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Sunday 2 June 2002 - "Have you reached Bethlehem?"

Wedding of Philemon & Thuli

(Summary of sermon by Erlo Stegen)

Ruth 1:12-22

12 Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have an husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should have an husband also to night, and should also bear sons;

13 Would ye tarry for them till they were grown? would ye stay for them from having husbands? nay, my daughters; for it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD is gone out against me.

14 And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother in law; but Ruth clave unto her.

15 And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law.

16 And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:

17 Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.

18 When she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her.

19 ¶ So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi?

20 And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.

21 I went out full, and the LORD hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the LORD hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?

22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter in law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.

Naomi clearly depicted the two possible ways to her daughters-in-law:
1. You can go back to your own people and live in peace
2. Come with me, Naomi, the one against whom the Lord has turned His hand, and it will be a difficult way.

Orpah cried, but still went back to her own ways. We don't know what happened to her. But Ruth clung to her mother-in-law, urging her not to tell her to go back.

Ruth made a clear decision: She didn't want to go back, even if the way ahead was difficult and unsure. She said to Naomi: If the hand of the Lord is against you, that same hand must be on my life also. Like Moses who rather chose to suffer with his own people above the pleasures of this world.

They arrived at Bethlehem at the height of the harvest. Naomi refused that the people call her Naomi, the pleasant and joyful one. Instead she insisted on being called Mara, the bitter one. She didn't blame other people for her difficult situation, but she saw that it was the hand of the Lord upon her life.

Have you come to your Bethlehem, out of your own free will?  There where the Lord Jesus was born?  Where you must make a decision between Jesus of Bethlehem, and Satan. Make sure that you always see God's hand upon your life, and that you stay close to Him.