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Voddie Baucham - Why we miss our blessings Ruth 2 · Voddie Baucham Sermons

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Once again, Ruth chapter 1, and we're looking at that
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: last paragraph, Ruth chapter 1, beginning at verse 19, verses
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: 19 through 22. We looked at most of the chapter
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  Speaker 1: last week, but preserved this last portion for this week then.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Hopefully the reason for that will become clear. I think
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  Speaker 1: what the author is doing here in this last section
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  Speaker 1: is very pointed and very purposeful. There are really three
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: movements within the chapter. We looked at two of them
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: last week. We'll look at the last one this week.
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  Speaker 1: So look with me there beginning at verse 19. So
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  Speaker 1: the two of them went until they came to Bethlehem.
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  Speaker 1: And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was
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  Speaker 1: stirred because of them. And the women said, Is this Naomi?
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  Speaker 1: She said to them, Do not call me Naomi, call
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  Speaker 1: me Marah, for the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me.
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  Speaker 1: I went away full, and the Lord has brought me
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  Speaker 1: back empty. Why call me Naomi when the Lord has
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  Speaker 1: testified against me? and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me.
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  Speaker 1: So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law with her,
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  Speaker 1: who returned from the country of Moab. And they came
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  Speaker 1: to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. Amen.
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  Speaker 1: If I were to give this message a title, it
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  Speaker 1: would be, Why We Miss God. our blessing, why we
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  Speaker 1: miss our blessings. And when you talk about missing your blessings, um,
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  Speaker 1: oftentimes people automatically have this assumption that what you mean is,
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  Speaker 1: you know, the Lord was, was trying to bless you,
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  Speaker 1: but then you did something wrong or you didn't do
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  Speaker 1: something right. And so you, you, you, you missed your
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  Speaker 1: blessing because you know, you, you didn't, you didn't take
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  Speaker 1: advantage of the opportunity or whatever. Um, That's not what
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  Speaker 1: I'm talking about here. When I talk about missing your blessing,
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  Speaker 1: I'm not making the assumption that the blessing was there
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  Speaker 1: and somehow it passed and that you missed it that way.
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  Speaker 1: When I talk about missing your blessing, what I mean
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  Speaker 1: is the blessing was there. It never went anywhere. You
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  Speaker 1: just didn't see it. You missed it. I don't know
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  Speaker 1: if you realize it or not, but we see far
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  Speaker 1: more than we see. Now that sounds like a contradiction, right?
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  Speaker 1: We see far more than we see. Let me explain
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  Speaker 1: it for you. Like right now, if you look up here,
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  Speaker 1: you're looking at me and you see me. But even
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  Speaker 1: if you're looking... like right here, right between my eyes,
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  Speaker 1: and you're focusing right there, your eye is actually taking
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  Speaker 1: in far more than that. Your eye is kind of like,
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  Speaker 1: you know, on the TV screen, if you go to
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  Speaker 1: a movie with a big screen and you focus on
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  Speaker 1: the middle of the screen, there are things happening all
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  Speaker 1: around the screen that your eye is taking in, but
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  Speaker 1: your mind is not focusing on. Your eye is seeing
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  Speaker 1: far more than you are even capable of focusing on
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  Speaker 1: at any moment. So what we do is we make choices.
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  Speaker 1: And we prioritize things that are within that screen that
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  Speaker 1: our eye is taking in. And what we can do
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  Speaker 1: is we can actually focus on something and then consciously decide,
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  Speaker 1: now I want to focus here or now I want
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  Speaker 1: to focus there. Now I want to focus here or
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  Speaker 1: now I want to focus there. But all day long,
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  Speaker 1: we're walking around missing things that our eye is actually
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  Speaker 1: taking in. That's what I'm talking about here. When I
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  Speaker 1: talk about missing your blessing, I mean God is blessing you,
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  Speaker 1: has blessed you. But oftentimes, you miss it. And we
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  Speaker 1: miss it because of two things. There are two main
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  Speaker 1: points here. We miss our blessing because of what we
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  Speaker 1: choose to focus on. And we miss our blessing because
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  Speaker 1: of what we fail to focus on. And we see
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  Speaker 1: that here with Naomi. She misses her blessing because of
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  Speaker 1: what she chooses to focus on. And because of what
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  Speaker 1: she fails to focus on. First of all, let's look
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  Speaker 1: at what she chooses to focus on. And how she
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  Speaker 1: misses her blessing because of what she chooses to focus on.
