Introduction.

1. It is so easy to read the opening phrase of the book of Ruth, ‘Now it came to pass' as we would read the opening line of a fairytale which begins with the words ‘Once upon a time.'  If we do not stop and think about those words now it came to pass we miss a foundational truth that has a great influence on how we understand our everyday lives. If I was responsible for writing a paraphrase of the book of Ruth I would open the book as follows:
   
   ‘God according to his sovereign providence brought it to pass that in the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land.' 
   
   The focus of the book of Ruth is on the wonderful providence of God in providing a redeemer for his people. Naomi and Ruth returned to Bethlehem totally destitute and in great need. Boaz who was Naomi's kinsman redeemer delivers both women from their helpless and hopeless situation by marrying Ruth. The work of the kinsman redeemer is an illustration of the redeeming work of God done through Jesus Christ who delivers His people from sin, death and the devil.
   
   
2. Ruth 1:1 draws our attention to the providence of God and how it impacts on our lives. We live at a time when extreme individuality and self-centredness dominates the thinking of people. The motto of our times is: It's my life, and I can do what I like. This motto claims that individuals are only answerable and accountable to themselves; no one has the right to tell them what to do.  According to this motto, the individual is their own authority; every other authority is openly or secretly despised. Life, according to this motto in the world in which we live, is one of anger and frustration. It could not be otherwise in a world where society restricts, restrains and penalises you if you do not conform to its social rules. This attitude breeds a rebellious spirit that rejects and loathes the way one is forced to live by those in authority. The motto ‘It's my life I can do what I like' is a blatant refusal to accept and submit to the reality of God's sovereign providential rule over all things. Ruth 1:1 reminds us of God's providence and calls us to stop and think about the implications of God's providence in the way we understand and live our lives.

1. The truth about God's providence and your life.

1. Your life is lived according to God's providence, whether you like it or not, whether you believe it or not, and whether you accept it or not. Your belief or attitude towards God's providence does not change the fact in anyway. What is God's providence? R. C Sproul gives a simple yet succinct definition of God's providence, he says, ‘The central point of the doctrine of providence is the stress on God's government of the universe. He rules His creation with absolute sovereignty and authority. He governs everything that comes to pass, from the greatest to the least. Nothing ever happens beyond the scope of His sovereign providential government. He makes the rain to fall and the sun to shine. He raises up kingdoms and brings them down. He numbers the hairs on our head and the days of our life.'  Nothing just happens, things happen because God makes them happen. We really need to burn this fact into our hearts and minds so that we recognise and realise the continual activity of God in our lives. When Ruth 1:1 says ‘Now it came to pass', it points us to the God who by his sovereignty determined that it came to pass.
   
   
2. Listen to what Paul says in Acts 17:24-26, ‘God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings.'  According to this passage you and I are compelled to ask the question, ‘Who am I', and answer as follows: I am a person created by God, and he has determined everything about my life. God determined when and where I would be born, whether I would be male or female, what gifts, talents and qualities I would have. God selected the colour of my hair and eyes, the length of my nose, and the shape of my mouth. God determined who my parents would be. God ruled which country, state, town, suburb, street and home I would live in. God determined which schools I would go to, who would be my classmates and my teachers. Everything about your life has happened according to the providence of God, nothing has happened to you apart from the providence of God. This means that all the good things and all the awful things that have happened to you were according to the providence of God. God's providence was at work when Joseph was sold into slavery, and equally at work when he was made prime minister of Egypt. God's providence was at work when Moses' life was threatened by Pharaoh's decree, and when his life was spared when he was adopted by Pharaoh's daughter. God's providence was comprehensively involved in everything that has happened to you whether you count it as good or bad. As a fish was made to live in water, so you were made to live under the providence of God. Without the providence of God you would not exist, you are, and always will be totally reliant on God's providence. It's my life, and I can do what I like, is a total contradiction to the reality of God's providence declared in the Bible. If you say, ‘I don't believe the Bible,' remember that what you think about the Bible does not make any difference to the facts declared in it. That over 10,000 people belong to, believe in, and promote the arguments of the Flat-Earth Society does not change the shape of the earth does it?
   
