When Ordinary Isn't Enough.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] All right, go ahead and have a seat. Welcome to Village Church. If this is your first time here, [0:04] my name’s Steve, one of the pastors here at Village Church, and as always, [0:07] I’m thankful and grateful to see each and every one of you. If you have your Bibles, go ahead and open them to the Book of [0:12] Ruth, chapter 1. That’s where we’re gonna be camping out for the next few weeks. We’re gonna be here for four weeks. [0:18] We’re gonna cover roughly a chapter every week, a little more, a little less sometimes, [0:24] but the Book of Ruth is really a record of events in the Old Testament that’s referred to many times.

[0:31] So if you grew up in the church or if you’ve spent any time, you know, going through Sunday school, [0:36] that kind of thing, there’s a great chance that you are familiar with this record, with the story of Ruth, [0:43] and it’s usually looked at through the lens of a love story and really the story that it contains. [0:50] So we follow this journey of this young widow named Ruth who, you know, moves to a town she’s not familiar with, [0:57] and she meets her knight in shining armor, Boaz, and he comes in, saves her out of her mess, [1:02] and now they all live happily ever, Ruth and Boaz, and everybody marches holding hands, smiling.

[1:09] I don’t want to look at it through that lens because that is not the point of the story. [1:16] Does it contain a story of love about Ruth and Boaz? [1:21] Absolutely. [1:22] But the point of the story is far larger than them. [1:26] So if all that you get out of this book is a love story about a guy and a girl, [1:33] you are missing the entire point of the story.

[1:38] Ruth is not the main character of the Book of Ruth. [1:43] God is. [1:44] This is a story about a sovereign God working through history to complete his sovereign plan. [1:53] And it’s a story, really, about how you can trust God in your life, [2:01] regardless of the circumstances, regardless of whether it’s disappointing, [2:05] regardless of how you see a mundane life, how you see yourself working within your life.

[2:10] You can trust God because he always, every single time, works every life to his plan, [2:19] even if you don’t see it in your lifetime. [2:25] And so over the next few weeks, we will go through this recorded history. [2:29] And so my hope is that we can move beyond the details, [2:34] and we can go kind of from the 15-foot view that we normally view these types of records in, [2:40] where all that we see are the main characters, and we’re like,

[2:42] what can I glean from the character of Ruth to apply to my life? [2:46] How can I find my Boaz? [2:48] How can I be like Ruth? [2:50] I want to move past that, and I want to try to get the 15,000-foot view [2:54] of what God is really trying to teach us about himself. [2:59] Because this story is so much more than this Disney-esque love tale.

[3:05] And if this is a love story, it is the worst John Cusack movie you have ever seen. [3:11] Because most of the story of Ruth is absolutely tragic. [3:17] It’s absolutely tragic. [3:19] There’s this great temptation throughout to despair, [3:22] and there is a lot of disappointment that happens in every single person’s life within this story. [3:29] But in that story, there is a tale of how to trust God.

[3:34] And that is what we need to apply to our lives. [3:38] That is what we need to glean from this true story about Ruth and her entire family. [3:44] But in doing that, we need to start where the story concludes. [3:48] So I don’t want to just begin, tell the story, and kind of get you to where it concludes. [3:53] I want you to understand that the whole point of this story is summed up in the final stanza of the record. [4:02] So turning your Bibles to Ruth 4 really quick, and then we’ll come back to Ruth 1.

[4:08] It says starting in verse 18, it says, [4:10] Now these are the generations of Pires. [4:12] Pires fathered Hezron, Hezron fathered Ram, [4:16] Ram fathered Amenadab, Amenadab fathered Naishon, [4:19] Naishon fathered Salmon, Salmon fathered Boaz, [4:23] Boaz fathered Obed, Obed fathered Jesse,

[4:26] and Jesse fathered David. [4:29] See, la. Meditate on that. [4:31] Like the end of the matter is a genealogy. [4:36] The whole point of the story is seen in a list of birth certificates. [4:44] It doesn’t really feel like chicken soup for the soul, [4:47] because it is not chicken soup for the soul.

[4:50] What it is, is us actually being able to look in and seeing at the end of all of these lives, [4:57] seeing as the author concludes the record of what took place in the lives of all of these people, [5:04] and saying, this is the outcome of the matter, [5:08] and the outcome of the matter happened after every single person in the record was already dead. [5:18] None of them saw God’s plan and what He was actually working through their lives come to fruition. [5:27] You say, well, that’s not very encouraging.

