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Title: What’s in a Name?
Intro:
Michael Payne, LB, Falcons
I thought that was a perfect name, and then I did a bit of research and came across an article entitled, “People Who Have The Perfect Name for Their Jobs.” Let me share a few with you.
(5 slides)
(Read/Pray)
Naomi “My Delight” or “Pleasant”
Mara: “Bitterness”
Note: Naomi does not hesitate to say that her misfortune was the will of God. She does not offer any reason for her suffering, but her circumstances do not cause her to renounce her God. She is desperate, but does not lose hope. Naomi hatches the longest of long-shot plans to save her daughter in law, with no care as to whether or not it will save her.
“Ruth the Moabitess”
It is crucial that Ruth be remembered as a foreigner.
The author of the book understands this fully.
Consider: Ruth is identified as a foreigner no less that EIGHT times in this short, four chapter book!
1:4 “Women of Moab…the name of the other was Ruth
1:22 “Ruth the Moabitess”
2:2 “Ruth the Moabitess”
2:6 “the young Moabite woman”
2:10 (Ruth Speaking) “…since I am a foreigner?”
2:21 “Ruth the Moabitess”
4:5 “Ruth the Moabitess”
4:10 “Ruth the Moabitess”
*Also it is important to remember the origins of the Moabite people. It is a very sad, incestuous story that can be traced backed to Genesis 19:30-38. I won’t get into the details of that story now, but it is extremely sad, and yet, another example of how God can, will, and does use man’s sinful nature to bring about HIS ultimate plan of redemption.
Another way to think of it is like this: Our sin cannot frustrate God’s ultimate plan. The fate of mankind is, and always has been, in God’s hands, not ours.
POINT: Both of these women were known by their names. These names were marks that went with them everywhere, in every circumstance. They could not escape them.
I want to use an extreme example to drive this point home: Imagine that tomorrow morning you wake up with a swastika tattooed on your forehead, and any attempt to cover that tattoo up, or remove it, resulted in the greatest pain you could possibly imagine.
Now, I’d like to ask you two questions:
How would your life change?
What would it take for your life to be NOT miserable?
- You could return to the place where that tattoo was not offensive. (For Ruth, that ship has sailed.)
- You would have to find a people that decided that mark no longer defined you.
“The Barley Harvest”
This time of the year was a time of rejoicing and celebration for the Israel. It is fitting that these two scarred women return home in the season of God’s favor and restoration.
In the coming weeks we will see these two women, almost without hope, be the centerpieces of God’s amazing plan of redemption.