Please Open Your Bibles to Ruth Chapter 1. [Scripture Introduction]

Emptiness Everywhere [Announce Text] Please Open your Bibles to Ruth chapter 1. [Scripture Introduction] Good morning, my name is Brett Sweet and I’m one of the pastors here at Grace Christian Fellowship where we exist to glorify God through gospel-centered worship, evangelism, discipleship, and community. We are just beginning a series through the book of Ruth. [Prayer for illumination] Please pray with me… [Illustration] Theodore Roosevelt often kept a diary but not always. Perhaps it was due to his busy job with the New York state legislature that his diary remained mostly empty in 1884. There was one notable exception- February 14th 1884. Two days after being filled with joy at the birth of his daughter on the 12th, a massive black X was written in the empty diary. His beloved mother Mittie had died at 3:00 am of Typhoid Fever. Eleven hours later Theodore’s wife Alice died of undiagnosed Bright’s disease in the same house. He would later write of that day, “The light has gone out of my life.” He felt little interest in his newborn daughter, also named Alice. He felt empty. So he chose to empty the immaculate house his father had built on 57th Avenue. They must move. Emptied of two of the most meaningful people in his life, Theodore turned away from the life he had known. He turned away from a promising political future. He turned away from his home on the east coast. He turned to the west. Where he would spend the next few years as a cattle ranch and big game hunter. He had to turn somewhere. Loved ones gone. Dreams dead. Even his impressive wealth was no comfort. The light had gone out of his life. All was darkness. Emptiness that seemingly could never be filled again. Have you been there? Where would you turn? Parents divorced…where will you turn? Emptied of your health. An empty chair in the living room where that loved one sat before they died. An empty room in the house where that child used to sleep- but now they’ve moved out and moved on. An empty mailbox where there should be a paycheck. An empty fridge and stomach. An empty future. Ruth chapter 1 is for you. It asks us a question this morning: [Proposition] Where do you turn when you are empty? We’re in church, so you know the answer. To God. If that’s true, great. But really. Where do you turn? Distraction through media or video games or music? To food? To substances? Like Roosevelt, do you turn to the wilderness? Ruth 1 will show us that God cares for empty people and we’ll see that by looking at a real woman named Naomi. We’ll follow her story. In this chapter we’ll look at the stages of her journey in three scenes and with her we’ll try to answer our question: Where do you turn when you are empty? The three scenes. Scene 1 is called “Emptiness everywhere.” Scene 2 we’ll phrase as a question: “Return on which road?” Scene 3 is could be summarized under the title: “Bitter and empty in Bethlehem.” Let’s start at the beginning: [Scene 1] Emptiness Everywhere Naomi, as we’ll see, will openly refer to herself as empty. But how did she get there? And she is empty of what? First we’ll see that she is [Subpoint 1] Empty of bread Look with me at vv. 1-2 In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in 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 Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. The first sentence of Ruth tells us that things are really bad. A family from Bethlehem which means “House of Bread” is empty of bread. There is a famine in the land. There is no bread. There is no food. Further, we’re told that this is during the time of the judges, so this is a bad time to be in Israel. Empty of a king. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes the book of Judges tells us. It was chaos, anarchy. It was riots and invasions. But while there is emptiness everywhere, the main problem in this moment is that the famine has made this family empty of bread. So Elimelech ignores God’s promises that are connected to the land of Israel and travels east across the Jordan River to Moab. Trying to find a place that isn’t empty of bread. But there’s emptiness everywhere. If they are empty of bread in Bethlehem. What is Naomi empty of in Moab? [Subpoint 2] Empty of offspring Let’s read vv. 3-5 But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years, and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband. The light has gone out of Naomi’s life. Once a promising future. Now she’s empty. Her husband dead. But at least she has her two sons and look, they’ve gotten married! Grandchildren will be along any day. Any month now. But ten years go by. No grandchildren. Then, after a combined 240 monthly cycles or so, Mahlon and Chilion die. The text actually uses unusual words for “sons” here. It is a word that usually means little children even though they’re grown. Naomi’s offspring, Naomi’s babies are dead. [Application] Many of you know what this is like. To pray and wait and hope for a child or a grandchild and they don’t come. Still others have had that child with them for a while only to lose them. It can make you feel empty. The book of Ruth is one of many books in the Bible that will show you that God is still with you. That he still loves you. That He still cares. Even if you are empty of offspring. Even if you feel empty of a husband or wife to help create offspring. Your results may not be like Naomi’s. But the Bible is very clear that God is drawn to the hurting and empty. But where do you turn when you are empty? Where will you go when there is emptiness everywhere. That’s the question Naomi and her daughters-in- law must face. Let’s look and ask the question they must ask which is this: [Scene 2] Return on which Road? A husband and sons were the source of a woman’s income, food, her housing, her retirement plan, her dreams. And they have now been totally emptied. So these three widows begin down a road together. Probably a dusty and bumpy road on foot. Probably carrying what little possessions they had on their backs. Where will they return? If they didn’t come to a literal crossroads, they at least came to a metaphorical crossroads. They must decide on which road to return. The first option is that they could return on [Subpoint 1] The Road of Common Sense Let’s read vv. 6-14 together 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 the 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 exceedingly bitter for 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. Naomi, who says in v. 13, that she has an even more bitter lot than the young ladies, is a voice of common sense. So Naomi points Ruth and Orpah, who were both wonderful wives and wonderful daughters-in-law, to turn down the road of common sense back to Moab. Naomi is the voice of reason. She makes perfect sense. The only way Orpah and Ruth can have rest, v.

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