[5:30] It should be. [5:32] Because number one this morning, understand that ordinary life has eternal meaning. [5:38] Ordinary life has eternal meaning. [5:42] If the end of the matter was Ruth and Boaz, [5:46] if the end of the matter was that they were a great couple, [5:51] if the end of the matter was find your hope that a guy’s going to show up and save you,

[5:57] if the end of the matter was the end of them, then all hope is lost. [6:05] Because none of it would have had eternal significance. [6:10] But there at the very end, what we see is that the purpose of the disappointments that happened in [6:17] their lives, the point of the tragedies, the reality of them just living ordinary lives, [6:26] trying to follow God, was that from their birth line came King David. [6:34] And from King David’s birth line came the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ.

[6:41] And so when we begin to interact with the people in this, we begin to hear their story. [6:48] What I want you to understand that behind everything, behind all of the disappointment, [6:52] behind all of the circumstances, you have a sovereign God working these ordinary people [7:00] to bring about the birth of his son, the Savior, Jesus Christ. [7:07] And so right there, there’s just an application that you need to trust God when you don’t see it. [7:12] You need to trust God even when you don’t see it, because they didn’t see it.

[7:18] I mean, you did not come into the book of Ruth and have anything fantastic going on, [7:22] anything good. It’s all bad, not just their lives. Everything is bad. This is taking place [7:30] during the same time period that the book of Judges takes place. It’s right after Judges, [7:34] and it says that the judges were in power in the land. And if you’ve read the book of Judges, [7:39] the whole theme of that book is everyone did that which was right in his own eyes. [7:44] Kicker, no one did anything right the whole time. It was sin after sin after sin, not trust God

[7:54] after not trust God after not trust God. Tragedy everywhere, and that sets the scene for the book [8:02] of Ruth. And then we come into the story of their lives, and we have continuous disappointment. [8:08] Join with me in verse one. It says, In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the [8:13] land. And a man of Bethlehem and Judah went to Sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife [8:20] and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, [8:25] and the names of his two sons were Malon and Chillion. They were Ephrathites, which is always

[8:31] a tongue twister, from Bethlehem and Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. [8:36] But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. These took Moabite [8:43] wives. The name of the one was Orpah, not Oprah, Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth. They lived [8:50] there about 10 years. And both Malon and Chillion died, so that the woman was left with her two sons, [8:58] excuse me, without her two sons and her husband. Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return [9:04] from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited

[9:09] his people and given them food. So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, [9:14] and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, [9:21] go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have [9:27] dealt with the dead and with me. So we enter into the story, and nothing’s going the way that anyone [9:38] had planned for it to go. Nothing is going right. I mean, you look at this, and you begin to kind of [9:45] empathize with the people, and you look at Naomi, and she’s just depressed, and it’s like, who wouldn’t

[9:50] be? I mean, there’s famine in the land of Israel, so something’s going wrong. So the husband, he’s [9:55] just trying to do what any good husband’s going to do. He’s trying to provide for his family, [9:59] so he says, hey, I’ve heard they’ve got some great crops going on over in Moab, let’s move over there. [10:04] So he takes his whole family there, tragedy strikes. He dies. Single mother raising her two [10:12] sons, she’s working in the fields. You see that in the story where it says she herd in the fields, [10:16] so she’s having to work as a single mom raising two sons. They find Moabite wives,

[10:20] they marry the wives. What happens? They both die. So now there’s Naomi, her two daughters-in-law, [10:26] and more than that, she hears, oh, great, we leave Judah, and food starts growing. [10:34] So all the crops are harvesting there, so let’s go back. And so what does she look, and how does [10:39] she want to leave them? She says, look, girls, I’ll give you a piece of advice. Get as far away [10:45] from me as you possibly can. I mean, no, she says, you have dealt with the dead, okay? She’s like, [10:55] you’ve dealt with the dead. I mean, my husband’s dead, your husband’s are dead, and with me.

