Redeemed Devotional – Day 1

The book of Ruth is for the weary, the disappointed, the grieving, as well as for the faithful. In this series, you will be gently reminded of our faithful God, who is writing our story even when our lives seem empty, and our hope has run out. A God who is faithful in the famine, present in the darkness, and working redemption long before we can see it.

In week 1, we’ll go back to our need for redemption. In week 2, you’ll encounter the God who draws you back in those times you wander.  In week 3, get ready for the God who sees you, especially when you feel overlooked or hurt. And in weeks 4-5, find the Redeemer who provides and covers our shame with a better ending than we could even think of.

Are you ready? Let’s begin with the mess we often find ourselves in, and our Savior who meets us there. Come with your disappointments, broken dreams, hurt, and emptiness. You will find He meets you there.

Scripture:
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. 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. 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.
~ Ruth 1:1-5

None of us wake up in the morning hoping that today is the day when our lives will fall apart. But as many of you know, our lives can change in an instant. We get that phone call, that diagnosis, or that notice from the boss. You might find that note on the table from your spouse who says they can’t do it anymore. We aren’t told in advance when or how, and in many cases, we don’t know how the ending is going to turn out. As a result, we feel alone, in the dark, fumbling around for the next step. It’s not a fun place to be. But this is right where our story in Ruth begins.

The opening line takes us back many, many years ago, during the period of the judges. These judges aren’t the kind you might think of in the courthouse. They were more of a military figure that God put in place to deliver his people. You probably know already that this period of the judges was not a highlight in Israel’s history. It seemed as if Israel was stuck on a vicious treadmill of turning away from God, then experiencing his judgement through the hands of the enemy, calling out to God, the Lord graciously delivering them, and then plunging back into sin again.

This is the same treadmill that some of you might be trying to run on. You’re trying your best to get ahead spiritually, relationally, or emotionally, but you seem to be stuck running in one spot. You’re trying to trust but your fear keeps tripping you up. You’re doing your best to obey, but that discouragement in you keeps arguing with you, “what’s the point?” See, their cycle isn’t completely unlike ours.

It’s in this darkness that the story of Ruth takes place, against the backdrop of the sin and futility that Israel finds themselves in. It’s a story that starts with the whisper, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a Redeemer who could truly and fully deliver God’s people, so that they wouldn’t have to be stuck in this cycle forever?” But who could possibly do it? At this point, we know that a better Deliverer needs to come, but we don’t know how or what that will look like. But we do know that Ruth will prepare us for Him.

In our English Bibles, Ruth is placed after Judges, to show the chronology. But in the Hebrew Bible, Ruth finds her place either after Proverbs or before the Psalms. The book of Proverbs ends with those marks of a wise and virtuous woman who is active in meeting the needs of her household, shows kindness, works hard, and fears God. When Ruth is placed after Proverbs, she shows us what this godly woman found in Proverbs 31 looks like in real life.

When Ruth is placed before Psalms, she sets us up for her offspring, David, who will prepare us for the greater Davidic king. She stirs our hearts even before David writes his praises, as we see the Lord working a better story of redemption and hope than any of us could imagine.

But our story doesn’t begin with joy or hope. It doesn’t start off with a lot of excitement or celebration. In fact, it starts with a famine. The land that was once filled with food and joy is now empty and dreary. There’s no joy in a famine, after all. A famine would have meant hardship, trouble, and possibly even death. Now, we aren’t told much about this particular famine. But what we do know is that the famine in this time was due to Israel’s sinfulness. God was going to serve them the bread of their labors, the emptiness that comes from seeking refuge and delight in something apart from God. And it wasn’t going to taste very good.

But this isn’t when life falls apart for Elimelech and Naomi. They thought they had a great game plan to escape the famine by going to live with their enemies in the country of Moab. Ironically, Elimelech’s name means “My God is King.” But instead of seeking God, the true king, he acts as his own king and leaves Bethlehem, the house of bread, for the food of his enemy.

Before you think we are being too hard on Elimelech for leaving his home to provide for his family, remember that God had promised to bless and provide for His people in the promised land. Elimelech wasn’t going to wait around and seek the Lord in repentance. He was going to figure things out himself. “If the Lord won’t provide, then I will.” He takes his family on sort of a Gilligan’s Island three-hour tour that ends up lasting a lot longer than they planned. It seems that he grew pretty comfortable drifting from the land of promise and making his home where he didn’t have to think so much about the Lord.

