MORE THAN YOU KNOW - Ruth 4:11-22 - Ruth06
Have you ever felt as though your life was more of a mountain road than a freeway?
Our lives seem to be lived bouncing from one circumstance to another, like we’re traveling a twisty, turny mountain road instead of a straight shot on the freeway. But freeways aren’t designed to get to the top of the mountain. It takes a twisty, turny road to get up there. Every curve is uncertain. We don’t know the purpose of all those crazy twists and turns—but God does. The problem for us is that He doesn’t offer an explanation. He simply calls us to stay on the road.
As we close the Book of Ruth, we’re going to see a glimpse of God’s plan for the twisty, turny road that Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz have been on. And what I pray you’ll see is that Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz could deal only with the next curve, right in front of them. They couldn’t see the Grand Design or the ultimate destination of the road. They just made their choices one turn at a time. And as they made their choices, doing what was right before God, God was doing more than they could ever know.
While we’re driving our own mountain road of life, we can’t see the Grand Design or the ultimate plan. But if we will trust God and do what’s right before Him, God will be at work to do more than we could ever know.
We left our story with Ruth being “rightly redeemed” by Boaz, and we tried to make it clear that Ruth was secure in being redeemed by Boaz, just as we are secure in being redeemed by Jesus Christ. Boaz had done everything right. He had rightly and legally redeemed Ruth.
We now step right back into this picture, at the gate of the city, where this legal transaction occurred and pick up the events in Ruth 4:11(All Scripture us taken from the English Standard Version [ESV]).
11 Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman, who is coming into your house (Ruth), like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel . . .”
It’s interesting—both Rachel and Leah were barren for some time, and God opened their wombs to allow them to have children. Those children together became the twelve tribes of Israel. Ruth, who’d been married for some time and also had no children, would need this same blessing for her to have a child.
Which reminds me of one of the twists on my own mountain road. Pam and I tried unsuccessfully to have a baby for seven years before Danielle was born. During that time we were part of a small church, and that entire church prayed that God would miraculously provide a baby for us. All that time we were crying out to God in faith, God was saying, “Oh, I have children for you¾more than you know. And in His time, after many twists and turns in the road, and after our faith had been greatly exercised, God said, “Not one, not two, but three children for you, all back-to-back, and the most wonderful kids imaginable.”
During those seven years of our young faith, God was doing more than we knew, and we are so grateful to God for the more that He had planned all along.
The people prayed that Ruth would be like Rachel and Leah, who birthed the tribes of Israel, and their prayer continues in verse11:
11 “. . . May you act worthily (prosper) in Ephrathah (EF-RATH, surrounding area) and be renowned (famous) in Bethlehem,”
Then the people at the gate prayed another prayer over Boaz. They had no idea just how accurate their prayer was:
12 “and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman.”
Perez was a direct ancestor to Boaz. Perez was born under somewhat similar circumstances, but with a pretty strange twist. It’s a long and winding road back in Genesis, chapter 38, where Tamar pretends to be a prostitute and sleeps with her father-in-law Judah in order to continue the family line. Tamar and Judah’s son was named Perez, and he was the father
of the Perezite clan of the tribe of Judah.
That’s important because King David was of the Perezite clan of the tribe of Judah, and there was one other significant member of the Perezite clan of the tribe of Judah: Jesus Christ. Boaz is right in that same blood line of Perez and Judah. So when the people prayed for Boaz and Ruth’s house to be like the house of Perez, they hit the eternal nail on the head.
There are eternally significant things occurring in this love story between Boaz and Ruth. Boaz did not know the eternal significance of his love and actions toward Ruth. I think he was just blown away that he was going to get to marry this girl. Boaz was doing what was right before God, and God was at work, doing far more than Boaz could ever know.
God will do the same in our lives if we will just continue on that twisty, turny mountain road of life. At every turn, if we will just do what is right before God, and continue to follow that narrow path, we can trust that God will be at work in our lives doing far more than we could ever know. He will take us through every twist and thru every turn until, ultimately, He leads us to the top of the mountain.
Boaz’s mountaintop is in the next verse:
13 So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son.
After all that Ruth has been through, on her honeymoon night, God gives her a son.
It was God at work, bringing Ruth back to Bethlehem with Naomi.
It was God at work, on that first day these two met in the field.
It was God at work when Boaz chose to be Ruth’s redeemer.
It was God at work when Ruth bore a son.
At every step¾and in every place¾God was at work doing far more than Ruth could ever know. Ruth could have never imagined this moment and, more importantly, the years to come. She had simply been doing what was right before God, and through it all God was doing more than she could ever know.
God will do the same thing with you and me. If we will make our commitment of faith and attach ourselves to God just as Ruth did, if we will continue to cling to Him through every twist and around every turn of this mountain road of life, then we will be able to trust that God will be at work doing more than we could ever know. That is what God did for Ruth, and that is what God will do for us if we will follow Him in faith.
But what about that nay-saying, depressed, bitter, mother-in-law, Naomi? How does this all work out for her? Remember, Naomi had nothing but negative and depressing things to say about God. She’d even wanted to change her name to Mara, which means “bitterness.” So how did things work out for “Negative Naomi”?
14 Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel!”
The focus in this verse shifts to Naomi, and notice it’s the women talking to her. These are probably the same women Naomi was complaining to when she first came into town. And now, a year later, they’re saying to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel!” They’re speaking of the child Ruth and Boaz are going to have, and personally I think they’re trying to make a point to Naomi: “Hey, Ms. Bitterness, the Lord has not left you without a redeemer, like you accused Him of. He has indeed given you a redeemer.” They’re speaking here of the son Ruth is going to have, and reminding Naomi who her God is.