[11:02] So you don’t want to deal with me anymore. Get away. And so we see a set of circumstances [11:09] that is not what any of us would call ideal. We do not have anyone facing and defeating their giants [11:21] in this setting. We have people living absolutely ordinary lives, and that’s really the first thing [11:30] that I see that’s amazing about the Book of Ruth is about how completely and profoundly ordinary [11:37] this book is. And that’s really what the scriptures is. You have a collection of completely ordinary [11:44] people being used by a completely extraordinary God to accomplish his sovereign will. You do not

[11:53] have tales of complete heroes showing up, being impressive, being amazing, and God looking down [12:02] and saying, well, I’m glad I picked you. But I think that’s how we would read ourselves [12:09] into the story. So it’s interesting when I would normally talk to people about trusting God, [12:15] and this isn’t bad. I wouldn’t say this is a horrible thing. What I hear from you is [12:19] I’m trusting God for this. I’m trusting God for this specific thing that I think would make my [12:27] life better, that I think would relieve the pain that I’m going through, that I think would better

[12:31] my situation or circumstances. I’m trusting God for a better job. I’m trusting God for a better [12:36] house. I’m trusting God for a spouse. I’m trusting God to fix my spouse. I’m trusting God for this, [12:42] this, this, and this. But when we come into the Book of Ruth and we begin kind of interacting [12:47] with the narrative here, what do you do when what you’re trusting God for never happens?

[12:56] How do you respond when the very thing that you are trusting God to do? He’s seemingly [13:03] silent on the issue. He doesn’t come through where you want him to come through. [13:08] And what do you do also when it’s not that you’re trusting God for this one thing that will relieve [13:14] you, this one thing that will make the pain go away, this one thing that will take your disappointing [13:20] life and make it better? What do you do when all of it is disappointing? Everything happening in [13:29] your life is not what you thought it would be. Let’s say when you were 18 and now you’re 50.

[13:36] When you were 18, you had all of these plans. You had this great vision. You had these great [13:42] dreams of what story God was going to tell in your life. And you get to 50 and the road behind you, [13:50] none of it materialized and all of it was disappointing. And you say, I’m not living in a [13:57] life where what I’m trusting God for is happening. I’m living in a life where I really feel like God [14:03] is against me. I feel like maybe God’s got an axe to grind against me. I feel like he’s deserted [14:11] me. I feel like nothing good is happening. What do you do then? Because that is the situation

[14:21] that Ruth was in. You see, the interesting thing about where we are in history right now [14:28] is that we are surrounded by a culture that seeks to be impressive and seeks to be impressed.

[14:39] We don’t want the ordinary. We want the impressive. You see, many dream that my life’s going to be [14:48] game-changing. I’m going to be a game-changer. Whether it be this completely secularized dream [14:56] that you’re going to be out there making all this money or you’re like me when you were a kid, [15:00] I was going to play third base with the Oakland A’s. That was the dream. But by the time I got [15:05] to the 10th grade and no scouts were showing up at my high school games, I started to wonder. [15:10] I don’t know if this is going to pan out. But whether that’s your dream or whether or not

[15:15] you’ve come into the faith because this has come into the church. If you’re under the age of 40, [15:20] you’re waiting for your moment where you can go big or go home for the Lord. Maybe you’re pushing [15:27] 40 now and you’re like I might have to go home. But everything that we do in our culture is about [15:35] being impressive. I’ve got to be more impressive. I’ve got to stick out among the rest. I’ve got to [15:41] be more. I’ve got to get more because what I have is not enough.

[15:49] And you’re disappointed. Yeah, sure. None of the tragic events that took place here in Ruth 1 [15:56] are what you’re dealing with. But you look at everything that you have in your life and it is [16:02] not enough because you are in a culture addicted to the impressive. Friend, what I want you to [16:09] understand first is that God’s history shows us that he is involved in the obscure.

[16:17] He never comes onto the scene to find impressive people. He finds people in obscure circumstances [16:23] living ordinary lives and the record of scripture is story after story of God just coming into [16:29] ordinary circumstances in order to work his extraordinary will through those circumstances. [16:34] Many of them are decade after decade of disappointment, [16:38] especially in this story when we get to the end and they don’t even get to know [16:42] that they’re of the birth and lineage of Jesus Christ.

