•            In our series, ‘Loss to Legacy,’ we’ll spend the next four weeks exploring the incredible story found in the book of Ruth. Together, we’ll walk through each verse of every chapter, diving into the life of this remarkable Gentile woman. As we journey through her story, you’ll be encouraged by how relatable it is to our own lives. In the midst of the ordinary, through heartbreak, and when God feels distant, He often gives us just a glimmer of hope to hold on to as He tests our faithfulness. But if we look closely—at the beginning, middle, and end of this story—we’ll see a God who is always faithful

•            “Remember that of work you do today you cannot see the issue. It is wrought through faith in God. It may be in some great city, or a hidden village among the hills, that your life may be lived, small, unknown, never published, yet you may be God’s foothold for things to come, which if told you now you would not possible believe.” (Campbell Morgan)

◦            God is frequently working out his purpose in places and times where it seems to us that he isn’t doing anything.

•           Ruth chapter one paints a vivid picture of faithfulness in the face of profound loss and suffering. It reminds us that in our darkest moments, when the future is unclear and hope seems only a distant glimmer, loyalty to both God and others can carry us through. Ruth’s commitment to stay with Naomi, despite the uncertainty ahead, powerfully illustrates that faithfulness is not just a feeling—it’s a choice to trust God's plan and remain loyal to those we love, even when the path forward is filled with pain and doubt. Yet God can redeem Loss and turn it into Legacy.

Verse 1 a

During the time of the judges

 •            1,200 BC. To 1020 BC.

◦            Globally - The Bronze Age - Trojan War - Political power in the form of Kings was become more popular.

◦            Israel has left Egypt, Wandered, and conquered the promise Land. And they were ruled by Judges. This was a very dark time in Israel (despite being in the promise land)

 “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did whatever seemed right to him” Judges 21:25

 ◦            It is a time marked by political instability, moral decline, and cycles of sin, oppression, and deliverance as described in the book of Judges.

▪            Ruth’s story, however, is a stark contrast to the chaos of the time, as it focuses on themes of loyalty, kindness, and God’s providential care for individuals, even in difficult circumstances.

◦            We also know from 1 Samuel that the people wanted to join the rest of the world in being ruled by a physical king.

 Verse 1 b

there was a famine in the land. A man left Bethlehem in Judah with his wife and two sons to stay in the territory of Moab for a while. 

 •            We find a family in some part of one of these cycles facing famine. This famine was serious enough in Bethlehem (the house of bread) that it causes the family to decide to go to Moab!

◦            Moab - God made it clear to not get involved with the people of Moab.

“Israel…pecan to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab. For they invited the people to sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel joined themselves to Ball of Peor and the LORD was angry against Israel”

Numbers 25:1-3 (24,000 die in a plague in v .9)

“No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of the Lord; none of his descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall enter the assembly of the Lord.”

Deuteronomy 23:2

 Who were the Moabites? - Descendants of Lot. Lot’s daughter plot to prolong their family line by getting their father drunk and sleeping with them. The daughter whose idea it was first bore a son named - Moab.

  Verse 2

2 The man’s name was Elimelech, and his wife’s name was Naomi. The names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They entered the fields of Moab and settled there.

•            Elimelech = God is King

•            Naomi = Pleasant

•            Mahlon = Sickness or Weakness

•            Chilion = Wasting (pining) - from root word “to perish”

•            Bethlehem = House of Bread

 Verse 3-5

3 Naomi’s husband, Elimelech, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 Her sons took Moabite women as their wives: one was named Orpah and the second was named Ruth. After they lived in Moab about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was left without her two children and without her husband.

 •            Naomi has truly lost everything - Her husband and boys. Her provision, protection, culture (her daughter-in-laws are not Jewish). Everything that truly matters in this world.

•            The greatest tragedy in that Eastern culture at the time was the end of a blood line - this was the greatest form of shame.

 Verse 6

6 She and her daughters-in-law set out to return from the territory of Moab, because she had heard in Moab that the Lord had paid attention to his people’s need by providing them food.

Glimmer of hope in the middle of tragedy - interesting that for Naomi, this would have just felt like an only option.

 Verse 7-10

 7 She left the place where she had been living, accompanied by her two daughters-in-law, and traveled along the road leading back to the land of Judah.

8 Naomi said to them, “Each of you go back to your mother’s home. May the Lord show kindness to you as you have shown to the dead and to me. 9 May the Lord grant each of you rest in the house of a new husband.” She kissed them, and they wept loudly.

