Ruth's unwavering commitment to Naomi and her God illustrates the transformative power of salvation and the ongoing need for spiritual restoration. The sermon highlights Ruth's costly choice to leave her homeland and gods for the people and God of Israel, demonstrating a profound act of faith and loyalty. This decision led her to a new path, a new people, and a new place of belonging within God's covenant community. In contrast, Naomi's bitterness and emptiness reveal the consequences of straying from God's provision, underscoring the importance of remaining in fellowship and the restorative power of God's grace. The message concludes by emphasizing that true Christian living involves embracing a new identity, community, and purpose in Christ, even amidst life's uncertainties.
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We turn in our Bibles to the book of Ruth, Chapter One. Well, I don't know about this PA system. We just said it by guess, so if it's too loud for some of you, why you have the privilege of motioning for us to turn it down, if it's too soft, maybe we can turn it up. If it's right, then that's wonderful. The book of Ruth, Chapter One. Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled. There was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, went down to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.
The name of a man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife is Naomi, and the name of his two sons, Melon and Shilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem, Judah. And they came into the country of Moab and continued there. And Elimolak, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left and her two sons. And they took them wives of the women of Moab. The name of the one was Orphal, and the name of the other was Ruth. And they dwelt there about ten years. And Melon and Shilion died also both of them, and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband. Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab, For she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people and giving them bread.
Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and her daughters-in-law with her, and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah. Naomi said unto her two daughters-in-law, Go, return each to her mother's house. And the Lord deal kindly with you as ye have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant you that ye may find rest, each of you, in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voice and wept, and they said unto her, Surely we will return unto thee and to thy people. Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters, why will you go with me? Are there yet any more sons in my womb that they may be your husbands?
Turn again, my daughters. Go your way, for I am too old to have been husbands. If I should say I have hope, if I should have a husband also tonight and should also bear sons, would ye tarry for them till they were grown? Would ye save for them from having husbands? Nay, my daughters, for it grievous me much that for your sake the hand of the Lord has gone out against me. And they lifted up their voice and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth slaved unto her, And she said, Behold, thy sister-in-law has gone back unto her people and unto her gods. Return thou after thy sister-in-law. Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee or to return from following after thee.
For whither thou goest I will go, where thou lodgest I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. Where thou dieest will I die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also if ought but death part thee and me. When she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her. Though they too went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass when they were come to Bethlehem that the city was moved about them. And they said, Is this Naomi? And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi.
Call me Merah. For the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty. Why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me? So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabites, her daughter-in-law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab, and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest. As one looks into the face of quite a number of people today, I'm sure that I would be the first to confess that I certainly have no idea what your particular needs are.
I'm sure that just as our faces vary, our needs vary this afternoon, and there are a good many needs represented by each one of us this afternoon. There is only one who really knows what the individual need is of every heart here this afternoon. There's no way for us to know. All we can do is ask the Lord to guide us in our ministry so that something will be said that we can carry away as a blessing from the Lord. I am sure of one thing that we have two things presented before us in this chapter. I have a choice between these two things unless I decide to speak on both of them. That is, we have, first of all, a beautiful illustration of the salvation of the soul.
And another thing that is the truth. equally as wonderful to it is the restoration of a saint. And I believe that those two things at least could generally speaking cover the needs of most of us here this afternoon, at least to some extent. There may be some of you here this afternoon who are not saved. Then what you need is salvation, and we have a beautiful picture of one who trusted the Lord, one who was converted, We have a beautiful picture of this in root. If you're not saved this afternoon, we would like to drop a little handful of purpose for you. We would like to have you see this afternoon what's involved in being saved and how you could know your sins forgiven, what it really means to be a Christian.
I feel that there's a lot of people today who really don't have too much of a conception as to what it means to be a Christian. Even some people, pardon me, who are saved. don't seem to have too much of an idea, at least, what God speaks of as the new birth and what it means to be a Christian. Sometimes I become a little bit frightened when I hear people give their testimony. Young people at our camps and conference meetings. Sometimes I listen in on the young folks, children, young people, give their testimonies, and I have to confess that once in a while it frightens me just a little bit, gives me a certain amount of alarm. Let me explain why.
