Why We Believe in God - The Book of Ruth

Why We Believe in God - The Book of Ruth

Pastor Michael P. Walther

Faith Lutheran Church, Beaufort, SC

October 12, 2025

 

Introduction

 

     God tells us about many important people in the Bible.  Many of them are women such as Eve, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Mary the Mother of our Lord Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Mary and Martha, Lydia, Priscilla, Phoebe, Damaris, Dorcas and many others.  Many people today say the Bible oppresses women. This comes from people who think that men and women are in competition with each other. But the Bible presents men and women in cooperation - Fully dependent on each other and fully dependent on God. 

 

     One of the favorite women of faith in the Bible is Ruth.  I want to look at her life so that we might better appreciate God’s grace.  Before we leave this worship service today, I hope we will all be refreshed by our realization of God’s goodness and faithfulness to all - men, women, and children.  This is Why We Believe in God.  

 

1.  Ruth Shows Remarkable Faith in the Face of Tragedy.

 

     We don’t know anything about Ruth’s childhood.  She enters into the recorded history of God’s plan of salvation as a bride.  Foreigners from Israel had come to her country because of a famine in their land.  Ruth became acquainted with them.  Their names were Elimelech and Naomi along with their two sons Mahlon and Chilion.  To Ruth there was something special about this family.  Knowing what pious Jewish life was like, we can imagine that she was attracted to their decency, their love and respect for one another, and above all their unwavering faith in Yahweh, the God of Israel.  She probably expected them to think lightly of their God since there was a famine in Israel.  Others might have joked with Elimelech telling him that “his God wasn’t doing his job.”  Ruth was probably used to this nonchalant view of divinity that was common in the pagan world.  Since these were gods that they had imagined in their own hearts, they could do whatever they wanted with them.  But the God of Israel was different.  He was respected no matter what.  There was no other God.

 

     However it worked out, we don’t know the details, Ruth was joined to this family in marriage.  While the spiritual life of this family may have been strong, outwardly this was a family facing many tragedies.  First there was the famine, the move to Moab, and finally the death of Elimelech and Mahlon and Chilion.  The writer of the Book of Ruth stresses the idea that these women were “left” -- Left to go on with life without the help and support of husbands.  Without the benefit of a support system like we have today these women were in big trouble.  Desperate for survival Naomi decides to return to Israel.  As painful as it may have been she also realized that Orpa and Ruth stood a better chance of finding new husbands in their own land.  Not many men, she thought, would be interested in these women from Moab.  Confused and dazed in her own grief - her own faith was shattering.  She even recognized that as Orpa was turning back to Moab that she was returning to her people and to her gods.  It is a bitter, bitter situation dramatically described as these women kiss one another and raise up their voices in sad crying.  

 

     Tragedy.  It is the experience we all dread.  We’re very used to having the things and the people we need.  What happens to us when they are taken away?  Even for Christians there is the threat that tragedy can shake our faith.  The new parent worries for the safety of their child.  They want to ride their bikes, but will they watch out for cars?  Will the cars watch out for them?  The child worries for mom and dad.  Everyday they kiss and say goodbye.  What would happen if one of them were not coming back to pick me up after school?  The young couple worries that the early joys of married life could be destroyed by the dreaded sentence:  Mr. so and so, I have some bad news to tell you…”  

 

     Tragedy tests us.  It challenges us by asking, “Is your God faithful?  Can He be trusted?”  Daniel tells us about the three men who were thrown into the fiery furnace.  Shadrach, Meshach and Abendigo were challenged to believe in the goodness and faithfulness of God.  They would not bow down to another god.  In fact they said, “O Nebuchadnezzar, … our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king.  But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up" (Daniel 3.16-18).  “He will… but if not…”  These are the words of one who knows that God is faithful.  Even if He does not deliver me from this present tragedy, I know that He will deliver me from the hand of the wicked and from the evils of this world.  

 

     Over and over again, the Bible tells us that despite apparent and present circumstances God is faithful.  One of our favorite passages comes from St. Paul:  “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.  Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry” (1 Corinthians 10.13-14).  

 

2.  Leaving Behind the Gods of Moab

 

     That last sentence also reminds us of a very important choice that Ruth had to make:  She had to leave behind the gods of Moab.  “Flee idolatry” is the opposite way of saying, “trust in God.”  One of the gods of Moab was the god Chemosh.  His name means “to subdue.”  He was a god of war, and he required human sacrifices in order to benefit from his powers.  This god is an example of what human depravity can imagine.  Chemosh was not about faith but about covetousness – when you want something so bad, you’re willing to do anything to get it – even destroy another human being.  Chemosh, like another famous god, Molech, was especially appeased by the sacrifice of children, or so his worshipers thought.  