   
3. God's right to rule over every element of your life is his because he is your Creator. Being created you have no right to challenge God's determinations for your life. Paul conveys this truth in Romans 9:20-21, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, "Why have you made me like this?" Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honour and another for dishonour? This is an extremely important matter as it cuts across the two dominant attitudes our culture has towards God. A few of our neighbours believe God owes them a good life, and are quick to call God to give account for allowing awful things to happen to them. The arrogance of some in this area is so great that they almost rebuke God for his failure to exercise the proper duty of care over their lives. Many more of our neighbours especially those who claim to be Christians believe that God helps those who help themselves to be very successful. God's role according to this view is essentially reduced to being a helper. This ‘style of Christianity' adopts the motto ‘It's my life, and I can do what I like' and modifies  it to say, ‘It's my life, and I can do what I like and God will help me do it'. This attitude and practice really gives the clay the right to dictate to the potter. God is my Creator he has an absolute right to rule over every aspect of my life. The truth about my life, whether I am a believer or not is that it belongs to my Creator.

2. The truth about God's providence and my circumstances.

1. In Ruth 1:1 we are told that the events recorded in the book of Ruth took place during the period when the judges ruled. It is good to remind ourselves that Israel had passed through a time when God had revealed himself in great events. The exodus from Egypt was filled with demonstrations of God's awesome power in protecting and caring for his people. The giving of the Law of God on Mount Sinai had filled them with fear of God's great holiness. During the forty years in the wilderness they had seen simultaneously the attitude of God towards their sin and his loving provision for their daily needs in a land that could never meet their needs. Under Joshua they saw the might of God as they conquered the people who lived in the Land of Promise. Nations that depended upon their military might, weapons and strategies soon discovered that they could not fight against those who belonged to Jehovah. The people of Israel saw that battles were decided not by men, but by the hand of Jehovah. During the time of the Judges, the Israelites had taken possession of the land and were organising themselves into settled farming communities. The days when the judges ruled was a time of great change and a time when faith in the Lord was severely tested.
   
   
2. The words when the judges ruled give us the historic setting of the book. God in his providence had placed the Israelites in circumstances and situations which tested their love, trust, devotion, worship, service and obedience to himself. It was a time when the Israelites needed to have their priorities of life firmly fixed in their hearts and minds according to the Word of God. Many of the problems and temptations faced by the people of Israel who conquered and settled in the land of Canaan are similar to those we face in the times in which we live. The Canaanites were totally absorbed in their pursuit of prosperity. The issues that dominated Canaanite life were: How do we develop a sound economy? What do I need to gain secure employment? How do I maintain a living wage and maintain living standards? The Canaanites were driven by a desire to be super prosperous. Agriculture was the cornerstone of their economy therefore the fertility of the land and good seasonal rains were of great importance. The role of their god Baal (master or possessor) was of paramount importance to their prosperity as he owned the land and controlled its fertility. The fertility of the land according to Canaanite religion was directly related to the sexual activity of Baal and Ashtart. The false Canaanite religion used imitative magic to illicit the response of the gods. The system of imitative magic that most people have heard of is voodoo which uses a look alike doll. According to this magic if you have an enemy, you make a doll of the enemy and then through the power of the gods any injuries you inflict on the doll will be inflicted on your enemy, if you destroy the doll then your enemy will die. The gods who are on your side imitate what you do, to your enemy. Believing that the fertility of the land was connected to the sexual activity of the Baal and Ashtart and that these gods could be manipulated by imitative magic, the Canaanites built temples on mountain tops and made sexual promiscuity a religious exercise in order to get the gods to imitate their activities. The relationship between the Canaanites and the Israelites was set by the Lord, who told his people, ‘You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.' Exodus 23:32-33. The Lord's providence brought the situation and circumstances into being where the Lord's people's faith and obedience would be tested as they encountered the people and gods of the Canaanites. How did the Israelites handle the test? The last verse in the book of Judges tells us, ‘In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.'
   
