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men in Ruth chapter 1 here it starts out in verse number 1 now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled that there was a famine in the land and a certain man of Bethlehem Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab he and his wife and his two sons and the name of the man was a limilech and the name of his wife Naomi and the name of his two sons Malon and Caelian Ephrathites of Bethlehem Judah and they came into the country of Moab and continued there so we start out here we're in the period of the judges in the nation of Israel and there's a famine in the land and because of the famine this certain man just decides that he's going to move to Moab because he feels like he has better financial opportunity there you know there's a famine in the land and so people are struggling times are tough and I mean a famine is a serious thing there's not enough food to eat this isn't just like oh it's an economic downturn and so you know my wife and I have to share a vehicle now or something or you know or we have to set the thermostat a few degrees different than what we're used to I mean this is a serious thing where you know people are dying because they don't have any food and so because of this famine in the land they leave the Promised Land because think about this is in the time of the judges the children of Israel have inherited the Promised Land it's God's will that they be there occupying that land they go over into a heathen godforsaken country in Moab because of the fact that they feel like they can do better there now the first thing I want to point out is that you're always going to do best in the will of God not necessarily where humanly speaking the opportunity is but where God's will is you know they would have been better off staying with the people of God staying near unto the house of God staying in a place where God wants them then to go into a heathen land well just because you know we got to do what we got to do and a lot of times we as Christians might be tempted to think well you know we got to do what we got to do financially and so therefore we're going to move somewhere where there's no good church or something and here's the thing I'm not against anyone moving for a better financial opportunity you know I've I don't think that there's anything wrong with that I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to make money and provide for your family and better your situation I think there's zero issue with that at all unless you're moving somewhere where you don't even know if there's a good church there you know it's like if you're moving somewhere and you don't even know if there's a great church there if there's a soul winning church there if there's a church you can go to and you're leaving a place where you know you have a good church you know that's where I would be against it okay now obviously if you're moving to a giant city chances are there's going to be a good church there thank God in America you know there are going to be an abundance of churches and in most big cities but when you're moving out to the middle of nowhere not so much okay and so the Bible teaches that we should seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and then all the other things will be added unto us the food and the clothing etc so again I'm not against somebody moving you know from one good church to another because they have a better financial opportunity amen you know people have left our church that way and I think that that's great as long as they're going to somewhere where they can actually serve God and the house of God is there because we're not living in a time where the house of God is in one place you know there are houses of God all over the place right we have churches all over the place whereas in this period there's one place where the house of God is there's one tabernacle there's one nation where the children of Israel and the people of God are worshiping the Lord that's the place and if you go to Moab there's no good church in Moab I'll tell you that right now okay so that's what's going on here we need to apply this to our lives and think to ourselves you know what I'm always going to be best off when I'm in God's will when I'm in the house of God when I make church the priority in my life and seek first the kingdom of God you know there are people who've literally moved to Arizona just because they wanted to go to our church and sometimes family or friends would look at that and say you know you're moving for a church but yet if you move for a job those people wouldn't even blink an eye if you said hey I'm getting a major pay raise they'd be like oh man well of course that's a no-brainer but what is life really about is it really just about how much money we can make or is it about serving the Lord and being in a church where we want to raise our families and we want to go soul-winning and hear the Word of God preached and so you know moving shouldn't be taken lightly with regard to what the church lay of the land is you know both where you're leaving and where you're heading to and so when these people move to this foreign country of Moab it says in verse 3 and a limilech Naomi's husband died so did this go well no this did not end well and she was left in her two sons and they took them wives of the women of Moab the name of the one was Orpah that's not Oprah okay so read that carefully the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth and they dwelled there about ten years so notice how they went to Moab just to sojourn sojourn implies just a temporary stay but it ends up dragging out to ten years and that's how a lot of things