Navigating Heartbreak with Faith | Part 2
With wisdom drawn from the Book of Ruth, we learn how to respond to life's challenges with faith rather than fear. From Naomi's heart-wrenching losses to Ruth’s unwavering loyalty, we unpack the emotional layers of their relationship. This episode is packed with heartfelt anecdotes and practical lessons on how to build resilience and faith in our families.
Episode Chapters:
- 02:08 - The Decision at the Jordan River
- 07:18 - Ruth's Moment of Decision
- 09:39 - Ruth's Commitment to God and Naomi
- 17:13 - The Defining Moment of Total Abandonment
- 19:09 - Ruth's Journey of Faith
Checkout these other Family Fortress Ministries Podcasts:
TIME FOR THREE daily couples devotional: https://time-for-three.captivate.fm/listen
FORTIFYING YOUR FAMILY: https://fortifying-your-family.captivate.fm/listen
MINISTRY WEBSITE: https://familyfortress.org/
DONATE to Family Fortress Ministries: https://familyfortress.org/donate
Transcript
Welcome to the Fortifying youg Family podcast.
Speaker A:It can be daunting to navigate through an anti marriage and family culture.
Speaker A:Our teacher will expound biblical principles to help fortify our families and keep these sacred institutions strong.
Speaker A:And now, here's this week's teaching from Sam Wood.
Speaker B:Before we dive into part two of this week's message, I want to invite you to check out our newest podcast, Relationship Realities.
Speaker B:In this podcast, Damian and I, along with occasional guests, have real heartfelt conversations about love, about marriage and relationships, all rooted in the truth of God's word.
Speaker B:Each episode unpacks practical topics like communication, conflict resolution, trust and intimacy and and they're all from a Biblical perspective.
Speaker B:So whether you're dating, you're engaged, married, or simply seeking God's guidance in relationships, Relationship Realities is here to encourage, equip and inspire you to build strong, Christ centered connections.
Speaker B:We'd love for you to join us on this journey.
Speaker B:Now let's return to part two of Navigating Heartbreak Through Faith.
Speaker C:Turn your Bible with me this morning, if you would, to the Book of Ruth.
Speaker C:I preached a message several weeks back before the revival meeting from the Book of Ruth entitled the Prodigal Family.
Speaker C:And I want to kind of pick up where I left off from that message.
Speaker C:We're going to be looking at Ruth chapter one and verse eight.
Speaker C:But to kind of give you a reminder and an introduction to what I want to share with you today, I remind you that the Book of Ruth is the time and the setting of the Book of Ruth is in the days of the Judges.
Speaker C:And the days of the Judges were very, very dark days.
Speaker C:And it says that the days of the Judges that people were doing what was right in their own eyes.
Speaker C:We have no right to do and determine what is right.
Speaker C:Only God determines what is right.
Speaker C:But these people were doing what was right in their own eyes.
Speaker C:There was a family who was living in a place called Bethlehem Judah.
Speaker C:And Bethlehem Judah means a house of bread and the place of praise.
Speaker C:But there was a famine in the land that is the place of the presence of God.
Speaker C:There was a famine there.
Speaker C:And God brought this famine to get the people's attention to turn back to him so that they would quit doing what was right in their own eyes and do what is right in his eyes.
Speaker C:This particular family, Elimelech, whose name means God is my King, his wife Naomi, who means pleasantness, and his two sons.
Speaker C:This father took his family out of the land, out of the place of blessing.
Speaker C:He made a very logical decision to leave the place of blessing where God was and take his family into a place called Moab.
Speaker C:Moab was a very, very wicked place.
Speaker C:It was a cursed place.
Speaker C:In fact, the word Moab means mo means who, ab means father, or we might say the nickname of that country was, who is your father?
Speaker C:Or who's your daddy?
Speaker C:That's the kind of place that it was.
Speaker C:It was a very wicked place.
Speaker C:It was a place filled full of fornication.
Speaker C:In fact, we know, as we read the Bible, that the women of Moab went and tried to seduce the Israelites to have relationship sexually with them.
Speaker C:This was a cursed place, away from God.
