Notes: Unstuck, Part 4
Unstuck part 4: Living in the Present
Date: Sunday November 6, 2022
Text: Ruth 1:1-6
Ruth 1:1-6, In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. 2 The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. 3 But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years, 5 and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband. 6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and given them food.”
Let’s Connect:
Living in the past?
Text Explained:
The story of Ruth reminds us that even in a corrupt society, in the midst of life’s tragedies, the Lord is fully able to accomplish his will and to preserve faithful people for himself.
“In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.”
The story takes place when the judges ruled and there was great famine—
Moab was not geographically far from Israel, but it was worlds away from the life God intended for his people
Ruth was stuck relationally—a widow
stuck ethnically—moabite
stuck spiritually—citizen of an idolatrous nation
6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and given them food.”
God will reach into the furthest land of exile to draw us to Himself
Wherever our current place of exile is—our shame, or failure, or a culture we don’t want to be in—
Wherever we feel distant from God—
he will meet us there
This is what brings a rebirth of hope.
The realization that God is present, and that he provides.
Ruth 1:16–17 (ESV) 16 “But Ruth said, ‘Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.’”
She is ready to relinquish everything about her past life in order to embrace the new life in God and with his people.
———
Philippians 3:7–8 (ESV) 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ”
There is a progressive nature to spiritual transformation, (sanctification) and much of it is happening in our mind.
Romans 12:2, 2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
How This Relates:
When we dwell on the good or painful past, when we ruminate on it, that becomes the lens through which we see everything—and either perspective can be faulty.
Our part in being “unstuck" is to actively and regularly place the thoughts of the success and failure of the past in the context of my present reality in Christ.
What was true about Ruth is that she was a Moabite by birth, but what is now more deeply true of her is that she has been adopted into the family of God.
Challenge:
Philippians 3:13b-14, …But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”