Who’s in charge?
When the world is falling apart, who’s in charge? When the government is hopelessly corrupt, the religious leaders are little more than hypocrites, and the kids are running wild, who’s in charge?
Who’s in charge when tragedy strikes? When a child dies? When you lose everything you own to the loan sharks? When the rains have stopped, and the food has run out, and you begin to starve?
Who’s in charge? God?
It sure doesn’t seem that way, does it?
Those are the kinds of questions you should ask as you read the book of Ruth.
Set during a very troubled time in Israel’s history, Israel lacked godly leadership. As a result, she experienced what one commentator called “generation degeneration.” The book of Judges says,
In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25).
Who’s in charge?
Humanly speaking, no one. There was no king in Israel. No leader like Moses or Joshua. No one. They even rejected God as king:
“Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them” (1 Sam 8:7).
When you reject God, you also reject everything He makes possible, such as absolute truth and morality. Consequently, you are left with utter relativisim. Instead of doing what is right, you do what is right in your own eyes, which, for Israel, included religious prostitution (Judges 16:1), idolatry (Judges 2:13), gang rape, and dismemberment (Judges 19).
That’s the setting of Ruth—a time of moral chaos.
Who’s in charge?
No one. At least, that’s how it looked. And isn’t that how it looks today? Like no one is in charge?
But Ruth tells a different story. We get the barest hint in v 2:
…a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the land of Moab…The name of the man was Elimelech (Ruth 1:1-2).
Elimelech is a very significant name. It means “my God is king.”
Who’s in charge? God! The Lord is king, whether you accept Him as such, or not; whether you see it, or not; whether it looks like it, or not.
Who’s in charge? God. That’s the lesson of Ruth. When the world seems out of control and working against you, God is still at work, working in you, and around you, and through you, and for you, whether you see it happen, or not. Lord, please give us tongues to confess, even in times of tragedy, “My God is king!”