 

     Ruth could see the difference between Chemosh and Yahweh.  The God of Israel did not exist simply to give us power over others so that we could get whatever we want.  Ruth could see that Yahweh was the God of salvation who in His lovingkindness does not give us whatever we want but what we really need.  He gives us His faithfulness to deliver us from evil. 

 

     You and I are also called to abandon our gods.  These are the things that we imagine in our hearts – things upon which we rely to get the things we want.  Our Chemosh could be our education, our job, our wealth, our family, our government.  Someone might say, “but pastor these are all good things, how can they be false gods?”  The answer is that when we rely on any or all of these instead of looking to God, they become Chemosh – they become those things we turn to in order to subdue our enemies and provide us with our pleasures.  And we also make sacrifices to our Chemosh idols. Think back on that list: education, wealth, government, etc. What is the first thing that people sacrifice to these idols? They sacrifice their time with the one true God. They read the Bible less and less, pray less and less, and live more like the world than like God.

 

     The illusion of selfish idolatry is growing stronger and stronger in our American culture.  People are more and more willing to commit sin in order to get satisfaction for their pleasures.  Greed and jealousy drive corporation executives and government officials to lie and deceive and to leave their investors, employees, and citizens empty-handed.  Greed and jealousy drive people to get-rich-quick lawsuits, to gambling casinos, and to state-run lotteries.  Immoral sex is promoted everywhere: sex apart from marriage, pornography, homosexuality, and gender confusion. The result is unwanted children or no children at all, unstable relationships, unstable minds, and suicide. Laziness and self-indulgence lead to poverty, addiction and depression.

 

     The modern priests of Moab are leading people astray with foolish sayings such as “You can’t legislate morality," and "Most people are basically good, but they're the victims of a few oppressers," and "You can do whatever you want as long as you're not hurting anyone." Each one of these foolish sayings dressed up as wisdom is destructive and lead to death. 

 

     God called Ruth away from the culture of Chemosh. God called Ruth to the holy life of repentance for our sin (Stop being a victim; take responsibility), trust in God's forgiveness (Stop thinking you can live with sin; let God take it away), and live by faith in God's word (Let God guide you, don't try to guide yourself.)

 

3.  Looking Forward to God’s Salvation.

 

     “Orpa kissed her mother-in-law but Ruth clung to her” (1.14).  Ruth had no idea what hardships and difficulties were still coming to her.  She had a bitter, unhappy, and struggling mother-in-law that needed her help.  She also had to go on somehow – but she would not go on by herself.  Ruth tells Naomi in verse 16 “Your people will be my people and your God will be my God.”  God used Naomi to convert Ruth, now God would use Ruth to preserve Naomi in her faith.  Many times in history it has been the recent convert who has turned around and shown more faith than the person converted long ago.  God uses all of us to support one another.  

 

     Ruth trusted in God’s faithfulness.  She knew that somehow He would provide the best way for her.  They arrived in Israel at the time of the barley harvest.  Ruth was permitted to glean in the fields.  That is, she walked behind the harvesters and picked up the grain that they missed.  God provided for her and her mother-in-law. Then God led a man named Boaz to marry Ruth and to take care of her and Naomi.  He became a redeemer to them:  Taking up the burden necessary to care for them.  Again God provided.  

 

     As the account goes on we see just how much God was providing not only for Ruth and for Naomi but for the world.  Ruth had a son named Obed, who in turn had a son named Jesse.  Jesse had a son named David, who became the king of Israel.  When we turn to the opening chapter of the New Testament, we discover the rest of Ruth’s story.  Ruth was one of the ancestors of Jesus.  

 

     Ruth did not understand what was happening to her and what the future would unfold.  But Ruth knew Who was with her.  She knew that the one true God, the God life and salvation, was with her all the way.  That is one of the most consist promises of the Bible:  “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Joshua 1.5);  “The LORD of hosts is with us” (Psalm 46.7); “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed” (Isaiah 41.10).  

 

     When God finally sent His Son into the world, He was named “Immanuel” which means “God with us” (Matthew 1.23).  Jesus is the ultimate revelation of God’s goodness and faithfulness.  He took up our burden of sin on the cross so that we could be freed from the slavery of selfish idolatry.  

 

Conclusion

 

     Why do we believe in God?  We believe because God is good.  He is faithful.  He is gracious. He doesn't bestow favors upon us because we make sacrifices to Him. He is not a Chemosh. He loves us and bestows His love on us first in the form of forgiveness, and then in all the other needs of life. And He is with us to save us and deliver us from evil through Jesus Christ.  Amen.