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  Speaker 1: If you look there... There's really a frame here in
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  Speaker 1: this paragraph, in this text. And the first part of
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  Speaker 1: the text mentions Bethlehem twice. The last part of the
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  Speaker 1: text mentions Bethlehem once. So in verses 19 and 22,
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  Speaker 1: we see this mention of Bethlehem. Look at it with me,
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  Speaker 1: if you will. Nineteen. So the two of them went
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  Speaker 1: on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came
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  Speaker 1: to Bethlehem, that's the first part of the text. Now
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  Speaker 1: go down to verse 22. So Naomi returned and Ruth
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  Speaker 1: the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, with her returned from the country
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  Speaker 1: of Moab and they came to Bethlehem at the beginning
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  Speaker 1: of the barley harvest. So that's the frame, if you will.
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  Speaker 1: This coming to Bethlehem. But In the middle of that
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  Speaker 1: frame we find something else. In the middle of that
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  Speaker 1: frame we find this interaction between Naomi and the women.
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  Speaker 1: And in this interaction between Naomi and the women we
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  Speaker 1: get a clear picture of what Naomi has chosen to
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  Speaker 1: focus on. Interestingly enough she's chosen to focus on the
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  Speaker 1: middle of this frame and not the outside of this frame.
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  Speaker 1: The narrator is making it very clear that she's doing this.
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  Speaker 1: Very clear that she has this myopic focus and that
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  Speaker 1: she doesn't see what's going on around it. We talked
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  Speaker 1: last week about the fact that hardship can make you
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  Speaker 1: have bad theology. Amen? Hardship can make you have bad theology,
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  Speaker 1: have theology that you would not accept otherwise. There are
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  Speaker 1: things that you will believe on your worst day that
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  Speaker 1: on your best day you would call heresy. Amen? On
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  Speaker 1: your best day, you just wouldn't go there. There are
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  Speaker 1: things that would never come out of your mouth on
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  Speaker 1: your best day. But on your worst day, you'll say
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  Speaker 1: them repeatedly. And in fact, most people won't even correct
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  Speaker 1: you on it because they'll say, I know, it's just
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  Speaker 1: under these circumstances, right? And that's what's happening here with Naomi.
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  Speaker 1: Look at what she says in verse 20. The women ask,
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  Speaker 1: is this Naomi? She says to them, do not call
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  Speaker 1: me Naomi. Call me Mara. Mara means bitter. Naomi means pleasant.
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  Speaker 1: It can even mean sweet. She says, don't call me sweet.
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  Speaker 1: Call me bitter. For the Almighty has dealt very bitterly
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  Speaker 1: with me. Three times in the chapter we see this
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  Speaker 1: word bitter. We saw it once in verse 13. Look
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  Speaker 1: back there in verse 13. When she's having this interaction
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  Speaker 1: with her daughters-in-law and she's trying to tell them to
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  Speaker 1: stay there in Moab. She says in verse 13, would
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  Speaker 1: you therefore wait till they are grown? Speaking about her sons.
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  Speaker 1: Remember we talked about leverite marriage and the idea that
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  Speaker 1: Under normal circumstances, there would be another son in the
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  Speaker 1: family who would marry them in order to raise up
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  Speaker 1: offspring for their fallen brothers. And Naomi's basically saying, even
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  Speaker 1: if I had a son tonight, by the time he
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  Speaker 1: was old enough to fulfill this obligation, it would be
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  Speaker 1: too late for you. So she says, would you therefore
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  Speaker 1: wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No,
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  Speaker 1: my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for
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  Speaker 1: your sake. that the hand of the Lord has gone
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  Speaker 1: out against me. So in verse 13, she says bitter.