It's because so often all I hear from them is, well, when I was six, when I was eight, I became troubled, I couldn't sleep, and mom, she read me a verse of Scripture, and I got saved. And then the next one gets up right on top of that, and, well, you know, when I was eight years old, I just knew I needed to be saved, and so I got saved. And so he sits down. And then the next one gets up behind it, and well, I was ten years old, and I knew all the time that I wasn't saved. I was raised in a Christian home, but I just knew I didn't have it. And so I just decided one day that I'd ought to get saved, and mom read me a verse of Scripture, and I got saved.
So the next one gets up, and well, Dad, he prayed with me, and I got saved. This is the way it goes on, sometimes almost unendingly, and You say, well, what are you so afraid about with all of that? Well, I'll tell you what I'm afraid about, is that sometimes when you listen to these testimonies, and it's not only true of the young folks, we're not being critical of the young folks. Sometimes it can be just as true of those of us who are older, but you listen in vain for one word as to something that is honoring to the Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes you listen in vain for anything to be said concerning how it was that God could forgive their sin. No mention of the blood. No mention of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross of Calvary.
All they talk about is a prayer that someone said for them. They read a verse of Scripture and they said, believe it, you'll be saved and they've got it. And then sometimes there's nothing in the life to prove it. And this is even more alarming. I believe in Ruth we have a beautiful picture of what it really means to become a converted person because we have to use this type of an expression when referring to Ruth. Then the other thing that I find in the first chapter of Ruth is not only the salvation of a soul beautifully illustrated, but I find also the restoration of a saint. And I'm sure that in some way at least, perhaps to a greater extent in some cases and lesser in others, I'm sure that this could be most fitting and most helpful for all of us because Two of us doesn't need restoration and need it often.
I feel very sorry for the people who don't think they need restoration. There is an element of people who are moving in upon us. There's an element of teaching that seems to be getting in amongst us, you know, about people who say that since they become Christians, they don't sin anymore. Now, you wouldn't think that we would be bothered about things like this. Things that we have been taught, things that we have understood, things that have been taught amongst us for years and years. Yet there's an element of people rising up today and they're saying, well, we just don't sin. And everything they translate as being the will of God. If they stay at home on Sunday morning and sleep instead of going to the Lord's table, well, this was just the sovereign will of God for their life.
They have no responsibilities in the matter at all. They can just do whatever they please. And then they can interpret it to mean the will of God. That was the will of God for me. No responsibility whatsoever. And they don't want to call sin sin. This is what we heard this morning. We don't want to call things by their proper name anymore. God pity the person who doesn't need restoration. There isn't a soul in this building today who doesn't need restoration and need it often. And those of us who take the platform would be the first to confess it. We often need restoration. And I thank God for those three or four little short words of David and Psalms. And he said, He restores my soul. Well, in the story of Naomi, I see a beautiful illustration of a soul who is restored.
Why does a soul need to be restored? Because a soul can get out of fellowship with God. Naomi didn't need salvation. She needed restoration. Perhaps we should look at her just a little bit. But before we do, I might just notice a few things in connection with Ruth's salvation that I feel might be helpful, especially for the young folks this afternoon. I want to point out to you at least four things that Ruth had. Most of them are found in verse sixteen. First of all, let's get the picture. Naomi is going to go back from Moab, the place where she and her husband had gone ten years before. She suffered a lot down here.
She's had three funerals, and that's pretty sad, isn't it? Ten years, three funerals. She's lost her husband, she's lost her two sons. All she has now is the two daughter-in-laws, Moabites, and they start on their track back, the long, lonely way, back toward the place that they came from, Bethlehem Judah. Well, she tells her one daughter-in-law, Orpher, to go back, so Orpher kisses her, and she goes back. Ruth said, Not so. She clays unto her. She wasn't going to go back. Now we notice a little bit about Ruth here. In verse sixteen. Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee or to return from following after thee, for whither thou goest, I will go.
Ruth had a path. Where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Ruth had a place. Thy people shall be my people. Ruth had a new people. And where thou diest, will I die? She had a plan. There are four things we might think about just briefly concerning Ruth this afternoon. She was a woman who made a choice, and it was a costly choice for Ruth. It doesn't cost a thing to become a Christian, you know, but it can certainly be very costly to be a disciple or to live the Christian life. Salvation is free, but there's a tremendous price that has to be paid sometimes for us to follow on.
And Ruth is one who is choosing a new path, and her choice was a costly one. It was a path that was going to lead her far away from her native land. It was a path that was going to separate her from her old environment and her old surroundings. This path was going to separate her from her kindred and her relatives, and she was going to tread a path which is absolutely unknown to her. That's real faith. That's what faith is. It's treading a path that's unknown. unknown by us, but known to God. She was satisfied to be led on by the steps of faith. Her choice involved a turning away from all of these things.
What did she turn to? She turned to something that as far as she was concerned was all unknown to her. The unknown future lie before her. All she had as a guide was a poor, woeful woman who had been out of fellowship with God for at least ten years. That's not very much of a guide, is it? This is all she has. Yet she's making her steps into a land, to her all unexplored. Think of this woman. She's chosen the new path. You know, when a person trusts the Lord Jesus Christ, he sure doesn't know what's ahead of him, does he? When a person becomes a Christian or becomes a child of God, sometimes the pathway leads into areas that we never expected it to lead.
And there's a lot of surprises in the Christian pathway. Sometimes people are shaken by these things. Sometimes, maybe even in our preaching, we're guilty of letting people assume that, well, now, when you become a Christian, everything is just going to be all right now. It'll be a bed of roses from here on. This isn't the kind of ministry that Barnabas gave the people at Antioch, though. He told them that with much tribulation you must enter into the kingdom of God. I don't think God in His Word anywhere holds out to us that the Christian life is going to be the easy life. It's going to be a life of costliness. It's going to demand that we dare to stand like Daniel, dare to stand alone.
Sometimes there are going to be great demands made upon us, but it's a path that may be unknown to us, but it's known to God. Wherever that path may lead us, we can walk in it. The Christian life is a new pathway then. You don't walk in the old ways, you know. You don't go on as you had before. I'm sorry that there are so many people who think today that salvation is just a little fire escape or a little insurance policy so that they'll be sure they won't go to hell when the time comes for them to die. That isn't what God's salvation is. God's salvation is something that puts us out of one realm and into another and it involves separation.
Just as sure as God saves us, he separates us from this world. He says, you are not of the world, even as I. That little expression came home to me with real force one day several years ago when we were having a reading in our home and someone pointed it out to me. And it was a Christian who really I hadn't thought of as being too much acquainted with his Bible, but he pointed those little words out. He says, you know, that really separates us, doesn't it? It says, even as I. That's what the Lord Jesus says to us. It's a new path, and the pathway of the Christian leads him away from the old pathway, the old environment. When I married my wife, well, she wasn't my wife when I married her, but she came my wife after I, since I did marry her, seventeen years ago, almost eighteen years ago now, there was a lot of things that happened in her life, more so in her life than in mine, I can assure you.
She decided that she would be my wife. It involved a complete new pathway for her. She was going to be separated from her community and her society where she lived because I had intentions of moving her about twenty or thirty miles away. She wasn't going to be among her old associates anymore. She was willing to pay that price to become a bride for myself. I separated her from her old environment. She was working as a clerk in the penny store, but she was going to have to give that up. I wasn't going to have her working in penny store. I was going to take her off, put her on the farm, make a farm girl out of her. She already had that kind of a background, so it wasn't difficult.
You see, it involved a new environment. It involved a new life's occupation. There were a number of things that it involved for her. It involved a new society. It involved a new group of friends. It involved a new location. It involved new occupation. Everything, practically, became new for her. Isn't this just a little illustration of what happens when we become a child of God? The new life that we start out in completely. This is a new path. Then she says, Where thou lodgest I will lodge? She had a new place. She was going to lodge. where Naomi, her mother-in-law, lodged. The child of God has a lodging place in this world.
Now, we are certainly spoken of as being strangers and pilgrims in this world, but we can't be traveling all the time. We have to have a lodging place. Do you know I think that this is a beautiful illustration of what every child of God ought to have in this world today. He ought to have what the world calls a church home. Those of us who have been taught and educated a little better, let's call it, we have an assembly home. You know, the assembly is an important aspect of a Christian's life, the place where he finds his fellowship. The best thing about the assembly is that the Lord Jesus Christ said that he was there.
Where two or three are gathered together in my name, says the Lord Jesus, there am I in the midst of them. This is where my heart ought to desire to be, where the Lord Jesus is. Where Jesus is, that's heaven there. And the Lord Jesus Christ has chosen to take his place here in this world amongst his gathered people, people who are gathered to his name and his name alone. And this ought to be the gathering place for every heart of the child of God, our lodging place, the place where we find rest and comfort and repose. Do not hurry along. Thy people shall be my people, says Ruth. You know, when you become a child of God, you find a new people in this world.