Speaker C:But this man Elimelech took his family there and in this place, away from God, he did what was right in his own eyes and made a very logical decision and choice to move his family there.
Speaker C:It wasn't too long that Elimelech died.
Speaker C:And after he died, Naomi, with her two sons, who were now married to two women, Ruth and Orpah, she stayed there, the Bible says, or continued there another 10 years.
Speaker C:Then her two sons died.
Speaker C:Both Mahyan and Chilion also died.
Speaker C:So we see this father taking his family to a place of cursing away from God.
Speaker C:And I reminded fathers, I remind you again this morning, husband father, that when you move your family to a place away from God, it doesn't just affect you, it affects them also, and it affects your children.
Speaker C:We see in this family, Elimelech was running from death and found death for himself and for his two sons.
Speaker C:Listen, anytime that you move from the presence of God and you go into the far country, you're flirting with a funeral.
Speaker C:You're flirting with a funeral when you move yourself away from the presence of God.
Speaker C:I'd rather be a pauper in the promised land than a millionaire Moab.
Speaker C:We need to be where God has us.
Speaker C:We need to be in the place of blessing, in the place of the presence of holy God.
Speaker C:And in that message, I mentioned that there were four steps that this family, I call them a prodigal family.
Speaker C:It was four steps they took to getting to this point that we can easily take if we're not careful whether we're a family or whether we're individual.
Speaker C:The first step was that they reacted to their circumstances instead of responding to God in the midst of those circumstances.
Speaker C:And so often we can react to our circumstances instead of responding and seeing what God is doing in the midst of those circumstances.
Speaker C:Then the second thing they did is they removed themselves from the land.
Speaker C:They left the place of blessing and moved into a far country, the place of Moab away from God.
Speaker C:Then thirdly, they rationalized why they did it.
Speaker C:There's a famine in the land.
Speaker C:We can't survive here.
Speaker C:And this is a path that so many of us, if we're not careful, even good families in the church I've seen so many times, can go down this path where they react to circumstances instead of responding to God, they remove themselves from the place of blessing.
Speaker C:They rationalize why they do it, and then they end up staying there longer than they ever intended, away from God.
Speaker C:But in this beautiful story in verse six and verse seven, if you look in your Bible, there we see something happen that's beautiful.
Speaker C:It says, then she arose, or Naomi arose with her daughters in law, Ruth, in Orbah, that she might return from the country of Moab.
Speaker C:For she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread.
Speaker C:So we see that Naomi now arises.
Speaker C:She picks herself up.
Speaker C:It's kind of like the prodigal son.
Speaker C:The Bible says he came to his senses and he headed back home.
Speaker C:He headed back to the father's house.
Speaker C:Naomi gets up and she arises to go back, to return to the place of blessing where God's presence is.
Speaker C:But notice something in that verse, I think that's very important.
Speaker C:I'm just going to mention it briefly.
Speaker C:It says, for she had what church?
Speaker C:Say the Word with me.
Speaker C:Heard.
Speaker C:She had heard what she had heard in the country of Moab, how the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread.
Speaker C:Naomi sensed a longing to return to her people because she heard the famine was over and God was blessing his people with crops.
Speaker C:We might say there was a revival back in the land.
Speaker C:But there was a revival back in the land.
Speaker C:She heard about what God was doing.
Speaker C:She heard about there being a revival back in the land.
Speaker C:The Israelites had obviously humbled themselves before God.
Speaker C:They had confessed their sin, turned their hearts back toward God, and God was blessing their land.
Speaker C:Once again, there was revival in the land.
Speaker C:So Naomi gets up to go back.
Speaker C:Let me just say this real quickly here this morning.
Speaker C:What draws prodigals back?
Speaker C:When prodigals are out here away from the church, what draws them back?
Speaker C:I think it's our responsibility.
Speaker C:Listen, folks, it's every one of our responsibilities as a Christian in the church to make sure that Bethlehem, Judah, the place, the land, the church is more attractive than the world.
Speaker C:We need to make sure that it's more attractive to be in the house of God with the people of God than it is to be out of the house of God, away from the people of God.
