Emptiness

SCRIPTURE: Ruth 1:1-22 (ESV)

DATE: 4-26-20

I want to welcome all of you who are joining us at Gateway Church. And the one thing I want all of you to know is that God loves you and that I love you too.

SERIES INTRODUCTION

And we’re continuing our series where we’re looking at some emotions that most likely you — or someone you know — have been experiencing during this worldwide pandemic. Last week we began by looking at the emotion of loneliness. Next week, we’ll look at the emotion of anxiousness. And then we’ll finish this series by looking at depression. But today — the emotion we’ll be looking at is emptiness.

And we’re examining each of these emotions — and finding some biblical guidance and help for them — by looking at the lives of some individuals in the Bible. Last week, we looked at a moment in the life of the prophet Elijah. And — today — we’re going even further back in time — to the time before the days of the kings — back to the time when judges led the Israelites. And we’re going to look at the emotion of emptiness through the life of a woman named Naomi.

ANNOUNCE THE TEXT AND BACKGROUND

So if you have your Bible, please turn with me to the book of Ruth — which is where we find Naomi’s story. We’ll be in chapter 1 looking at the entire chapter. And while you’re finding Ruth chapter 1 — let me give you an idea of what’s going on in this period of history.

So after Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt — they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. And when Moses’ time as their leader came to an end — a man named Joshua was appointed the next leader of God’s people. And after Joshua came the time of the judges — there’s an entire book dedicated to these leaders in the Old Testament — and there you can read about the stories of Ehud and Deborah, Gideon and Samson, and the many other judges who led God’s people over the course of nearly 400 years.

Now Naomi’s story comes near the end of this time period — her story comes just as the time of the judges is coming to a close. In fact, at the end of the book of Ruth we learn that we’re only a few generations away from David — who would one day be king of Israel.

RE-ANNOUNCE AND READ THE TEXT

So now that you have a better idea of when we are in history — here are the words found in Ruth chapter 1. Beginning in verse 1.

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. 7 So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. 8 But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. 9 The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. 10 And they said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.” 11 But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? 12 Turn back, my daughters; go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, 13 would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me.” 14 Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. 15 And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” 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.” 18 And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.

19 So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town 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 away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?” 22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest. (Ruth 1:1-22 ESV)

SERMON INTRODUCTION

Now there’s much we can relate to with Naomi’s situation. She had much taken away from her and — for many of us — we’ve experienced things that we were used to having or being able to do — suddenly being taken away from us. And — for some of us — like Naomi — this has left us feeling bitter — bitter even towards God. One person has said, “This was the truth at the core of my existence: this yawning emptiness, scantily clad in rage. It had been there all along.” So maybe you’ve gone right past bitterness and straight to rage.

Now it’s kind of easy to judge Naomi — especially if you’re coming from a religious angle — where “If you’re feeling empty, it’s because you were full of the wrong things and not full of God.” Are we to be full of God? Yes. And are we supposed to find our fulfillment in him? Yes again. But we must be careful and not ignore the real sense of loss and emptiness that we and others have experienced. And emptiness is only natural when things — or people — are taken away from us. It’s a normal feeling — even though many of us think that the feeling of emptiness means something’s wrong with us — and that’s not necessarily the case.

But here’s a truth about emptiness — we haven’t been well prepared for it. In fact, life before — and most likely after this COVID-19 crisis — life pre-pandemic taught us to ignore the emotion of emptiness by entertaining and distracting ourselves. And what the pandemic has done is strip away many of those sources of entertainment and distraction. But the emptiness is still there. And so more and more are turning to distractions that are available — alcohol, drugs, other types of self-medication — yet the emptiness doesn’t go away. As one woman said, “There’s just something obvious about emptiness, even when you try to convince yourself otherwise.”

Now — I know, I know — whatever you’re doing to try and cope with your emptiness “isn’t that bad” — or at least that’s what you’re telling yourself. And maybe it isn’t that bad, but don’t allow your perception of your circumstances cause you to miss the news of God’s love for you. The value he’s placed on you. The promises to you that God has guaranteed will give you fulfillment. Don’t accept poor substitutes for the fulfillment God is offering to you in your emptiness.

