The Village Church
Trouble and Decisions - Audio
And so, Father God, you know the needs of your people. You know what we are all dealing with today, you know what we are all surfing with today, you know what we are all frustrated about today. And so, Lord, we bring all those things to you, Lord, we need healing in our families, in our relationships, we need healing Lord in our selves, because some of us are physically sick, Lord, we need courage, we need boldness, Lord, we need so much, Father, we know that you are life, your life-giver. We know that you are the Sustainer, our provider, our dad, our father, Jehovah John, the great I am. Your Word says, Lord, you were never forsake us, you haven't strived us on the palm of your hands, you dance over us with shouts of joy. You are the Good Shepherd who cares for the flock, cares for your sheep, and we bring to you all of our needs, all of our burdens, our frustrations, our failures, our successes, our joys and our pains, and we ask that you to minister to us, to send your Spirit, your Holy Spirit, to doing us what we can't do in ourselves, Father, to draw us closer to your heart, closer to your throne and Spirit, we need you to take the Word that is preached today and apply it to my heart, Lord, I need it. Everyone here needs it, everyone here needs to hear from you today. Some of us are running, some of us are hiding, Spirit, stop us, stop us in our tracks and let the Word penetrate our cold, cold hearts and pray for this in Christ's name, amen. Well it's good to be back with you guys, seems like I've been in and out of the pulpit, family issues going on, but it's good to be back, so I hope you guys are doing well today. Two weeks ago while I was shopping at Staples, which is right down the road here from the church, I ran into a homeless man. He actually waved me down as I was getting ready to pull out of the parking lot and I didn't feel like being hit up for money, but I engaged him anyway and turns out he was hungry and he just wanted something to eat. So I got into my car and I took him over to his activities and we got something to eat. And part of me just wanted to get him some to eat and get him home with his dad, because I had things I needed to do, but the Spirit, the Spirit did not let me go to a place of indifference with this guy, his name is Gary, that's his name, and the Spirit actually moved me to see him, to hear him, and so I asked Gary, I said, how long have you been homeless? I mean, how did you end up homeless? He said his wife left him for another man and took everything he had and he's been on the streets for the past two months. You see what I heard from Gary, it's just one of many examples of a trail that is behind every person's present situation. We leave a trail, think about that. Each of you here are in a present situation, a circumstance, good or bad, and behind that circumstance is a trail which led to where you are. It could be good decisions, bad decisions, joy, sorrows, ups, downs, successes, failures, stiffness, unfaithfulness, good and bad consequences. Just look at your present situation, your life, and I actually look a little deeper at the trail that lags behind. What do you see? Who is at fault for where you are today? Who do you blame, or who gets the credit for where you are? We all have a trail behind our life, and this morning we're going to begin to look at the trail that lags behind an Old Testament saint that many of you should be familiar with. Her name is Naomi. We read about her present situation in Ruth chapter 4. I'm going to read this to you, because this is where she ends up, but there was a trail that lags behind all that stuff. I'll read it to you. Ruth chapter 4 verse 13 says, "So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. She went into her, and she gave, and the Lord gave her a conception, and she bore a son. Then the women said to Naomi, 'Bless be the Lord who has not left you this day without a redeemer. May his name be renowned in Israel. He shall be to you a restore of life, a nurture of your old age. For your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him. Then Naomi took the child, laid him on her lap, and became his nurse. The women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, 'A son has been born to Naomi. They can name him O-Bed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.' Naomi's present situation there is one of redemption, one of joy, one of life, one of nourishment, one of being filled. How does she end up there? There's a trail. There's a trail that lags behind where she is in that verse, in those verses. Naomi went through some things, if you notice the story about Naomi. She went through some things that were on the trail of her life leading up to chapter 4, and we're going to take a look at this trail that lagged behind her life, and it begins in chapter 1 verse 1. In those days, when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and the man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was Emilek, and his name of his wife was Naomi, and the name of his two sons was Maylon and Chilion, and they were Aphathites of Jerusalem and Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there, but Emilek, the husband and Naomi died, and she was left with her two sons, and these two took Moabite wives. The name of the one was Okra, and the name of the other was Ruth, and they lived there about 10 years, and Maylon and Chilion died, and so the woman was left without her two sons, and her husband. The first thing we see on the trail of