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  Speaker 1: And then in verse 19, she uses the Hebrew word
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  Speaker 1: for bitter twice. She says first, call me Mara, call
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  Speaker 1: me bitter. And then four, the Lord has dealt very
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  Speaker 1: bitterly with me. Three times here in the course of
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  Speaker 1: this chapter, we see this word, this idea of It's
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  Speaker 1: a common Old Testament theme. Hamlin points this out in
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  Speaker 1: his commentary on Ruth. We see, for example, in Exodus
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  Speaker 1: chapter 1 and verse 14, that the lives of the
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  Speaker 1: slaves in Egypt were not just made hard, but they
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  Speaker 1: were made bitter. They were made bitter with hard service.
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  Speaker 1: In Exodus 15, 23, the people in the wilderness could
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  Speaker 1: not drink the water of Marah because the water was bitter. Bitter.
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  Speaker 1: In Jeremiah 31.15, Rachel's voice is weeping. She's the voice
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  Speaker 1: of lamentation and bitter weeping because her children were no more.
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  Speaker 1: And she refused to be comforted. In Isaiah 38.15, King
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  Speaker 1: Hezekiah couldn't sleep. He says, because of the bitterness of
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  Speaker 1: my soul. In Ezekiel 27.31, At the fall of Tyre,
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  Speaker 1: the merchants of the Mediterranean wept in bitterness of soul
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  Speaker 1: and with bitter mourning. In Lamentation 3.15, the people of
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  Speaker 1: Israel were personified as a mother of Zion and complained
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  Speaker 1: that God has, quote, filled me with bitterness and sated
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  Speaker 1: me with wormwood. And then of course there is Job
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  Speaker 1: in chapter 7 verse 11 and chapter 27 verse 2.
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  Speaker 1: Job protested in bitterness of his soul. And he says
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  Speaker 1: the Almighty has made his soul bitter. So again, the
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  Speaker 1: use of this here in the book of Ruth is
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  Speaker 1: not something that's seen in isolation. The idea that she's
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  Speaker 1: communicating here is an idea that we see throughout the
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  Speaker 1: Old Testament, this idea of bitterness. And the word picture
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  Speaker 1: is most clear in the bitterness of the stream at Marah.
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  Speaker 1: You can't drink the water because it's bitter. You're thirsty.
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  Speaker 1: You're parched. You're in desperate need of a drink and
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  Speaker 1: you find a stream. And as thirsty as you are,
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  Speaker 1: and you know what it's like when you're really thirsty
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  Speaker 1: and then you finally see the water. It's almost as
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  Speaker 1: though right before, the greatest thirst you experience is right
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  Speaker 1: before you get to the water. Because just before you
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  Speaker 1: get to the water to quench your thirst, your mind
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  Speaker 1: is reminded once again of how badly you need it.
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  Speaker 1: And now imagine you come to the stream. You're thirsty.
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  Speaker 1: It's hot. You found a place to drink. You kneel down,
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  Speaker 1: you scoop up the water, you put it in your mouth,
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  Speaker 1: and you have to spit it back out because it's bitter.
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  Speaker 1: Can you imagine how bitter water has to be for
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  Speaker 1: you to not drink it when you're thirsty? When you're
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  Speaker 1: really thirsty, water can taste a bit off. It's okay.
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  Speaker 1: You just say to yourself, oh, this tastes a bit off,
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  Speaker 1: and you continue to drink. How bitter does it have
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  Speaker 1: to be for you to be thirsty and not drink
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  Speaker 1: that's the word picture that's what Naomi focused on that's
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  Speaker 1: all she saw of her circumstance in fact it wasn't
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  Speaker 1: just what she saw of her circumstance it's what she
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  Speaker 1: saw of herself she defined herself by that bitterness do
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  Speaker 1: you know anybody who does this Do you know anybody
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  Speaker 1: who right now, today, continues to define themselves by the
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  Speaker 1: circumstances in their past? Who continues to define themselves? You
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  Speaker 1: get to know them and within a few minutes you
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  Speaker 1: hear about the struggle that they endured when they were
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  Speaker 1: a child. Do you know anybody who mistreats or mistrusts
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  Speaker 1: other people and constantly blames their past? Yes, I do.