I say this because maybe your way of dealing with your emptiness isn’t by doing the “bad” stuff — maybe your response has been to hoard things. You’re desperately watching your retirement funds or stocks. We’ve seen others hoard hand sanitizer or — hello — toilet paper. Raise your hand if you’re tired of the whole toilet paper hoarding that we’ve still got going on in our country — go ahead and put a raised hand emoji in the comments.

But even hoarding doesn’t fill our void of emptiness. As someone’s said, “We become more aware of the void [of emptiness] as we fill it.”

And — finally — for others of us the sense of emptiness comes from us feeling like we’re missing out. You’re missing out on that vacation you had planned. Or that graduation. Or that wedding day. You can’t shake the feeling of missing out and that’s leaving you feeling empty.

Now — for some good news. There’s nothing inherently evil about entertainment or wanting to be prepared by stocking up on stuff or even the longing that’s found by those who are feeling like they’re missing out — none of that means you’re a lesser person.

But what we can’t fall for is the lie that we can entertain ourselves enough — or store up enough stuff — or reschedule our plans — in order to get rid of this feeling of emptiness. The feeling can’t be avoided and eventually emptiness must be faced by all of us.

And this is where hope comes in. Hope comes in the person of Jesus Christ who came into our world to experience both the fullness of the human life and to offer that same fullness of life to those who turn to him in faith. And what did Jesus do to offer us this fullness of life? Well he did the last thing you’d expect. He emptied himself on the cross in order to save us and to fill our emptiness with him.

But before we jump to Jesus, let’s go back and look at Naomi’s story and see what help we can find in dealing with our own sense of emptiness. And the first thing we see is that loss hurts. And I want to make sure that we all understand that it’s OK to admit this — that loss hurts.

LOSS HURTS

Let’s begin back in verse 1.

Now this was a pretty radical idea — for an Israelite — to go live in Moab. You see — for the people of Israel — the country of Moab carried all kinds of negative thoughts. The people of Moab’s story begins with child incest — you can read about in Genesis 19 — not a great start to their story. And the nation is full of people who are pagan — meaning they don’t worship the true God — and they’re pretty perverse. And they’re governed by foolish and — often — fat rulers. Which adds a bit of irony to the story because Israel is experiencing a famine, so Elimelech moves his family to the land led by overweight kings.

But that’s not the only irony we encounter as the story unfolds. Remember, Moab was a nation that worshipped a false god. Yet Elimelech’s name meant something like “My God is king.” So that’s what people heard when his name was said. And Naomi’s name meant something like “pleasant” or “delightful.” So in the midst of disaster — a famine coming upon their homeland — “My God is king” and “delightful” move to Moab. And imagine the potential ridicule they experienced from the locals. They’re the foreigners in the land — fleeing from a famine. And the locals probably couldn’t resist saying something like, “Hey ‘Delightful.’ How delightful are things back in your country? And hey ‘My God is king.’ Did your king and God abandon you? Is that why you had to come live with us?” So imagine the sense of loss — and the emptiness that came with it. Verse 3.

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. (Ruth 1:3-5 ESV)

Now we don’t know how long they were in Moab before Elimelech died — we’re not told. We also don’t know why he died, though there’s a tradition that believes he died because of divine retribution. Meaning Elimelech died as a consequence for taking his family to such a disreputable country and his sons died because they married women from that country — but that’s tradition — so we don’t know for certain why Elimelech and his sons die.

But what we can safely assume is that they didn’t have plans to return to their homeland. That’s why the boys married local women. You intermarry with the locals when you plan on staying there for a long time — probably the rest of your life.

But notice how the loss has multiplied for Naomi. She’s lost her homeland. She’s lost her husband. She’s lost her sons. She’s lost the meaning of her name — in many ways. And she’s lost all sense of security now being a widow in a foreign country with no male to care for and protect her. And this was a dangerous situation as often widows had no respectable way to earn a living. Her options were to rely on the charity of others, become a slave, or even a prostitute. So Naomi has three things going against her — she’s an older woman, she has no family, and she’s living in a foreign land.

So — again — imagine how all of this loss — through no fault of her own — imagine how all of this loss has left her feeling empty. And what began as the story of a family from Bethlehem moving to a foreign nation ends with just the mother alive — now a refugee. Her husband and sons are dead — leaving two more widows in the family.