We aren’t always too different than Elimelech. We’ve been there when we don’t see God providing. We too have taken those steps away from the bread the Lord has promised to find what we think we need in other places. For that single person, you settle for a relationship you know isn’t ideal because you are tired of waiting. Or you cut corners at work because you are afraid of failing to meet expectations. It could be that you stop trying to pursue reconciliation with that person because you are tired of hurting. We all then know what it’s like to run to Moab for relief but find it empty of redemption.

He takes his wife Naomi, whose name means “sweet, pleasant,” and their two sons. Life at this point seems pretty sweet. They aren’t living in a famine, and they have two boys who will be able to provide for them as they age. They were all set now to live happily ever after. That is, until the day Elimelech dies. This would have struck a deep blow in Naomi’s heart to lose her husband, her one and only. Now she is alone, a single mother in a foreign land, with her sons.

But things haven’t hit rock bottom yet. Her sons marry Moabite women, which deep down Naomi knew wasn’t God’s ideal. “If they could have children to continue the family line, then what does it matter?”, she could have easily rationalized. Life collapses in on itself as her sons die. It seems that now she can’t get any lower.

And some of you know this place. You buried the love of your life, or you’ve watched your marriage dying for years. You haven’t seen the ending of those dreams you have hoped for, or the answer to your prayers. Now, like Naomi, you are standing in the ruins of your life that you didn’t plan or ask for. So where will you go?

Sometimes life falls apart because we drift from the Lord, chasing security or comfort in places that cannot sustain us. Other times life falls apart even when we are walking faithfully. Either way, the result feels the same: confusion, fear, grief, and the suffocating sense that God is nowhere to be found.

Maybe that’s where you are today. Your life feels like a puzzle dumped onto the floor, and you can’t even remember what the picture was supposed to be. Your plans, your dreams, your stability—they’ve slipped through your fingers. You’re exhausted. You’re hurting. You’re wondering how you’re supposed to keep going. All your plans, your dreams, your hopes-they have vanished in an instant. Now what are you supposed to do?

Naomi felt that too. Like Naomi, we often don’t know. We don’t know how we are going to move forward, much less make it. The thought of another day seems too difficult to handle. It’s even in these dark times when we encounter the Lord’s faithfulness. Naomi doesn’t see it on this day. All she can see is what’s wrong, and the hopeless situation that she faces. But what she doesn’t see, at least right now, is where the Lord is. While she knows the truth in her mind, the way her heart feels is the furthest thing away from it.

And that is exactly where many of you live, in the fog of medical uncertainty, in the exhaustion of parenting, in the ache of relational strain, in the slow decline of aging, in the quiet battles no one else sees. And that lack of understanding of where God is can feel like a weight on your chest, especially when you’re asking, “Why this? Why now? Why me?”

And it’s in these times that we are called to trust, not to understand. This is good news for the person whose life feels like it’s unraveling, for God does not demand that you decode your pain. He invites you to cling to Him in it. Your confidence is not in your interpretation of events, but in the unchanging character of your God.

Our comfort isn’t the degree to which we can understand God’s purposes, but the degree to which we can trust our Savior. After all, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). When everything else changes, your health, your relationships, your stability, He does not.

So today, the call is simply to trust. Trust that Jesus is present. Trust that He cares. And trust that even when your life falls apart, He does not. And because He does not, He can hold you fast and keep you from falling.  I want to remind you that Jesus is better than the future you imagine. Your future might look like an empty page, or even a torn up one, but Jesus has one written for you that is far wiser, better, and redemptive than the one you have written. We think that when our dreams die, so does God’s goodness. But Jesus is better than the future we have written.

As you look into the mirror of your life, where do you see your own story reflected in hers? Where do you feel the emptiness that Naomi had? Where do you feel the ache of unanswered questions or the pull to run to Moab for relief?  May you remember how Ruth invites you to bring that emptiness to the Redeemer who fills what life has emptied.

Pastor Josh Gerber

1. Where do you see yourself in Naomi’s story right now—facing loss, feeling empty, or struggling to understand what God is doing?
2. When life falls apart, what are the “Moabs” you tend to run to for comfort, control, or escape instead of turning to the Lord?
3. What makes it hardest for you to trust God when you cannot see His hand, and how does the unchanging character of Jesus speak into that struggle?