Introduction.

1. I am sure that as Elimelech and his family travelled from Bethlehem to go to Moab, they thought about the past and about the future. In all probability they would have heard many stories about Moab, its people and their strange religion. Their last days in Bethlehem would have been traumatic as they said goodbye to family and friends. Saying goodbye to family and friends is always a difficult thing, as it fills the heart with deep sadness. In every member of this family you would have found a mixture of fear, expectation, and curiosity that played on their fragile emotions and caused them to be ambivalent as they crossed the Jordan River and travelled through western Moab. For Naomi the next decade was going to be the most turbulent time of her life.
   
   
2. The sadness of this occasion is deepened by the fact that Elimelech had chosen to break the covenant the Lord had made with Abraham and Moses. Saying ‘The Lord bless and be with you' would have been hypocritical and was best left unsaid. It is easier saying goodbye to those whom you know are walking with the Lord and seeking to honour his name, but saying goodbye to those who in their departure are provoking the anger of God, is profoundly sad. Leaving Bethlehem was not a blessing but a curse for this family of Ephrathites. From a human perspective Ruth 1:3-5 are some of the saddest verses in Scripture. The death of Elimelech would have been tempered by the marriages of the boys, but the joy of the weddings was very short-lived. In the space of a few years Naomi buried her husband and two sons.

1.  Naomi's grief took her to the place beyond sorrow.

1. For the wife the loss of a husband is a life shattering experience. Elimelech's death would have devastated Naomi and turned her world upside down. The one she loved, shared life with, cared for, helped, supported and enjoyed was no longer with her. The object of her love was gone. She would have enjoyed receiving his love, support, leadership and companionship, but that had come to an end. Elimelech and Naomi became one in marriage, now part of her had died. There can be no doubt about the fact that she would have been heart-broken and in emotional turmoil.
   
   
2. What effect did the death of Elimelech have on his family? When Elimelech died it left 5 massive voids in the life of this family
   
   
   1. The head of the home had died. Elimelech was the one who ultimately carried responsibility for the family. He was the leader seeking to provide the best possible life for his family. He was the one who had authority and exercised judgements on family issues.
      
      
   2. Naomi had lost a husband. Elimelech and Naomi had probably been married for about 25 years when he died. He had been Naomi's confidant and companion in life; she submitted and followed his leadership.
      
      
   3. The boys had lost a father. The boys would be broken hearted and uncertain about many things concerning the future. It's believed that Mahlon and Chilion were young men in their early twenties, not yet settled into a life of leadership, responsibility and obligation. The death of Elimelech brought instability to the household, and probably prematurely thrust leadership and responsibility onto Mahlon. No doubt the boys would lean on each other, but remember that Mahlon was sickly and Chilion a weakling. It is interesting that the name Chilion could also mean ‘pining' which means he would have found the permanent loss of a father very difficult to bear.
      
      
   4. The family lost its priest, provider, protector and ruler. The head of the home was fully responsible for being the priest, provider, protector and ruler in the home. The proper execution of these roles unites, strengthens and gives direction to the family. Who was to take up the vital duties that Elimelech had filled. Sickly Mahlon and weakling Chilion were not suitable to assume these responsibilities.
      
      
   5. The family's decision maker was gone. There should always be family discussion about decisions that need to be made, but the head of the home ultimately makes the decisions and carries the consequence of the decisions that affect the lives of family members. Who would make the decisions in the home? The most capable and able person was probably Naomi, but custom and tradition would not allow her to assume that role.
      
      
3. We need to remember that we have the comfort of the full revelation of God's Word, the New Testament teaches us a great deal about heaven. Every believer has the comfort of knowing that Jesus said, ‘In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know."(John 14:2-5) Believers ought to die with certainty that they go to be with Jesus, who has prepared a special place for them, this knowledge removes the sting of death for the believer who dies and for believers who mourn for that one who died. In John 17:24 Jesus prays, ‘Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me.'  Every time a believer dies this prayer of Jesus' is answered. The Scriptures of the Old Testament speak about life after death, but not with the clarity and certainty that the New Testament Scriptures do. The saints of the Old Testament did not have the facts and insights of the Apostle Paul who said, ‘For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.' What comfort would Naomi have had in the death of Elimelech? Who would have brought her words of comfort from God's Word? When the two boys died where was she to find comfort and solace? What comfort could the Moabites give to Naomi?
    