Speaker C:We need to make sure our churches aren't dead.
Speaker C:We may make sure our church is alive with the Holy Spirit in the presence of God.
Speaker C:And hearing about God's blessing and the revival of God's presence in her homeland drew her back.
Speaker C:In verse 7 it says, Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, her two daughters in law with her.
Speaker C:And they went on their way to return into the land of Judah.
Speaker C:What a beautiful picture of repentance.
Speaker C:She got up and she returned.
Speaker C:She was over here in the place away from God.
Speaker C:And she got up and she did 180 turn and went back to the place of blessing.
Speaker C:Or was headed back on a journey back to God to be in the presence a blessing of holy God.
Speaker C:We pick up the story in verse 8.
Speaker C:I want to ask you if you would stand with me as I read the Word of God.
Speaker C:I'm going to read verse eight and I'll read down through verse 18.
Speaker C:And let's look at what happens here as we continue the story.
Speaker C:This beautiful story in the Book of Ruth, verse 8.
Speaker C:And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, go return each to her mother's house.
Speaker C:And the Lord deal kindly with you as ye have dealt with the dead and with me.
Speaker C:The Lord grant you that you may find rest each of you in the house of her husband.
Speaker C:Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voice and wept.
Speaker C:They said unto her, surely we will return with thee unto thy people.
Speaker C:And Naomi said, turn again, my daughters in law.
Speaker C:Why will you go with me?
Speaker C:Are there yet any more sons in my womb that they may be your husbands?
Speaker C:Turn again, my daughters.
Speaker C:Go your way.
Speaker C:For I am too old to have an husband.
Speaker C:If I should say I have hope.
Speaker C:If I should have an husband also tonight and should also bear sons, would you tarry for them till they were grown?
Speaker C:Would you stay for them from having husbands?
Speaker C:Nay, my daughters, for it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord is gone out against me.
Speaker C:And they lifted up their voice and wept again.
Speaker C:And Orpah kissed her mother in law.
Speaker C:But Ruth clave unto her.
Speaker C:And she said, behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods return thereafter thy sister in law.
Speaker C:And Ruth said, entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee.
Speaker C:For whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge.
Speaker C:Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God, where thou diest, I will die, and there will I be buried.
Speaker C:The Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me.
Speaker C:When she saw that she or Ruth was steadfastly minded to go with her, then she left, speaking unto her.
Speaker C:So now as we pick up this story, we see here that we have three single ladies who are widows.
Speaker C:We have three single ladies who are widows.
Speaker C:If I had a title for this message, I guess it would be the Tale or A Tale of Three Widows.
Speaker C:And I want to look at each one of those widows, if we could, in this story for just a few minutes here this morning in our message.
Speaker C:The first widow we see is Naomi.
Speaker C:Naomi's name means pleasantness.
Speaker C:But she has been through a lot of heartache.
Speaker C:She's been through a lot of pain.
Speaker C:Her husband has died.
Speaker C:Her two sons have died.
Speaker C:She's in a land, in a place, a cursed place, away from God.
Speaker C:And she has only two daughter in laws left with her.
Speaker C:She's probably in her early to mid-50s as far as her age.
Speaker C:She is a believer in Jehovah, God who submitted and went with her husband to this place of Moab, a godforsaken place and a cursed place.
Speaker C:But now she's a mother in law to these two young ladies, Ruth and Orpah.
Speaker C:And she's in a very desperate situation, as you can imagine.
Speaker C:I'm sure she's devastated, as I said, by the loss of the man she loves, by the loss of two sons, her boys, that have gone to the grave.
Speaker C:Can you imagine the pain that she might be experiencing at the loss of her husband and her two sons?
Speaker C:She has no parents to go back to and live with in Bethlehem, Judah, when she returns, she has no way to support herself.
Speaker C:There's no job prospects.
Speaker C:She's too old now, generally speaking, to work out in the fields any longer.
Speaker C:She has no prospect of building a new family because she's past the childbearing age.
Speaker C:She has no hope of having more children.
Speaker C:She has no adult children with families who can support her.