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  Speaker 1: I have a problem with trust because I was hurt
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  Speaker 1: in the past, like 30 years ago. And today I'm
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  Speaker 1: still struggling with trust. Or the wife who says, you know,
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  Speaker 1: I find it difficult to submit to my husband. Why? Well,
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  Speaker 1: because my father was this kind of man. Wait, you
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  Speaker 1: mean your father who you haven't lived with in 10
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  Speaker 1: years since you've been married to this man? who you're
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  Speaker 1: still making excuses about not being able to submit to,
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  Speaker 1: because of who you... You see, I'm defining myself by
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  Speaker 1: those past circumstances. This is what happens. We have a
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  Speaker 1: problem with anger. And instead of confessing that sin and
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  Speaker 1: repenting of that sin, we... We point to something in
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  Speaker 1: our past that characterizes us. Yes, I do have this issue,
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  Speaker 1: but it's because. And ultimately, when we do that, what
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  Speaker 1: we're saying is this. I am this way because of
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  Speaker 1: what God forced me to endure. Because of the bitterness
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  Speaker 1: that God put in my life. And it excuses me
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  Speaker 1: to define myself in this way. And that's what Naomi's doing.
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  Speaker 1: Don't even call me by that name because that name
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  Speaker 1: doesn't characterize not what I've experienced but who I am.
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  Speaker 1: I am deciding to hold on to the bitterness of
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  Speaker 1: this experience and define myself from here on out so
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  Speaker 1: much so that I would change my name so that
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  Speaker 1: everyone who comes in contact with me knows that I
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  Speaker 1: am who I am Because of what God did to me.
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  Speaker 1: That's where she is. And that's where some of us are.
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  Speaker 1: Continuing to define ourselves by our most bitter moments in
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  Speaker 1: our life. And when we do so, we miss our blessing.
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  Speaker 1: Listen to this. from the pulpit commentary. Naomi's theology, as
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  Speaker 1: indicated in the expression, the Almighty hath caused bitterness to
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  Speaker 1: me exceedingly, need not be to its minutest jot endorsed.
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  Speaker 1: In other words, we don't have to take all of
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  Speaker 1: her theology. On the one hand, Naomi's theology is right
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  Speaker 1: in that she recognizes the sovereignty of God. Amen? She
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  Speaker 1: recognizes that nothing befalls you That doesn't come from the
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  Speaker 1: hand of God. But what he's saying here is that
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  Speaker 1: we don't have to accept her theology in the minutest detail.
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  Speaker 1: Not every detail of it. Fundamentally, she's right. But not completely.
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  Speaker 1: God was not the only agent with whom she had
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  Speaker 1: to do. Much of the bitterness of her lot may
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  Speaker 1: have been attributed to her husband or to herself. And perhaps...
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  Speaker 1: to her forefathers. It is not fair to ascribe all
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  Speaker 1: the embittering element of things to God. Much rather might
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  Speaker 1: the sweetness which had so often relieved the bitterness be
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  Speaker 1: traced to the hand of him who is the Lord God,
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  Speaker 1: merciful and gracious, abundant in goodness. Do you follow that?
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  Speaker 1: God has dealt bitterly with me that's her only explanation
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  Speaker 1: God has dealt bitterly with me could it be that
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  Speaker 1: Elimelech should not have left the land of promise and
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  Speaker 1: taken his family to Moab amen somebody but she doesn't
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  Speaker 1: want to do that could it be that it's her
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  Speaker 1: forefathers in the age of the judges who brought about
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  Speaker 1: the famine because of their disobedience to God? The answer
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  Speaker 1: is absolutely. But it doesn't have to be either or.
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  Speaker 1: It doesn't have to be, you know, God is just
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  Speaker 1: after me. God is just picking on me. It doesn't
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  Speaker 1: have to be that. Because what God is doing is
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  Speaker 1: bringing judgment and proper judgment judgment and instead of focusing
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  Speaker 1: on those individuals and perhaps the entire community of God's
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  Speaker 1: people who brought that bitterness upon them Naomi just says
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  Speaker 1: God's not being fair essentially remember I said there were
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  Speaker 1: two problems here First, she decided to see herself through
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  Speaker 1: this lens. Secondly, she decided to see God through this lens.