end up you know we think like you know I'm just gonna put church on the back burner for a little while so that I can get my finances in order and you know just focus on other things I'm just gonna kind of take a break from church you know put church on the back burner and then boom ten years go by and guess what God didn't bless you for doing that and so now a limilech is dead and then it says in verse 5 and Malon and Kylian died also both of them and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband I mean this is a disaster in the ancient world you know the men are the only really viable breadwinners here I mean these guys are bringing home the bacon and the dad dies the two son-in-laws die I mean this is a disaster now you say why is everybody dying so much you know the Bible doesn't give us the cause of death it doesn't tell us exactly how a limilech died or Malon and Kylian died but it's very likely that they died because of this famine that's going on because the famine seems to be all over the place but you know we don't know that for sure but that would be my guess because typically in a famine situation women do better than men in a situation like that typically if you look at statistics on survival situations situations where people are short on food typically women are better as surviving and enduring those kind of conditions so you know that's speculation but it's very possible that they died from that famine which would mean that they basically you know left Israel to get away from a famine and then they found a famine over in Moab too and the grass was greener on the other side of the fence but when they got there it wasn't what it was cracked up to be okay but either way either way God didn't bless this they would have been better off staying in the land of Israel but it is what it is that's what happened right so now you've got this woman and her two daughters-in-law you've got Naomi and you've got Orpah and Ruth and there's no breadwinner you know there's no man of the house there's nobody to bring home the money and so in verse number six it says then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people and giving them bread so see if she would have been patient things got better in the promised land you just have to hang in there and wait and things get better so they're heading back to the promised land and it says in verse number seven therefore she went forth out of the place where she was and her two daughters-in-law with her and they went on the way to return under the land of Judah and Naomi said unto her two daughters-in-law go return each to her mother's house the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me is she's saying look you know you were good to Malan and Kylian on your good wives you've been good daughters-in-law I love you guys let's leave on good terms but you know what you're probably better off going back to your own family's house your own mom's house then to come with me into this foreign land of Israel you know it's foreign to you and it says in verse 9 the Lord grant you that you may find rest each of you in the house of her husband then she kissed them and they lifted up their voice and web she's saying look you know what you really want for your life you young ladies that are widows you want to find new husbands you don't want to just live with me as a widow we're gonna be struggling we're gonna be poor in Israel why don't you go back home live with your mom and find a new husband that's gonna be your best bet and so she's blessing them in that way and it says in verse 10 they said unto her surely we will return with thee unto thy people so that they're showing loyalty unto Naomi and say no we love you we're family you know even though we're not blood relatives even though we're just related by marriage we love you we want to stay with you we want to help you so we're gonna go with you back to Israel verse 11 and Naomi said turn again my daughters why will you go with me are there yet any more sons in my womb that they may be your husbands turn again my daughters go your way for I'm too old to have a husband if I should say I have hope if I should have a husband also tonight and should also bear sons would you Terry for them till they were grown she's basically saying look this makes no sense I don't have anything going for me I can't really offer you anything because even if I were to get married today and get pregnant tonight are you gonna sit there and wait for this dude to grow up and be your husband it doesn't make sense it's not gonna work so she says look just just go back go home and she says at the end of verse 13 nay my daughters for it grieve with me much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord is gone out against me she's like look God's not blessing me I'm in a bad place right now and I don't want you to go down with the ship here you know I'm struggling it is what it is it's too late for me save yourselves you know just go back just go home and and be a moabite and you know obviously she wants them around but she just feels bad for them so then it says in verse number 14 and they lifted up their voice and wept again and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law but Ruth clave Hunter so after this protest Orpah ends up taking off and heading back to Moab but Ruth sticks around and cleaves unto her basically she hangs on to her she doesn't leave and in verse 15 Naomi says behold thy sister-in-law is gone back unto her people and notice this little dig that she puts in and unto her gods return thou after thy sister-in-law now we're gonna get into this a little bit more as we read through here but the idea is that Ruth ends up staying with Naomi