Speaker C:Her two sons, as I said, are now dead.
Speaker C:They're gone.
Speaker C:She's a foreigner in a godless land.
Speaker C:She has no church family and she has no extended family.
Speaker C:She has these two pagan daughter in laws, Ruth and Orpah, in a place away from God.
Speaker C:She's probably depressed as we look at this scripture.
Speaker C:She probably feels like a nobody.
Speaker C:She probably feels like there's no hope at all for her anymore.
Speaker C:Some of you here this morning, you've been There, you know what I'm talking about.
Speaker C:Some of you here today may be in that place right now, whether you are prodigal and you're over here away in a place away from God.
Speaker C:And you, you feel depressed, you feel empty, you feel like things are hopeless.
Speaker C:But because Naomi, Naomi is a believer in Jehovah God and she has heard about God's presence being back in Bethlehem, Judah, her heart is pulling her back to the presence of God, to the place of blessing.
Speaker C:So she gets up and she's returning.
Speaker C:But what will she do with these two girls?
Speaker C:What is she going to do with these two daughter in laws that she has with her?
Speaker C:It's very amazing that what she does first is she gives them two blessings.
Speaker C:Look at verse eight at the first blessing.
Speaker C:The first blessing she gives them, she says in verse eight.
Speaker C:And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, go return each to a mother's house.
Speaker C:The Lord deal kindly with you as ye have dealt with the dead and with me.
Speaker C:You say, preacher, what is the first blessing that Naomi is giving to these girls?
Speaker C:She says, may the Lord deal kindly with you.
Speaker C:That's a blessing that she is giving to these girls, the world kindly.
Speaker C:And I've mentioned this before in previous message I've preached in Hebrew is the word hesed.
Speaker C:It's the word hesed.
Speaker C:It's a word that is often used for God's covenant love towards his people.
Speaker C:This hesed love is a sacrificial and committed love.
Speaker C:It's a love that's not based on feelings, but it's a love that's based on commitment.
Speaker C:It's a love that does what's best for the object of what's being loved, even if it means loss to yourself.
Speaker C:I'm sure Naomi had feelings.
Speaker C:You can imagine the feelings she had for these two girls.
Speaker C:She had lived with them a long time.
Speaker C:They were her daughter in laws, they were married to her sons.
Speaker C:She didn't want to separate from them.
Speaker C:I'm sure she didn't want to leave them.
Speaker C:But Naomi is practicing a love that's not based on feelings, but a sacrificial love that desired what would be best for them.
Speaker C:And look, because she loves them so much, she had to destroy the only thing she had left.
Speaker C:You say preacher, what is that she had to destroy?
Speaker C:Her family because of her love was so deep for them.
Speaker C:She says, stay here, I'm going back.
Speaker C:By urging them to return to their families, she'd be left alone.
Speaker C:She'd have to take this journey back to Bethlehem.
Speaker C:Judah by herself, she would have no family at all.
Speaker C:She would probably never see these girls again.
Speaker C:Naomi is also thinking about what life would be like for them if they returned back with her.
Speaker C:What would life be like for these two Moabite girls?
Speaker C:There was tremendous, enormous racial animosity between Moab and Bethlehem, Judah, between the Jews and the Gentiles.
Speaker C:In Moab there was tremendous animosity.
Speaker C:And Naomi knew this.
Speaker C:And she was afraid.
Speaker C:If I bring these girls back with me, then they'll be despised, they'll be scorned, they'll be rejected, they'll be the objects even of violence or maybe even of rape or murder.
Speaker C:She knew that it wasn't best for them to go back with her.
Speaker C:So she urges them stay put, stay here in Moab because she cares for them so deeply and she's concerned about their future.
Speaker C:And she didn't want to make their misery any worse because of the misery that she was going through.
Speaker C:Then we see in verse nine, she gives them a second blessing.
Speaker C:Look at it with me, she says, the Lord grants you that you may find.
Speaker C:What's the word there?
Speaker C:Rest.
Speaker C:How many of you like rest?
Speaker C:That you may find rest.
Speaker C:But where am I going to find rest?
Speaker C:She says to her daughters in law.
