Unbelief: Trying to Run from Our Problems PT-2 (Ruth 1:1-5)

3/10/2010 8:48 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time           Focus:  Unbelief: trying to run from our problems

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                        Reference:  Ruth 1:1-5

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 ¶  Now it came about in the days when the judges governed, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the land of Moab with 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, Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah. Now they entered the land of Moab and remained there. 3  Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left with her two sons. 4  They took for themselves Moabite women as wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. And they lived there about ten years. 5  Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was bereft of her two children and her husband.”

            This is the first lesson in the wonderful little book of Ruth, which is the seventh book in the OT.  Warren Wiersbe writes his commentary on both Ruth and Ester and entitles it “Be Committed.”  I will only be looking at the Ruth portion of this commentary at this time. 

            I want to say first as I begin to look at this book of Ruth that one of the things that I see in the life of Ruth is Romans 8:28 in action, “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.”  Why would I say that about this book?  Well if you look at where Ruth came from and how she ended up being where she ended up it was all because of sin in another person’s life.  Lot and one of his daughters were the parents of the nation of Moab Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. 37  The firstborn bore a son, and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. 38  As for the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-ammi; he is the father of the sons of Ammon to this day.” 

            The second sin that was committed that caused Ruth to end up where she did was her marriage to one of the son’s of Naomi as this was against the Law of God.  The children of Israel were forbidden by the Law to marry Gentile women, and especially the children of Moab and Ammon.  “It was the Moabite women in Moses’ day who seduced the Jewish men into immorality and idolatry; and as a result, 24,000 people died. (Numbers 25)”  1 ¶  “On that day they read aloud from the book of Moses in the hearing of the people; and there was found written in it that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God, 2  because they did not meet the sons of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them. However, our God turned the curse into a blessing. 3  So when they heard the law, they excluded all foreigners from Israel.”  (Neh. 13:1-3)

            So one can see God working in the book of Ruth, for Ruth is one of two women who are in the bloodline of Jesus Christ the Messiah, and as I look at that I see Romans 8:28 in action.

            Warren Wiersbe divides these first five verses into six different sub-titles of his first main point of the first chapter of Ruth.  As I have written before he usually gives a clue as to how the chapters are going to be seen and it is no difference with this chapter as he entitles it “YOU CAN’T RUN AWAY,” and at the end of his preliminary writing he writes the following:  “We see in this chapter three mistakes that we must avoid as we deal with the problems and trials of life.”  There is one more thing that I want to quote from Dr. Wiersbe’s book and that is what he writes at the very beginning of this chapter and each of the following chapters of this book.  “(In which a family makes a bad decision and exchanges one famine for three funerals).”

            With all of this that has been said I will conclude this SD tomorrow.

 

3/11/2010 7:27 AM

 

            Warren Wiersbe entitles this first section “Unbelief:  trying to run from our problems.”  There are six sub-points in this section and I would like to make brief statements about each one of these.

            The Time:  The book of Ruth takes place during the time of the Judges in the nation of Israel.  I have just finished studying the book of Judges and it is not a time of spiritual prosperity in the land of Israel, and when that took place God would hold back the rains in order to get the people’s attention and this was one of those times for there was a famine in the land of Israel during the time of the beginning parts of the book of Ruth.

            The Place:  Bethlehem is “the house of bread,” but because of the sin in Israel there was little bread in the house of bread.

            The decision:  Dr. Wiersbe writes:  “When trouble comes to our lives, we can do one of three things: endure it, escape it, or enlist it.  If we only endure our trials, then trials become our master, and we have a tendency to become hard and bitter.  If we try to escape our trials, then we will probably miss the purposes God wants to achieve in our lives.  But if we learn to enlist our trials, they will become our servants instead of our masters and work for us; and God will work all things together for our good and His glory (Romans 8:28)

            He walked by sight and not by faith:  Elimelech decided to flee his from his problems similar to what Abraham did when he fled to Egypt during another famine and the result can still be seen today from his fleeing. 

            Dr. Wiersbe writes:  “How do we walk by faith?  By claiming the promises of God and obeying the Word of God, in spite of what you see, how you feel, or what may happen.  It means committing yourself to the Lord and relying wholly on Him to meet the need.  When we live by faith, it glorifies God, witnesses to a lost world, and builds Christian character into our lives.  God has ordained that ‘the righteous will live by faith, and when we refuse to trust Him, we are calling God a liar and dishonoring Him.”

            He majored on the physical and not the spiritual:  A husband is responsible to care for the physical needs of his family, but not at the expense of the spiritual needs.  Elimelech and his family were living in the nation of Israel, and they were protected by the Lord but he decided to leave Israel to go to the nation of Moab and live among the heathens.

            Warren Wiersbe writes:  “In times of difficulty, if we die to self and put God’s will first (Matt. 6:33), we can be sure that He will either take us out of the trouble or bring us through.”

            He honored the enemy and not the Lord:  I spoke of this in the previous sub title.

            The consequences:  Elimelech means “my God is king” however the Lord was not king in his heart, because he left the Lord out of his decision, as there is no evidence of him calling out to the Lord to see if he and his family should move to Moab, but there was Scripture that showed the opposite.

            The result is that he and his two sons died in Moab and this left his wife and two daughter-in-laws.  Dr. Wiersbe concludes:  “We can’t run away from our problems.  We can’t avoid taking with us the basic cause of most of our problems, which is an unbelieving and disobedient heart.  ‘The majority of us begin with the bigger problems outside and forget the inside’ wrote Oswald Chambers.  ‘A man has to learn ‘the plague of his own heart’ before his own problems can be solved…’(The Shadow of an Agony, pg. 76).”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I will have to admit that a lot of this first lesson in the book of Ruth has hit home to me and there are many things that I have either learned or been reminded of from reading Warren Wiersbe’s commentary on this first section. 

            One of the things that I want to do is to move to a warmer climate, as the cold, sunless weather has been a burden on Sandy and me.  It seems to me that I need a fresh start some place else, but unlike Elimelech I have been praying about this and I want to go through a process of seeking the will of the Lord before making such a move.  I learned this process by watching a Chip Ingram series and am grateful for his wisdom on this subject.  I am willing to move, I am praying through about this possible move, I am looking for a promise from the Lord to show me that this is His will so when times get tough that I can look back on this promise with confidence that this is the Lord’s will, and I am seeking wisdom for others about this possible move.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1. Trust the faithfulness of the Lord in all that I do or go through.
2. Keep close to the Lord.
3. Not talk as much as I usually do.

 

3/11/2010 8:21 AM