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  Speaker 1: I went out full and the Lord has brought me
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  Speaker 1: back empty. Why call me Naomi when the Lord has
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  Speaker 1: tested against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?
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  Speaker 1: She's blaming God. Again, proper theology says nothing comes to
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  Speaker 1: me unless it comes from the hand of God. But
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  Speaker 1: proper theology does not ascribe evil to God. And that
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  Speaker 1: is basically where Naomi is right now. God has done
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  Speaker 1: me wrong. God has not done right by me. Have
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  Speaker 1: you ever been there? Again, this is one of those
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  Speaker 1: things where when life is good, we can recognize this
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  Speaker 1: and we can parse out our theology. Uh-oh. There we go.
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  Speaker 1: We can be careful with our words, right? And we
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  Speaker 1: can say, no, we recognize this and that and, you know,
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  Speaker 1: God is sovereign and, you know, but He, you know,
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  Speaker 1: in His sovereignty He does this and He's, you know,
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  Speaker 1: He's not the cause of evil and He's this, that,
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  Speaker 1: and the other. And now, all of a sudden... The
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  Speaker 1: wheels fall off. And life is bad. And we sound
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  Speaker 1: just like Naomi. If you can't say amen, you ought
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  Speaker 1: to say ouch. And our theology gets wrecked. Because of
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  Speaker 1: what we choose to focus on. There are other options.
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  Speaker 1: Job 121. And Job said, naked I came from my
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  Speaker 1: mother's womb and naked shall I return. The Lord gave
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  Speaker 1: and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name
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  Speaker 1: of the Lord. That is a better expression of the
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  Speaker 1: theology of the sovereignty of God. Job 5.17, behold, blessed
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  Speaker 1: is the one whom God reproves. Therefore despise not the
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  Speaker 1: discipline of the Almighty. It is as though he is
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  Speaker 1: speaking directly to Ruth in this paragraph. It is as though,
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  Speaker 1: you know, if Ruth is here, if you could take
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  Speaker 1: Bible characters and put them in interactions with one another,
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  Speaker 1: you would take Ruth's words, you know, don't call me Ruth,
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  Speaker 1: call me Mara. God has dealt bitterly with me. The
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  Speaker 1: hand of the Lord is against me. And you would
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  Speaker 1: almost put Job right there, seated in front of Ruth, saying,
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  Speaker 1: my sister, I love you. But behold, blessed is the
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  Speaker 1: one whom God reproves. Therefore despise not the discipline of
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  Speaker 1: the Almighty. Because right now, you're despising the discipline of
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  Speaker 1: the Almighty. And you're missing your blessing because of it.
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  Speaker 1: It's okay to be hurt. but you don't have to
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  Speaker 1: be wrong. Amen? It's okay to be hurt, but you
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  Speaker 1: don't have to be wrong. And if I can just
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  Speaker 1: put a pin here, when your life is difficult, when
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  Speaker 1: your life is bitter, that's when you have to fight
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  Speaker 1: for your theology. Because your natural tendency is going to
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  Speaker 1: be to go right where Naomi went. Your emotions are
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  Speaker 1: going to kick in, and if you're not careful, your
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  Speaker 1: emotions are going to take over, and you will begin
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  Speaker 1: to say things, and you will begin to believe things
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  Speaker 1: that are completely contrary to your theological convictions. And if
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  Speaker 1: you're not careful, you will stay there. And many of
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  Speaker 1: us right now probably have people in our minds that
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  Speaker 1: we're thinking of right now who were walking, it appeared,
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  Speaker 1: through the narrow gate. Who were walking on the straight road.
