The Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
July 13, 2025
Ruth 1:1-19a
Undivided Attention— On the Faithfulness of the Lord!
1In 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. 2The man’s name was Elimelech, and 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.
3Now Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, 5both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.
6When she heard in Moab that the LORD had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, Naomi and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.
8Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the LORD show kindness to you, as you have shown to your dead and to me. 9May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.”
Then she kissed them and they wept aloud and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”
11But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? 12Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons—13would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD’s hand has gone out against me!”
14At this they wept again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-by, but Ruth clung to her.
15“Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”
16But Ruth replied, “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. 17Where 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.” 18When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. 19So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. (NIV1984)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Every now and then we come across a person who is as faithful as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. They always do what they say they will do. They always keep whatever promises they make. They are the type of person you know you can turn to when you need help of any sort. They are the type of person that you know you can share your deepest secrets with. They are the type of person that you want sitting next to you when you are hurting. When they give you advice— you listen. When they correct you— you thank them.
While I hope and pray that we all have someone like that in our life, we have probably all learned from our own personal experience that even that person can sometimes disappoint us. Why? Because no matter how faithful they might be, they are still just as human as each and every one of us. They have their own weaknesses. They have their own failings. They have their own limitations.
Thankfully, as Christians you and I know that there is Someone in our life to whom we can always turn! There is Someone in our life whom we can always trust! There is Someone in our life who will always remain faithful to us— even when we are not faithful to Him! That Someone is, of course, the Lord our God! (Pointing to the cross)
Today as we continue our sermon series entitled Undivided Attention let’s see how a Moabite named Ruth serves as a beautiful example of a child of God whose undivided attention is indeed focused on: The Faithfulness of the Lord!
Look at the opening two verses of our text. With these words God the Holy Spirit takes us back to the little town of Bethlehem in Judea about 150 years before great King David was born. The Holy Spirit also reveals to us that the events recorded here in our text took place, “In the days when the judges ruled.” As the book of Ruth begins we see that the Lord had sent a famine on His people. Why? You may recall that during the days of the Judges God often sent difficulties on His people to call them back to Himself after they had wandered away from Him. While God’s people had committed themselves to remain faithful to their faithful God, they did not always follow through on that commitment. Over and over again God’s people rebelled against Him. Over and over again God discipled His wayward children. Over and over again God’s people repented of their sin and returned to their Lord. Over and over again God sent His people a “judge” to deliver them and to serve as their spiritual guide. On this particular occasion when the Lord sent a famine on the land of Judah, a man by the name of Elimelech took his wife, his two sons, he left Bethlehem and “went to live for a while in the country of Moab.”
It’s worth noting the divine irony in those words. The Moabites were historical enemies of the Israelites. You may recall that as the Israelites were traveling through the wilderness the Moabites not only refused to give them bread and water, but they also hired Balaam to try and curse them! (See Numbers 22-25; Deuteronomy 23:3-6) And yet, because the famine was so severe Elimelech left Bethlehem— whose name means “house of bread,” and took his family to Moab in order to seek bread in a place where it had not been offered before.
Now look at verses three to five of our text. The place where Elimelech took his family to find relief from the famine turned out to be the place where his family was overwhelmed by grief and sorrow. Sometime after moving his family to Moab Elimelech died. After Elimelech died his two sons married Moabite women— Orpah and Ruth. About ten years later both sons died leaving Naomi and her two daughters-in-law widows— with no one to help them, no one to support them. These events could easily lead us to ask: How could this possibly tie in with God’s faithfulness? The Holy Spirit addresses that question in verses six to nine of our text. We’re told, “When she heard in Moab that the LORD had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, Naomi and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah. Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, ‘Go back each of you, to your mother’s home. May the LORD show kindness to you, as you have shown to your dead and to me. May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.’”
There are two key points I want to highlight here. The first key point centers on Naomi’s faith. When you look at our text you will see that the name “LORD” is in all capital letters. This is how the NIV alerts us to the fact that Naomi was using the “covenant” Name for God, the Great “I AM”! Naomi believed that her God, the God of her ancestors, is the Savior-God, the God of free and faithful love. Naomi knew that her God, the “LORD,” has graciously put an end to the famine that caused her husband to provide for his family by taking them to Moab. Naomi knew that since the Lord had been gracious to His people, it was time for her to pack up all of her belongings and go home to Bethlehem.
Naomi also expresses her faith in the Lord in her conversation with her daughters-in-law. Look at verses eight and nine. Naomi’s faith was not only expressed in her words, but her faith was also expressed in her actions. Naomi knew that moving back to Bethlehem was the right thing for her to do. Naomi also knew that moving to Bethlehem was the right thing for her daughters-in-law. But Naomi wanted them to make their decision on their own. Judah was a foreign country to them. As Moabites living among Israelites, moving to Bethlehem might mean that they would live as widows for the rest of their lives. As you know, Orpah chose to remain in Moab while Ruth chose to go to Bethlehem with Naomi. We’ll come back to Ruth in just a little bit.
The second key point that needs to be highlighted from this portion of our text is found in Naomi’s statement to her daughters-in-law, “May the LORD show kindness to you, as you have shown to your dead and to me.” The word that is translated here as “kindness” is used 248 times in the Old Testament. One hundred twenty-nine times this word is translated as “love.” A good example is Psalm 136 where we find the repeated phrase, “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever.” Naomi’s use of this word as she speaks to her daughters-in-law reveals her faith in the “kindness,” in the “love,” and we might say in the “grace” of the “LORD,” her God!