[16:48] The impressive doesn’t impress God. So we can stop trying. We can stop seeking day after day to be [17:00] so impressive. And what you need to do is you need to find the glory of the ordinary [17:06] because God works through the obscure events and through the most obscure of people to bring [17:12] himself the greatest of glory over the long haul. The faithfulness in everyday life just might be [17:23] God to show how impressive he is. What if the focus of your life needs to change from a go big [17:33] or go home mentality and shift to a mentality of faithfulness to the specifics? What if the exact

[17:43] set of circumstances that God has you in right now? I mean, let’s just say that you are a person [17:49] that loves Jesus. You are a person that is seeking to worship him in every day. You are, [17:54] if you’re married, you are a faithful spouse seeking the good of your spouse. You say you’ve [17:59] got kids. You’re a faithful parent seeking to love your children, to raise them in the admonition of [18:04] the Lord. You’re providing for them in the way that you should. You’re seeking to worship Jesus [18:08] with them, teach them the Bible, have family worship. I mean, you are living a life in which

[18:14] you are committed to discipleship relationships. You’re entering into environments where you’re [18:19] soaking and saturating in God’s word with other people. You’re seeking to build community with [18:24] other Christians in the avenue of the local church. And you’re doing this. You’re seeking it week in [18:29] and week out. And more than that, you are involved in the lives of your neighbors and you’re trying [18:34] to seek them with the good news of Jesus Christ. You’re trying to tell people the greatest news [18:39] possible. You’re trying to live your life in such a way so that you have opportunity to tell people

[18:45] about the Lord. And let’s say in that situation, you look and you say, but this is not enough. I [18:51] need to be more impressive. What I’m telling you is, is that you’re not trying to be impressive for [18:55] the glory of God. You’re trying to be impressive for the glory of self. Friends, you’re trying to [19:03] rob God of his glory. That’s what discontentment in godly situations is.

[19:13] And let’s say in all of that, your real desire is, man, but I want God to do more. I want God to reach more people through what I’m already doing. I want to know him more. I want to know his word more. I want to worship him more. I want to spend more time in his presence. I want God to just work through me in every way that he can. See, that’s what the glory of God looks like. [19:37] But this addiction that we have of being impressive, that’s not godly. And it’s not bringing him glory. It’s for you. You probably don’t need a dream bigger than faithfulness.

[20:01] The dream and the vision for your life needs to be one of faithfulness to God in every circumstance and every situation that he brings you in your life. [20:12] Pastor and scholar Eugene Peterson calls Christianity a long obedience in the same direction.

[20:21] See, that’s what it is. It’s finding the glory of God in the ordinary circumstances of your life because being faithful to what he has been specific about, it takes endurance. It takes a life. It takes going through disappointment while still trusting him. [20:39] That is a good dream to have. There’s a worshipful posture in obeying God and trusting that the mundane is enough.

[20:53] At the beginning of Ruth, you see people living ordinary lives and the purpose behind it is so important to the narrative of Scripture as a whole that the church has been studying it for thousands of years.

[21:11] Ordinary faithfulness is the calling of every single follower of Jesus. And when you lose sight of that, the focus on selfish ambition and our desire to go big or go home so that our stories will impress ceases to be telling God’s story and it becomes about being consumed with telling your own. [21:37] You see, there’s something glorious about the ordinary. [21:42] Tim Keller calls following Jesus doing ordinary things for extraordinary reasons, and he goes on and he says, if Jesus became incarnate to live among the ordinary, then what we call ordinary is really special to God.

[22:00] So when you demean the ordinary, demean the very thing that the Son of God entered into to save us, it is faithfulness that leads to glory. [22:14] You see, you need to be faithful where God has called you.

[22:19] You need to be courageous enough to provide for your family.

[22:26] You need to be bold enough to read the Bible with your children, or dare I say it, to get up earlier and read it alone. [22:34] You need to be brave enough husbands to love your wives. [22:38] You need to be courageous enough wives to love and submit to your husbands. [22:44] You need to be bold enough to serve the local church. [22:48] You need to be faithful enough to build community within it. [22:54] You see, these are the only things that will prepare you for the things that God may choose to bring into your life in order to bring himself glory.

[23:03] Is your desire for more about the name and fame of God, or is it about the name and fame of self? [23:12] You see, the scriptures are a narrative of ordinary lives telling the story under the power of a sovereign God. [23:20] But number two, in that, the most important thing that you can do is write the plans of your life in pencil.

[23:28] Let’s go beyond that and then get an industrial sized eraser and put it on top of that bad boy. [23:34] Because that’s what life really is. [23:37] If you’re trusting and following God, understand that there will be ways that you go that you say, I never thought I’d go that direction.