And I think I'm one who can testify to the fact that there is no better people in the world than the people of God. And the moment that you become a child of God, God's people become your people. And you ought to enjoy them. My, I enjoy the Lord's people. Oh, I don't like everything you do. I don't like everything you say. I don't like all the actions I see about you, and you certainly don't like mine any better. But it's certainly a wonderful thing to have a people on earth called the Lord's people, and they are a wonderful people. I'm not very well known. I'm not a close-to-post preacher. I'm not even an international thing yet.
I think one of these days I'm going to go up to Canada and preach at least one sermon and come back so I can be an international preacher. But I haven't got that far yet. But I just travel a little bit around in the Midwestern states. I'm not really known so well, but I'll tell you what I can do. I believe I could travel from a good distance east to a good distance west. In fact, I might even make it from coast to coast. And I would never have to take a motel one solitary night. Now, I don't do this. This is not the way I take my vacation. Don't get me wrong. But I could. Do you know why? Because all over Midwest, wherever I have gone in the work of the Lord, there are home after home open to us.
And sometimes I say this reverently, God's people almost plagued you with invitations. Come and stay in our home. Now I say this reverently. I appreciate this. But sometimes it's hard to make a decision between two because of the hospitality that one finds among the Christians, among God's people. Let me tell you, hospitality is a real good mark of spirituality. When God's people's homes are open and their hearts are open, and they minister to you. They minister of their finances. They stick to you that five, that ten, that, well, a little more sometimes. I tell you, this is just a mark of the fellowship and the interest that God's people have in those of us, and I can only speak for myself now, those of us who travel among God's people and minister the Word of God from one place to the other.
the hospitality and the kindness of God's people. We have a new people on earth. And God's people become our people and God's people are wonderful people. And I tell you, we ought to learn to appreciate them even more than we do. I remember one time traveling down to the state of Texas. I came to a certain city, the people that I thought I would stay with overnight down in Oklahoma weren't home. And the next day I met them and they said, were you in our city last night? I said, yes, I took a hotel there. Well, why on earth didn't you go get the key? I said, well, I wouldn't. I don't know who it was. Well, you know where it is now. But they told me where the key is, so you just come in and stay any old time. Whether we're home or whether we're not. This is just a little bit of the hospitality that we find among God's people.
My sometimes you go places for a series of meetings, and it's just one place after another that you're invited for meals. That's why we have the battle of the bulge continually. There's no respite. It's because God's people are killing us with kindness. But this is God's people. God's people have become our people. And I want to tell you, young Christians, you ought to take advantage of the fellowship of God's people, because they're the best people on earth, and they'll be loyal and they'll be faithful to you when other friends have failed you. This is what Ruth said. Thy people shall be my people. She adopted a complete new people in her life. Then she said, I've got a little plan. She said, where thou diest, I will die.
I think in this we have a nice picture of baptism. You know, this is what the child of God does. When he becomes a Christian, the next thing is for him to recognize that becoming a Christian, he comes into a place of death. He's associated with the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, you don't die with Christ when you get baptized. I think you know that. You die with Christ only in symbol when you get baptized. You take that symbolic burial with the Lord Jesus Christ just as he died to sin and to the world, so I have died with him. Where thou diest will I die, there will I be buried. Now, these are just a few things that are involved in the salvation of a soul.
I find I have a new path to trod. I find I have a new life to live. I find I have a new place of comfort and repose. I find I have a new people on earth, and I find that there is a plan for me to identify myself with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we want to look at Naomi just for a few minutes. Poor Naomi. You know, very recently I finished reading the book of Judges, not at a sitting, but as fastly as I could. When you come to the book of Judges and get to the end of the book, I say this with all the reverence and respect that I can possibly do it. When you get to the end of the book of Judges, if it wasn't the Word of God, you'd throw the book down in utter disgust.
I really believe one would. I would if I didn't know it was the word of God because of the atrocious things that happen in the book of Judgment. This is supposed to be God's people. These are the people that God has redeemed with a high hand, and He's brought them out of Egypt on eagle's wings, He says. He's brought them through the wilderness, and He says, Lack she anything. They lack nothing. God has taken care of these people and marvelously brought them into the land of Canaan and gave it to them for their possessions. God has taken an earthly people, He's given them an earthly inheritance, and He's promised them earthly blessings. When you get to the book of Jews or Judges, look how much they appreciate it.