Naomi's life is trouble, trouble. You see, the book of Ruth that is an Old Testament narrative is a story, and the setting of this story introduces us to the trouble that was on her trail, and hey, trouble should not be a stranger to any of us, right? Is he a stranger to you? He shouldn't be. All of us should be acquainted with Mr. Trouble. He holds down a spot on all of our life, and the trouble that held down a spot on Naomi's life is seen right here in verse 1, the verse says, "In those days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, in those days when the judges ruled." That's the first trouble. Now, if you know anything about the book of Judges, what was life for Israelites during the book of the judges, during the time of the judges? Let's just say it was not the good old days. It's not the days they longed to go back to, because they constantly did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, worshiping of the gods. Verse 2 says, "Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, the Lord was with the judge. If the judge saved the people from the hands of the enemies, all the days of the judges, but whenever the judge died, the people turned back, and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them, bowing down to them, they did not stop any of their practices, or their disturbing, stubborn ways." The period of the judges was marked by a continuous cycle of rebellion, judgment, repentance, deliverance. It's a cycle. And as one Christian said, it was a period of spiritual, social, and political unrest. Dark, dark times. In fact, the book of the judges ends by saying, "In those days, there was no king in Israel, and everyone did what was right in his own eyes." That's how the book ends, which implies people didn't necessarily do what was right in the eyes of the Lord. I smell trouble, and it's a sour and foul smell. This was the trouble that was on the Elman's life. She was living in this environment that was marked by spiritual and social and political unrest. I'm sure she felt the effects of this. How could she not? How could she not? Not only with those things, but she also felt the effects of another trouble that laughed behind the life. And it was that of a famine. A famine hit the entire land. Now, the author does not give us a reason why. I wish he would have told us why they were with the famine, but he doesn't. But the Old Testament does give reasons why famines occur, but he doesn't give us a reason here, none is mentioned. But still, we know what happens when there's a famine in a particular land, don't we? What does it mean? Well, does it mean to be stuck in a famine? It means you have no food or shortage of food. People suffer from starvation, malnutrition, and there is nothing awesome and wonderful about being in a country that's in the middle of a famine, and there ain't nothing pretty about it. If you know, if you've ever seen pictures of this famine and Somalia, is there anything wonderful about that, seeing tens of thousands of people die from starvation? It's extremely difficult. So Naomi was in the middle of these things, a middle of this trouble, the famine, living an environment marked by spiritual, social, and political unrest. So what can these type of conditions do to a person? It puts you in survival mode. Do what you gotta do to survive. Do what you gotta do to survive. That's what it can do to a person. Do what you gotta do to survive. Now what about you? Have you ever experienced these types of troubles, spiritual trouble, social unrest, political unrest? What about famine? Have you ever been stuck in the famine, or have you ever been in a season of life where you didn't have any food, or your parents could afford to get food, and so you had to go a couple of nights without it? Have you ever been in survival mode? I just got survived, pastor. I just got stopped at leaving. We have. We have. None of us are exempt from trouble. None of us are. Even the ones that in the army experience here, when you look back on your life, we see that we have spiritual troubles. We see that we have social troubles. We all have. But is that the norm of Christians? A Christian is not experienced troubles, it is the norm. And one of my favorite books that I've read is called "Shadowdreams" by Larry Krab. He says, "Shadowdreams destroy false expectations, such as the victorious Christian life where there is no real struggle of failure. Shadowdreams destroy false expectations, such as the victorious Christian life with no real struggle and no real failure." There are struggles and failures, but where's the Lord in the midst of yours? He's there, as he always is, working and moving. The old African-American gospel song says, "Trouble in my way. I have to cry sometimes. I'll lay awake at night, but that's all right that Jesus will fix it after a while." He will and he does. You see, the Lord was and is doing what he has always been doing, working on behalf of his people, even through their troubles in this life. This is something that Naomi is going to realize. She may not see it now on these first five verses, but she will begin to see it. Remember Ruth 4? She will begin to see it. Another thing we see on Naomi's trail is what I call the human element, and what I mean by that is, decisions still have to be made, even when you face trouble. She still has to make decisions, a decision was made for Naomi in response to her troubles. This decision was also the truth of her life, and it was a decision to soldier. That's what the word says. It says, "Her