because of the Lord because she says your God is gonna be my God so this is a spiritual choice that's being made here and I think that that's why God includes this little part where she says like she went back to her people and her gods it's the contrast with Ruth who's making the choice to sacrifice and serve the Lord even if it means going to a foreign country with a poor woman who has nothing going for her where her prospects are terrible prospects I mean keep in mind you know the moabites aren't necessarily the coolest citizens in Israel you know coming from Moab is not a good resume in the land of Israel if you study the Mosaic law okay so she's going to a foreign country where she's gonna be part of a minority that's not cool in Israel that's not considered like oh cool you're a moabite great it's like oh you're a moabite that's more they're looked down upon so she's gonna go to a place where she has no prospect no future it doesn't really make sense on paper but yet she's gonna do it because of the Lord you know she says look your God is gonna be my God as opposed to Orpah goes back to a heathen place and you know presumably goes back to false gods at least that's what Naomi is assuming although we don't you know we don't really know that for sure that she actually just went back and started worshipping false gods little hypocritical on Naomi's part too because she's been living there for ten years herself but but anyway here's the point that I want to draw from this part right here okay both of them and this is something that I think we often don't think about in this story we always think about how Ruth stayed with Naomi and Orpah went back but what we often don't think about is the fact that they both said that they were gonna go to Israel they both initially had that thought so it's not that Orpah just had no desire or love for Naomi and and didn't want to help her out didn't love her you know they're everybody's crying right everybody's crying Orpah says that she's gonna stay she wants to stay she wants to go to Israel but once Naomi explains things to her and she thinks about it she takes up and you know to me this pictures the Christians who say that they're going to stay faithful to the Lord no matter what they say that they're going to be there through thick and thin they say they're gonna be faithful they say that nothing's gonna dissuade them and then the people who actually follow through with that right are two kinds of Christians the ones who follow through and actually do keep serving God when the persecution comes when the times are tough and the ones who say that and and and look when they say that they're not even lying they mean that but they're weak spiritually so they say that but then when the chips are down they falter you know and this reminds me of the people in the parable of the sower where they don't have any root in themselves and so when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word they're immediately offended so when it's easy they're great church members you know they love the Lord and and I look I'm not saying that they're fake I believe that they're real I believe that they're sincere but they don't have a root and they're weak so when times get tough they fail and so when Orpah is looking at the situation and saying you know what this is not a tenable situation here you know I've got to go back to Moab for financial reasons whereas Ruth says you know what it doesn't make sense on paper I don't know how it's gonna work out but you know what where you die I'm gonna die and that's where I'm gonna be buried and your God's gonna be my you know and she just steps out in faith and that's what this is this is Ruth stepping out in faith Orpah wants to do what's right Orpah loves Naomi maybe even loves the Lord but even though she wants to do what's right she's not strong enough to do what's right when faced with a rough circumstance and so that's what we see here the difference between the two they both talk the talk but one of them actually walks the walk when things are difficult and hard okay so she says in verse 16 and Ruth said and treat me not to leave thee saying do not ask me to leave don't send me away and treat 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 and notice she says where you lodge I'll lodge you know because there's probably some question about how good the lodging is gonna be and this this reminds one of Jesus saying to the man who said Lord I'm gonna follow you wherever you go and he said well you know the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head he basically said I don't know where I'm even sleeping tonight and then the guy ends up you know not being a part of the group because when he departs it ends up just being the 12 that go with this other guy doesn't come along once he hears that he kind of pulls an Orpah at that point and turns around after he said hey I'm gonna follow you whithersoever you go sort of like Orpah said surely verse 10 surely we will return with the end of thy people well it turns out wasn't such a sure thing was it a couple minutes later she's leaving when she sees the circumstances and so she says look I'll lodge where you lodge it doesn't matter to me it's not important to me what kind of a house we live in oh you know what I'm gonna follow you I want your people to be my people your God to be my God and so I'm gonna follow you wherever you go 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 when she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her then she left speaking under and what does the Bible tells the New Testament be steadfast unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain the Lord we ought to be steadfast