4. The sorrow of Naomi would have been compounded by Elimelech's deliberate breaking of the covenant the Lord had made with the children of Abraham. The death of a backslider is easier to bear than the death of a loved-one who is an unbeliever. In the case of the unbeliever death brings all hope to a close. The family of a backslider knows that the Lord is wonderfully gracious and merciful, and that not one of those given to Christ will ever be condemned. Believers have an unshakable confidence in the fact declared in Romans 8:38-39, ‘For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.' A believer who is a fit of deep despair and commits suicide is not separated from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Suicide is a dreadful thing and a wicked thing, but it does not cause a believer to forfeit his salvation. If Elimelech was a saved sinner who died in defiant rebellion against the Lord, then there is hope that God in his grace and mercy has taken Elimelech to be in glory. We do need to grasp that our salvation depends entirely on the person and work of Jesus Christ and God's amazing grace.
    
5. It is interesting to note that the New Testament often speaks of the death of believers as falling asleep. We see this in Acts 7:60 when Stephen is stoned to death: ‘Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin." And when he had said this, he fell asleep.' In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 Paul speaks about those who die before the Lord Jesus' second coming, he says, ‘But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.' Only the dying of believers is spoken of as falling asleep, it is never used to describe the death of unbelievers. Death for the believer even a dreadful death of being stoned is like falling asleep. They fall sleep to rise in glory with the Lord and wait for the day of resurrection. There is a huge difference between the death of a believer and an unbeliever, one is full of hope the other is full of despair. What was the spiritual state of Mahlon and Chilion when they died? We read nothing in the Scriptures to indicate that they were believers; all we have is the record of their covenantal disobedience. They took wives from Moabites and not from among the Lord's people. This factor would have weighed heavily on Naomi's heart.
    
6. There is a depth of sorrow found in the death of loved ones that is unfathomable. We get an insight into the profound sorrow that Naomi felt when she says, ‘Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?'(Ruth 1:20-21) Sorrow has gripped her heart and changed her life, everything that made Naomi pleasant, lovely and delightful has gone, and has been replaced with everything that made her Mara. The name Mara means bitter, sour, unpleasant, resentful or miserable. Her sorrow is so overwhelming that she describes herself as being empty. The Hebrew word translated here as empty has two other meanings which are significant, it can also mean ‘with out cause or in vain.' These other meanings tell us that Naomi believed that the Lord had dealt with her very harshly and afflicted her most severely. She believed that she did not deserve to suffer the way she had, and that she is back in Bethlehem without meaning, purpose or hope. Sorrow had made her a bitter, miserable and depressed person. Ruth 1:20-21 reveals that Naomi found no comfort from the Lord or in his Word during her time of grief. Rather than finding comfort in the Lord, she blames him for her miserable state. Nothing is more difficult than to turn a person who is in the state that Naomi was in, to seek and find consolation in the Lord.
   
   
7. The sorrow of losing Elimelech and her two sons would have been compounded by the practical problems of being a widow. Widows, like the fatherless and strangers were always seen as a group of people who were vulnerable and open to exploitation by the ruthless and heartless. God's law given through Moses made special provision for the care and protection of the vulnerable. Listen to Malachi 3:5,  ‘And I will come near you for judgment; I will be a swift witness against sorcerers, against adulterers, against perjurers, against those who exploit wage earners and  widows and orphans, and against those who turn away an alien-because they do not fear Me," Says the Lord of hosts.' A lack of care and concern for the widows, orphans and strangers is seen as a sign of a spiritually bankrupt life. Moab had no laws of protection and care for widows. This is the reality behind Naomi's strong urging for Orpah and Ruth to return to the homes of their mothers. Naomi would have been fearful of her future as a widow in a strange land. This fearfulness would have added deep grief to her sorrow.
    

