Options in the face of famine 

 

Ruth 1:1-3; 7/3/2022; BCBC/IOUC; Rev. Paul Wang

 Introduction

Today we begin to look at the book of Ruth from a new perspective, preparing for an impending famine. Not worrying, but asking God to examine the biblical values in our hearts,   whether we are relying on the Lord, not on the world, on our old self, on money, or on habits. Let’s look at the first point:

 Wrong direction

The rule of the judges, that is, the era when the judges ruled Israel,  basically belonged to a confused generation.  The scriptures do not specify the age of the judges, nor do they specify the year.  However, the biblical writers still left traces that make us seek the will of God.  First, facing a confusing matter at a confusing time.  What is a time of confusion?  It means that the entire generation is at a stage or stage where it is like a sheep going astray.  For example, during the Cultural Revolution in China, the entire society was chaotic, full of moral decay and monstrous crimes.  Among them, almost everyone seems powerless and overwhelmed.  The time of the Judges was also the time when the Israelites were headless after Joshua’s death. The book of Ruth dates back to the time when Ehud, the son of Gera, the second judge of Benjamin, ruled over Israel.  The Bible records that “the Israelites entrusted him with gifts to Eglon king of Moab.”  Just like the pastors of the Chinese churches in North America today, some people collude with the Antichrist regime, slander them, and unite to deceive the people of God, saying that there is religious freedom in the antichrist kingdom, and they even deceive the Holy Spirit  by holding Bible exhibitions. 

Second, confused people tend to be confused.  Where is the land of Moab?  Certainly the place of the Moabites.   Moabites are the son of Abraham’s nephew, Lot, who had an incestuous relationship with his eldest daughter.  “Moab” means “the offspring of the father”.  As an Israelites, no matter how confused you are, how can you degenerate to the land of Moab?  Maybe you will say, what can be done when there is a famine and there is no food to eat? Haven’t you heard that people don’t live by food alone?  It’s the same with people today.  In order to make a living, they can even stop the Sunday worship!  Excuse me, do you still believe in God?  Do you just kneel and lick the Three-Self Church because the house church didn’t invite you to preach?  The Antichrist camp sent an undercover agent to the Chinese church for many years.  Through his kinship in a seminary, he pulled the entire sect into the water and became a tool used by the Antichrist.  Is there no one who has reflected on it yet!

Finally, the responsibility of the head of the household.  A person has his responsibility to live in the world, do you agree?  You have a wife, you have children, and you don’t know that you are responsible! Do you have to take your family to Moab when faced with famine?  Have you not read what the scriptures say?  God said through Moses: “No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation. (Deuteronomy 23:3)”  As the head of the household,  you knew that Moabites were not allowed to come to Bethlehem,  yet you, as a Bethlehemite, went to Moab to dishonor the name of the Lord.   It’s like saying, Look, the LORD can’t feed his people, but the cursed Moabites will feed his people instead of God!  Don’t you know that you are provoking the wrath of God?  When you are greedy for honor, robbing respect from people’s hearts, and scrambling to stand out on behalf of this and that, you are already idolatrous!  Let’s look at the second point:

  Mistakes in location

Choosing the wrong place is an upgraded version of the wrong direction.  The choice of location is not accidental.  The conclusion must represent our deepest values and our relationship with God.  First, the choice of grace.  If I told you that what you have today is the grace of God,    would you agree?  Paul said, “By grace you have been saved (Ephesians 2:8a).”   Likewise, your family was born to live in Bethlehem, not because you chose grace, but grace chose you! A bland sentence in the Bible is definitely not simple! “A man from Bethlehem in Judah”， Is there not God’s preparation?  Not only one person, but also a family: a wife, two sons!  If such an obvious sign of grace is still ignorant, then it is a fool as described in the Bible!  You have been called by God, and you have served God for many years, just because you are greedy for a bigger pulpit, you kneel and lick the representatives of the antichrist camp?  Grace chose you, but you did not choose grace, how will you make an account in the future?

