Ruth: Better than you can Imagine!

November 17, 2024

Are you a glass half full or a glass half empty kind of person? You could be a glass half empty type, like Eeyore, saying, “Could be worse. Not sure how, but it could be.” Problem is, being a glass half empty person can mean you miss out on what God can do with your faithfulness!

I love the book of Ruth! It starts with a heartbreaking story. Elimelech and Naomi are a couple that live in Bethlehem, but they move to a foreign country, Moab, with their two sons, due to a famine. In Moab they have food. Their sons grow up and they get married. But then tragedy strikes! The father, Elimelech, dies. The two sons’ names are Mahlon and Kilion. Their names mean “sickly” and “comes to an end”. And they get sick and come to an end. Both sons die.  This leaves Naomi and her two daughters-in-law in a desperate situation. They have no jobs; women are not allowed to own property. They have no way to support themselves. Naomi decides to go back to Judah, where she’s from. Her daughters-in-law are going with her. Until Naomi thinks, wait, there is nothing for you two in Judah. Go home to your parents, stay in your own country, where you can get married again and have a good life.

Orpah says, “OK!” I mean she cries. But she understands it’s best for her to leave Naomi. She goes home. Ruth has a very different response. She clings to her mother-in-law Naomi. She won’t let go! Ruth tells Naomi, there is no way I will ever leave you so get over it, I am sticking with you. Where you go, I will go. Your God will be my God. Your people will be my people. Forever. Period.

God gave Ruth a purpose, to take care of Naomi. God gives everyone a purpose. God plants a dream in your heart, and the goal is to get that dream out of your heart and into the hearts of others. God has a dream, a purpose for you. It’s not an easy path to achieve it. So last week we talked about not giving up! You can start out strong like Ruth, but get discouraged, because it takes sacrifice, and it takes time to get to your goal. But remember, just because the past didn’t turn out like wanted, doesn’t mean the future can’t be better than you ever imagined!

Today we’re talking about another reason you might give up on your purpose or dream. It’s this: you can’t imagine a better future! You don’t see what God can do. So why go through the struggle, the long slog, of going after your dream, your purpose, when you don’t believe in a happy ending?

I love Ruth because God put a dream in her heart to take care of Naomi. She promised, so help me, we’ll be together ‘til the day one of us dies. Even then, I’ll be buried right beside you. She was determined, she was certain, she was going to watch over Naomi for life, and they would get through challenges together. They started out with nothing. You might think poor Ruth, she has nothing, but she has God (she has taken Naomi’s God as hers) and she has a heart full of hope! Her glass is half full.

Ruth isn’t going to just give up. She could feel sorry for herself: she’s lost her husband. She’s left her homeland and her parents. She thinks people won’t treat her as good because she’s a foreigner. She’s poor. She has so many things stacked up against her. But somehow, she still has hope! Just because the past didn’t turn out like you wanted it doesn’t mean the future can’t be better than you ever imagined!

There’s another positive thinker in this story, and that’s Boaz. He kind of likes Ruth, and she likes him. This could be a happy ever after where they get married, and Naomi lives with them and is taken care of! Mission accomplished. But first, there’s a problem. There’s a man more closely related to Naomi who has first Dibbs on marrying Ruth. So, he must be offered the opportunity.

Boaz has a plan. He goes to the town gate.  They didn’t have a court or city council. It was less formal. The elders would sit and talk at the gate, and this was where you went to make business deals. The guy who’s a closer relative, he happens to be walking by, and Boaz says, “come over here, my friend, and sit down.” Boaz has the 10 elders sit down too, as witnesses. And he tells the man there’s some land from Naomi’s family you can buy for pennies on the dollar. And the guy, he never is named, says, I’ll take it. But then Boaz says, you realize, if you take the land, you’ll have to marry Ruth. The guy says, well, I don’t want Ruth, marrying her will endanger my estate. You take the land.

Here’s what this guy, Mr. No name, saw. He saw a bad investment. He was a glass half empty kind of guy. Boaz looked at marrying Ruth (with Naomi tagging along) as a Legacy Opportunity. And he was so right!

Because here’s our very happy ending! Ruth and Boaz get married! Woohoo! AND they have a baby: that’s even better! The baby’s name is Obed. Obed was the father of Jesse. And Jesse was the father of David! It turns out Ruth and Boaz were great grandparents of Kind David! Woohoo again! But wait, there’s more!

Looking at Matthew chapter 1, you see that fourteen generations after David there was this famous guy from Bethlehem. Do you know who? Jesus! Ruth and Boaz were ancestors of Jesus!

Ruth and Boaz didn’t know Jesus was coming. They saw their dreams come true in their lifetime, but wait, there’s more, their dreams came true even over 1000 years later!

God’s plan is better than you can ever imagine! Would you tell somebody beside you, “God’s plan is better.” Now tell somebody else near you, tell them God’s plan is better for you too. My challenge for you this week is to read Ephesians 3:20. So let’s say it now: repeat after me: Now to God… who is able to do… immeasurably more… than all we ask or imagine… according to his power… that is at work within us. The future can be so much more than you imagine, because all things are possible with God!

I want to tell you a story about what God can do. About 15 years ago, in February, Ian had a retainer, and he lost it. We looked all over the house, we called the school, but we couldn’t find it anywhere. There was a big snowstorm. Two weeks later, my older son was walking home from school, it was about a mile and half. There was snow and ice on the ground. He didn’t fall the entire way, until he got to our block where he slipped and fell. Sitting on the ground he looked, and there on top of a snow pile was a retainer! It was Ian’s retainer! I never imagined that could happen! I told the orthodontist about this, and she said, “Well, you guys are pastors!” I had a spiritual conversation with the orthodontist! You can’t imagine what God can do!

When you don’t get the job you want, tell yourself that there’s something better God has planned for you. When your girlfriend or boyfriend dumps you, tell yourself God’s got somebody way better. God is so good he’s sending somebody that’s gonna make you thank God all day long that you didn’t marry the other person.

God gave you a purpose, a dream in your heart. With God’s help you can make it happen. It requires sacrifice and faith. But most of all, you have to have hope that God has a much better day ahead. God’s plan is better! God is able to do so much more than you ask or imagine. Amen.