8. When we looked at Elimelech we took note of his rebellion against God and the covenant. The attitude Elimelech adopted was summarised as: It's my life and I will do as I like. Naomi's statement in Ruth 1:20-21 strongly suggests that she was sympathetic and supportive of the attitude Elemelech demonstrated in the actions of leaving Bethlehem and making Moab his permanent home. I do not think that the Scriptures want us to think that Elimelech was the rebellious sinner, while Naomi was a godly submissive wife who reluctantly followed her husband. I believe we need to see Naomi as a willing wife following her husband because she believed he was doing the right thing. If Naomi shared her husband's attitude, personally I believe she did, it would have made her sorrow more profound. Naomi returned from Moab a bitter, miserable and angry woman. The reason I include anger, is that those who blame God for their sorrow and misery are usually angry at God for taking their loved ones. When sorrow is mixed with anger at God it produces a quality of life that is beyond sorrow. The person who is beyond sorrow has put up barriers and obstacles to healing hurts and regaining a purpose and meaning to life. Being beyond sorrow is a state that lingers for years and must not be confused with the kind of despair expressed by David when he received news that Absalom had been killed. Listen to David expressing the depth of his grief in 1 Samuel 18:33, "O my son Absalom-my son, my son Absalom-if only I had died in your place! O Absalom my son, my son!" This grief lingered, but after Joab rebuked David, David gathered up the threads of life and resumed his duties and responsibilities. David's grief did not paralyse his life, and leave him devoid of meaning or purpose. Naomi's grief took her to the place ‘beyond sorrow' and paralysed her life, and took away her sense of purpose, and left her without meaning to her life.

    
   
9. Naomi's life was so paralysed by grief and anger that she was not able to see God's grace and mercy in giving Ruth to be her loving and devoted daughter-in-law. The willingness of Ruth to stay with Naomi who was a bitter, angry and miserable woman is an amazing demonstration of love and commitment. Naomi could not see beyond her broken and shattered world. She charged the Lord with transforming her life from being a pleasant and lovely woman into a bitter, miserable and broken woman.

 

2.  Naomi's grief took her to the place beyond sorrow where God's grace could rebuild her life.

1. The place beyond sorrow and all the pain that accompanies those who go there is a place visited by more people than we think. The place beyond sorrow‘beyond sorrow' when your marriage disintegrates or when your financial world collapses or when one of your children is caught up in criminal activities or when a loved one passes away or when your health is suddenly taken from you. We think of times that are beyond sorrow as dreadful, terrible and grim. Indeed such times are a nightmare, but they are never without purpose or without hope. If we believe that God is in control, then times that are beyond sorrow is a very common destination; it's not a physical destination but the experience of heart, mind and soul, it is reaching rock-bottom. You can find yourself at the place must be filled with purpose and hope.
   
   
2. I believe the Lord was stripping away from Naomi's life every support and scaffold that propped up her life that was contrary to his word. Every support put in place by Naomi's self-sufficiency, pride, opinions or personal abilities would by God's work collapse until Naomi had only one place to go, and only one person to turn to. The Lord was making it impossible for her to turn to anyone else. God removed any and every thought that suggested that she could handle things or deal with her problems. She needed to be at the place where like those referred to in Psalm 107, she cried out to the Lord in her trouble. When we read these first 5 verses of the book of Ruth we must see Naomi's life as a work in progress, the Lord was dealing with her. We also need to realise that our own lives are a work in progress and that the Lord is still dealing with us.
   
   
3. In the place ‘beyond sorrow' Naomi's spiritual ears listened carefully for the voice of the Lord. When Naomi heard ‘that the Lord had visited His people by giving them bread' she knew that the very best thing she could do was return to the Lord's people. This was not a hard decision for her to make, in fact it would have been very difficult for her not to respond in this way to the news that the Lord in providence had brought to her attention. Did making this decision fill her with joy and meaning and purpose? Absolutely not, when she arrived in Bethlehem she wore the crown of ‘Miss Miserable' on her head. Returning to Bethlehem was the first step in the Lord's plan to rebuild her life. When Naomi heard that there was bread in Bethlehem, it caused a glimmer of hope to shine in her heart, something she had not had for years. The Lord had dismantled her life to rebuild it for his glory.
   
   
4. Do not think of the place ‘beyond sorrow' only as the place of conversion, it often is, but it is also a place were believers often find themselves. Believers, even though they should know better often build their lives on scaffolding that is worldly and not biblical. Our heavenly Father loves us too much to let us live our lives on inadequate foundations and therefore he topples our unbiblical scaffolding in order to make us rebuild. Anyone who reads the life of David will see the Lord doing this over and over again.

Conclusion.

When Jesus calls you he says, ‘Come follow me.' You follow him by living your life God's way. The modern gospel of today says, ‘Come get saved by Jesus, then go and do your own thing, he will help you succeed.' If you follow the way of the modern gospel you will be building your life on supports and scaffolds that the Lord will tear away in order to get you to follow him. Take stock of your life and make sure are resting on Christ and on him alone.