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  Speaker 1: And then some difficulty came in their life. And they
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  Speaker 1: began to say and think and believe things that were
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  Speaker 1: contrary to to their theological convictions. And now they haven't
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  Speaker 1: been in church in years. They spent the last 5, 10, 15,
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  Speaker 1: 50 years shaking their fists at God because of something
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  Speaker 1: bitter that happened to them that they thought they did
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  Speaker 1: not deserve. And they missed their blessings. we should remember
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  Speaker 1: the words of the prophet. Lamentations 3, 31 and 32.
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  Speaker 1: For the Lord will not cast off forever, but though
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  Speaker 1: he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the
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  Speaker 1: abundance of his steadfast love. Well, remember I said there's
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  Speaker 1: two things that cause us to miss our blessing, two
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  Speaker 1: reasons that we miss our blessing. One, the things we
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  Speaker 1: choose to to focus on. And two, the things we
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  Speaker 1: fail to focus on. And if you remember that frame,
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  Speaker 1: what we just looked at is the middle of that frame.
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  Speaker 1: But if you look at the outside of that frame,
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: now before we look at the outside of that frame,
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: there's a bigger frame in chapter one. The frame from
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: 19 to 22 is is a frame where you have
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: the same thing on both sides. You start with Bethlehem,
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: you end with Bethlehem, in the middle of it you
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: have something different. But there's a frame around the whole chapter.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: Look at chapter 1 and verse 1. In the days
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land,
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: and the man of Bethlehem and Judah went to Moab,
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: I mean went to sojourn in the country of Moab,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: he and his wife and his two sons. That's the
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: first part of the frame. There's a man from Bethlehem
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: who leaves Bethlehem with his wife. Now look at the
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: close of the chapter. So Naomi returned and Ruth the Moabite,
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned from the country of
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: Moab and they came to Bethlehem. See, this frame is
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: the opposite. There's a message in both frames. The message
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: in the broader frame is God took them away and
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: God brought them back. Amen? There's a different configuration when
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: they come back. But God took them away, God brought
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: them back. God took Naomi away with him. Her husband
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: and her sons. God brought Naomi back with her daughter-in-law.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: That's the broader frame. Which points to the blessing of
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: this latter part. The blessing that Naomi is missing. So
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: now within that broader frame, there's another frame. Look at
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: the smaller frame again. Verse 19. So the two of
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: them went on until they came to Bethlehem. Where were
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: they driven out of? Where did Elimelech take them away from?
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: He took them away from Bethlehem. And when they came
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: to Bethlehem, twice in the same verse, he mentions Bethlehem,
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: the whole town was stirred because of them. And then
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: in verse 21, read verse 21 again. In verse 19,
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: two times we see Bethlehem. They're coming back to Bethlehem.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: Remember at the beginning they go... There we go. Remember,
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: at the beginning of the chapter, they go away because
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: there's a famine. Now look at verse 21 again. I
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: mean verse 22, I'm sorry. So Naomi returned, and Ruth
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: the Moabite, her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: country of Moab, and they came to Bethlehem at the
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: beginning of the barley harvest. They didn't just come back
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: to Bethlehem. They came back to Bethlehem at the beginning
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: of Of the barley harvest. She missed her blessing because
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: of what she chose to focus on. And she missed
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: her blessing because of what she failed to focus on.
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: What did she fail to focus on? She failed to
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: focus on God's promise. There's three things she failed to
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: focus on. She failed to focus on God's promise. She
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: looked at her circumstances and not the promise of God.
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: She failed to focus on God's multi-generational promise of a
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: place where he would dwell with his people. They came
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: to Bethlehem three times. Bethlehem is a place where God lives.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: incredibly important place in the biblical storyline it is a
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: small and insignificant place geographically you hear about Bethlehem I
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: remember the first time you know going to Bethlehem I
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: was so excited right Because it's Bethlehem and you go
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: to Bethlehem and you stand there in Bethlehem, not far
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: from Jerusalem, and you go to Bethlehem and it's like,
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: there it is. Great. Where's the next stop? And yet,
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: it is one of the most significant places in redemptive history.
