Trey Corry

Grace Bible Church

“Security in the Midst of Instability”

Ruth 1:1-22

Since security outside of God always falls apart and must be forsaken, we should trust the Lord as our sole source for security.

Introduction

1. China earthquake revealed the instability of life & our desperate need for security.

2. We also constantly seek security. (Job, Dating, People’s approval, Parents, etc.)

3. How can we experience genuine security in the midst of the instability of life?

4. The opening verses of Ruth will portray a series of devastating tragedies that stripped a family of every security it possessed. How did this family respond?

5. We will see three essential actions required to experience genuine security.

I. Security outside of God always falls apart eventually (1:1-5).

a. SETTING: TIME, PLACE, PROBLEM (1:1-2).

i. TIME = “in the days when the judges governed” (cf. Judges 21:25 - No KING)

ii. PLACE = Bethlehem = House of bread” has no bread

iii. PROBLEM = Famine / SOLUTION = Move to Moab WHY = security (without God)

iv. PEOPLE’S NAMES = Elimelech, Naomi, Mahlon, Chilion

The instability of life only gets worse despite move for security!!!

b. Naomi’s devastating tragedy stripped away every security in her life (1:1-5).

i. Famine moved Naomi to a foreign land (1:1-2).

ii. Death of Elimelech, her husband, made her a widow and single parent (1:3-4).

iii. Death of Mahlon and Chilion removed the family heir and hope (1:5).

iv. Cause of tragedy = Elimelech’s failed leadership and pursuit of false security

c. Our own security outside of God will always fall apart eventually.

i. PROBLEM = In blessing, we so often shift our security from Him to His blessing.

We don’t realize the shift until the blessing is removed

(Dating Relationships, Academic/Career Success, etc.)

ii. Consider your own securities outside of God Himself! What are they?

Only God’s intervention into the plot line begins to turn the tragedy!

II. Security outside of God always must be forsaken (1:6-18).

a. Naomi returns back to Bethlehem because GOD has blessed again (twice: 1:6, 4:13).

b. The women’s responses to tragedy reveal their belief concerning security.

i. Naomi will seek security for Ruth through remarriage (1:7-9, 3:1-4).

ii. Orpah will seek security through marriage and a return to her “gods” (1:15).

iii. CONTRAST – Ruth forsakes security, follows God of Naomi (1:16-17, 2:12).

What do you believe about security? How does your life demonstrate your belief?

c. Our own security outside of God must be forsaken and abandoned.

i. Forsake those securities outside of God Himself!

(Take initiative to pursue an unfamiliar person, place, or organization this week)

III. Security only results from faithful trust in God Himself (1:19-21).

a. Naomi recognizes God’s control by blaming Him for her tragedy!

i. Naomi perceives her plight to be one of reversal …

1. Left full (family/food) and returned empty (family/food).

2. Left Naomi (sweet/pleasant) and returned Mara (bitter).

ii. Naomi holds God responsible for her reversal of plight …

1. She twice refers to God as “Shaddai” or “Almighty”

2. “the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me” (1:20)

3. “but the Lord has brought me back empty” (1:21)

4. “the Lord has witnessed against me” (1:21a)

5. “the Almighty has afflicted me” (1:21b)

b. Yet, Naomi doesn’t recognize God’s goodness at all in the midst of her experience.

c. God’s sovereignty pairs His control with His goodness!

i. Even if we don’t see His goodness at first, we hold to ROMANS 8:28.

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

—Romans 8:28

ii. His control and goodness relate to LOCATION (Acts 17:24-28).

“He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation …”

—Acts 17:26

iii. His control and goodness relate to TIMING (Galatians 4:4)

“But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those …”

—Galatians 4:4

d. Trust God Himself to find security like an anchor (Hebrews 6:19).

(Hope is our unseen, but certain expectation of the future).

“In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast …”

—Hebrews 6:17-19

In the rest of the book, let’s watch to see if God will intervene not just for a nation, but a family.

What will become of Naomi’s “emptiness”? What will God do? Will we see His goodness? When?

CONCLUSION

a. Unlike Naomi, Ruth forsook security outside of God and trusted Him in faith.

b. We can learn from both Ruth and Naomi in their responses to tragedy.

c. We will consider our own securities outside of God, forsake these securities outside of God, and trust God Himself.

d. Might we emulate the faithful Chinese believers that have preceded us as they experienced a security in God unlike anything we have ever experienced. In apparent emptiness, they found a fullness as never before.

What securities outside of God do we most often seek as college students?

What would forsaking these securities look like for us?

Where do you need trust the Lord more in your life? What does trust look like practically?