Ruth: Confidence in God’s Sovereignty

Just this week, I read an interview with a very famous person whose name you will recognize when I tell it to you. The subject that this person was addressing in the interview was the subject of leadership. Listen to what he had to say:

“We tend to select our leaders based upon their competence. But true leadership is a combination of competence and character. Generally, poor leaders are not the ones who are not competent - many of them have great competence. It’s character that they lack.

What I would like to see in our school system, when talking about leadership, is to emphasize the importance of character, the importance of ethics, the importance of morality. We need more people who will stand up and say to the students in our schools, particularly to high school and college kids, that character is important.

Don’t ignore it. Character is important to your future, important in the way you conduct your business. It’s important to do your job, but it’s even more important to do what’s right.”

The person who said that was General Norman Schwarzkopf. I think he hit the nail right on the head. As we look to November, and the choices that we have to make, I think we need to weigh very heavily, not just the competence of the people who are running for office, but their character. Because leadership that emphasizes competence and ignores character is no leadership at all.

We want to look today at a woman of character in the pages of Scripture. Her name was Ruth. She was a simple woman, actually a foreigner in Israel. Today we would call her an immigrant; she’d be carrying a green card.

Ruth had had a hard life, and she knew her share of pain. She didn’t have any children. Her husband had died while she was still quite young, leaving her a widow. In those days, to be a widow in a foreign country, with almost no family support was to be completely alone. There was no Social Security check coming in every month. There was no welfare system. There were no food stamps, or relief programs.

Ruth had to live on the raw edge of poverty. She had absolutely no political or social or economic influence in her world. She had no titles before her name, nor academic degrees behind it. As an alien widow, she had very few legal rights. She was at the bottom of the social barrel.

Yet in spite of all that, Ruth had something far more valuable: she was a woman of noble character. How did she get that way? She got that way by making right choices.

There is an old Chinese proverb that says “A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” So it is with the formation of character. Character is built on the choices you make every day. Qualities like integrity, humility, faithfulness, courage, and self-discipline don’t come into your life ready-made. They are built, like a wall, one brick at a time. Those qualities are built on the basis of the little choices you make every day.

Someone has said “Sow an act, and you reap a habit. Sow a habit and you reap a character. Sow a character and you reap a destiny.” We make our choices, and then our choices make us.

Let’s look at one of the key choices that faced Ruth. In the first chapter of Ruth, we find that Naomi, a Jewish woman living in Moab, had lost her husband and both of her sons. She decided to return to Bethlehem in Judah. Her daughters-in-law, both widows themselves, set out on the journey with her.

But as they trudged along that hot dusty road by the Dead Sea, Naomi said to them “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. Go back, and find another husband. There’s nothing for you in Judah. There’s no future for you there. The Lord’s hand has gone out against me. No use in your getting hurt, too.”

As the daughters-in-law reflected on what Naomi was saying, they had to admit it was true. As far as they could see, there really was no future for them in Judah. As Moabite widows, they would hardly be first in line for the next eligible bachelor. And for a woman to live without a husband in those days was a hard life.

So finally Orpah, one of the daughters-in-law, said “You’re right. I love you Mother Naomi, but I guess I’ve just got to do what’s right for me. I just don’t think I’m cut out for a life of widowhood. I’m still young, I’m still attractive. Who knows? Maybe I can find a guy to marry back in Moab. I think I’ll look up Marvin Kowalski. He had a crush on me in the tenth grade.” So she kissed her mother-in-law good-bye, turned around, and walked out of her life. She made her choice.

Meanwhile, Ruth was still standing there beside her mother-in-law. They watched Orpah until she was just a small speck in the distance. Then Naomi turned to Ruth and said “Look, your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her. I give you permission. You don’t have to do this. You don’t have to be a martyr for me. Get a life. I won’t think any less of you for it.”

