Introduction.

1. The first chapter of Ruth closed on a rather depressing scene. Naomi's message to the residents of Bethlehem upon her return was: "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.) The second chapter of Ruth closes with Naomi and Ruth rejoicing in God's provision of food for them through his gracious and godly servant Boaz.
   
   
2. We need to take note of the change in Naomi's thinking that took place in chapter 2. Through most of the first two chapters Naomi's thinking is firmly focussed on me, myself, and I. In seeking to cope with her grief she had turned inward and became self-centred and took on a victim mentality. Naomi was consumed with grief and bitterness and was so self-absorbed that even Ruth's loving commitment to her failed to touch her heart. When Naomi witnessed the Lord's great grace and goodness towards Ruth through the godly Boaz her heart was softened and a new hope sprung up in her. The greatest evidence of a change in thinking is seen in Ruth 3:1, ‘Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, "My daughter, shall I not seek security for you that it may be well with you?' It is obvious that Naomi has been thinking more about Ruth and her future needs than the bitterness of the past. The term seek security is a euphemism for marriage. Naomi offers to take on the task of finding Ruth a husband.
   
   
3. The offer made by Naomi was very commendable as it shows that she was thinking about the needs of her daughter in-law and what part she could play in meeting those needs. The Christian attitude towards our needs is declared by the Apostle Paul in Philippians 4:19 where he says: ‘And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.' Paul does not say, ‘God will meet all your needs,' but ‘my God shall meet all your needs.' Paul has absolute confidence in the Lord's loving care for him and therefore his every need will be met. Paul could have quoted David's words and said, ‘The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want' Psalm 23:1. We like sheep are totally dependant upon the Shepherd to supply our every need. It is relatively easy to accept the theory that we depend upon God for everything, but it is very difficult to trust God to meet those needs. We often see our needs as urgent and needing immediate attention and therefore we get impatient with the Lord and accuse him of being inactive and not meeting our need. This is what happened to Abraham and Sarah as they waited for the Lord to fulfil his promise that Sarah would fall pregnant and give birth to a son. Impatience led them to take matters into their own hands and follow sinful ways. God's promise is that he will meet all our needs. We must trust him to fulfil his promise accepting that in his wisdom he knows the perfect timing. This truth ought to have been burning brightly in Naomi and Ruth as they had seen and experienced God meeting their need for food and Ruth's need of protection. The faith in their hearts ought to have encouraged them to trust God to meet their future needs. If Naomi and Ruth knew that Ruth needed a husband then the Lord would have been fully aware of this need. Because God is sovereign and omniscient we can say that long before Naomi and Ruth became aware of this need, God knew it completely.
   
   
4. To us the offer made by Naomi to Ruth may not seem like a big deal, but in the age and culture in which Naomi and Ruth lived it was a very big deal. In fact the task was enormous, complicated and even daunting. In our day getting married is easy ‘all you need is love' and the wedding bells ring. In Ruth's day love was not the issue; matters like family, status and wealth were seen as matters of greater importance. It was usually the parents who chose the spouse for their child. In 1 Samuel 17:25 David is told of the offer King Saul made concerning the defeat of Goliath. Listen to what David is told, "Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel; and it shall be that the man who kills him the king will enrich with great riches, will give him his daughter, and give his father's house exemption from taxes in Israel." Saul's daughter Michal had little say in the matter. Naomi took on the very complicated task of finding Ruth a husband and in taking on the task faced the test of trusting God or taking matters into her own hands. From a human point of view there were certain obstacles which needed to be overcome before the marriage could take place. How we overcome obstacles is always the complicated part that tests our trust in the Lord.

The obstacles that needed to be overcome by trusting the Lord.

1. Finding a suitable spouse is and has always been a very difficult matter. The tragic divorce rate tells us that many people fail to select a suitable spouse. I am told that the older you get the harder it gets to meet a potential partner. How would Ruth a woman of character and conviction go about finding a husband? Naomi realised the difficulties that Ruth faced and probably reasoned that as she was her mother in-law she would take on the role of the parent and find a suitable spouse. We might think that her job was made a whole lot easier because Boaz seemed like the perfect candidate; he was a good, godly, gracious, wealthy and an unmarried man. Arranging a marriage between Boaz and Ruth would not have been that easy. I believe that there were 6 obstacles that needed to be overcome before any marriage could be contemplated.
   
