Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction:
I’m In Hell (by Frank)
by Frank
The heat wave going across the east coast has allowed me to have some colorful conversations with the people I talk to at work.
A simple question like how is the weather can bring about some hilarious responses.
One of them inspired the title of this post.
Difficult Personal Challenges Seem To Combine
It is funny how,” when it rains it pours,” in the situations we face in life.
Never have I had the experience of having one thing go wrong at a time.
(If you have I would like to give you the person of the year award.)
Usually I get kicked when I am down just to have another situation pick me back up to be kicked down to the ground again.
I could kind of emphasize with what this lady was referring to.
�� Photo By Katinka Kober
Don’t Let Personal Challenges Burn You
She had some tough situations all going on at the same time.
Imagine having your house foreclosed on two days after you are diagnosed with cancer, while finding out your oldest son just died in a car accident.
Talk about being kicked while you are down.
This woman is not alone.
It is common for us to know someone or a particular family that tough things just continue to happen to.
Today our story is about just such a woman.
Stand with me as we read the beginning of her story.
Pray
In our culture, