Steadfast Love
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Ruth 1: 1-22
Introduction
God’s work is surprising. So often, God works through unlikely and even unqualified people. We see this throughout the Bible. Moses was not a good speaker. Jonah ran away from God. Jacob was a liar. Rehab was a prostitute. David had somebody killed to cover up an affair. Jeremiah was depressed. Peter lacked self-control. The list goes on and on. God works through people while demonstrating amazing mercy, steadfast love, and blessing people, while leading whole communities and whole societies into new ways of life.
Chesed
In fact there is a word in the Old Testament that expresses this incredible quality of God. That word in Hebrew is CHESED (חסד), and to translate this we use several words like steadfast love, mercy, blessing, and covenant love. This word shows up almost 250 times in the Old Testament! It’s a huge theme of the whole Bible. In the New Testament the counterpart is AGAPE – or unconditional love.
Agape was rarely used in the Greek language until Jesus used it and then the apostle Paul picked it up. Most people didn’t know what unconditional love meant. It was not heard on the streets. And that’s still true today. You talk to most people about unconditional love or real mercy, and eyes just glass over.
Yet, without understanding chesed/agape, we can’t even begin to grasp the nature of our relationship with God. Sometime, take a look at Psalm 136. Chesed is mentioned in all 26 verses. The psalmist was driving home a point…telling us that the compelling force behind all of God’s actions is chesed. It’s more than a quality of God. Chesed is God’s very nature. The New Testament puts it this way: “God is agape” (1 John 4:16).
Unconditional love is a concept that is tough to wrap our heads around, with so much deceit and self-serving in the world today. But God is faithful. Faithful to God’s promises. God does not exist without showing chesed-steadfast love.
When life hurts
But when life hurts, in dark times…it’s especially hard to perceive God’s love. This is where we meet Naiomi in today’s reading from the short book of Ruth. She lived in a time of chaos. Many Jewish people had gone after other gods, turning their back on Yahweh in favor of wealth and other desires. So God raised up judges to teach and guide them. But the people rebelled against the chesed/covenant love of God.
Through it all, God’s mercy and steadfast love continue, but the people reject God. In the words of the Book of Judges (which comes just before the Book if Ruth, “Everyone did what was right in their own eyes” (Judges 21:25).
This is where the Book of Ruth begins. The Jewish people were experiencing famine across the land. Naiomi is Jewish and lived in Bethlehem with her husband, and their two sons. But the famine left them desperate to survive, so they flee from Bethlehem and go to Moab (about 25 miles away), to the home of one of Israel’s ancient enemies. That’s when Naomi’s experiences turn really dark. First Naiomi’s husband dies. Then her two sons marry, but after 10 years, both sons also die.
She is now a widow in a culture where a woman without a husband was lost – with no opportunity for income. Now, she is also childless, in a culture that said her main value was bearing children. Plus she is living as a foreigner in Moab. A childless widow in a strange land is destitute…and must rely on the kindness of strangers for anything and everything.
In verse 20 she’s so overwhelmed she renames herself. She says, call me “bitter”. Have you ever felt this? Has life ever taken so much out of you, either in huge chunks at once or in a hundred small ways, so that you don’t feel that you have anything left to give? No motivation… feeling unloved, incompetent, feeling judged by people, maybe even forgotten by God with no understanding of why…maybe even feeling cursed?
If you’ve ever felt any of this, you understand where Naomi was.
What is hard to see or imagine in times like this is that God is still working. God is still with Naomi, and somehow, God is working even in all these things for good for Naomi and perhaps for many others. God is good, all the time.
Ruth’s remarkable love
Naomi feels empty (1:21). Yet something incredible happens…Naomi is still able to reflect God’s love. She prays for her her daughters-in-law. She gathers them and prays, that Yahweh will be kind and give them new husbands, children, and peace-filled lives. Then, she tells them to go home and leave her. Orpah, one of the girls, does leave. She returns to her family of origin and her foreign gods. But Ruth gives witness to the unconditional love, chesed, in her own heart, with one of the most memorable declarations in all of scripture:
“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. 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.”
Ruth, a foreigner, a Moabite, is not required to follow the laws of Israel, but Ruth goes above and beyond any requirements of the Law. As Jesus later teaches, love (agape/chesed) is the fulfillment of the Law. Ruth’s love is a reflection of God…and both Ruth and Naomi become instruments of God’s love in this moment…and also in amazing ways as this story continues to unfold.
God’s invisible hand
In the midst of darkness, Ruth emerges as a surprising and beautiful story of hope. This story shines light in the shadows, reminding us that God’s faithfulness is never absent, even when it is hardest to see.
You may already know the story of the book of Ruth very well, but I encourage you to read the four short chapters of Ruth again this week. Pray for God to speak to you before you read. Then open your Bible this week. Each chapter you’ll read is filled with God’s unconditional love being reflected in the lives and daily choices of normal people who bear the image of God. Each week in worship you’ll reflect on one chapter, with the opportunity to unpack many gifts from this beautiful book.
Chapter one is for today, with a focus on God’s steadfast and unconditional love and how that may seem hard to understand especially when we are suffering.
No matter how you feel today, you are loved. Your feelings may tell you otherwise, but your heavenly Father has loved you with chesed from the beginning of your life. God loves you unconditionally, just the way you are, every day of your life. God is at work in your life for good. God never changes…God never leaves you or forsakes you. Receive God’s embrace today. Receive God’s amazing unconditional love.
Prayer:
O Lord, remind us that You are with us even in the darkest moments. Help us trust Your guidance when hope feels distant. Grant us eyes to see and ears to hear reflections of your unconditional love in those around us. Strengthen our faith and teach us to lean on You, knowing that You are always working behind the scenes for our good. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Pastor Doug Cox