   
1. Ruth was a Moabite woman. When the residents of Bethlehem spoke of Ruth they referred to her as the Moabitess rather than call her Ruth. This was not simply a derogative term it also reveals the cultural-stereotyping that prejudiced Ruth.  When Brisbane South called me in 1999 I got a number emails from members of other congregations who asked me several questions. Four people asked the question, ‘Are you a racist?' The only reason this question was raised was because South Africans who are white have been culturally stereotyped as racists. Cultural-stereotyping is rife in Australia, ask any Aborigine, Arab or Asian and they will tell you that they continually fight against discrimination. The cultural stereotyping that Ruth would have been subjected to stemmed from the incident recorded in Numbers 25 where Moabite women seduced Israelite men into sexual immorality and idolatry. Listen to verses 1-3, ‘Now Israel remained in  Acacia Grove, and the people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab. They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods.^ So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel.' 24,000 Israelites had been seduced and were executed for turning to false gods. This incident is augmented by the fact that Moab the father of all Moabites was born out of the incestuous union between a drunken Lot and his wicked daughters. Genesis 19:36-37 says, ‘Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day.'  The people of Bethlehem would have watched Ruth like a hawk to see if she would do the ‘Moabite thing' and seduce an Israelite man into marrying her and lead him to leave Jehovah to follow the gods of Moab. We know that they watched Ruth closely for in Ruth 3:11 Boaz says, all the people of my town know that you are a virtuous woman.' Ruth did not in any way conform to the Moabite stereotype. Finding a good man to marry a woman in the fog of cultural stereotyping would be a very difficult matter as all Moabite women were culturally stereotyped as wicked seducers.
   
   
2. The second obstacle which needed to be overcome if a husband was to be found for Ruth was the fact that Mahlon an Israelite had married a Moabitess which was contrary to the specific instruction of the Word of God. Listen to Matthew Henry on this matter: The marriage of his two sons to two of the daughters of Moab after his death, all agree that this was ill done. The Chaldee says, ‘They transgressed the decree of the word of the Lord in taking strange wives.' If they would not stay unmarried till their return to the land of Israel, they were not so far off but that they might have fetched themselves wives thence. Little did Elimelech think, when he went to sojourn in Moab, that ever his sons would thus join in affinity with Moabites. But those that bring young people into bad acquaintance, and take them out of the way of public ordinances, though they may think them well-principled and armed against temptation, know not what they do, nor what will be the end thereof. It does not appear that the women they married were proselyted to the Jewish religion, for Orpah is said to return to her gods (v. 15); the gods of Moab were hers still.' How did the citizens of Bethlehem see the marriage between Mahlon and Ruth? In all probability they would have seen it as illegal and interpreted the death of Mahlon as God's judgement upon his wicked deed. In the eyes of many Ruth would have been seen as a non-kosher woman. How would an Israelite man be treated if he married the widowed Moabitess. The best case scenario would see the marriage as socially awkward. The worst case scenario would see the couple as social outcasts and shunned by decent society. Where would you find a man who had all the credentials that the decent society of Bethlehem valued, who would be willing to take the risk of marrying Ruth?
   
   
3. The third obstacle that made Ruth a poor candidate for marriage was the fact that she was destitute. If Ruth was a wealthy landowner suitors would be lining up at the door to present themselves to her. Maybe in our day men look at beauty before wealth, but in Ruth's day wealth and land in particular were more important. Who would pay a dowry for Ruth?
4. The fourth obstacle to finding a suitable husband was Naomi. From the wonderful commitment Ruth made to Naomi in Ruth 1:16-17 we can assume that both Ruth and Naomi would expect a future husband to provide and protect both of them. Ruth and Naomi were so to speak a package deal. Finding a good man willing to live under the same roof with an middle aged widow who asked not to be called Naomi (the pleasant one) but Mara (the bitter one) would be extremely difficult.
   
