This chapter raises several critical theological questions. First, when we are alive and entering God's promise, will we encounter difficulties? If so, is it still the Promised Land? Second, do the sufferings in our lives come from God?
Let's first look at the first question: when we are alive and entering God's promise, will we encounter difficulties? If so, is it still the Promised Land?
The Israelites entered Canaan. The Bible says it was a land flowing with milk and honey. What was the result? That land was full of problems. A great heap of them. If one were to dwell on the problems, people would find it truly unlivable. When famine struck that land, a man named Elimelech and his wife Naomi decided to leave and immigrate to Moab. The story begins here. We must ask a question: when Abram left his own country, his kindred, and his father's house, was it because he encountered problems? No! Leaving in this way is not following Abraham's example! Then we must ask, after we become Christians, will we encounter problems? The answer is yes. When we encounter problems, if we choose to run away instead of overcoming them, even if you run to Moab, your problems will still follow you, the devil will still follow you! Elimelech and Naomi ran to Moab, and their problems became even greater than before. As a result, Elimelech died, a stranger in a foreign land. Both sons also died, also strangers in a foreign land, and were buried there. Remaining were two daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah, and the old woman Naomi. Three women, watching suffering take away their loved ones! How tragic! This life is truly full of tragedies; people hope for a good life, but they expect tragedies. God, why is this happening? God, why did you allow this tragedy to happen to these Israelites?
In fact, our lives are full of things we cannot understand. The root of suffering is that we cannot understand it! This is the eternal topic constantly narrated in the Bible! Which we also want to know. This Naomi, full she went out, and empty she returned. The three most important men in her life also died, and died in a foreign land. People died, money was gone, and only two daughters-in-law and an old woman remained. The scene was so bleak that people wept. Where is the hope? She heard that God blessed the land of Israel, so she decided to return to the land of Israel. Then why did Naomi's daughter-in-law Ruth follow Naomi? Was she foolish? Did she want to suffer with Naomi? No! Ruth was a remarkable woman. In her heart, she clearly knew that the God of Israel is a God of blessing. Her knowledge of the God of the Israelites surpassed even that of the Israelites of that time! She was going to receive the blessing of the God of Israel! She knew what kind of people the God of Israel blesses! Because of Ruth's knowledge of God, even though her father-in-law died, her husband died, and her brother-in-law died, her faith in the God of Israel was not shaken! Later, she truly became a blessed woman! So later, in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus, the name of this Moabite woman Ruth was recorded!
The God of Israel is a God of blessing. But He only blesses those He delights in! Here we need to know what aspects of Ruth are worthy of our emulation.
Then why did God not bless Elimelech and Naomi? What made them live in this cursed manner? It is the mission. Lose the mission, and you will not receive the blessing! The land of Moab was not given by God to the Israelites. The land God gave to the Israelites was the land of Canaan! Encountering a little difficulty in the land of Canaan and immigrating to a place not given to you by God is to lose the mission. Being forced by life's circumstances to lose the mission is the root of Naomi's suffering. Brothers and sisters, let us not run away. We must overcome! Overcoming is the mission God has given us.
Many Chinese have a habit of complaining. They also have a habit of being fickle. They get a job, and then they say it is a lousy job with so many problems. They study a major, and then they say this major has no future. They study a course, and then they say it is useless to learn this. Later, they give themselves an excuse, saying it is not their interest. If you really ask them what their interest is and why they are interested in that, they cannot explain it either. No matter what they do, if they encounter a little difficulty, they say it is not good and want to change to something else. That is where Elimelech's suffering begins. In the end, they have nothing. Wherever they are, they feel it is not good. That mentality is Elimelech's mentality. People are very impetuous. They do not do anything practically. Naomi and her husband Elimelech encountered famine and difficulties in the land of Israel, so they made a decision - to immigrate. As a result, immigration became a disaster in their lives!
Are we running away whenever we encounter difficulties? If so, that is the problem. Running to a place not prepared by God for us will only worsen the problem!
I advise everyone, no matter what difficulties you encounter, to do whatever you do well. That is the mindset of a blessed person! Whatever you do, make it your interest. Wherever you live, regard that place as the place you want to win for God. This is the key to a blessed life. If it is not your interest, do not complain; start building interest in that matter. It will surely be established. Wherever you live, like that place.
Some people believe for a lifetime, then ask God, why is it like this? How did they live such a wretched life? It is because of the mindset of Naomi and her husband, Elimelech. That kind of mindset is the root of a miserable life. In reality, it is all their own choices! What you are interested in is your own choice. Whether you run away from difficulties is also your own choice. But today I want to tell you that running away is not the solution. Do not think that changing a job or moving to a different place will make life better. The problems that have not been dealt with will still follow you. I met a sister who married her second husband but was still dissatisfied. She is a woman in her forties, yet she often says that she will return to her country and find someone better. I think her third husband will definitely be worse than her second. Why? Because the problem has not been solved, the life has not been changed. Wherever you go, the same problems will follow you. Moreover, with each change, it gets worse, and the problems become more serious. So, everyone must be careful of the Elimelech mindset. That is the mindset of the poor. That is the mindset of a miserable life.
In reality, any industry will have a future if you do it well! No matter which family is established, if you build that family well, you will be happy. Do not ever think that the other mountain is higher than this one.
What was Naomi's daughter-in-law, Ruth, thinking? She saw the tragedy of an Israelite family. She also married into this family and was a protagonist in the tragedy. So why did she still believe that the God of Israel was a God of blessing? What made her so determined to go to the land of Israel? According to the general thinking, Ruth should have seen such a thing and said in her heart: Look, they are still Israelites, yet their God is simply not effective! Forget it, let's go our separate ways! This is the general thinking. So, to be blessed, you must be an extraordinary person. Ruth was an extraordinary person. Her view was not like this. Her view was that her parents-in-law left Israel, leaving their blessed place, so they encountered these things. But the God of Israel is still a God of great power, who led Israel out of Egypt, crossed the Jordan River, drove out the various tribes of Canaan before the Israelites, and accomplished unprecedented feats! Ruth knew that only such a God is the God who blesses people. The God of Israel is different from the gods of the Gentiles!
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did not have this problem. Even when they encountered famine, they did not run away, unless God told them to. Where did Elimelech and Naomi's problem come from? From not knowing what kind of God God is. Because you do not understand what kind of God God is, the devil comes to deceive you! People follow the devil, and the result becomes the beginning of a miserable life.
Brothers and sisters, what I want to tell you is to overcome all difficulties! Do everything to the best of your ability! Regardless of past decisions, start making the right decisions today.
What is the root of a miserable life? The root of a miserable life is our wrong understanding of God. The root of a miserable life is the wrong choices made on this wrong life! Why are there so many pitiful people in the world? It is because of their own choices.
People reap what they sow. Stop planting cursed things and start planting blessed things. Despise God, and you will be despised. If you despise God, do not ask me later why it is like this. Whatever your spiritual life is like in normal times, the result will be like that. You reap what you sow. My wife and I have strict requirements, and that is a blessing. Churches with lax requirements let you plant whatever you want, and no one cares. But when you reap the fruits of the curse, it is also 30 or 60 times. What do you use to resist it!
Brothers and sisters, let us learn a lesson from the suffering of Elimelech and Naomi! If Naomi and Elimelech had strict priests to teach and discipline them in the beginning, they would have avoided such suffering. Thank God that even in people's wrong choices, God can still bring about the beginning of Ruth's blessed life!