Second, the choice of worry.  It turned out that the man was Elimelek, whose name means “My God is King”.  Explain that he was born into a godly family and that his parents should honor the Lord when they gave birth to him!  However, his generation has lost faith.  When encountering difficulties, it is not to pray, but to escape to a foreign land!  Worrying about not having enough household, choose to be deceitful, and would rather break the covenant with God than choose to worry.  He clearly had a covenant with God, but he ignored the ministry of God,  and walked into the comfort zone of worry like a normal person.  As everyone knows, peace has left, and he will never come back!  This is the situation of walking on the road of heaven, sailing against the current, if you don’t advance, you will retreat, and as soon as you retreat, you will retreat before you believe in the Lord.  Do you still have a choice?  Choose Faith, or continue to choose Worry?  One more step forward, and there may be no turning back!

Finally, the choice of timing.  Today’s generation is similar to the time of Judges, and the whole world is caught in a current of drifting away from the truth.  Elimelek made a major choice in the context of the judges’ rule, and it was the wrong time!  Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, 山本五十六自以為聰明，Isoroku Yamamoto thought he was smart, but he didn’t know that he made a wrong decision at a wrong time.  The timing is ahead, and the mistakes are behind.  This truth is not easy to explain clearly, but it affects the fate of many people!  Today’s world has entered the post-gospel era, that is, the door of the gospel is gradually narrowing.  Do you want to seize this rare opportunity?  Although the opportunity for the gospel is getting narrower, the opportunity is still there, do you want it?  We will go to Europe this year to preach the gospel to Europeans and tell them that we are the fruit of your ancestors preaching the gospel.  We are here to extend the gospel invitation to you today!  Let’s look at the third point:

 Death is the end

A wrong choice will affect not only you or a generation, but the next generation, or even several generations.  Can you understand it?  First of all, there is no grief greater than the death of the mind.  Before the famine came, I am afraid that some people have already started to panic.  The greatest threat that famine brings to man is death.  As one of the granaries of the world, Ukraine once starved to death between 2.5-7.5 million people in 1932-1933, can you imagine it?  China, too, starved to death between 30-40 million people in 1960-1962.  In today’s Russian-Ukrainian war, Ukrainian food cannot be shipped out.  How many people will starve to death in Egypt, the Middle East and other countries that are used to relying on Ukrainian food?  Elimelek’s fear and sorrow for starvation made him panic and “go to the land of Moab as a sojourner.”  Note that he did not go to buy grain, but to sojourn, that is, to settle down. Why?  Because Elimelek’s heart was dead to God, and sorrow enveloped his soul.

Second, self-inflicted sin cannot live.  Jesus said that in the last days, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains. (Mark 13:8)”  However, it does not mean that if there is a disaster, you have to commit yourself to death!  How to do it?  By worrying, getting lost, going astray, emotions, satisfying selfish desires, etc.  to live to death! Elimelek is clearly  “An ephrathite from Bethlehem, Judah. (Ruth 1:2)”.  Even by the time of Revelation, the Bible replaced the tribe of Judah with the eldest son of the tribe of Reuben.  Bethlehem is only five kilometers away from Jerusalem in a straight line, which is half of the “capital city”.  More importantly,  Bethlehem was the granary for the Israelites.  Elimelek didn’t ask God, why was there no food even in Bethlehem?

Finally, death witnesses for life. The Bible shows us how Elimelek went to death step by step. His death also witnessed the life of the world from the cradle to the grave, and his wife and two sons saw it clearly.  Even more frightening is that Elimelek did not have a good relationship with God until his death.  He threw away the spiritual foundation laid by his parents and let him regard God as the king.  Name the eldest son Mahlon, which means “sick”; and the younger son, Chilion, which means “weak”.  These names are not the names of the Israelites, but the names commonly used by the local Canaanites.  It shows that Elimeleck has accepted and appreciated the pagan culture and idolatry culture from a cultural point of view, and has “cultural revival” ahead of schedule.  As a result, he led his family to drift further and further away.  Like Lot,  he chose the fertile pastures of Edom and got closer and closer to Sodom and Gomorrah.

Conclusion

Dear brothers and sisters, hunger may be getting closer to us. Excuse me, what are your options in the face of hunger?  Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (Matthew 5:6)”  Our Lord personally experienced the challenge and temptation of hunger, and his triumphant declaration was: “Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ” (Matthew 4:4)”  Jesus doesn’t even want us to worry “What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?”.  “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33) ”

Let us pray ……

 

Ruth 1:1-3

1 In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 

2 The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was 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.

3 Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons.