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What Will YOU Do in the Famine? - Part 1 · Enjoying the Journey

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  The Book of Ruth begins in dark days, but even
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  in the darkness, God was at work. Through loss,
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  uncertainty, and unexpected turns, we discover
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  a beautiful story of grace, redemption,
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  and hope. Join Scott Pauley for this new study,
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  The Gospel According to Ruth. Light for Dark Days.
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  The oldest book in the Bible, the book of Job, tells us that man that
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  is born of woman is a few days and full of trouble. The question
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  is not, are you going to face trouble? The answer to that is yes.
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  The real question is, what will you do when
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  that trouble comes? We return today to our study of this little
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  book of Ruth. Now we're going back in time 3,300 years,
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  but isn't it fascinating how applicable,
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  uh, the, the story of Ruth is to our world?
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  Because here we are living in dark days spiritually, in days of great
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  need. And what do we need? The exact same thing that Ruth needed
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  and that Naomi's family needed. We need God. We need a divine
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  intervention And the only way to, to enter into the
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  divine resources is through faith. And so we established
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  already from verse number 1 that a famine had come. A famine was in
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  the land, and that famines come to all people,
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  even good people, even God's people. And they come for many different
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  reasons, just like storms. They really are a parallel to
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  storms in the Bible. Sometimes God used storms to chasten,
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  as he did for Jonah. Sometimes he used
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  storms to teach, as he did for the disciples. Well,
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  sometimes God uses famine to bring judgment, as he
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  did for the nation of Israel. But sometimes God may be using that same famine
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  to bring someone to himself, as he is in
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  the life of Naomi and in Ruth. And so God
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  is at work. God is always at work. You can believe that. The question
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  today is this: What will you do in
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  the famine? And in Ruth chapter number 1, we find
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  3 distinct responses. When trouble
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  comes, when the famine comes, when everything falls
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  apart, when difficulty is, is all that you are dealing
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  with, what will you do then?
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  Let's begin as the story begins with the
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  first main character. It is a man by the name of Elimelech.
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  The Bible says in verse 1, there was a famine in the land,
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  and a certain man of Bethlehem Judah
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  went to sojourn in the country of Moab,
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  he and his wife and his 2 sons.
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  The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi,
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  and the name of his 2 sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem
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  Judah. And they came into the country of Moab
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  and continued there. And then you come to verse number 3.
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  And Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died, and she was
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  left and her 2 sons. So the
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  first possibility, the first response in the famine
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  is this: some people flee. I mean by
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  that, they run. They, they think that
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  a change of scenery, a change of geography, a change of circumstance will make
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  things better. The psalmist, I think, articulated this well.
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  He said, I want to take the wings of the morning and dwell in the
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  uttermost part of the sea. In other words, what he meant was, if I could
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  just get out of here, get me a first-class ticket out of this place,
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  maybe if I can escape, there'll be some relief.
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  In that same psalm, he said, even there God meets me.
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  Even there God is working. I can't, I can't flee from God's
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  presence. And I think this is very important because when we run,
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  we're always running one direction or the other. We're either running toward the
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  Lord or running away from the Lord. May I
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  say to you that Elimelech, I believe, is a negative example.
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  Now, did God turn it for good? Yes. Did God work,
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  uh, in his, in his wife after his death?
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  Absolutely. Did the providence of God bring a
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  wonderful redemption out of all this? Yes. Praise God for grace.
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  But I think it's important to point out to you that Elimelech made
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  some decisions that were not wise decisions, and there were consequences
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  for those decisions. You see, he failed to
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  wait on God. He failed to wait on God. If you
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  jump down to verse number 6, the Bible says— this is after the death
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  of Elimelech— that Naomi heard in the country of Moab how that
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  the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread.
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  Would you put yourself in the story for just a moment?
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  What What would have happened if they had waited?
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  Elimelech, what if you had just stayed right where you are? I think
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  sometimes people are looking for an out. They're looking to
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  find some better circumstance. The grass is always greener on the other side, right?
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  And yet the reality is oftentimes we quit just before the breakthrough.
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  We stop praying just before the answer. We miss what
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  God has for us because we try to find some shortcut
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  to that. Could I point out to you that there were 2 men both living
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  in Bethlehem, both faced the famine, and both made
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  a decision. Who were those 2 men? Elimelech and Boaz.
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  Elimelech left, Boaz stayed.
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  Who gets the blessing? Boaz does. Who sees the, the divine
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  providence of God? Boaz does. Who gets to be a part of what
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  God is doing? Boaz does. But Elimelech— Elimelech
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  misses all of that because Elimelech tries
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  to fix the problem his way instead of God's
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  way. Can I tell you that time spent waiting on God is never wasted time?
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  That in the waiting, God is working. Beware of getting ahead
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  of the Lord, of running ahead of God, of fleeing
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  circumstances, but in the midst of that,
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  drifting from God. You know what the devil says? He says, don't go
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  too far. You don't have to go too far away. Moab was only 20 or
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  30 miles. That's not far. He says don't stay long.
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  In fact, did you notice the Bible says they went to sojourn?
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  That word literally means a temporary stay. Elimelech didn't
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  mean to die in Moab. Elimelech didn't mean to live
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  in Moab for very long. But isn't that always the way temptation
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  comes? Don't go far, don't stay long.
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  And then how about this one? Don't give up much. It won't cost
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  you much. Here is a man who went looking for life, and what
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  did he find? He found death. Dear listener,
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  I want to tell you today that there is something worse than bad circumstances.
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  It's bad choices. Elimelech is never mentioned
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  after verse 3. Boaz— Boaz gets listed
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  in the genealogical records of Christ in Matthew and in Luke.
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  Elimelech missed all of that. Beware of making
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  choices without seeking God's will and God's time
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  and God's way, because not only will it affect you,
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  it's also going to affect your family. You see,
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  it's going to have an effect on his wife. It's going to bring her
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  to bitterness. It's going to have effect on his sons Mahlon and Chilion. Both of
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  them will also die in the land of Moab. Did you know
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  that Elimelech's name means my God is king?
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  That's quite a name, isn't it? But it didn't live that way,
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  because instead of God ruling in his life, Elimelech was in charge.
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  Elimelech was making the decisions. Did God overrule in the end? Yes.
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  Oh yes. Did God bring good out of evil?
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  Absolutely. Did God bring fullness out of famine? Yes.
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  Did God bring blessing out of bitterness? You better believe it. But Elimelech
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  never saw any of that. Who's king in your house?
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  Who's king in your heart? Who sits on the throne and
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  rules and reigns. That's what the, the verse
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  in the New Testament, let the peace of God rule in your heart, means.
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  Literally, let the peace of God sit on the throne and
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  make the decision. You know, the truth of the matter is,
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  all of us at times are looking for an out, but we don't
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  need an out. You know what we need? We need God. And so I want
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  to challenge you not to be Elimelech, not to flee,
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  not to run, not to miss what God has
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  for you. This is a man who lost more than he gained.
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  Crisis hours always reveal. Crisis hours purge.
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  Some people draw nearer, some people go further away from God.
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  By the grace of God, when the famine comes, do not
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  be an Elimelech.
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  Thank you for joining us for today's study. If you've enjoyed this
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  journey through Ruth, visit us at etj.bible and
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  Until next time, keep following God's Word and
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  finding Christ's joy.