They continue:
15 “He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.”
“Naomi,” they are saying, “this grandson is going to be a restorer of life for you, and he’s going to care for you in your old age. No more Mara. No more bitterness, resentment, or questioning.
“Naomi, don’t you feel just a little bit foolish for your behavior toward God when you told Ruth it was better for her to go back into the unsaved world of Moab than follow the God of Israel? When you wanted to change your name to ‘Bitterness’? When you claimed that God had made you empty, and you implied He didn’t care about you anymore?
“Naomi, you were just in a dark tunnel on the mountain road, and sometimes there must be tunnels in order for God to get you where you’re going. It seems so dark in there, and at times you think the darkness will overtake you.
“But, Naomi. what about God? Do you really think He’d put you in a tunnel to nowhere? Is that as high an opinion of Him as you have? Is that the best that you think of Him—that He would send you into a dark tunnel that leads to nowhere?
“Naomi, by God’s grace He has brought you through, but the journey could’ve meant so much more if you would’ve traveled it in faith instead of in doubt.”
God is still good to us, even when we’re driving in doubt like Naomi. But the drive is far more meaningful and far more beneficial when we drive that road in faith instead of doubt. When we pray, “Lord, I put my full and complete faith in You. You are my God, and I trust You. I know this tunnel leads to light on the other side.”
That is the “navigational faith” of Ruth. Ruth was in the tunnel with Naomi, but she was trusting God to bring her through to the other side, which He did.
And so for Naomi, God was definitely doing so much more than she could ever imagine. There was much that Naomi thought God was doing to her when, in reality, God was doing much for her.
But now, on the other side of that tunnel, Naomi wanted to keep the original name God had given her: Naomi, which means “delightful, pleasant.” In the next verse Naomi reclaims her name:
16 Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse.
17 And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.”
Naomi became her grandson’s caregiver, and so the women said, “A son has been born to Naomi,” meaning this son would grow up to care for Naomi and for the family line. Things had worked out substantially differently than Naomi had thought, hadn’t they? Twists and turns, some real up-hills and some scary down-hills, but through it all God had been doing so much more than Naomi could ever imagine.
If you are a believer and you have a tendency to lean toward Naomi’s attitude, please hear me: God is doing so much more than you can ever imagine. Trust Him and stay on the narrow road. He will ultimately bring you out of that tunnel.
Continuing with verse 17:
17 They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
Now wait a minute! We thought this was a love story between Ruth and Boaz, and we also thought this was a picture of the love that our Redeemer has for us. But in addition to all of that, Ruth and Boaz’s son becomes the father of Jesse, who is the father of David.
Just how much more was God doing in this story?
Well, in, through, and beyond all of the other things God was doing with Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz, Ruth and Boaz’s son becomes the grandfather of the great King David. Beyond all they could see, God had a bigger plan. Throughout the book, God was at work doing more than they could imagine.
God is the only One who has the entire plan, and He is the only One who ultimately knows where this road is going. How much more is He doing that we can’t possibly understand?
Let’s see how the writer of the book tries to convey how much more God was really doing here.
18 Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron,
19 Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amminadab,
20 Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon,
21 Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed,
22 Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David.
Remember we referred to Judah’s son Perez, and we said the Perez clan of the tribe of Judah was special because our true and ultimate Redeemer comes from this clan, and from this tribe.
So the Book of Ruth closes with a roadmap half way up a mountain, and here we see the twists and turns of God’s road to get from Judah and Perez to King David. This is the royal line of Judah, the line from which King David and Jesus Christ would be born. Every name is a twist or turn in the road, some names riding the crest of the mountain, some names deep in the dark tunnels. But when you connect all the names, you have a perfect road map to King David, and then to Christ: From Perez to Hezron to Ram to Amminadab to Nahshon to Salmon to Boaz. And there, at Boaz, a Moabite girl, an outsider, needs to get on this road, so Boaz could fall in love with her, because God wants another Gentile, another outsider, in the bloodline of Christ.
So we “drop in” the story of Ruth, and all its lessons. But through it all, God is connecting the road from Judah to a shepherd boy named David, Israel’s greatest king, leading to the One who is called David’s greater son, whose name is Jesus Christ. God’s road is perfectly designed to get from the tribe of Judah to the Lion of the tribe of Judah¾our Kinsman Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
Can you see that God is doing too much here for us to even begin to grasp?
Can you see that God is doing more here than any of these people could possibly know?
Can you believe that God is doing more in your life than you can possibly know?
Can you trust Him?
Can you stay on the narrow path, thru all the twists and turns?
Can you do what’s right and trust Him to bring you through?
Can you trust that God is doing more than you know?
We’ve got to trust Him for the things we can’t see, and we’ve got to trust Him for the things we’d rather change.
I believe the primary purpose of the Book of Ruth is to point us to our Kinsman Redeemer Jesus Christ, and I pray that you have been pointed to Him. I pray that you have come to him, humbly, and asked Him to redeem you. If you haven’t, I pray you do that today.
To close the book of Ruth, I think we have a good reminder that we are on a twisty and turny road. We can’t see what’s up ahead. We don’t understand why the road turns and twists the way it does, but we can know this: God is at work doing more than we know. He sees every twist and every turn. He’s already at work up ahead doing more than we know. And if we will do what’s right, right now, and trust that God is at work up ahead, He will not only bring us through, but He will accomplish far more than we could ever ask or think.
Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. (Ephesians 3:20 NLT)
Your God is able, through His mighty power at work within you, to accomplish infinitely more than you can ask or think.
Trust Him. Stay on the road. He is at work doing more than you know.
Ruth 4:11-22
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