   

3. We are also told that there was a famine in the land. The Lord in his providence uses famines to discipline his wayward people. Listen to Ezekiel 14:12-13 ‘The word of the Lord came again to me, saying: "Son of man, when a land sins against Me by persistent unfaithfulness, I will stretch out My hand against it; I will cut off its supply of bread, send famine on it, and cut off man and beast from it."' In 2 Kings 8:1 we find Elisha telling the Shunammite woman, "Arise and go, you and your household, and stay wherever you can; for the Lord has called for a famine, and furthermore, it will come upon the land for seven years."  The book of Judges makes it clear that the Lord's people fully deserved to be disciplined by the Lord and therefore it is most probable that the famine spoken of in Ruth 1:1 was sent by the Lord to discipline his unfaithful people. Hebrews 12:3-11 reveals that God disciplines his children because he loves them greatly. The Scriptures tell us, ‘Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.' Living through the loving chastening of the Lord is painful, but necessary for our sanctification. Having said that the people's sin was responsible for the suffering caused by the chastening famine, we need to note that we must not conclude that all our suffering is chastening for our sin. The suffering of Job was not due to his unfaithfulness, Jesus was without sin and yet he suffered greatly. There are times when our suffering is directly due to our unfaithfulness, but there are also times when our suffering has nothing to do with our sin. I truly believe that the famine spoken of in Ruth 1:1 was a chastening famine sent by the Lord to discipline his unfaithful people. It is vital that as believers we understand that our Creator has every right to determine our situation and circumstances and to tell us how to live our lives. Every circumstance and situation that the Lord brings to our lives is according to his perfect wisdom, covenant love, and for his glory.

3. The truth about responding to the Lord's providence.

1. Ruth 1:1 tells us ‘a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, went to dwell in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.' Elimelech and Naomi and their sons sold up their land, packed up their belongings and left Bethlehem for Moab. In Ruth 1:21 Naomi says, I left full which indicates that this family was materially wealthy. Take note of what takes place: a family of God's covenant people depart from the Promised Land in order to go to Moab. Bethlehem was about 8 miles from Jerusalem which was then, and still is the religious centre of the children of Abraham. Elimelech is removing his family from the place where God had promised to be with his people. His family will no longer be involved in the fellowship of the Lord's people. The Law of God with its system of justice and social structure will no longer be the law under which they lived. They will no longer be involved in the worship of the Lord according to the Scriptures, but will worship at home, under the headship of Elimelech.
   
   
2. Why did Elimelech choose to go to Moab? The Moabites worshipped Chemosh, a god who required human sacrifices. The armies of Moab under King Eglon had invaded the Promised Land and forced the Israelites into servitude for 18 years. In Deuteronomy 23:3 we are told, ‘An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the Lord; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord forever.' Why would Elimelech even think about going to Moab? Maybe the answer is in Deuteronomy 23:6, ‘You shall not seek their peace nor their prosperity all your days forever.' Did the prosperity of Moab appeal to Elimelech? Bethlehem which means ‘house of bread' had no bread, but Moab had bread in abundance. Matthew Henry makes the following comment: ‘It is an evidence of a discontented, distrustful, unstable spirit, to be weary of the place in which God hath set us, and to be for leaving it immediately whenever we meet with any uneasiness or inconvenience in it. It is folly to think of escaping that cross which, being laid in our way, we ought to take up.' It is important to note that problems are usually personal and not geographical; we may try to run away from our problems, but somehow our problems always follow us.
   
   
3. Why did Elimelech leave Bethlehem? Was he running away from the chastisement of the famine which the Lord sent on the land? While the name Elimelech means God is King, Elimelech's life denied the truth declared by his name. It seems as if Elimelech had rebelled against God and adopted the attitude, ‘It's my life, and I can do what I like.' He refused to be disciplined by God and so moved to Moab where he could do things his way and not be rebuked for his rebellion and backsliding. It ought to be very clear that the move to Moab was made without any consideration of the impact that it would have on the spiritual lives of his family. Being spiritually backslidden Elimelech made decisions that were not conducive to the spiritual growth of the family.
   
   
4. Like Elimelech you and I have been created free agents by God. Being free agents we do not have a free-will, but nor are we robots. When you hire an agent to sell your property you give him freedom to work within certain limits. The agent is free, but accountable and responsible to you for everything he does. God's people are free-agents limited by the New Covenant he has made in Christ Jesus. Elimelech was responsible and accountable to God for the decision he made to leave the Promised Land and move to a pagan country that worshipped idols and despised the only true and living God.

Conclusion.

God's providential rule does not make you a robot, but makes you a free agent to live according to the New Covenant, you are fully responsible for everything you do and you will give a full account to the Lord. It's my life, isn't it? No. The life you have belongs to God; he created you to bring glory and honour to his name.