husband decided to take the family to Moab." After introducing to us to sit in the trouble, the author finally brings in the family on Naomi, four members in his family, a husband, two sons. Her husband's name, the mallet, means God is my king. Naomi's name means pleasant, more than lovely one. Now, I'm uncertain by meaning of a son's name, so I don't know. But according to the commentator, this family was one of the original families of Bethlehem. They were established family, some commentators think they were a wealthy family, and yet that status did not protect them from the harsh conditions of a family. Even Bethlehem, which was known as the House of Bread, that's what Bethlehem was called in those days, House of Bread. That's what it means, House of Bread, because it had an unusual fertility for grain, and yet it could not feed them, and so they went to soldier in the country of Moab. Outside of their homeland, now, the obvious question is, was it right? The decision to leave Bethlehem was because of the famine that struck the land, but was it right? I think the point of emphasis here is that the family did not have food, and so the husband made the best decision he thought possible to preserve his family during a natural crisis. He made the decision to preserve his family, but was it right to move to soldier in Moab, an undistigated situation, undistirconcedences? His name means God is my king, so did his decision to soldier in mean he was walking away from his God? I don't think so. To be honest, I think there was nothing wrong with him going to soldier in Moab, because there are examples in the Bible and Old Testament of Old Testament saints soldier in other countries during times of famine, but the problem came when the soldier in turn into a permanent relocation. They stayed. Their decision to soldier was actually the decision to relocate, and as one Christian said, it was going to be of indefinite duration. They were not going back home. You see, first they were going to soldier, and they were going to live for a while, a temporary stay, but as we read on, they went into Moab and remained there. They settled there. The family was no longer functioning soldiers. They grew comfortable in Moab, made their home there. They were not going back. They found a conference in another land, and this decision to remain in Moab was a bad decision. What's the big deal, Alex? They didn't have any food. They should have stayed, right? What's the big deal? Moab was a pagan nation. They did not worship Yahweh. There were enemies of Israel. As one Christian said, "The Moab has to worship us a key march, a god whose worship was sacrificed humans to him." In fact, the Moab people were not even welcome into the congregation of Israel. This permanent move to stay in Moab was not wise, given Israel's long history are bound down to idol gods. I don't know if it was certain if Naom and her family worshiped these gods, but historically her forefathers did bow down to more white gods. Numbers 25 said that people of Israel began to hold the daughters of Moab, and these daughters invited people to sacrifice their gods, and that people ate and bow down to their gods. So, it wouldn't surprise me if they did, but the word does say the two sons took more white wives, which to me implies they were at least assimilated into the culture. And yes, those two sons made bad decisions too. A pastor once said, "Life is about choices, so choose wisely. Why? For there are always consequences to the choices we make, and this family is going to see that. Every day you make decisions and choices. You make the short choices when you face troubles. You make choices on whether or not you're going to tell the truth or you're going to lie. Every day. You decide on whether or not you're going to be responsible or irresponsible. At the end of the day, where you are, you're there to find decisions and choices you make. It ain't your dad's fault. Take a look in the mirror, it's your fault, but you still got to make decisions. Now, everybody's born with civil school in the mouth. We all have to make decisions." So the question is, who here has always made the right decision at every moment and every turn? Who? Who has always made the right decision and choice in life? No one has. And so we can't shake our hair at this family and say, "Man, if I was in that situation, no way I would have done that." That's no way. I would not have done that. I would have stayed in bed for him. I would not have went to Moab and lived there, sure, sure. It's always easy to say what you're not going to do when you're not faced with you. You ain't never been in a famine. So you don't know what you're going to do. I got into a Facebook debate a couple of years ago where the guy, my friend, I posted something about abortion, and this guy got on there and says, "There's under no circumstances with my wife ever having abortion ever. It never happened." And I posted something on there, "Don't be so quick to say what you're not going to do." He didn't think he was going to deny Jesus, but he did, didn't he? We don't know what we're going to do. What we should pray is that the Lord gives me strength to stand from what I believe when I'm faced with it, because when you face with it, brother and sisters, it ain't so easy. It ain't so easy. It's always easy when it's out there, when troubles at your door, what you going to do then? I guarantee you, it ain't that easy. Every time we make bad decisions in response to the troubles in our life, look back, look back, and you will