Behind a Frowning Providence
It’s good to be back with you today. It probably wasn’t the most appropriate thing to have a sermon on Islam on Mother’s Day. But I’m going to try to make up for that by spending the next month preaching from Ruth, who as an ancestress of Jesus was one of the most important mothers of the Bible.
Ruth comes right after the Book of Judges, to which it was actually attached in the Hebrew Bible. If you have read the book of Judges you know it to be a depressing book in many ways, revealing the dark side of humanity as few portions of Scripture do. The very last verse of the book sort of says it all: “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” The book of Ruth, however, will reveal that even in the darkest of times there is a godly remnant who seek God’s face, obey His commandments, and experience great blessing.
The Book of Ruth is one of the two books in the Bible that bears the name of a woman. The other is, of course, the book of Esther, which we will, Lord willing, be studying right after Ruth. Interestingly, Ruth is the story of a Gentile girl who was taken in by the Jews and married a Jew, while Esther is the story of a Jewish girl who was taken in by the Gentiles and married a Gentile. Both, thankfully, are godly examples.
I want us to consider several reasons why it is wise and good for us to spend a whole month studying this brief book. First, it is the Word of God. All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable–OT as well as NT, narrative literature as well as doctrinal. Paul said of the OT Scripture that “everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Rom. 15:4).
The message of Ruth is filled with God-inspired hope that points to Jesus Christ. It provides us with one of the clearest pictures in all of Scripture of the glory of our redemption in Christ. It will amaze you if you have never studied it before; it will thrill you if you are hearing it all over again. In fact, this is the reason why I have borrowed the title for the series from one of my colleagues in St. Louis–The Gospel According to Ruth.
Second, Ruth is a charming love story, and everyone enjoys a good love story. I must admit that it starts out as a rather unusual kind of love story, telling of the love between a woman and her mother-in-law. Mothers-in-law tend to receive a lot of bad press, and I think much of it is exaggerated for the sake of humor. Not that everyone is laughing, of course, for there are indeed some sorry examples of poor relationships with mothers-in-law. But Ruth demonstrates what this relationship can become when just one person puts heart and soul into it.
But the book of Ruth becomes a more common type of love story in chapter two as the relationship between Ruth and Boaz develops. This love story presents a portrait of manhood and womanhood that is far beyond the highly sensualized picture of human love we see today. John Piper writes, “In making sex the main thing, the modern world is losing the glory and beauty and depth and power of what sexuality becomes when it runs like a deep and mighty river between the high banks of righteousness.” We need heroes like Ruth and Boaz.
Third, the book of Ruth contains one of the most profound revelations of the providence of God found anywhere in Scripture. Biblical Christians don’t believe in luck, in randomness, or in fate, for Ephesians 1 tells us that God works all things after the counsel of His own will. The Bible doesn’t, however, teach that God always rules by direct action. Oh, at times He does, and at such times we speak of the results as sovereign displays of divine power. But most of the time God works behind the scenes, employing good or evil circumstances to bring about His will. Theologians call that providence. We enjoy God’s providence when it entails blessing, but we tend to struggle with it when it involves suffering.
One of the key questions for believers in any age, today included, is “Can I trust God when He allows pain and suffering in my life, particularly when I see little or no purpose in it?” William Cowper, an 18th century poet wrote these words to encourage us to answer that question in the affirmative:
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust him for his grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
The story of Ruth is one of the most graphic illustrations of the smiling face behind a frowning providence.
We’re going to read the first chapter of the Book of Ruth. I ask you to please follow the story closely because we will not re-read most of it as we teach.
In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.
Now Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.