Severns Valley Baptist Church
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Ruth 1:6-18 CSB
MESSAGE NOTES:
Dr. Curtis Woods, Lead Pastor
Title: The Problem of Pain
Text: Ruth 1:6-18
Theme: “Hope delayed makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” (Prov. 13:12)
Quote: “Pain is God’s megaphone to arouse deaf ears.” C.S. Lewis
“Theodicy is the attempt to understand the nature and actions of God in the face of evil and suffering.” John Currid
Big Idea: Wounded souls need an empathetic response to their pain.
1) God initiates empathy in providing His people with food (vv. 6-7)
• He delivered them through a divine reversal.
• He gave Naomi an opportunity to repent.
2) Naomi jeopardized the souls of Orpah and Ruth through fleshly advice (vv. 8-15)
• She counseled Orpah and Ruth to “go back to their mother’s home.”
• She allowed sentimentalism to distort God’s sovereignty.
• Pain can corrupt your vision of God and others.
3) Ruth rejects Naomi’s counsel by speaking the truth in love (vv. 16-18)
• She embraced the true and living God.
• She embodied Naomi’s pain in word and deed.
• She made a covenant of loyalty for better or for worse.