It just seems to be a sad tale of departure and spiritual declension all the way through until finally when you get toward the end, it almost becomes disgusting. You think of a young man taking his concubine and dividing her into twelve pieces. sending her throughout all the coast of Israel. What a disgusting thing. But I say you can't throw it down like you would any other book because it's the word of God. And we recognize that God has given this to us for a purpose and there's a real purpose behind it. God wants to teach us something. But as I nevertheless sort of feel this way as I come to the end of the book, he tells us in the twenty-fifth verse of the last chapter of Judges, the cause of it all.
Every man did that which was right. in his own eyes. It says there was no king in Israel. That wasn't trouble. Sometimes people say there was no king in Israel. That's why there was lawlessness. It wasn't time for Israel to have a king yet. The problem didn't lie in the first part of the verse. The problem lies in the second part of the verse. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes. God said when he brought the people into the land, he says, now you be sure that you do that which is right in the eyes of the Lord. not in their own eyes. But the people didn't follow God's word. The people didn't heed God's word. They didn't pay attention as they ought to have.
And as a result, they were soon doing things which were right in their own eyes. And because of this, God had to bring chastening into the land, and he was held the reins of heaven. And there was a famine in the land. When we get to the book of Ruth, however, it's as though God would turn our attention from the sin of the nations He would turn our attention from the spiritual declension of the nation of Israel. And he says, I want to give you a little peek behind the curtains. I want to show you a family and how they're doing at this time. So he shows us the family of a Limelech. Do you ever feel like these people felt? You say, well, how did the people feel? Well, I think I can sort of guess how they felt.
He says there was a famine in the land. Milemolech said to Naomi one day, you know, things aren't going so well here in Bethlehem, Judah, are they? Now, Bethlehem, Judah was the place of praise and the place of bread, the house of bread and the house of praise. That's what the word means. Here were a people who were living in the place where there was supposed to be bread and praise, but the fountain seemed to have dried up. And there was a famine in the land. And instead of praise, there was growth. Instead of bread, there was hunger, and the people were perishing. Elimelech had the solution to his problem, at least, he thought.
Naomi, honey, let's get out of here while getting good. Let's go over to Moab. You know, I hear down in Moab that people are living in ease. I hear down in Moab that things are going along pretty well, and the people aren't afflicted like we are up here. Don't you think it's time for us to go to Moab? And so evidently, Naomi agreed to this, and the way they went. with their two sons who evidently were quite young at this time. There was a terrible condition that existed in Israel. Their own sin brought this famine into the land. And here are some people as a family who are suffering under the spiritual conditions, the spiritual poverty of the land. I think most of us can recognize that we are living in days of religious confusion today.
Of all the confusion in the world, there's probably none. that range like religious confusion in the world today. There are many people who are starving for a good, healthy spiritual diet. You know the sad thing about it is that there are some people who are complaining even about the place that we like to speak of as the assembly of God's people. And they say there's no bread. Sometimes I'm sorry to admit that Their complaints are justified. Sometimes there's a lack of bread, a lack of good, spiritual, wholesome diet.
May I say a little word to those of us who are responsible for teaching the Word of God? Not only those of us who are in so-called full-time work, but everyone who has a responsibility of teaching a young people's class, a children's class, any ministry on the assembly platform. Let us be sure we make it one business in our life. And I say this to myself, first of all, let us be sure we make it that one business in life is to keep bread before the hearts of God's people, the bread of God's Word. They don't care too much how much eloquence there is. They're not too much interested in the oratory that we give. They're not too much occupied in what marks of education we can impress the people with, but what they really want is bread.
the good bread of the Word of God. Sometimes they're asking for bread and they're receiving a stone. May God help us, everyone who has a shared responsibility in this, to keep the bread before the children in our Sunday school class, to keep the bread before the young people, to keep the bread of the Word of God before the heart of the Lord's people. They want bread. Sometimes we have to admit that there's an experience of famine in the land because there's a lack of bread, not a good, wholesome diet like there ought to be. Then sometimes people say, well, our assembly is suffering a famine right now. What will we do? Well, let's go to Moab.
Let's go see if we can't find bread somewhere else. Is this a solution to the problem? Some people seem to think they have found a solution to this. I'm not at all sure that this is a solution because I've never tried it. I've never been tempted. Well, maybe I shouldn't say I've never been tempted, but I've never tried this. If you leave an assembly of God's people and go somewhere else and look for bread, even if I felt there was a lack of it in our own midst. But I do know one thing that here's the people who tried it. Of course, we're using an Old Testament type. Here's the people who went down to sojourn in the country of Moab. And I want you to notice what it says. They went to sojourn. They didn't go there to stay. They went to sojourn.