as well and she was steadfast in serving the Lord and she doesn't let anyone talk her out of it she doesn't let Naomi talk her out of it verse 19 so they too 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 I mean this is kind of big news you know she's been gone for ten years and it's their long lost buddy Naomi showing up and they're surprised and they're excited all the ladies come out and and greet her and she said unto them call me not Naomi call me Mara for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me so a lot of times in the Bible names have significance and and the meaning of people's names so she's saying don't call me Naomi because Naomi means like pleasant and she's saying you know but like if you when you meet somebody if you want to say to them mucho gusto in Hebrew you'd say not even mode which is like the same thing you know so it's a pleasure to meet you so she's saying my name is not pleasant it's Mara it's bitter right and she says because the Lord has dealt bitterly with me don't call me pleasant don't call me Naomi call me Mara right call me bitter I mean that's a pretty rough name for a woman to have right bitterness sounds like a real fun person call me Mara now I apologize if anyone's name is Mara okay you know I'm not saying it's a bad name in English it sounds lovely it sounds just lovely it sounds very pleasant in English but you know to them it means bitter and a lot of women you know if they were honest that would be their name but that's another sermon okay call me Mara you know it's like it's a certain percentage of the female population that could they could actually adopt that name but anyway that's another subject for the Almighty it dealt very bitterly with me I went out full and the Lord had brought me home again empty now this is such a great statement I went out full and the Lord had brought me again empty stop and think about why did they leave why did they leave at the beginning of the book they're leaving because of a famine so would you think of a famine as being a time of fullness or hey we're doing great financially so let's leave because of the economy no what it is is that sometimes we think we're doing really bad until we do really bad so they thought they were doing bad when they went to mop they're like oh man this famine it's terrible you know we can't handle this let's go to Moab and then God basically shows them what it's really like to do bad because you can it turns out you can always go lower and a lot of us today in America you know we have it so good in America we live in the most prosperous country in the world with the most opportunity for the common man to get ahead and to make something of himself and so a lot of times when we're poor and struggling in America we're still doing a lot better than somebody who's struggling in India today or somebody who's struggling in South America today you know people in Venezuela right now that are struggling they're struggling hard that's not like being poor in America okay you know I watched this documentary one time about all the hunger in America and all these these people that are starving in America and they were all overweight they were obese and I'm not kidding this is not a joke they're like these people are starving and I'm kind of like and they're like well they're really hungry and I'm thinking like I'm really hungry too you know because you know the more you eat the hungrier you get am I right but I'm just thinking to myself like okay like I get it you're you're you're you're really hungry and you're eating a lot of junk food so you're starved of nutrition but it's like you know it I wonder what other people in the world would think about that though if they looked at that as an outsider like look at these poor starving Americans and you know and meanwhile they actually have no food whereas a lot of people in America are choosing to eat junk and so their body kind of is starving because they're not eating any fruits or vegetables you know they're not getting a good you know animal products or anything they're just eating junk that's void of nutrition but you know what we in America today that that's what a joke it is when we talk about the poor and the need I mean literally in the same documentary I forget what the documentary was called but it was absurd okay the whole thing was just absurd but it showed a police officer a full-time police officer going to the food bank talking about how he's hungry and I'm thinking to myself like okay I understand that you know maybe some departments pay more than others but you know I have a feeling that any full-time policeman in America is probably not just destitute and starving and just unable to to feed himself okay I mean maybe he doesn't get as many doughnuts you know as he would have chosen but come on what a joke but that's how we are in America right we live in this bubble we live in this place where just there's such an abundance where homeless people that are by the side of the road saying I'm so hungry but then when they leave that street corner what's left behind an unfinished burrito you know people that are actually hungry in this world they finish that burrito you give them a burrito they're gonna finish it today we have homeless people there we had it we had a homeless guy parked outside our door and he left a whole bunch of half-eaten food and like I was just horrified that the guy didn't finish his food because that's kind of a pet peeve of mine you know wasting food I like to see people finish their food and kind of bothers me when they don't and so we today you know oh man I'm struggling it's so hard the economy and look I'm not I'm not saying that you're not struggling