What can I do when someone has lost hope?

Outline:

Hopelessness is closer than you think.

“everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” Judges 21:25

What hopeless looks like. 1:7-13

“You’re better off without me.”

“I can never have joy.”

“My troubles are God’s fault.”

Show them what God’s faithfulness looks like. 1:14-18

Faithful even when others are not.

Faithful even when they tell you to go away.

Faithful toward God and people.

The first steps toward joy are often taken in uncomfortable silence.

A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24 ESV

Overview:

In this section, Naomi has lost hope. She has no prospect of any help for herself in Moab, and she has nothing more to offer her daughters-in-law. This is the time of the judges, where each one does what is right in their own eyes. Ungodliness is not always evil, it is living life ourselves without any reference to or expectation from God. Ungodliness is living the best we can as if God was not there. It can be moral and is often what we call “common sense.” From Naomi’s perspective, God is against her, He will not help her, so she will make the best plan she can on her own—she will do what is right in her own eyes.

To Consider:

How have you been tempted to live in an ungodly way, that is to resolve something completely from your own perspective and resources?

The “three lies of hopelessness” are great to unpack in a group.

1. Does the group agree with them?
2. These three come from the story, can the group identify where Naomi exhibits them?
3. Can anyone share a life situation where they have felt that way? Are you feeling something like this now? (Many of us are walking wounded, trying hard to keep our game face on, although we’re really ready to give up.)

Many times people will not be able to recognize the faithfulness of God until they have seen in expressed through someone near them. Ruth is used by God in this way with Naomi.

1. Do you think Ruth sees what God is going to do? What is different between her and Naomi?
2. What could this kind of faithfulness look like in family or marriage situations?
3. Have you given or needed this kind of faithfulness? What happened?
4. What kind of answers does Ruth not give? Can you give hope to someone even if you don’t have answers? How might you do that?
5. Who could you help to give hope to?

How did I ever get here…

Outline:
We want life to be normal, good and happy. 1:1-2
She saw the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise…

Too often we find ourselves with shattered dreams. 1:3-5
The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away…
Blessed be the name of the Lord???

But shattered dreams can lead the way
to something better. 1:6
that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death

Jesus said I am the bread of life…I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever… John 6:35-58

Overview
Ruth 1:1-5 or 1:1-6 is a set-up for the rest of the story. Read it verse by verse, as if you were reading it for the first time, not knowing what comes next or how it ends. As you read it substitute the meaning of the names for the name itself:
· Elimelech – “my God is king” or “God is my king”
· Naomi – “pleasant” (life is good, a happy life in the suburbs?)
· Mahlon – weak/sick, Chilion – frail, pining (pronounce kill-eon)
· Bethlehem – house of bread

Some questions to consider with others:
1. What do you know about the time of the judges? How does that compare to our contemporary society.
2. Why is the contrast between Bethlehem and Moab so prevalent? (How is Bethlehem alluded to again in 1:6?) What would an Israelite in King David’s time think about their move.
3. Is there anything wrong with them moving to Moab? The group may want to debate this, after all both Abraham and Jacob moved to Egypt during a famine… This can open up a whole discussion as to how we use Bible examples to justify what we choose to do.
4. Try to identify with Naomi’s sorrow and aloneness in 1:5. The Hebrew word fro her sons changes back to a word normally used of children.
5. What do this couple expect to happen by moving to Moab versus how did it turn out? How do the names fit in now?
6. What hint of hope is there in 1:6. But really, from Naomi’s view, does it seem like much hope?

We are easily tempted to judge Naomi rather than identify with her, yet, inside our own hearts, don’t we have similar questions about God’s faithfulness when our life’s dreams are shattered? Try to get the group to share about times when they have experienced shattered dreams. What did it feel like? What helped? What didn’t? How does it still affect them? This is tender territory. Don’t be afraid to go here, but do it sensitively, knowing your group.