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: We start way back in Genesis. In Genesis 35 and
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: Genesis 48 we're reminded that the matriarch Rachel was buried
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: in Bethlehem. Which was significant because it was almost like
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: the first fruits of the land of promise that was
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: held by God's people. In 1 Samuel chapter 16 and
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: chapter 17 and chapter 20. Bethlehem was the hometown of
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: King David and the place where the prophet Samuel anointed
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: him as king. It was Bethlehem. We also know that
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: in Matthew 2, 16, that Herod had all the male
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: children from Bethlehem killed who were two years old and younger. Why?
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: Because of a prophecy made in Micah chapter 5 about Bethlehem.
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: Micah 5, 2. But you, O Bethlehem, Ephrathah, who are
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: too little to be among the clans of Judah, from
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: you shall come forth from me one who is to
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from old,
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: from ancient days. God himself would become incarnate as a
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: man in Bethlehem. We miss our blessings. when we fail
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: to focus on the promise of God, even in the
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: midst of our worst circumstances, if we focus on those
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: circumstances and fail to focus on the promise, we will
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: miss our blessing because our blessing is in the promise,
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: not in the circumstance. Secondly, we miss our blessing when
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: we fail to focus on God's people. Something very interesting
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: happens here. Notice that when they come, The whole town
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: was stirred. And then the women speak. And both of
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: these things are incredibly important. The whole town was stirred.
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: Why is that significant? Because the whole town is involved
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: in Naomi's blessing. In fact, when the deal is done,
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: when the deed is done, it is at the city gates.
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: where Boaz and the other redeemer finally, in front of
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: the whole town, settle everything so that Ruth can become
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: his bride. The whole town is involved in this process.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: The whole town is involved in this law and this
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: tradition that is going to redeem Ruth and redeem Naomi.
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: The people of God. God uses the people of God
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: in order to bless Ruth and Naomi. But if you
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: focus on your circumstances and don't focus on the people
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: of God, you miss your blessing. You miss your blessing.
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: But not only that, but the women. The women show
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: up twice in this book. And they show up as
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: a sort of chorus. In the first part of the book,
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: the women show up and they say, is this Naomi? Naomi.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: and it's a backdrop for Naomi's words of bitterness. The
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: women show up one other time at the end of
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: the book. Look at chapter 4, beginning at verse 14. 119,
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: the women ask a question, and they're the backdrop for
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: Naomi's words that are in error, that miss the blessing.
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: They show up again in 4.14. Then the women said
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: to Naomi, Blessed be the Lord who has not left
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: you this day without a redeemer. And may his name
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: be renowned in Israel. He shall be to you a
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age.
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: For your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: you than seven sons, has given birth to him. Then
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: and became his nurse. And the women of the neighborhood
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: gave him a name saying, a son has been born
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: to Naomi. They named him Obed. He was the father
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: of Jesse, the father of David. Can you see the
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: other frame here? Two times the women show up. One
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: time they show up and Naomi gets to speak. And
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: she speaks bitterness. The other time they show up, Naomi
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: doesn't get to speak. The women speak and they speak blessings.
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: Naomi missed the blessing. The women didn't miss the blessing.
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: Thank God for the people of God. Amen? Thank God
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: for the people of God. Because remember our scenario? Bitterness
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: comes into your life and you allow the bitterness to
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: change your theology. You begin to say and to think
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: and believe things that are in error. What do you
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: need at that moment? You need the people of God.
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: who are outside of your circumstance to remind you, sometimes gently,
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: but sometimes to take you by the scruff of the
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: neck and shake you and say to you, God is good. Yes,
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: this circumstance is bad, but God is good. Don't you
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: forget that God is good. Isn't it interesting? She goes
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: away with her husband, And her two sons. That's where
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: you start. At the beginning of chapter 1. And at
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: the end of chapter 4. The women remind her. You
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: have a grandson. But not only do you have a grandson.
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: But you have that Moabite woman. Who is more to
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: you not than two sons. What do they say? She's
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: more to you than. Seven sons. Significant biblical number. More
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: to you than seven sons. Do you see the picture
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: being painted here? The people of God are a blessing.
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: And you will miss your blessing if you divorce yourself
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: from the people of God in your time of bitterness.