[23:46] You have any control issues in your life? I know I do. [23:50] When plans change, I am devastated. [23:53] Disappointed beyond degree. I’m a planner. [23:56] A couple weeks ago, I was cleaning out a storage unit for a phase change in our lives, and that means my wife told me to throw stuff away. [24:04] And I found this notebook, and it was filled with these drawings that I had made, and I am no artist, so I wasn’t trying to be one. [24:13] But what it was is it was sketches of my dorm room from 15 years ago.

[24:18] And what I had done is I had sketched my dorm room for size, and the air conditioner’s here. [24:25] Here’s where the couch might go. Here’s where the desk might go. Here’s where the beds might go. [24:29] And I was presenting it to my roommates, and we’re voting, which decoration plan do we want here? I’m a planner.

[24:39] And so when things go wrong, it’s like, what? [24:44] You mean it’s not going to go exactly the way that I want it to go? Scrap the whole thing. [24:50] It’s over. [24:52] What? The microwave won’t fit. We’re moving.

[24:56] This cannot function under these circumstances.

[25:02] You know, a great help for a controlling person like me is that you need to learn to obey God more than you obey yourself. [25:10] The interesting thing about the ordinary life is certainly how disappointing [25:15] and discouraging certain things that happen within it can be. Sure, it can be mundane, [25:21] but it’s more than about the mundane. The mundane is disappointing. [25:24] But what I’m talking about is that when you put your plans for life out and it doesn’t turn out the way that you want it,

[25:34] you never make the job that you wanted. [25:38] You never get that girl to want to be your wife. [25:43] That guy that you want to be your husband when he married somebody else. [25:48] That baby that you desired so much, [25:52] the father isn’t giving it to you. [25:56] That lifestyle that you thought was going to cure it all, not only did it leave you dissatisfied,

[26:02] but it devastated you in the end because it was a terrible choice. [26:06] See, life can often be like the home improvement project [26:11] that you thought was going to be a quick DIY [26:15] for 50 bucks and [26:16] 10,000 dollars later, the contractor has all of your money. [26:21] Or like that picture of a cake with the decorations from the internet that you found where it guaranteed follow these directions,

[26:29] and you will have SpongeBob SquarePants in your pan. [26:33] And what you ended up with was a yellow creature from the Black Lagoon [26:37] that you dare not show your children because they would cry at the sight of it, much less eat it.

[26:45] Life can turn out that way sometimes [26:49] because our plans don’t always go the way that we want them to. [26:54] That’s where we find Naomi [26:56] dealing with [26:57] what has happened in her life, not

[27:02] theoretical events, [27:03] real life. [27:04] In verse 9, the story continues and it says, [27:08] Naomi speaking, the Lord grant that you may find rest each of you in the house of her husband. [27:14] Then she kissed them and they lifted up their voices and wept and they said to her, no, [27:18] we will return with you to your people. But Naomi said, turn back my daughters. Why will you go with me?

[27:26] See, Naomi thought it’s over. [27:29] God’s done using me. He’s turned his back from me. He’s cursed me.

[27:35] She says, have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? [27:41] Turn back my daughters. Go your way for I am too old to have a husband. [27:44] If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, [27:50] would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? [27:54] No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me. For your sake the hand of the Lord has gone out against me. [28:03] Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.

[28:10] And sometimes this point in the story, people are hard on poor Orpah. [28:13] I would have left too. [28:16] You tell me all that. I’m like, you know, you make some really good points, Naomi. [28:20] And I don’t want to rob a cradle. That’s kind of weird. [28:24] See, I’m out. I’m out. [28:28] Ruth clung to her. But note Naomi’s attitude about her life.

[28:35] You see, [28:37] what’s happening here is not [28:40] that a major event [28:44] has brought Naomi to the place that she is. And that’s what we often think. [28:49] Ruth doesn’t present a major event or a major moment where something went wrong. [28:54] Instead, what you see is a series of unfortunate events changing the direction of these women.

[29:02] What emerges in those moments is the truth of what you are trusting in. [29:09] Paul Tripp puts it this way. [29:11] He says, you and I don’t live in a series of big dramatic moments. [29:15] We don’t careen from big decision to big decision. [29:18] We all live in an endless series of little moments. [29:21] The character of a life isn’t set in ten big moments.

[29:25] The character of a life is set in ten thousand little moments of everyday life. [29:30] It’s the themes of struggles [29:32] that emerge from those little moments that reveal what’s really going on [29:37] in our hearts.