Does this mean that Naomi is a good example of someone who displays Undivided Attention on the Faithfulness of God? At this point in her life, it might be difficult to answer, “Yes!” to that question. If you are familiar with the book of Ruth, you know that after everything that had happened to her Naomi— whose name means “pleasant”— changed her name to Mara— which means “bitter.” While Naomi did indeed trust in the “kindness” and in the “love” of the Lord her God, she was struggling with putting her undivided attention on the Lord’s faithfulness. Again, if you are familiar with the book of Ruth then you know that the Lord Himself refocused Naomi’s attention on the Lord’s faithfulness when He provided Boaz to serve as the “kinsman-redeemer” for both Naomi and for Ruth!
Before we turn our attention to Ruth let’s stop to ponder that sometimes we are like Naomi. Sometimes we do not have an undivided attention on the faithfulness of our Lord. While we believe and trust in the Lord’s “kindness,” while we believe and trust in the Lord’ “unfailing love,” there may be times that the events which we encounter in our lives— the events which the Lord allows to happen to us!— may leave us feeling confused and perhaps even “bitter.” What do we do when that happens to us? Let me suggest two things.
First, we kneel at the foot of the cross (Pointing to the cross) and ask our Lord for His guidance and for His strength. Then we turn to God’s Word to see that the Lord’s faithfulness never waivers! God had a reason for bringing Elimelech and his family to Moab. God had a reason for allowing Naomi, Orpah and Ruth to become widows. God had a reason for bringing Naomi and Ruth back to Bethlehem. The Holy Spirit reveals God’s reason for all of this when He says to us that after Boaz and Ruth had a son, “Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him. The women living there said, ‘Naomi has a son.’ And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David” (Ruth 4:16, 17). God’s plan was to incorporate Ruth into the genealogical line of great King David’s greater Son— our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! (See Matthew 1:5, 6; Luke 3:31, 32) This assures us that just as God’s faithfulness led Him to have a plan for both Naomi and Ruth, so also God’s faithfulness leads us to trust that He has a plan for each and every one of us!
With that in mind let’s turn our attention to Ruth. I have no difficulty whatsoever saying that Ruth is indeed a beautiful example of a child of God whose undivided attention was on the faithfulness of the Lord. Think about it. Ruth was born and raised in Moab. In sharp contrast to the Lord, the God of “kindness” and “love,” Chemosh, the god of Moab is described as “detestable” (1 Kings 11:7) and “vile” (2 Kings 23:13). And yet, through her connection with Naomi and Naomi’s family Ruth the Moabitess was brought to believe and trust in the “kindness” and “love” of the Lord, the God of Israel! Ruth’s faith is revealed in the fact that like Naomi, Ruth uses the “covenant” name for God, the “LORD.” Ruth’s undivided attention on the faithfulness of the Lord is also revealed in what are perhaps her most famous words. Look at verses sixteen and seventeen of our text. We’re told, “But Ruth replied, ‘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 Ruth know what her life would be like in the little town of Bethlehem? Did Ruth know about Boaz and about the Kinsman-Redeemer principle that the Lord had established among His Chosen People? Did Ruth know that the Lord’s plan was to incorporate her— a Moabitess— into the ancestry of this world’s only Savior from sin? No! She did not! But what Ruth did know was the “kindness” and the “love” and the faithfulness of the Lord! Ruth’s undivided attention on the faithfulness of the Lord enabled her to give her undivided attention to her mother-in-law, the person through whom she came to believe and trust in the Lord! What a wonderful example for you and for me!
The “kindness” and the “love” of God our Savior gives us the confidence of knowing that just as He had a plan for our eternal salvation (Pointing to the cross), so also He has a plan for our journey here on this earth. We don’t always know where God’s plan will lead us. We don’t always know what the Lord has planned for us to do and/or endure for Him. We don’t always know who the Lord has planned to bring into our life. While there are many things we do not know, there are also many things we do know.
We do know that what the Lord has already done for us (Pointing to the cross) guarantees eternal life to us in His heavenly home. We do know that one of the many glorious promises that the Lord has made to us is that He will always be with us. We do know that He has the power to make everything work out for our eternal spiritual good. We do know that He wants us to share Him with the people around us— using both our words and our actions.
Considering the portion of Scripture we have before us today, I think that there are two questions we would do well to ponder in our hearts. The first question is: Who is my Naomi? Is there a family member or a friend, is there a neighbor or a fellow Christian with whom I can share the faithfulness of God— both with the words that I speak and the actions of my life?
The second question is: Do I give my undivided attention to the faithfulness of my Lord— and then reflect that faithfulness in my life? To put it another way. Am I the type of person that other people can count on? Do I do what I say I will do? Do I keep the promises that I make? Am I willing to help others— even when that means speaking the truth in love? How well am I following the example that Ruth has left for me?
My prayer this morning is that the undivided attention that our Lord revealed to us on the cross of Calvary’s hill will indeed lead us to not only give our undivided attention to His faithfulness but to also share His faithfulness with others!
To God be the glory!
Amen