10 They said to her, “We insist on returning with you to your people.”

 •            Naomi is showing kindness here. There was no hope going with Naomi. They had no future. She thanks these wonderful daughters for their love towards her and her boys.

•            They weep together - these women have experienced so much joy and hard times together.

Verse 11-13

11 But Naomi replied, “Return home, my daughters. Why do you want to go with me? Am I able to have any more sons who could become your husbands? 12 Return home, my daughters. Go on, for I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me to have a husband tonight and to bear sons, 13 would you be willing to wait for them to grow up? Would you restrain yourselves from remarrying? No, my daughters, my life is much too bitter for you to share, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me.”

 •            The reason Naomi Mentions the idea of waiting for her to have sons is that Deut 25 has provisions for this situation where it was a brothers responsibility to marry his sister-in-law and her first son would then carry the name of her dead husband.

•            The hand of God will also be against you if you stay with me.

 Verse 14

14 Again they wept loudly, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.

 •            Orpah does the sensible thing and returns home.

•            Cling here is the same as in Genesis where is says a man should leave his father and mother and cling to his wife (Gen 2:24)

 Verse 15

15 Naomi said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. Follow your sister-in-law.”

 •            If you leave now, you could still catch her.

•            Things seem to being go well for others back there with their gods. (wicked prosper)

 Verse 16-17 - One of the greatest examples of “reckless abandon” in the Bible

16 But Ruth replied:

Don’t plead with me to abandon you
or to return and not follow you.
For wherever you go, I will go,
and wherever you live, I will live;
your people will be my people,
and your God will be my God.
17 Where you die, I will die,
and there I will be buried.
May the Lord punish me,
and do so severely,
if anything but death separates you and me.

•            I will forsake my father and mother, my God’s, my culture, my everything to follow you and your God.

•            Ruth is placing full confidence in Naomi’s God - the God of Israel - Yahweh - The almighty God.

 Verse 18-19

18 When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped talking to her.

19 The two of them traveled until they came to Bethlehem. When they entered Bethlehem, the whole town was excited about their arrival and the local women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”

•            They return with two great needs - Food & Family

 Verse 20-21

20 “Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara,” she answered, “for the Almighty has made me very bitter. 21 I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has opposed me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?” 22 So Naomi came back from the territory of Moab with her daughter-in-law Ruth the Moabitess.

 •            Naomi = Pleasant - Mara = Bitter

◦            My life has been anything but pleasant.

•            Ruth stands there with Naomi as the living reminder of Naomi’s Calamity and emptiness.

•            Admits the tragedy Naomi does not doubt God’s greatness and power.

◦            Shadai - The Almighty - All Powerful

◦            Yahweh - The Lord - Covenant name for God - a God who keeps his promises.

•            This is what real life looks like - In a foreign land (Ruth or Naomi), despair, loneliness and shame.

 The Why? We can struggle to see God in the story.

 Verse 22

They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

 The story of Ruth begins in deep loss and heartache, but what we see throughout this chapter is a faint glimmer of hope shining in the darkest of times. Naomi’s life has been shattered—she’s lost her home, her husband, and her sons. Yet, in the midst of her grief, there is a small sign of God’s provision: the barley harvest has begun. This moment reminds us that even when life feels overwhelming, God is at work, often in ways we can’t yet see.

Ruth’s decision to cling to Naomi, leaving behind her own people and gods, is an incredible act of faith—one that trusts in a future she cannot control or predict. Ruth shows us that faithfulness to God isn’t about having all the answers or seeing the full picture. It’s about holding on to the glimmer of hope He provides, knowing that He is faithful, even when the way forward seems impossible.

Like Ruth and Naomi, we are called to trust God when all we have is that small glimmer of hope. When life feels uncertain, and when suffering clouds our vision, we can be confident that God’s plan is still unfolding. He is still good. He is still faithful. And often, it’s through the trials and tests of life that God prepares us for the legacy He is building.

Application:

As you face the challenges in your life, don’t despise the small glimmers of hope God provides. When everything around you feels uncertain or overwhelming, cling to His faithfulness. You may not understand what He’s doing, and the road ahead might be unclear, but like Ruth, choose to trust in God’s promise. He often works in the ordinary and the mundane, in the quiet moments where hope feels faint, to bring about a legacy of redemption.

So, when the future seems dim, remember that God is at work behind the scenes. Your job is to remain faithful, even if all you have to cling to is a small glimmer of hope. Trust that God will take your faithfulness, even in your darkest moments, and turn your loss into legacy.