Today’s Scripture
Ruth 1
Ruth 1:1 Now it came about in the days when the judges governed, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the land of Moab with 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, Ephrathites of Bethlehem (house of bread) in Judah (house of praise) Now they entered the land of Moab and remained there.
Judges 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Be careful where you go during a spiritual famine.
Mathematics of SIN – “Sin adds to our sorrows, subtracts from our energy, multiplies our troubles, and divides our loyalty.”
Deuteronomy 23:3 No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of the Lord; none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall ever enter the assembly of the Lord,
Ruth 1:3 Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left with her two sons. 4 They took for themselves Moabite women as wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. And they lived there about ten years. 5 Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was bereft of her two children and her husband.
Ruth 1:6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the land of Moab, for she had heard in the land of Moab that the Lord had visited His people in giving them food. 7 So she departed from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.
Our consequences don’t have to
God may allow us a
Ruth 1:13b …for the hand of the Lord has gone forth against me.”
God’s
Ruth 1:16 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back 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 I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me.” 18 When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.
Ruth 1:19 So they both went until they came to Bethlehem. And when they had come to Bethlehem, all the city was stirred because of them, and the women said, “Is this Naomi?” 20 She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went out full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has witnessed against me and the Almighty has afflicted me?”
God’s
Ruth 1:21a I went out full, but the Lord has brought me back empty.
Ruth 1:22 So Naomi returned, and with her Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, who returned from the land of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.
Hosea 6:3 “So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord.
His going forth is as certain as the dawn;
And He will come to us like the rain,
Like the spring rain watering the earth.”
2. Discuss in a Life Group
DISCUSS:
How do “spiritual famines” arise in our lives? Do they correspond with the last verses of Judges?
List some reasons why it was a bad move for Elimelech to take his family to Moab?
Discuss how God’s discipline is a picture of grace and what benefits it can bring us.
Knowing God’s Rebuke is meant to Restore, how does that deepen your appreciation of His “Chasing Grace”?
3. Pray Together
Pray for each other and record any prayer requests here.