see on the trail of your life bad decisions. We have made decisions that cause us to wonder from the Lord, and one author says, "Everybody will know her later, sits down to the bank of the consequence." Everybody, so no later, sits down to the bank of the consequence, that flow from this decision and choices that we make. And if that's you, just wonder what should you do? Repent. That's what you should do. That should always be the first response from wondering from the Lord, it's repentance. And I also know, do you think Jesus is surprised by your bad decisions? All the bad decisions you made in your life, you didn't want them caught Jesus off guard, "Ooh, I didn't see that coming." No, he knows you better than you know yourself. You're the only one that's surprised by it, because you don't still make you struggle with sin. He's not surprised by it. He will even shepherd you to the consequences of your decisions. You're going to see this in the life of Naomi. He's going to still shepherd this family. He's going to still provide for her. Might not be how she's thinking, but he is at work. Even though his name is not mentioned much in this book, we see his sovereign-handed work in this book, in his sovereign hands that work in your life. Even though trouble is in bad decisions, take up a spot on the trivial life, your trail of your life is engraved in a palm of God's hands, unchanging hands, all his people. It's there. Even though you may walk through the valley of troubles and the valley of consequences, you don't have to live in fear. The Lord is with you. This is something that Naomi is going to realize. See, the one constant thing that lied behind her trail, that lied behind her life was a Yahweh's faithfulness to whatever she went through, to her troubles and to her failure through her bad decisions, and that's what's the next week through the loss of her family. He was still faithful in the midst of that. During my final year of seminary, I had these distant air classes. I don't recommend that, because as we listen to tapes, I don't recommend that, but it's hard work. I don't miss those days. In the class I was taking this time was the theology class, and the professor said something about God that has stuck with me ever since. He said, "God handles our sin sinlessly." Think about that. "God handles the sins of his people sinlessly." Take that to heart. It doesn't mean he condons our sin, but it means he will not disown you because of it. He knows your but death, why the cross, that's why. The troubles that you are in, the troubles that you're going to be in, the bad decisions that you have made, and the bad decisions you're going to make when you leave here today are not too big for our God, not too big for him. Not too big for him to handle, not too big for him to work through. His word said he works all the things to the good of those who love him. That means your troubles and your bad decisions too. Somehow he works it to the good. How he does it, I have no idea, but he does, how to trust his truth, his word. So the thing is, perk up, it's not as bad as it could be, it could be worse. God is at work. In the words of another gospel song, it says, "Sevently abundantly above all, you can ask a thing." According to the power that works through you, God is able to do just what he said he would do. He's going to fulfill every promise to you, to each and every one of you. Don't give up on God, because he won't give up on you, he's able people, he's able and he is willing to work on behalf of his beloved people, that's pretty. Father God, I know that as we work through this book, Lord, we're going to see you do great things. We're going to see you take these troubles and these bad decisions and work it to your glory, and also work it to the benefit of Naomi. We all know the story, we all know how it ends, but it serves a good reminder about our life, a good reminder about what you have done for us and what you will continue to do for us. That our failures and troubles are not too big for you to work through, and you will work through that. And so I pray for each of us and whatever we're facing today, and whatever we're dealing with today, the consequences that we're dealing with today, the struggles that we have in our families, whatever troubles that are on our path, help us to know that our God is not silent, help us to take those things to you, to receive comfort, to receive encouragement. Help us not to be silent amongst our brothers and sisters, but have other Christians to enter into our life that can walk alongside of us in the midst of what we're going through. We need one another, Father, we're not meant to be on the island to ourselves, we're meant to exist in community, and so I pray, Lord, is this community you will bless us to sharpen one another, encourage one another, challenge one another, the whole one that are accountable, and also pray for continued favor in the community that you, Father, will continue to draw more and more folks into your kingdom through this ministry. You pray your blessings over thinking through this ministry, the school, the funds that need to be raised, you pray, you'll bless that and provide what is needed, Father. Lord, your God, and so all we have to do is pray for you to move and rest what we're doing. Make us a praying church, now that church that prays in my life gets hard, but we pray all the time, because it's poured by DNA, we'll pray to you constantly and often, pray for this in Christ's name, amen. Please stand as we hope that I will serve this.