Read an Excerpt
Ruth: Discovering Your Place in God's Story
By Eugene H. Peterson Tyndale House Publishers
Copyright © 2017 Eugene H. Peterson
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-63146-786-8
CHAPTER 1
— SESSION ONE —
Ruth
God Has Dealt Me a Hard Blow
RUTH 1
* * *
THE BOOK OF Ruth is only a sample of what's possible when we take the stories of other people seriously. It offers evidence that it can be done and provides the stimulus for others to do it. Every one of us, though, has to find his or her own way into the story.
— EUGENE
1. Think about the story of your life. What have been your turning points, plot twists, cliff-hanging moments?
2. How have you changed over the course of the story?
3. Reflect on specific people you have met along the way. How have those people affected your story?
How have you affected theirs?
ONCE UPON A time — it was back in the days when judges led Israel — there was a famine in the land. A man from Bethlehem in Judah left home to live in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. The man's name was Elimelech; his wife's name was Naomi; his sons were named Mahlon and Kilion — all Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They all went to the country of Moab and settled there.
Elimelech died and Naomi was left, she and her two sons. The sons took Moabite wives; the name of the first was Orpah, the second Ruth. They lived there in Moab for the next ten years. But then the two brothers, Mahlon and Kilion, died. Now the woman was left without either her young men or her husband.
One day she got herself together, she and her two daughters-inlaw, to leave the country of Moab and set out for home; she had heard that God had been pleased to visit his people and give them food. And so she started out from the place she had been living, she and her two daughters-in-law with her, on the road back to the land of Judah.
Ruth 1:1-7
4. Elimelech took his family out of Judah because of a famine. Recall a time you were tempted to leave a hard situation. Did you leave or stay? Why?
Do you think Elimelech made the right decision to leave Bethlehem? Why or why not?
5. Life didn't get easier for Elimelech or his family. A lot of pain is condensed into three verses (verses 3-5). Sometimes it seems like a lot of pain has been condensed into our lives as well. What have you been taught or told about how to deal with pain and loss?
How do you relate to God when you're dealing with pain or loss?
6. Why does Naomi decide to return to Judah? How does this compare to her family's decision to leave Judah in the first place?
7. Think of a "Naomi moment" you've had — a moment when you were forced by circumstance to make a hard choice. What choices did you have to make? What did you feel as you went through the process?
What helped to guide your decision?
* * *
AFTER A SHORT while on the road, Naomi told her two daughters-in-law, "Go back. Go home and live with your mothers. And may God treat you as graciously as you treated your deceased husbands and me. May God give each of you a new home and a new husband!" She kissed them and they cried openly.
They said, "No, we're going on with you to your people."
But Naomi was firm: "Go back, my dear daughters. Why would you come with me? Do you suppose I still have sons in my womb who can become your future husbands? Go back, dear daughters — on your way, please! I'm too old to get a husband. Why, even if I said, 'There's still hope!' and this very night got a man and had sons, can you imagine being satisfied to wait until they were grown? Would you wait that long to get married again? No, dear daughters; this is a bitter pill for me to swallow — more bitter for me than for you. God has dealt me a hard blow."
Again they cried openly. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye; but Ruth embraced her and held on.
Naomi said, "Look, your sister-in-law is going back home to live with her own people and gods; go with her."
But Ruth said, "Don't force me to leave you; don't make me go home. Where you go, I go; and where you live, I'll live. Your people are my people, your God is my god; where you die, I'll die, and that's where I'll be buried, so help me God — not even death itself is going to come between us!"
When Naomi saw that Ruth had her heart set on going with her, she gave in. And so the two of them traveled on together to Bethlehem.
RUTH 1:8-19
8. At first Naomi brings her daughters-in-law along with her, but then she tells them to "go back." Explain her rationale for parting with Ruth and Orpah. What would you have done?
9. In what ways do you identify with Ruth?
10. Who in your life would you stick with, no matter what? Why?
11. In what ways do you identify with Orpah?
12. Reflect on a relationship or friendship in your life that ended. What was hard about that ending? How has your life changed since?
* * *
WHEN THEY ARRIVED in Bethlehem the whole town was soon buzzing: "Is this really our Naomi? And after all this time!"
But she said, "Don't call me Naomi; call me Bitter. The Strong One has dealt me a bitter blow. I left here full of life, and God has brought me back with nothing but the clothes on my back. Why would you call me Naomi? God certainly doesn't. The Strong One ruined me." And so Naomi was back, and Ruth the foreigner with her, back from the country of Moab. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
RUTH 1:19-22
13. Naomi had to leave her family and her home, and then in a strange land she lost her husband and her sons. One hard thing after another. In what ways do you identify with Naomi?
A NOTE FROM EUGENE
NAOMI GOT INTO the story by complaining. She a experienced loss, complained bitterly about it, and eugene had her unhappiness taken seriously by a storyteller who formed it into a complaint against God.
14. Does it surprise you to read Naomi's complaint "The Strong One ruined me"? Why?
When we see that God's Word includes complaints against him, what do we learn about him?
15. Are you tempted to defend God against Naomi? Why or why not?
A NOTE FROM EUGENE
FORMALIZED COMPLAINTS ARE common in Scripture. As people looking to help others find their way in their story, we don't always have to be on God's side, defending him. There are in fact times when the biblical position is at the plaintiff's side.
16. Reflect on a time you or a loved one complained about God. What feelings were underneath the complaint? Did your understanding of God change in that situation? How?
How do you think God responds to our complaints?
Until we meet again
CONTINUE TO REFLECT on your life story. In what situations do you now see God's role differently than you did at first? Take some time to acknowledge God's part in your story, and ask God to help you play a strong supporting role in the stories of your loved ones.
KEEP AN EYE out for people who need help telling their stories. Consider when you are called to play the role of God's defender, or when you might be called to help give voice to a complaint against God.
Consider scheduling a time to "swap stories" with someone. Give the other person a chance to share his or her Naomi moments, including difficult feelings about God, and be prepared to share your own.
Prayer
Thank you, Lord, for the providential way you have guided my life, though at times it's been hard to see the providence for all the plot twists. Help me to be brave and good and true, regardless of where the story takes me. Help me to be a good listener to other people's stories, being attentive to what you're doing in them and around them.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Ruth: Discovering Your Place in God's Story by Eugene H. Peterson. Copyright © 2017 Eugene H. Peterson. Excerpted by permission of Tyndale House Publishers.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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