But Naomi’s story isn’t over. Verse 6.

EMPTINESS CAN LEAD US HOME

Naomi decides she’s going to take charge of her life — she’s going to head back home. And what influenced her decision? We find our answer in verse 6. “She had heard…that the Lord had visited his people and given them food.” God had come to the aid of his people — he hadn’t abandoned them afterall. And if God was there, she wanted to be there with him — so she’s going back home. And the women start off to head to Naomi’s home — leaving the land that’s claimed the lives of their husbands — heading back to a land that a famine had caused them to flee.

But the silent journey is interrupted when Naomi speaks.

8 But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. 9 The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. (Ruth 1:8-9 ESV)

There’s no need for these women to become what she’s become — women with no family living in a foreign land. So she tells them to go back home — to stay in their homeland — and blesses them for their kindness towards her. And — in many ways — Naomi’s trying to put an end to her relationship with these women. She’s thankful for their loyalty but she doesn’t want them to experience any more loss than what they’ve already experienced. And her kiss signals the end of the conversation — or so she thought.

10 And they said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.” (Ruth 1:10 ESV)

Now their response doesn’t just surprise Naomi — which it does — it surprises us — the reader — as well. Apparently Naomi’s not the only strong woman in this story. And her daughters-in-law aren’t going to let their mother-in-law control them. But Naomi’s not going to let them get the last word.

11 But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? 12 Turn back, my daughters; go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, 13 would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me.” (Ruth 1:11-13 ESV)

Naomi’s first question — “why will you go with me?” — displays a bit of annoyance. Her second question — “do I have sons?” — only has one answer — No! And then she tells the women to turn back to their homeland — again — displaying some impatience with the women — if not a bit of anger. But the drama — between these women — isn’t finished yet.

14 Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. 15 And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” 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.” 18 And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more. (Ruth 1:14-18 ESV)

So the two women make their decision. Orpah kisses Naomi and returns home — she listens to her mother-in-law — and her place in the story comes to an end. Now you’ll find folks who condemn Orpah for her decision — but notice that the narrator doesn’t condemn her. I mean — she obeys Naomi — so why would we want to condemn her for obeying Naomi’s wishes? We don’t know what kind of needs there may have been in Orpah’s family in Moab and there’s no dishonor in her choosing to attend to the needs of her family of origin rather than her family by marriage.

But Ruth clings to Naomi. We’re not sure if this means she literally grabbed Naomi or if she just stood there with a “Woman, you aren’t getting rid of me” kind of look. But we can’t ignore that Ruth is ignoring her mother-in-law’s wishes. And we also can’t ignore the self-admitted loss and emptiness of Ruth. “Wait Josh. Did you say the loss and emptiness of Ruth?” Yes. She makes a wonderful statement of loyalty — but we can’t miss how it also reveals to us something else.

“Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.” That’s a statement of loyalty — yes — but it’s also a statement of someone who’s suggesting that they have no people — of someone who has no God. That’s the statement of someone who’s just as much at a loss and and feeling all alone as Naomi.

So Naomi gives up. She doesn’t even say anything. She just heads home — in silence — with Ruth tagging along. And we’re told nothing of their trip — only that it began in silence — and we have no reason to doubt that the two women made the entire journey in silence. Because — in one short verse — the journey comes to an end.

So when they arrive in Naomi’s hometown, word on the street starts buzzing — “Naomi’s back.” And when she hears her name being said — she realizes the gap between her name’s meaning — “pleasant” or “delightful” — and her experience. So she tells everyone to not call her Naomi any longer — her name is now Mara which means “bitter.” And why does she give herself this name? She tells us. Because “the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full and the Lord has brought me back empty…the Lord has brought calamity upon me.”

She says, “I was full. And now I’m empty. For God has taken everything from me.” And — maybe off to the side somewhere — was Ruth — and Naomi didn’t even acknowledge her presence.

So let’s pause before we go any further.

As this pandemic has taken things away from you — as you’ve experienced real loss — loss that I don’t want to downplay — just like I don’t want to downplay Naomi’s loss — but in your sense of loss and emptiness — what might you be overlooking in your life that’s a blessing?
What — in your life — is the equivalent of Ruth — a blessing standing off to the side — while you’re listing off all of the things that have been taken away from you — not noticing what you do have?