Speaker C:Where are you going to find it?
Speaker C:She says, each of you in the house of her husband.
Speaker C:May the Lord grant you that you find rest.
Speaker C:The first blessing.
Speaker C:May the Lord deal kindly with you.
Speaker C:Second blessing.
Speaker C:May the Lord grant you that you would find rest.
Speaker C:That word rest means a place of settled security.
Speaker C:So she says, I want you to find a place of settled security.
Speaker C:And she adds that the place you'll find that is in the house of a husband.
Speaker C:So Naomi says, I want to bless you with this blessing.
Speaker C:Go back, get married and find security.
Speaker C:And.
Speaker C:And the purpose of being a wife and a mother in a home.
Speaker C:And God desires that all of our marriages, certainly folks, all of our marriages, be a place of rest.
Speaker C:Be a safe harbor where it's a place of rest, it's a place of peace, it's a place of love, It's a place of security.
Speaker C:But look at how they responded to these blessings that Naomi gave to them, these girls.
Speaker C:It says, then she kissed them and they lifted up their voice and wept.
Speaker C:Or they cried.
Speaker C:They were crying because she was asking them to stay there and she was going to leave and go back to the place of blessing.
Speaker C:And they loved their mother in law.
Speaker C:They didn't want to leave their mother in law.
Speaker C:Naomi has nurtured such a close bond with these Pagan girls, these pagan daughter in laws that they both weep at the thought of her leaving.
Speaker C:And then in verse 10, it says, surely we will return with thee unto thy people.
Speaker C:Surely.
Speaker C:Naomi, we're not going to stay here.
Speaker C:We're going to go back with you to your people again.
Speaker C:Their response highlights the love that they had for her and the love that she had nurtured in their heart with them.
Speaker C:Let me just pause and say this for a minute.
Speaker C:And I'm sure when Elimelech and Naomi and their two sons moved to Moab, they didn't want their two sons to marry two pagan Moabite girls.
Speaker C:That was against God's law.
Speaker C:They didn't want them to do that.
Speaker C:But they didn't leave their sons a lot of choice in Moab.
Speaker C:I mean, their sons, being young men, were looking for a wife.
Speaker C:There were no other believing wives to be found.
Speaker C:So they ended up intermarrying with these Moabite girls.
Speaker C:You can imagine this put Elimelech and Naomi in a very awkward position because now they have two sons married to two pagan young ladies.
Speaker C:But even though they were not Israelites, Naomi deeply loved them and she talked with them.
Speaker C:I believe as we read this story, it's obvious she talked with them about her homeland.
Speaker C:She talked with them about her God.
Speaker C:She talked about her faith in her God.
Speaker C:She shared with them the blessings of her God.
Speaker C:And because of that, these daughter in laws, because she had sacrificially given herself in love to them, even though they were pagan young ladies, these daughter in laws deeply loved her and respected her.
Speaker C:There's a valuable lesson here for parents.
Speaker C:A situation like this, many parents listen, many parents pride will not allow them to care for sons or daughters in laws that their children marry and they don't approve of.
Speaker C:Would you agree with.
Speaker C:It's kind of like a situation.
Speaker C:Your son or daughter gets married and you say, I don't really want you to marry them, and they marry them anyway.
Speaker C:And you can think it could be that that son or daughter law is a different color.
Speaker C:It could be the different ethnic background, it could be many of different reasons.
Speaker C:These two girls were Moabites.
Speaker C:They were of a cursed place.
Speaker C:They did not believe in Jehovah God.
Speaker C:They would be an unequally yoke with two women who did not believe in Jehovah God.
Speaker C:But because of Naomi's willingness to accept and sacrificially love these girls, despite their race, despite their ethnic background, they loved and respected her.
Speaker C:She had nurtured a relationship with her.
Speaker C:And I'm taking time to show this to you because this is important to understand in this story, folks.
Speaker C:Listen.
Speaker C:Showing God's sacrificial love to others can facilitate a desire in their heart to have a relationship with your God.
Speaker C:And that is so important to understand that we really see that even though Naomi has taken time to bless them in these two blessings, she's taken time to encourage them to return to their people.