all I'm saying is there are people in this world who have it worse than you and there are millions of them probably even billions of them so let's always keep that in perspective I'm not saying you're not struggling and look I know it's like that financial problems I've had financial problems I've had messed up finances and and and couldn't afford things and and struggled but you know what at the same time I've always had access to clean drinking water you know I've always had meals available to me I've never been starving to that and even today in America there are so many food stamps and and so many I mean it's not stamps anymore but you know it's like a debit card now right what is it called EBT yeah you've got the EBT you got the soup kitchen here you got this place over I mean here's the thing you could actually just eat pretty well dumpster diving in Phoenix Arizona compared to how somebody over in India or Venezuela is doing today when they're struggling when they're poor okay so see the difference there so you know Naomi she thought she was at rock bottom and hey you know we have to leave the church we have to go to Moab we have to move to this place where there's no good church we have to go you know and be with the heathen people and and and raise our kids in this heathen place but did they really have to know because in hindsight she says man compared to how I am now I was full back then I left full and I came back empty and here's the thing when you turn to the life of sin and let's get off the kind of economic interpretation which is you know the primary interpretation let's think about this from a spiritual standpoint you know you might be going to church and living the Christian life and feel a little empty you might be going to church you're serving God you're a Christian maybe you're a teenager maybe you're a young adult maybe you're middle-aged and you're just you feel a little empty you know you feel like there's something else out there more fulfilling I'm not talking about food now I'm not talking about money I'm just saying like in life you know you feel like hey that you know that maybe there's some more meaning I can find out there in the world I can find more meaning or maybe I can find better relationships out there or you know something else is better out there but let me tell you something when you leave I'm not talking about leaving our church specifically I'm saying you know when you leave the Christian life when you leave the walk with God when you leave church as an institution and you decide you're gonna go out and live the worldly life you know what you're going to an encounter an emptiness that you can't even imagine right now and you know someday you're gonna realize like wow I thought I thought I had an empty feeling when I was in the house of God no I left full I left full and and and I came back empty because let me tell you something whatever emptiness you're feeling in your heart today living the Christian life is nothing compared to the emptiness that's out there and a lot of us today were spoiled spiritually too we're spoiled spiritually because we're surrounded by people who believe like us we've got the Bible we've got church it's everywhere and you know yet there are other countries today and this time it's not going to be Venezuela or or India or China or North Korea but you know there are other places like let's say places like the Czech Republic or Slovakia or Poland or Hungary where you know people have food to eat they have what they need financially but you know what they're starving over there for Christian fellowship you talk to the believers over in Eastern Europe they're starving for fellowship they wish they had a church to go to they wish they had Christian friends they wish they had a soul-winning partner and you're like oh man I go to church with 350 people and I don't have any I don't have enough friends they wish they could go to a church with 35 people in it you know what I mean and it's like you got hundreds of people it's like yeah but I don't have any friends you know a man that had friends must show himself friendly and you know what life is not about having friends life is about being a friend being a friend reaching out to others and doing stuff for them and being a blessing to them ministering to them being friendly to them and you know we today in America just like we're a little bit spoiled with all the good food that's flown in from all over the world we eat like Kings every day literally even poor people in America eat like Kings ate a thousand years ago or two thousand years ago three thousand years ago I mean we have an abundance of good food the bomb on the street corner today is eating like things that Kings would have eaten literally a king would have loved that burrito you know a thousand years ago he would have finished it by the way but today we're not just spoiled when it comes to economics and food you know we're spoiled with the fellowship it's like we've got hundreds of people in our church that believe like us you know because it's a jungle out there you know out there in the world they're promoting all this filth in the month of June and everything isn't it great to just get in a room with hundreds of people who feel the same way and just hundreds of people who believe in things that are normal and they actually believe in just normal families and normal relationships and living a normal Christian life I mean hey it's really nice but you know we just kind of take it for granted don't we whereas there are people in other countries where you know the church in their town is a Catholic Church and you know there is no Baptist Church in their town because they're in some