[29:40] You see friend, in the big moments, [29:43] the small moments that built your life [29:45] are revealed. [29:47] That’s what happened to Naomi here. [29:50] Now make no mistake, we can surely empathize with her despair. [29:54] We can empathize with her disappointment, even the emotional state that she found herself in.

[29:58] But the reality of life though is that this is the exact moment that is coming to every one of us at some point. [30:08] Every one of us at some point or a few points or many points will be confronted with profound [30:16] disappointment. [30:18] And it is not that moment, whether good, and it’s like this is the best moment of my life, [30:24] or negative, to where we say, oh God have you turned your back on me. It is not that moment that builds [30:31] the character that is revealed. It is all of the little moments that lead to that one moment

[30:39] that gives you the reaction to that moment.

[30:43] See in those little moments, you need to build trust for whatever God brings into your life. [30:51] Proverbs 16, 9 reveals that our plans are not always God’s intention. [30:56] This is the heart of a man plans his way, [30:59] but the Lord establishes his steps. [31:04] Whatever plan that you mark out for your life, whether you do it at 10, 15, 18, 25, [31:09] 62.

[31:13] What if that’s not what God has for you? [31:17] What if that’s not what God wants for you? [31:20] What if [31:21] God allowing that to come into your life and allowing life to go exactly the way that you want it to go [31:27] is the complete opposite of what God’s plan is for your life. And that change of direction [31:35] is how God’s going to use you to bring himself glory.

[31:39] What do you do when it becomes apparent that your plan isn’t going to happen? [31:45] That is when what you are actually trusting in for your life will emerge. [31:52] Author Jared Wilson puts it this way. I couldn’t say it any better than this. He says our cliche statements. [31:59] Like when God closes a door, he will open another one or when God closes a door look for an open window. [32:06] They aren’t always true. [32:08] Sometimes when God closes a door, it’s because he wants the building to fall on top of you.

[32:15] Let that sink in.

[32:20] Do you trust God with that?

[32:24] Do you trust God to that extent? [32:27] Naomi was struggling to. [32:29] See wisdom though is to trust God’s plan [32:33] above my own plan [32:34] and to look to him [32:36] above the

[32:37] circumstance in every step of my life. Why? [32:42] Because he is writing the future. [32:47] I am not. [32:50] The answer to my life is not that God would bring me up to his level and let me have the same [32:57] 15,000 foot view that he does from the beginning to the end and the end from the beginning. The answer is that I trust [33:05] that he has

[33:07] that view and wherever he leads I will follow.

[33:15] That is the answer.

[33:20] Regardless of whether the outcome is of my preference or not. Proverbs 3 5 through 6.

[33:29] Wise words. [33:30] Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not lean on your own understanding. [33:35] And all your ways acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths. See there’s a wrong way of reading that verse. [33:44] Because sometimes it’s not the path that’s crooked.

[33:50] Sometimes it’s you.

[33:52] And making your path straight means God [33:55] takes that crooked and points you [33:58] in the right direction. [34:00] Because that straight path can often be not just a detour from where you are. [34:05] It’s like the Griswold family vacation. The luggage fell off on interstate 66, but you need to be on I-95. [34:13] God wants you to change your direction because otherwise you’re not leaning on him.

[34:19] You’re leaning on your own understanding when God is saying through every circumstance, trust me, trust me, trust me, [34:27] follow me, follow me, follow me. And our response reveals what our faith is actually in. [34:35] You may respond that sounds very defeatist. [34:39] Friend, no, this is victory. [34:42] Because trusting that God has a plan is about submitting to his purposes above my own. [34:50] That is what faith is.

[34:52] It is repentance from the self-centered pride that kills life and leaves me [34:58] despairing when things don’t go as I thought they would. [35:02] Trusting God in every moment is the victory of realizing that I am not the king. [35:10] Life is not about me.

[35:14] Trusting God is the rejection of seeking to impress [35:20] and submitting to God’s [35:22] overwhelming impressiveness. [35:26] That is life. [35:28] And that is where it’s found. [35:30] And thirdly this morning, please friend, don’t distrust God because you are disappointed.

[35:37] Don’t distrust God because you are disappointed. [35:40] But make no mistake that temptation will come. [35:43] There is a temptation to distrust in the moment of disappointment or in the years of disappointment.

