Friday, November 19, 2010

God Is At Work - The Story of Ruth Part IV - The Providence of God, Part 18 of 23

TEXT: " . . . No, my daughters, for it grieves me very much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me!" (Ruth 1:13).

" . . . The Lord gave her conception and she bore a son" (Ruth 4:13).

IDEA: The story of Ruth tells us about God and His working in people's lives.

PURPOSE: To help listeners ask whenever they read a passage in the Bible, "What does it reveal about God?"

When people talk about "theology," what do they mean?

When Christians say that the Bible is a revelation of God, what do they mean?

Do all Scriptures reveal God to us?

I. The story of Ruth tells us something about God, but not directly.

How would you go about discovering what a writer believes about God? Look at what the writer says about God.

Suppose we count the number of times God is referred to in the story of Ruth. Would that be a good way to see what the story reveals about God?

In the 85 verses in the story of Ruth, God is mentioned 23 times. Would you agree that this sounds like an impressive amount of material that tells us about God?

All but two of the references come in the course of conversations between characters in the story.

Naomi speaks about God's actions.

She claims that "the hand of the Lord has gone forth against me" (Ruth 1:13).

In Ruth 1:20-21 she repeats her claim: "The Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty . . . The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought calamity upon me."

Do you think the story teller shares Naomi's bitterness about God?

The story teller breaks into the story only twice to say anything directly about God:

In Ruth 1:6 he says, "When Naomi heard in Moab that God had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them . . ."

In Ruth 4:13 he says, "The Lord enabled Ruth to conceive and she gave birth to a son."

II. Conclusion

We learn something about God from the story teller's insertions. God gives fertility to the barren land and to the barren woman, Ruth.

Does theology have to be boldly stated? Do you think that is all we can learn about God from this story of Ruth?