But look what else it says. In the end of verse two it says, and they continued there. They went there to sojourn. But then it says they continued there. And then in verse four, at the end of the verse it says, and they dwelled there. Here were a people who just went for the purpose of sojourn. And then it says they continued. And then finally they dwelled there. They stayed much longer than they thought. But they came back. They only came back after some very, very bitter experiences, though, didn't they? You see, here's the people who have left the place where God has placed his name. Now don't come to me and start arguing with me about where God has placed his name. All I know is what I find out in the New Testament about the place where God has placed his name.
It says, where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. And I can just claim God's promise that this is what he means and this is what he says. And it isn't particular of interest to me whether the name on the building indicates what I like or whether it doesn't. The thing that I'm interested in is that there is a people upon earth who are still gathered in the name and by the authority and by the word of God. And these are the people that I want to be associated with. I want to go by the book. And in these places where we are truly in a good spiritual condition and not affected by the conditions around us, I'm sure there's going to be bread and there's going to be praise. I've been raised in the assembly of God's people and it's always been a place of bread for me.
Well, sometimes the diet may not be quite as rich, but sometimes it's my incapacity to digest a good diet. That's where the trouble lies. And I've always found the place of God's people associated with the name of the Lord Jesus Christ as being a place of praise. And I want to tell you one thing that I really appreciate about the groups of people. Call them what you will. Assemblies are up. One thing I really appreciate about them, and that is the place that the Lord Jesus Christ still have, the place of honor. And as we sung that lovely hymn while ago, my heart was moved about that precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ, because his name is despised and christened them today.
And it's despised in the world today. There's still a group of people on earth who are hoarding bread and praising the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and giving him his rightful honor. When I find them, I thank God for them. This is one of the things that I really appreciate about our worship meetings when we come together to remember the Lord Jesus Christ on Lord's day morning. It's the way the name of the Lord Jesus is spoken up. And I hope that I never lose my appreciation for that meeting and every other time when the word of God is honored and the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is held. The entire scene. You know, if I get weary of that, then there's something that I need to meet.
There was something wrong with these people. Oh, yes, the conditions were not conducive to happiness. I know that. They perhaps had just cause for complaint, but I think I noticed something that was wrong here in the background. You know, these people had two sons, and their name was Malon and Chilion, and the meaning of their name is sick and pining. I wonder what must have been wrong with these people when they named these two sons anyway. Why would you ever call your sons sick and pining? I believe that when Elimelech and Naomi named their sons, there must have been some reflection of their attitude toward the things of God, even in the naming of their sons.
Oftentimes, you know, the trouble goes back further than we may think. There seems to have been a sense of dissatisfaction here, even in the name of their sons. They were sick and pining. Well, they decided to take their sons down to Moab and find a place where it was easier going. My, it certainly looked like a right move, all right, I suppose. This looks like the right thing to do. And Moab is going to be much easier going to know, and at least we'll have plenty to eat. But what happened down there to make a long story short? You know what happened. They were down here in Moab when those three funerals came along in just a short time, death. Ten years down here in Moab.
ten years away from God, ten years away from fellowship with God in Bethlehem, Judah, ten years away from the house of bread and praise. The ten years took its toll. God laid his chastening hand upon them. First they buried their husband, then they buried the two sons. Let me say just a little word about chastening this afternoon. You know, the book of Hebrews teaches us practically all that we need to know about the chastening hand of God upon us, whom the Lord loveth He chastened. I wouldn't want to say at all this afternoon that every time that you experience the chastening hand of God, that it's for a corrective measure, I believe that the chastening hand of God can be laid upon us for at least one of three causes.
You may be able to think of more. I think of three. When God brings affliction and chastisement into my life as a Christian, it may be, number one, it may be for correction. It was in this case. It may be because there needs to be some adjustment in my life as a child of God. Since I have come into the family of the Father, he exercises that governmental discipline over my life. The Father chastens his children. Don't you forget it, dear child of God. When God lays affliction upon you, it may be because he's correcting you for some error or mistake you've made. It may be some willful disobedience. It may be some act that you have committed against God willfully.
And God has to lay his hand upon you and thank God when he does.