UNDERSTANDING GRIEF

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Grief is real

Grief is unique

Grief needs honest expression

Grief’s suffering softens

So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. And the women said, “Is this Naomi?” ²⁰ She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.

Ruth 1:19-20

I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?”

Ruth 1:21

Famine and loss can make the best of us empty and bitter

Our calamities are often used by God to BRING us where we need to be

So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.

Ruth 1:22

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God’s providence often begins with His timing our Proximation

Now Naomi had a relative of her husband's, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. ² And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor.”

Ruth 2:1-2

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Ruth’s “hesed” for Naomi cultivated a desperation for the scraps of the field

One of the greatest ways to climb out of our misery is to simply “get after it.”

”GETTING AFTER IT”

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Pray to God for Healing

Seek Guidance in Scripture

Find Strength in God’s People

Claim the Promise of Eternity

Get to Work Serving Others

And [Naomi] said to her, “Go, my daughter.” ³ So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech.

Ruth 2:2b-3

NOTHING

”just happens” when God is in Control

I am the Lord, and there is no other,

besides me there is no God;

I equip you, though you do not know me,

⁶ that people may know,

from the rising of the sun

and from the west,

that there is none besides me;

I am the Lord, and there is no other.

⁷ I form light and create darkness;

I make well-being and create calamity;

I am the Lord, who does all these things.

-Isaiah 45:5-7

And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. And he said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you!” And they answered, “The Lord bless you.”

Ruth 2:4

Are we creating this kind of spiritual environment in our places of providence?

Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?”

Ruth 2:5

“She is the young Moabite woman, who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. ⁷ She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers.’ So she came, and she has continued from early morning until now, except for a short rest.”

Ruth 2:6-7

Love and Loyalty originate in our hearts, but reveal themselves in our actions.

Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Now, listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. ⁹ Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping, and go after them. Have I not charged the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn.”

Ruth 2:8-9

This is Masculinity

Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?”

Ruth 2:10

This is Masculinity

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AWARENESS

But Boaz answered her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before.

Ruth 2:11

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This is Masculinity

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GODLY CONCERN

“The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!”

Ruth 2:12

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This is Masculinity

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PROVISION

And at mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine.” So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed to her roasted grain. And she ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left over.

Ruth 2:14

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This is Masculinity

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PROTECTION

When she rose to glean, Boaz instructed his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. ¹⁶ And also pull out some from the bundles for her and leave it for her to glean, and do not rebuke her.” So she gleaned in the field until evening.

Ruth 2:15-17

Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. ¹⁸ And she took it up and went into the city. Her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also brought out and gave her what food she had left over after being satisfied.

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Ruth 2:17-18

In the “shadow of God’s wings,”

we find not only REFUGE, but PLENTY

And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!” Naomi also said to her, “The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.”

Ruth 2:20

KINSMAN –REDEEMER

avenger, next of kin, deliverer, redeemer

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RESPONSIBILITIES

• Provide an heir for a brother’s widow
• Redeem a kinsman’s property from loss
• Pay ransom for a kinsman in bondage
• Avenging a kinsman’s death (Numbers 35:19-27)

(see also Leviticus 25; Deuteronomy 25:5-10)

And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, lest in another field you be assaulted.” ²³ So she kept close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests. And she lived with her mother-in law.

Ruth 2:22-23

The field of Boaz yielded more than grain. Naomi and Ruth found grace there

Instead of asking Why. . .

Ask:

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Where will I find

Your Grace today?

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Where will I see Your hand?