   
5. The fifth obstacle that lay in the way of finding a husband for Ruth was the status of Naomi. How did the community of the Lord's people consider her standing? They knew her history and in all probability saw the death of her husband and sons as God's judgement upon the family for leaving the Promised Land and making Moab their home. Did they welcome her back into Bethlehem with open arms or did they regard her as an impenitent member under church discipline? What Scriptures would be applied to Naomi and Ruth? No doubt Deuteronomy 7:3 would have featured in their thinking; ‘Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly.' That this happened in Numbers 25 would still have been remembered by the people as it had not happened long ago. There would have been those who saw Elimelech's departure from Bethlehem to go to Moab as seeking after false gods and applied Deuteronomy 13:6-10 to the family. Listen to the strong words of that Scripture: ‘If your brother, the son of your mother, your son or your daughter, the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, secretly entices you, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,' which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers, of the gods of the people which are all around you, near to you or far off from you, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth, you shall not consent to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him; but you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. And you shall stone him with stones until he dies, because he sought to entice you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.' How were other believers to respond towards Naomi and Ruth? I think that awkwardness of the situation caused many to avoid Naomi and Ruth. It is significant that no relative came forward to offer Naomi and Ruth protection, food and shelter. The Old Testament society in Israel was given to hospitality and family obligation, only very unusual circumstances would stop them from taking in the widows from the wider family. The relative who was closer to Boaz who is mentioned in Ruth 3:12 and features in Ruth 4:1-9 took no action to show hospitality towards Naomi and Ruth. Not even the godly Boaz extended that kindness towards them. To my mind this strongly suggests that Naomi and Ruth were classified as sinners and therefore ought not to be embraced by the godly. It would have been the same attitude that Jesus faced as he ministered to the outcasts of society. Listen to Luke 15:2 ‘And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them."' I believe that Naomi and Ruth were classified as sinners and not embraced by the community. There is one other aspect that I believe supports the attitude I have described, Naomi took on the task of finding Ruth a husband because there was no man to do it? The role of men in making a marriage deal was extremely important and if you did not have a man to act on your behalf then you had almost no hope of getting married. If this is true the question; ‘Where do you find a good man to marry Ruth' becomes more difficult to answer, and the task of finding her a husband becomes more complicated.
   
   
6. The sixth obstacle was Boaz. The idea that Boaz and Ruth were suited and would make an ideal couple must have been busy in Naomi's mind long before she offered to take on the task of finding Ruth a husband. Maybe Boaz and Ruth were attracted to each other, but nothing seemed to be happening. Boaz gave no indication that he was interested in taking the relationship any further than simply being an acquaintance of Ruth. The time gap between Ruth 2 and 3 can be calculated by the information given in Ruth 2:23 which tells us that Ruth gleaned to the end of barley harvest and wheat harvest. The barely and wheat harvests closely followed each other and together lasted about 8 weeks. For two months Ruth gleaned in Boaz's fields and they would have often seen each other, but nothing seems to happen to their relationship in that time. Was Boaz socially challenged when it came to women? Did his relationship with Ruth need a push to get it going down the marriage path? When the issue of marriage does come to his attention he is quick off the mark and makes Ruth his wife the next day. It looks as if he needed to be jumpstarted before he took action.
   
   
2. The obstacles that lay in the path of Ruth finding a husband or marrying Boaz must have seemed overwhelming to Ruth and Naomi. I have no doubt in my mind that they would have made this a matter of prayer. Ruth 3:1-2 strongly suggests that Naomi had given the matter of finding Ruth a husband a great deal of thought and offered her services only after she had worked out a plan. She had obviously taken the trouble of finding out what Boaz would be doing that very night. We also need to remember that the clock was ticking and the end of the harvest season lay just around the corner. I have no doubt that both Naomi and Ruth had thoughts about what would happen when harvest time came to an end and there were no more fields available for gleaning. It is very possible that the conversation between Naomi and Ruth recorded in Ruth 3:1-5 was prompted by the fact that harvest time was drawing to a close and that fear and uncertainty were making their presence felt in the hearts of Ruth and Naomi. Fear and uncertainty often usher in a time of trial and testing. Was their faith strong enough to trust the Lord to provide or would they succumb to the temptation of taking matters into their own hands? The godly will always be tested; the Devil is always looking for a way to destroy the reputation of the Lord's people.

Conclusion

The obstacles that stood in the way of Ruth finding a husband were enormous and made the prospect of Ruth getting married seem unlikely. Above everything Naomi and Ruth needed to trust God to meet their needs. They needed to make a conscious and deliberate decision to trust the Lord. If a deliberate and conscious decision was not made their feelings would push them to take matters into their own hands. Jerry Bridges gives this testimony about himself; "For many years in my own pilgrimage of seeking to trust God at all times - I am still far from the end of the journey- I was a prisoner to my feelings. I mistakenly thought I could not trust God unless I felt like trusting him (which I almost never did in times of adversity). Now I am learning that trusting God is first of all a matter of the will, and not dependant on my feelings. I choose to trust God and my feelings eventually follow. The Hymn writer Margaret Clarkson in speaking of how we arrive at a place of acceptance of adversity in our lives said, ‘Always it is initiated by an act of the will on our part; we set ourselves to believe in the overruling goodness, providence, and sovereignty of God and refuse to turn aside no matter what may come, no matter how we feel.' Trusting God to meet your needs is a conscious and deliberate choice you must make because you never trust God automatically. Being reconciled to the Father through Christ Jesus and filled with the Holy Spirit enables you to make the deliberate choice to trust God to meet your needs.