When Hard Times Come Our Way

I love the story of Ruth in the Bible.  I was told it was a love story growing up in church. But the story of Ruth is much more than a love story. It is a life story.


The Book of Ruth is about two ladies, Naomi and Ruth, who met when hard times came their way. A famine in Bethlehem led Naomi’s husband to relocate his wife and two sons to the neighboring country Moab. The two sons each married local Moabite girls. Over the course of time, the father and both sons died leaving behind three widows and no children which was a double whammy for women in those days. Today this would equal foreclosure, bankruptcy, homelessness, unemployment and total destitution. The younger women had options. They could remarry and have children. Naomi however, was old and beyond child bearing years. Who would want to take care of an old destitute, childless woman? She became bitter and angry at God. “[T]he Lord’s hand has gone out against me!” (Ruth 1:13) I am certain many of us can relate to Naomi. Many of our members are experiencing trials of many kinds. Most of us know people who have lost their jobs, their homes and are going bankrupt. It is hard not to take it personally when it happens. We find ourselves saying repeatedly: “God, why are you destroying my life?”


John Lennon once said: "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." I don't usually consider Lennon a source of wisdom, but he had a point. We have very little control over what happens to us in our lives. When bad things happen, it does not mean God’s love and grace are not present in our pain. In fact, God often shows up with more grace and love than we are able to see or recognize in the midst of our suffering.


Naomi urged her two daughters-in-law to return home so they could make a fresh start at life. One took her advice but “Ruth clung to her.” (Ruth 1:14) She refused to take the easy road and made the conscientious decision to live with Naomi in her destitution. She became God’s grace and love incarnate, yet Naomi was unable to see it initially. Despite Ruth’s commitment to her she returned to Bethlehem bitter and convinced God was her adversary. ^{ “}I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty.” (Ruth 1:21) What a slap in Ruth’s face! Have you ever tried to love someone who constantly insists no one loves them? Not only will Ruth become the breadwinner later in the story, she will also become the means through which God redeems Naomi’s family name. At the end of the story, Ruth is married to a man from Naomi’s family. They have a son together who becomes the heir of the family’s property. Naomi’s friends tell her having Ruth as a daughter-in-law was actually better than having seven sons!  Naomi was not ‘empty’ as she initially thought. If only she had the privilege of seeing further into the future she would have learned the son born to Ruth was to be the grandfather of King David through whom the Lord Jesus Christ was to come. If only Naomi could have seen how her circumstances were going to play a role in God's ongoing plan to bless and redeem all the nations of the earth!


The Apostle Paul said: "[W]e know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28) This may sound like a typical “pastor-thing” to say, but it is the truth. We may not see how our circumstances are all working for good, but if God is good and in control of everything as the Bible teaches we can say his design behind the bad stuff is actually good. It may be the pain is meant to help us see God’s “Ruth-like” love and grace which he demonstrated in Jesus Christ. C.S. Lewis said: “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” Has God been shouting at you? It is my hope that we as a church family will stand with one another in all of life’s tragedies by being the Ruth of God’s grace and love in the lives of others. I especially hope that no matter what we may be going through that we will be able to identify the Ruth of God’s grace and love in our own suffering and pain, especially as it has been revealed in Jesus.