How did Ruth respond? What choice did she make? Her answer to Naomi is given to us in verse 16 in words that have rung out through the centuries as the very essence of loyalty and faithfulness and commitment. (In fact, sixteen years ago last Friday, Carolyn and I stood before an altar, and she said those very words to me. And they still echo in my heart.)

“Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”

Did you ever stop to think that Ruth could easily have hated her mother-in-law? Many women do! Ruth could have looked at Naomi and seen in her face the husband that had been taken away from her; the children that she had never had. Every time she looked at Naomi, she would have been reminded of those things. Because Naomi represented everything that had gone wrong with Ruth’s life; her broken dreams, her broken heart.

She could have hated Naomi. She could have bailed out on her right then and there. She could have said “That’s it. I’ve had enough. I’ve got to get away from this woman. Bad things have been happening to me ever since I met her.” But she didn’t. Why?

Because Ruth was a woman who had learned to be confident in the sovereignty of God.

It may not sound terribly spiritual to say so, but life is like a game of cards. Now if you’ve ever played cards, you know that you are not often dealt a perfect hand. In fact, it almost never happens. As you pick up your cards, one by one, there are some that make you grimace and want to say “Ouch! What a terrible card!”

But if you believe in the sovereignty of God, you understand that God is dealing the cards. He is the Dealer. And He says to you “Look, I know I haven’t dealt you a perfect hand. You were hoping for a royal flush; but you got a pair of deuces. But listen to me: If you play your cards properly, according to the rules of the game that I have tuaght you, then you will win. There may be times when it looks like you’re going to lose, but in the end, you will win.”

Now this may be a pretty weird way to look at theology, but this is essentially what God’s sovereignty is all about. Play your cards his way, and you will win.

But I meet Christians all the time who are moaning and wailing about the cards they’ve been dealt. Like Naomi. They say “Look at these cards. How could anybody win with a hand like this? How could God deal me such lousy cards?” And they get mad at God. But they can’t admit that they’re mad at God (after all, they’re Christians!) so they get mad at everybody else instead. They make life miserable for themselves and for others. But they blame it all on the bad hand they’ve been dealt.

Now at this point, Satan shows up at the card game. He looks like a hot-shot river boat gambler in his diamond tie-tack and his alligator boots. He looks over your shoulder and he says “Oh, what a lousy hand you’ve been dealt. You got a raw deal. But I can help you fix it. Quick, take these cards.” and he hands you a couple of aces. “You’re gonna have to cheat if you’re ever going to win with that hand.”

God says “Do the right thing with the cards you’ve been dealt and you’ll win.” Satan says “You can’t win with the cards you’ve been dealt; the dealer has shafted you; you’ve gotta cheat.” And at that point every one of us has to decide what we’re going to do. We have to make a choice.

You may be sitting at the card table of life with a hand full of low cards that spell poverty. You just can’t seem to make ends meet financially. And Satan comes along and he hands you an ace that says “Cheat on your income tax. You’ll end up with more money.” What’s your choice going to be?

You may be a teenager sitting at the card table of life with the queen of hearts in your hand. You’re in love. The hormones are racing through your blood and going straight to your brain. And Satan comes along and he hands you the king of hearts and he says “Why wait? Enjoy sex now. After all, you’re in love aren’t you?” What’s your choice going to be?

You could be sitting at the card table of life, and diamonds are trumps, but all you’ve got are clubs. All your relationships have gone sour, and nobody understands. People have done you wrong. And Satan comes along and he hands you the ace of spades and he says “Bury those people. Bury them with hatred. Bury them with resentment and bitterness. You’ll feel so good if you make them feel so bad.” What’s your choice going to be? How are you going to play your cards?

In Ruth 1:16, Ruth made her choice. She said to Naomi “I’m going to stay with you. I care about you. I’m committed to you. And my commitment to you and my relationship with you are more important than what might be good for me.” She made her choice. She played her cards right. She did the right thing. She was confident in God’s sovereignty.