So post a comment — if you’re joining us on Facebook or on our church online page — post a comment of something that you do have — something that hasn’t been taken away from you — in these days. You may just remind someone else of a blessing in their life that they’re overlooking.

But notice the contrast here. Naomi — and her family — fled when trouble came in the form of a famine — they decided to go to another country — that was their response to trouble. But Ruth chose a different response. Rather than separating herself from the trouble she would surely find in following her widowed mother-in-law to a foreign land as a widow herself — instead of fleeing from trouble — Ruth bound herself to someone in trouble — she bound herself to Naomi.

CONCLUSION

And this is how we find hope and fullness for our emptiness. Ruth binding herself to Naomi points us to what Jesus ultimately did for us. He committed himself to us — people who were in eternal trouble and in need of someone to come and rescue us. And Jesus rescued us by emptying himself on the cross so that we — who are empty — might experience the fullness of his life in ours. Thus our emptiness becomes the means by which God glorifies himself in our lives as we trust in Jesus to give us fullness and fulfillment.

You see, the gospel is the news of God displaying his love for us exactly when we were in a place of emptiness and brokenness and in need of salvation. The gospel isn’t the news of God loving people who are full, and unbroken — people who have no need for a Savior — that’s not the gospel. The hope of the Christian faith is that “God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” And that Jesus “who though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature. 8 He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross! 9 As a result God exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow – in heaven and on earth and under the earth – 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” And Jesus said that he has “come that they (those he saves — those who believe in him — Jesus has come that they…) may have life, and have it to the full.” Other translations say so that they may have an “abundant life” or “a rich and satisfying life” or “a better life than they ever dreamed of.”

Jesus came to give us the Naomi life — the pleasant and delightful life — and he did so by taking the Mara life that we all deserve. He took our Mara life when he experienced the bitter life under the wrath of God in our place so that we could be given “a better life than we ever dreamed of.”

Do you want fullness of life — even when you experience the losses of life? Well fullness of life is found only in Christ alone — trusting in his love for you — believing that he can give — but even more — believing that Jesus can be — the delight of your soul.

Now one last part of Naomi’s story that I don’t want you to miss — and a thank you to my wife for pointing this out to me. Once she and Naomi are back in Judah, Ruth begins to gather food in the land of a man named Boaz. There was a law in the land where landowners had to allow widows to collect the leftover grain that had been left by the people working their land so the widows would have something to eat. And — as it turns out — Boaz was a relative of Naomi and Ruth — but even more important — he was a potential kinsman redeemer — which means that legally he was a potential rescuer and protector of these widows.

And one night, Ruth went to Boaz to show that she and Naomi wanted him to be their kinsman redeemer — their protector and rescuer — and Boaz told her that he was willing — but first a meeting needed to take place to make it all official. But — before he sent her home — he gave Ruth a bunch of food to take back to Naomi and he said, “Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty handed.” And Boaz did become their kinsman redeemer. And he and Ruth eventually marry. And they became the great-grandparents of David — who would later be king of Israel.

And Jesus — a descendant of David — is our rescuer — he’s our protector — he’s our redeemer. And he has promised to never leave us empty handed. For he is always with us — filling us with himself — filling us with the Spirit of God — and Jesus is so good to us that he fills us with blessings to numerous to count. All possible because he emptied himself so you can be full. Let’s pray.

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, thank you once again for your wonderful promises to us. Promises undeserved. Promises that — at times — can seem too good to be true. But they’re not too good to be true because they are your promises to us. And you are both good and true.

Jesus thank you for emptying yourself — taking the Mara bitter life we deserve — so that we could experience the fullness of life — the Naomi life that we don’t deserve. What a display of kindness to us through the ultimate sacrifice of your life on the cross.

Spirit help us to both recognize our emptiness — the real loss we experience — while not missing the blessings that we do have. And thank you for the gift of “a better life than we’ve ever dreamed of.” The life we experience when we are filled with you. And we pray all of these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.

BENEDICTION

May we — in our emptiness — all turn to Jesus to fill us — knowing that he never leaves us empty handed. Amen.

God loves you. I love you. You are sent.