godforsaken part of Europe or whatever where everybody's turning to atheism and and whatever and so you know there are more mosques in these places today then there are Baptist churches and so we need to understand what we've got here right we need to understand that what we've got in our family what we've got in our friends what we've got in our church you know I mean friends you know what here's a great way to make friends go soul-winning you know we're gonna partner you up with people that have to talk to you okay because they're your soul-winning partner okay so you know I mean look we you know we've got we've got food we've got clothing we've got a church we've got friends we got the Bible you know we have so many blessings but it's easy to take that stuff for granted and think you know what I'm better off in Moab let's just go to Moab and see what's there and then you go to Moab and you know what you find you find death you find sorrow you find bitterness it's a disaster and then how many people come back to church they leave the church when they're a teenager or in their 20s and then don't they come back ten years later and everybody's like hey Naomi you're back hey good to see you you become and you know and here's the thing we always you know we'd love to welcome somebody back who's been gone for ten years amen we want you know it's like the sermon I preached a few weeks ago you can always come back but you know you come back when you're 30 you come back when you're 35 and you're like man I didn't know how good I had it because I experienced an empty feeling unlike anything that I had ever experienced I thought I was empty back then man I was full back then and I came back empty and so don't take for granted what you have and don't think that there's something better out there you know a lot of people might think like oh you know I don't have as good of a social life in church I don't have the friends that I wish I had stop and think about what the rest of the world's been doing for the last year and a half you think they've been partying with their friends oh man these public school kids have the social life okay the public school kids have been barred from public school for like a year or something am I right in their graduation was like it was like the it was like the Pope when he like is driving in that plexiglass vehicle that was their graduation okay so they here's the thing they're stuck at home for like a year year and a half all schools canceled all their functions are canceled their social life's canceled right and you know probably the people who had the most normal social life over the last year and a half were Bible believing Christians think about I mean something about that in America looking at America who do you think had the most normal social life over the last year and a half because here's the thing even when everything shut down all the recreation is shut down the places we like to hang out or shut down the restaurants are shut down everything is to go only your classes are shut down your martial arts gym is shut down your music lessons are shut down your school shut down your job has you working from home but guess what at least we over the last year and a half had church to go to three times a week so I mean like like I didn't really feel the isolation that a lot of people felt during that time and even when our church was was just had online services only for like what three and a half four weeks that we did that you know what people were still able to get together at their friends houses and watch the services online we had still 1520 people here or whatever and we did you know you still had that social life and it will only last a few weeks and then boom we're back in business you know but you think oh man the social life out there is so great well you know what it wasn't not for the last year and a half I think the social life in church was better for the last year and a half because our social life barely missed a beat here you know but you think I just owe everything so perfect out there guess what it's not and and by the way teenagers you know while I'm while I'm talking to the teenagers let me say this as well what if I told you that going to public school doesn't automatically mean that you're surrounded by meaningful friendship hello is anybody home I mean look you know we all grew up going to public school Christian school and everything does it does everyone just have all these meaningful relationships or you know what you know what there's a lot of kids getting picked on am I right there are a lot of kids getting picked on there are a lot of kids that are isolated that are lonely and they have an empty feeling every day when they go to public school or Christian school or whatever else see oh man homeschooled is such a drag must be so nice to go see my friends every day you know and then it's like your friends every day is like those kids that threw the kid in the garbage can on the never-ending story okay that's your friends every day because you know what look I can remember and look I look it's a mixed bag you know when I was in school hey I had some great friendships I had some good fellowship and some good friends how many people are my friends with now from school 90% of this auditorium is the same way how many people here would say I don't keep put up your hand if you don't keep in touch with anybody from elementary junior high or high school if you don't keep up with them yeah it's virtually everybody because you know those relationships aren't quite as meaningful as you think number one but number two I can remember certain years of my school career where I absolutely hated school and I would have