[35:52] You know disappointment can be a divine revelation. [35:56] Sure, it’s a revelation of [35:59] what your trust is actually in and that’s what we see from Naomi. [36:04] At the time when she needed God the most she was overwhelmed with a feeling of divine abandonment. [36:10] Maybe you felt that way. Maybe you feel that way right now. [36:14] As Naomi pronounces enmity with God note what Ruth does.

[36:20] Look in verse 15. [36:22] Naomi has just said the Lord has gone out against me and [36:27] Naomi says in verse 15, see your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her God’s return after your sister-in-law. [36:35] But Ruth said do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you for where you go [36:41] I will go and where you lodge I will lodge your people shall be my people and your God my God. [36:48] Where you die, I will die and there I will be buried.

[36:51] May the Lord do so to me. [36:55] And more also if anything but death parts me from you. [36:59] And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more. [37:05] Friend, it wasn’t that God’s hand was against Naomi. [37:09] It was that God’s plan was different for her than she would have chosen. [37:15] But I want you to see the two different responses.

[37:20] Naomi is in desperation mode. [37:24] God has cursed her. God has abandoned her. She feels as if she could never know God’s blessing again. [37:32] But note Ruth.

[37:35] Ruth testifies not only that she’s going to trust God, but she testifies also God has not abandoned you. [37:43] She says your God [37:45] will be my God. [37:48] You see in that moment [37:50] in this event what you do see is that there is an application of faithfulness for us. [37:58] And it’s not in the fact that Ruth is being so kind to an old lady who a lot of bad things are happening in her life.

[38:05] It is that Ruth looks to her and says Naomi your God will be my God. We will find him. We will follow him.

[38:16] Friend, [38:17] God has not abandoned you. [38:21] In every moment, we need to understand that sometimes tragedy serves to show us what we have been trusting all along. [38:31] Ruth knew [38:33] what Naomi was feeling. See it wasn’t just Naomi’s husband that died. [38:38] Ruth was also a widow.

[38:41] Ruth had also lost it all. [38:43] Her dreams, her vision, the life that she saw in front of her with her husband.

[38:52] Gone.

[38:54] And yet still hope, [38:57] trust, [38:58] faith. [39:00] The father’s not abandoned us. [39:02] He is still our God.

[39:06] It was that God’s plan for her life,

[39:11] it was one that would lead to the birth of King David. [39:15] Ultimately to bring about Jesus, the son of God. [39:19] But in the moment, don’t think it felt any different to Ruth because she didn’t know any of that. [39:25] She just knew that God did have a plan. God would have a plan. That every single moment of disappointment, [39:32] yes, it serves to bring God great glory. [39:36] Why do I think that?

[39:39] Because it’s the only way to bring God great glory. [39:39] Because of the outcome of this piece of history. [39:42] Every moment of disappointment served as a path to King Jesus. [39:46] You see, for you need to trust God.

[39:50] Partly because of all that he is, but also because of all that he has promised. [39:57] For me, [39:59] Romans 11 36 is is kind of an anchor verse. [40:03] It’s one of those verses that reminds me of the greatness and the goodness of God. [40:07] It says for from him and through him and to him are all things. [40:12] To him be glory forever. Amen. So be it.

[40:19] What that means is that it’s not just the things that make me laugh that come from God. [40:24] It’s not just the things that bring a smile to my face that find their source in God. [40:30] Not just the happy moments, not just those good moments where everything’s going great. [40:34] All the plans are materializing. Everything’s coming together. [40:38] You know, it’s like Hannibal. I love it when a plan comes together. [40:43] Those aren’t the only things that come from God.

[40:47] It is the reality that even those moments of disappointment,

[40:53] those tragedies, those hardships, [40:58] they are not removed from God. [41:00] They are from him. They are through him and they are to him and they will be to his glory. [41:10] So in those moments when it’s all hit the fan [41:13] and those moments when it’s all falling apart, [41:17] in those moments where you’re like, this is not going to turn out well,

[41:22] certainly not going to turn out the way that I thought it would. [41:25] And someone comes to you and says, but Romans 8 28, [41:29] you’re going to want to kick him in the face. [41:32] That’s never going to change. In hard moments, people, you know, they’re trying their best, [41:37] but it’s like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I already knew that all things work together for good [41:42] to those who are the called to those who love God. I know that.

