that made complete sense at the time, or the purchase that seemed like a really good deal. And yet, as we look back, the unseen outcome is a drift away from where we wanted to be. And more importantly, it's a drift away from where God wanted us to be. And it happened gradually. And none of it felt wrong at the time. But now we see the cost. Maybe even 10 years later. The decision was supposed to provide, but it never delivered.
And in a way, if you have a situation like that, it's your Moab. It looked like the answer and it made sense on paper, but it took you further than you ever wanted to go and cost you more than you ever wanted to pay. But remember, your story isn't over yet. Right now, today, you can make a Ruth decision. It may not make sense on paper, but it's centered on God's direction. So it's a good one because Ruth's choice is a picture of what saving faith looks like. She turns toward a God she couldn't fully see yet with no guarantee of the outcome. She chose to trust in him to hold her future. And that's exactly what it looks like to follow Jesus.
Not because you have it all figured out, but because you're choosing to trust the God who holds what you can't see yet. And looking at the bigger picture, humanity's separation from God was because of a decision that went terribly wrong. Adam and Eve's decision. Sin entered the world. But the gospel shows us that God sent Jesus to meet people in their foreign land, in our Moab, and call us to return home. Through Jesus, God is saying, there's still a way back. And it starts with following my son. So I wonder, what kind of choices are you facing?
What consequences of those choices are you facing this season? Are they the ones that made sense when you started and that you continue to justify, but they've never delivered? They didn't end the way you were hoping for. Simply put, what's the obvious choice that never delivered? Take a moment and maybe pause this video and name it. Is it a job, relationship, financial decision, whatever it is. Take this time to write it down or enter it into the notes app on your phone. Seriously, pause, think about it. Now, you don't have to have the whole plan laid out before you turn this thing around.
Ruth didn't have the whole plan when she made her decision and declaration. She simply followed Naomi, turned toward God, and started walking. And over the next few weeks, we'll see what one faithful turn can do, not just for Ruth, but also for Naomi, ultimately placing them both in the earthly lineage of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. She, of course, had no idea. But that's what turning and trusting in God can do, things that we can never imagine. And so turning around might be the hard choice, but it's often the faithful one. Remember, Elimelech's move made sense, and it cost him everything.
But the hope in today's text isn't that people would stop making understandable choices. That's not the goal. It's that God can still guide us home, even in the middle of the consequences of the ordinary and yet struggle through poor decisions. If you're currently in a situation because of a choice that made sense at the time, but hasn't delivered, I want to invite you to pray this prayer with me. You can say it silently in your heart or in your mind, or you can even proclaim it out loud, wherever you're at. Would you pray with me? Dear God, I've made choices I regret.
They seemed like the right decision at the time, but they've taken me to a place I didn't intend to go. Today, I want to follow your son, Jesus, and place my faith in him. I'm choosing your direction. Where you go, I will go. Your people will be my people, and you will be my God. Direct me from this day forward. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Thanks for watching or listening today. If you're new to Mountain View or you want to connect, you can go to mountainview.church slash connect or you can send us a message on social media at Mountain View Whitehorse. To continue walking through Ruth's story with us, subscribe to our YouTube channel and turn on those notifications so you don't miss next week's message. And if you prefer to listen, you can subscribe to our podcast, Mountain View Church Audio on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Now, here are a few quick updates on what's happening and what's on the horizon here at Mountain View Church.
Hey Mountain View, senior youth tonight is not at the church. We'll be at the climbing gym in Whistlebend from 6 till 8 p.m. If this is your first time joining us for this event, please make sure you go to Climb UConn's website and have a parent or guardian fill out the waiver. If you joined us last time, you do not need to fill out another one. On top of that, please make sure you wear active clothing and bring a water bottle, and we'll see you there. Now let's move to this week's connecting questions to help you move from content to community engagement. Question number one, what decision seemed completely reasonable at the time, but took you in the wrong direction? What decision seemed completely reasonable at the time, but took you in the wrong direction? Question two, what obvious choice has not delivered what you were hoping for?
What obvious choice has not delivered what you were hoping for? And question three, what's the one faithful decision of turning that God is leading you toward? What's the one faithful decision of turning that God is leading you toward? And come back next week as we move into Ruth chapter two. Ruth shows up to work in an ordinary field on an ordinary morning, but as we'll see, God's provision often shows up through those type of ordinary circumstances. You too might be standing in the middle of God's provision without even recognizing it. See you next week.
If you prayed to receive Jesus today or would like to connect with our church community, visit mountainview.church and click the connect link. If this podcast and radio ministry has been a blessing to you, please consider partnering with us or making a tax-deductible donation at mountainview.church. Thanks for listening to Mountain View Church Audio. Join us next week for more Christ-centered teaching from the Wilderness City of Whitehorse UConn.