Speaker C:They still will not leave.
Speaker C:So in verse 11, through verse 13, she gives them a very good and logical reason, another reason to stay put.
Speaker C:Look at it with me.
Speaker C:Verse 11.
Speaker C:And Naomi said, turn again, my daughters.
Speaker C:Why will you go with me?
Speaker C:Are there yet any more sons in my womb that you may be your husbands?
Speaker C:Turn again, my daughters.
Speaker C:Go your way.
Speaker C:For I am too old to have a husband.
Speaker C:If I should say I have hope.
Speaker C:If I should have an husband also tonight and should also bear sons, would ye tarry for them till they were grown?
Speaker C:Would ye stay for them from having husbands?
Speaker C:Nay, my daughters, for it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord is gone out against me.
Speaker C:Naomi is reminding them of something called the levirate marriage.
Speaker C:You say, preacher, what do you mean by levirate marriage?
Speaker C:The levirate marriage law to the Jews was that if a woman dies, a woman's husband dies, then his brother, that husband's brother was obligated to marry this widow.
Speaker C:Some of you saying, I'm sure, I'm glad that's not the law today.
Speaker C:I know Debbie many times said, man, I'm so sure glad that's not the law, because they know why I'm marrying your brothers, you know.
Speaker C:And if any, if any, children she had by him, that is, that man that she married would receive her first husband's inheritance.
Speaker C:By doing this, it could save a wife from famine and also provide her heirs for the deceased husband to continue his name.
Speaker C:This was what God had told them to do.
Speaker C:So Naomi paints a picture as dim as possible about this levirate marriage relationship so that they will see how hopeless their situation is.
Speaker C:She says, I'm too old to get married.
Speaker C:Nobody's going to marry me.
Speaker C:That's one of her arguments.
Speaker C:If I do get married tonight, you go back and look at this in these verses.
Speaker C:If I do get married tonight and become pregnant tonight with twin sons, you see how she's painting this?
Speaker C:You'd have to wait 16 years to even marry them.
Speaker C:Are you going to wait that long?
Speaker C:Naomi is saying, there is no hope for this levirate marriage relationship to work because I Don't have a husband.
Speaker C:I'm not going to have twin sons tonight.
Speaker C:They won't be ready in 16 years.
Speaker C:There is no hope for me.
Speaker C:I'm in a desperate situation.
Speaker C:So stay here, stay home, stay in Moab.
Speaker C:Do not go with me.
Speaker C:God's hand, she says, is against me anyway.
Speaker C:Naomi is depressed.
Speaker C:Naomi is lamenting.
Speaker C:But notice something she never says to them.
Speaker C:She never says this.
Speaker C:She never says, may your God bless you when you go back.
Speaker C:She never says, I hope you find satisfaction in your God Chemosh, like I find satisfaction in my God Yahweh.
Speaker C:Naomi never says that because she knows that Chemosh is a false God.
Speaker C:They would burn babies, sacrifice babies to their God in Moab called Chemosh.
Speaker C:So Naomi says, you'll never.
Speaker C:She says, I'm not going to give you and tell you you're going to find satisfaction back in your land because you're worshiping a false God.
Speaker C:Let me say here to you today that you'll never find true satisfaction in Chemos.
Speaker C:You never find true satisfaction in any God in this world, whether it be money or whether it be your job, whatever it may be, a relationship.
Speaker C:You'll never find true satisfaction in some God of this world.
Speaker C:The only way you'll find true satisfaction is in Jehovah God and the one and true God.
Speaker C:And Naomi knew that since they had not yet been converted to Jehovah God, that for their safety, it was best for them to stay put.
Speaker C:You have listened to the first part of a two part message by evangelist Sam Wood.
Speaker A:Thank you for joining the Fortifying youg Family podcast.
Speaker A:And if you feel encouraged by today's teaching, give us a follow so we can invite you back and share us on your socials so more marriages and families can be strengthened and fortified through the truths of God's word.
Speaker A:Remember, fortifying your family starts with a strong belief in God's Word.
Speaker C:Sa.