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: promises of God, the people of God, and last, the
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: provision of God. Again, Naomi's bitter, but why do they return?
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: Go back, chapter 1 and verse 6. Look at chapter
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: 1 and verse 6. Then she arose with her daughters-in-law,
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: to return from the country of Moab. For she had
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: visited his people and given them food. Why'd she leave?
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: Because there was no food. Why'd she come back? Because
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: there was food. And at the end of verse 22,
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: barley harvest. The beginning of the barley harvest happens early
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: in the year. It's the first of the harvests of
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: the year. The beginning of the barley harvest happens in
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: that March, April time of the year. That is significant
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: because if there is a good barley harvest, that's the
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: first harvest of the year, then it's an indication that
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: the people of God will live in plenty for the
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: remainder of the year because of the good barley harvest.
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: And because there's a good barley harvest, there is much
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: to glean in the fields from the barley harvest. She
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: misses her blessing. Beginning of the chapter, she and her
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: husband leave because there's a famine, there's a drought, there's
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: no food. At the end of the chapter, she and
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: her daughter-in-law come back And they come back at the
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: time of the barley harvest. They come back because they
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: heard that God had bountifully blessed and provided for his people.
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: Can you see? Because she couldn't. all she could focus
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: on was right there in the middle these horrible bitter
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: things that had happened she decided to define herself by
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: that and she decided to define God by that and
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: so here she is coming back to the land of promise,
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: to Bethlehem, literally the house of bread. And she is
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: so blinded by her circumstances that she misses her blessing
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: because of what she chooses to focus on and because
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: of what she fails to focus on. And that's you
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: and me, saints. We miss our blessing because of what
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: we choose to focus on. We choose to focus on
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: the bitterness. We choose to define ourselves and to define
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: God by our bitterness and our circumstances. And we fail
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: in the midst of that bitterness to remind ourselves of
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: the promises of God. To surround ourselves with the people
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: of God. and to rejoice in the provision of God.
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: Don't miss your blessing. Don't miss your blessing. Because as
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: we continue to say here in the book of Ruth,
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: this is a multi-layered story. This is not just about
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: Naomi missing her blessings. Think of Israel. Think of Israel
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: under the judges. Bitter with God because of this dark
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: age in the history of Israel. And in the midst
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: of this dark age in the history of Israel, the
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: story of Ruth reminds Israel. It sits right there in
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: the Bible in a place designed to remind them that
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: the King is coming and for Israel all they're able
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: to see is that King David is coming but for
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: us we see another one coming from Bethlehem the one
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: that Micah reminds us of and I will note that
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: Micah reminds us that one is coming who is eternal
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: King David is a man of flesh. He came and
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: he died. His kingdom was an earthly kingdom. It came
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: and it went. But King Jesus, the descendant of King David,
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: is the God-man whose reign will know no end and
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: whose kingdom is not of this world. Don't miss your blessing.
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: Don't miss the blessing that is the person and work
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: of Christ. Don't miss your blessing that is the one
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: whom God sends to be a substitute to die for
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: your sins on the cross so that you might place
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: your faith in Him and be redeemed. Don't miss your blessing.
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: Don't miss your blessing by focusing on your circumstances. Don't
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: miss your blessing by mischaracterizing who you are and who
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: God is. But instead, remind yourself of the promises of God,
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: the people of God, and the provision of God specifically
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: through the person and work of Christ so that your
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: focus is broadened and so that you're reminded that in
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: spite of the most bitter circumstances that you will ever face,
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: God is good. Let's pray. Our great God and Heavenly Father,
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: we bow before you in humble gratitude. thanking you for
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: your goodness and kindness and mercy toward us. And confessing
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: to you that we often miss it. We miss our
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: blessings because of what we choose to focus on and
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: because of what we fail to focus on. By your grace,
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: may we lift our eyes to the hills where our
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: help comes from. So our help comes from the Lord.
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: Grant by your grace that even in the midst of
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: our bitterness and hurt, we will broaden the scope of
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: our focus and never miss our blessing. We ask this
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: in Christ's name and for His sake. Amen.