The Word From Thurles

We've come to the bit where every good love story finishes: “They got married and they all lived happily ever after.” But our storyteller has more to say, for this story is part of a much bigger story.

Bethlehem, in the days of Ruth, shows us what a community of God's people should be like. It also helps us to understand what God is like.

Naomi's risky plan has left us with a beautiful picture of marriage as God intends it to be, but better still, it opens up to us a deeper understanding of God's lovingkindness.

The story of Ruth is really a story about God, the knowledge of whose hesed gives His people the nerve to grab opportunities and take risks in order to show His hesed to the people around them.

The Hebrew word Hesed is one of the most important words in the Bible. It describes how God relates to us and it describes how we ought to relate to one another.

How often, when the days are dark, we are like Naomi. All we can see is the badness. We don't see the glimmers of hope on our horizon and we don’t remember the promises.

Was there a time when some bitter blows from the hand of God and you headed off to try and find happiness with other gods, left God’s place and withdrew from God’s people? It’s time to come home. It might be costly and there are no guarantees that life will be easy but it’s time to return. Back home is where the blessing is.

Did Elimilek do the wrong thing when he took his family to Moab? Was the tragedy that followed a judgement from God? How does God deal with His children wehn they turn their backs on Him anyway? A sermon on Ruth 1:1 – 5

They were dark, dark days in Israel in the days when the Judges ruled. Nobody knew it but even then God was at work doing something very good; doing something very big. A Sermon on Ruth 1:1