She went on to Bethlehem with Naomi. She faced a future that was totally unknown. For all intents and purposes, she was going to be an anonymous alien for the rest of her life. When they got to Bethlehem, she and Naomi had no means of livelihood, so Ruth had to go out and glean in the fields. Hopefully, she would be able to scrape together enough grain to make bread for the two of them.

That’s what brought her to the field of Boaz, a wealthy landowner. Boaz noticed her gleaning and asked his foreman whose young woman she was. Obviously, if you were a gleaner, you were probably a slave - you belonged to somebody else. Look at the foreman’s reply in 2:6

The foreman replied, “She is the Moabitess who came back from Moab with Naomi.”

As far as the foreman was concerned, Ruth didn’t even have a name. She was just a nameless Moabitess. Just another migrant farm worker. But the foreman did notice one thing about her. He noticed that she was a hard worker. Look at verse 7: “She went into the field and has worked steadily from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.”

Now here is where God’s sovereignty begins to work. Although Boaz didn’t know Ruth, he already knew of her. He had heard of her.

Look at verse 11: Boaz said to her, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

How do you go from being an anonymous immigrant widow to catching the eye of the wealthiest landowner in town, who also happens to be in a position to help you? By doing the right thing, by making the right choice, by choosing to honor God and serve others while you are still anonymous. By working hard at the task God has given you to do, whether people recognize you or not.

It was the fact that Ruth had made the right choice in the shadows that got her noticed in the daylight by the only man in Bethlehem who could help her. This is the sovereignty of God.

Ruth did the right thing without regard for her own personal benefit and the Lord took note of her and rewarded her.

PSA 15 Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellow man, who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the Lord, who keeps his oath even when it hurts, who lends his money without usury and does not accept a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.

Ruth wasn’t the only one who had to make choices. Later on in the story, Boaz has a chance to make a choice of his own. As events unfold, Boaz becomes seriously interested in Ruth. It’s a classic boy meets girl story. In chapter 2, Boaz took a look. In chapter 3, he got hooked. But in chapter 4, he went by the book.

There was a law in Israel that said that a widow could ask a male relative from the family of her deceased husband to serve as her kinsman-redeemer. He would marry her and raise up children for her so that the name of her husband would not die out. In the sovereignty of God, Boaz just happened to be a distant relative of Naomi, so that he was eligible to serve as Ruth’s kinsman redeemer.

But there was a hitch. There was another man who was an even closer relative. The law said that that man had first right to be the kinsman-redeemer. But Boaz wanted to be Ruth’s kinsman-redeemer. He wanted to be her husband. He knew her. He loved her.

Given those facts, and the fact that he was a wealthy man of great influence in the town, he could have simply arranged to marry Ruth and that would be that. But Boaz didn’t do it that way. He played by the book. He knew that, according to God’s law, he had no right to marry Ruth just because he loved her. He must offer the other man first choice. He had to be willing to see someone else take Ruth’s hand in marriage for the sake of observing God’s law.

And that’s exactly what Boaz did. In chapter 4, he went to that other man and drew to his attention the fact that he could be Ruth’s kinsman-redeemer if he wanted to. That must have been terribly hard for him to do. Boaz loved Ruth. He cared for her.

But Boaz was confident in God’s sovereignty. He would not by-pass the Law in order to fulfill his own desires. He didn’t rely on his glands for guidance here. He willingly placed himself under the Law’s procedure and allowed God to work. And he was confident that that would result in what was best for Ruth and for him.

He made his choice, he played his cards. And he played them right because he played them God’s way.

Character is forged by the choices we make every day. As we seek to honor God by placing his will first in the choices that we make, God will not only build character into us; he’ll bring blessing to others as well.

Ruth and Boaz both chose wisely. They chose to honor God in their moments of decision, trusting in His sovereignty, and God honored them for it. Their marriage ended up being an important link in the human chain that led to the birth of Jesus Christ.

How do you get from being a poor anonymous alien widow to being the great-great-grandmother of the Messiah? By playing the cards God dealt you God’s way.

May God give us strength to be like her.