Ruth - Bad Decisions and A Good God

notes:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzfgQEpx_4vOY0NXVzEydnhlclk

RUTH: From Loss to Life - 1

 

 

BAD DECISIONS AND A GOOD GOD

 

(Judges 21:25 ESV) In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

When we have a SETBACK, God wants to help us turn it into a COMEBACK.

 

(Ruth 1:1-2 ESV) 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. 2 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.

 

 

1. You can look the part OUTWARDLY and be totally messed up on the INSIDE, making one bad decision after the other.  

 

 

(Psalm 34:9 ESV) Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack!

 

(Psalm 37:25 ESV) I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.

 

 

(Psalm 33:18-19 ESV) Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, 19 that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine.

 

 

(Ruth 1:1b ESV) …and a man from Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.

 

(Ruth 1:2b ESV) They went into the country of Moab and remained there.

 

 

Sometimes the WRONG decision is the EASY decision.

 

You don’t have to GO VERY FAR to find yourself living outside of God’s will and provision for your life.

There will always be CONSEQUENCES to bad decisions.

 

 

2. We always TAKE PEOPLE WITH US when we don't trust God and try to take matters into our hands.

 

No one ever SINS ALONE.

 

(Ruth 1:2c-4 ESV) They went into the country of Moab and remained there.3 But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth.

 

(Deuteronomy 23:3 NLT) “No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants for ten generations may be admitted to the assembly of the Lord.

 

(Ruth 1:3-5 ESV) But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years, 5 and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.

 

(Proverbs 16:25 NIV) There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death

 

(Ruth 1:6 ESV) 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.

 

3.  Even in the midst of tough times, God BLESSES those who stay FAITHFUL.

 

When you are blessed, people will NOTICE.

 

 

4. If you are outside of God’s will, just turn around COME HOME.

 

(Ruth 1:7-9 ESV) 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.

 

 

(Ruth 1:8-9 ESV) 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. 9 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.

 

(Ruth 1:10-13 ESV) And they said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.”

 

 

(Ruth 1:11-13 ESV) 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? 12 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, 13 would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me.”

 

 

The best thing you can do…is go back to BETHLEHEM.

 

 

(Ruth 1:15-17 ESV) And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” 16 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.17 Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”

 

(Ruth 1:18-21 ESV) And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.19 So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. And the women said, “Is this Naomi?” 20 She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi;[a] call me Mara,[b] for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?”

 

 

5. If you put yourself back in the RIGHT PLACE, God will begin to bless you.

 

(Ruth 1:22 ESV) So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.