[41:48] But in this moment, I don’t feel it. [41:52] That’s not going to bring a smile to my face right now.

[41:56] And those moments I go to Romans 11 36, because that’s why I can trust Romans 8 28. [42:07] It’s not because that’s just this promise that God has given me. It’s more than that. [42:12] It’s that God has the power to keep that promise, but it’s more than that. [42:17] Also in Hebrews chapter two, verse 10, he comments on this very truth. [42:24] Because in that moment we may retort, but how can I trust that when it’s so difficult? [42:30] Because it was fitting that he for whom and by whom all things exist in bringing many sons to

[42:38] glory should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.

[42:47] See, we can trust that in the moment when despair creeps in, because the one who brings it into all [42:57] of my life and then brings it back to his glory, he personally sank himself into that history.

[43:08] So there are going to be moments of disappointment. There are going to be moments [43:11] of profound discouragement. There are going to be moments where you’re questioning everything. [43:14] There are going to be moments where doubt has filled your soul. And in those moments, [43:21] understand that while you don’t know the outcome, while you don’t know how it’s going to turn out, [43:27] I can promise you one thing. It is not that God has abandoned you.

[43:32] He sank himself into the deepest depths of suffering for you on the cross. [43:41] And so in those moments, God responds and he says, I understand.

[43:48] I’m with you in suffering. But it’s even beyond that salvation was perfected at that suffering, [43:59] the suffering of the one who made it all. You see, for you trust God because he’s always in it [44:05] with you and because he understands every moment and because he does have a plan.

[44:13] And deserting you is not part of that plan. You trust God because he has shown that from great [44:22] suffering comes an even greater resurrection. He is the God who has the power to literally [44:31] bring life from death. And he did that through the life of Naomi.

[44:38] He never gave her another baby on this earth. The scripture doesn’t tell us that she got married. [44:46] The scripture doesn’t record that she ever had another husband. But it does record that from [44:54] every discouraging, every disappointing moment in her life, the eternal God who knows everything [44:59] was weaving through it the birth line of the one who would die on the cross and the one that would [45:06] rise from the dead. I have no promises that I will ever see what the disappointments in my life [45:17] materialize to the glory of God on this physical earth. But there will come a day where I stand

[45:22] before the King of Kings and I see his glory and I tell you, Naomi saw the glory and Naomi now has [45:31] no regrets, no disappointments. As the band comes up, I understand that in these moments and moments [45:42] of sermons like this that there are probably a handful of you at least at minimum who are [45:49] going through a tough point. You’re going through a disappointing section of life or maybe [45:56] you’re looking at me and saying, I don’t think you understand. I’m not seeing a lot of positive. [46:03] It’s all disappointing. Friend, the word of God is true for you. He does have a plan for you.

[46:14] He does have a purpose for everything that has come into your life and for everything maybe that [46:20] has gone out of your life from him, through him and to him are all things. And I know that that [46:27] doesn’t make it any easier. I know that that doesn’t relieve physical pain. I know that that [46:34] may not in this moment even relieve emotional or spiritual strife from you. But that is where faith [46:42] in God empowers you to endure because it tells you that no matter what happens on this earth, [46:51] glory is the outcome. Why can you believe that? Because that was the outcome of the book of Ruth

[46:58] on the day that Jesus rose from the dead. Glory. And it started a long time before [47:08] through people who weren’t even on this earth when it happened.

[47:14] So if you’re in here and it’s possible that that your life is in a place where you’ve never [47:18] trusted Jesus or you’re even questioning right now, do I know Jesus? If that’s you in just a [47:23] moment, I’m going to ask you to take the bold step of going into the foyer talking to somebody [47:27] about Jesus, letting somebody pray for you, pray with you, pray over you. Maybe you just need [47:34] somebody to encourage you to continue this journey that you’re on. But if you’re in here [47:39] and you are a follower of Jesus, you say, yep, disappointing for sure life can be.

[47:45] But God’s so good through every moment of it because of King Jesus. [47:50] That’s you and you’ve trusted Jesus. Then in just a moment, I’m going to ask you to come up. [47:55] The bread represents the broken body. The cup represents the shed blood of Jesus Christ. [47:59] And when we eat and when we drink, we say the outcome, no matter what the circumstance, [48:07] will be glory because I’ve trusted in Jesus Christ. When you’re ready, come.