loved to not go and that's how I'm sure a lot of people feel the same way I can remember being in seventh grade going to this horrible school when I was in seventh grade I was literally scared every morning getting dropped off I was scared I was scared to walk in okay and you say oh you're a baby you're a wimp well I was a 12 year old boy and I was going to a school that was integrated seventh through 12th grade half the kids that were there had been expelled from public school but the Christian school takes them because their money's green and so you know we're we're like 12 years old getting picked on by 17 and 18 year olds that got expelled from from high school in the public school system sounds great huh yeah I was scared it was not pleasant it was Mara okay it was it was Naomi Baptist School no it was Mara Baptist okay so my point is that you know it the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence you look at Moab and it's so great guess what Moab stinks okay Moab is a terrible place Moab is the place you go to fail and ruin your life and you stay with the house of God you stay with the people of God you stay in the promised land and you're blessed by God and look are you gonna go through some rough patches look God sent this famine upon his own people in Israel but you know what Danny visited his people with bread so look I'm not saying that you're never gonna feel an empty feeling in church I'm not saying you're never gonna struggle financially when you seek first the kingdom of God but here but here's what I am saying it's worse out there I guarantee you that promise you that it's worse out there and you know what whatever struggles you're going through in the Christian life the Bible says that the same temptations are accomplished in your brother in which you're in the world you think people you think worldly people are going through no problems look all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer tribulation but did you know that the people out there are suffering too the difference is that when we suffer as a Christian happy are we and when they suffer it's a suffering with no silver lining it's just a suffering upon suffering and a side of suffering whereas when we suffer it's like hey we're suffering but the glory is coming you know weeping may endure for night but joy cometh in the morning but they don't have that out there and so that's what we see in the story with Naomi and Ruth we see Naomi making a mistake by not seeking first the kingdom of God and you know what we see with Ruth her making the right decision by seeking first the kingdom of God and saying it doesn't make sense I don't know how it's gonna work on paper but you know what wherever you lodge I'm gonna lodge because your God is gonna be my God so she says I went out full and the Lord had brought me home again empty why then call you me Naomi seeing the Lord have testified against me and the Almighty hath afflicted me it's like okay we were just happy to see you chill out verse 22 so Naomi returned and Ruth the Moabianus her daughter-in-law with her which returned out of the country of Moab and they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest and just you know spoiler alert but basically Ruth in a very short period of time is gonna end up marrying the most successful powerful guy in the whole city a godly righteous wealthy landowner who has all these servants and all these resources I mean she's gonna go from just hey wherever we lodge we don't have anything we don't have any resources there's no man in the house no breadwinner I'm going into a country where you know I don't have Israelite privilege because I'm a Moabite everything's working against me it doesn't make sense on paper I don't see how it's gonna work out but what happened God worked it out and she ended up getting married to the most eligible bachelor in the town and she ends up having all the wealth and all the resources and not only is she accepted even though she's a Moabites you know she wants to be an Israelite she's a Moabites but you know the Moabites are looked down upon but guess what she's not looked down upon when she's married to the leading citizen of the town Boaz okay because Boaz is who she ends up marrying and she ends up of course being in the lineage that produces King David that produces Jesus Christ and so did it pay off serving God absolutely and so Orpah she said you know what I got to take care of myself Ruth said you know what I'm just gonna trust God I'm just gonna go to the house of the Lord I want to serve God that's all that matters and you know what I don't know what happened to Orpah I don't know what kind of a Moabite dude she married or if she even got married at all but I really highly doubt that Orpah ended up doing better even on this earth I really doubt that Orpah ended up doing better than Ruth now even if she did who cares because spiritual things are what really matter and we know Ruth got it right spiritually but even on this earth God ended up blessing Ruth and giving her the desires of her heart what did she want a husband what did she want food right she wanted to be able to feed herself and she got it so the moral of the story is seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you as far as I never were to prayer father we thank you so much for this powerful story about these women Naomi Ruth Orpah Lord help us to apply these things to our lives and and to understand what it means to have the right priorities and to seek you first with all of our heart and mind and soul Lord and help us never to envy the wicked or think that Moab has it going on Lord help us to stay in the Israel of God and it's in Jesus name we pray Amen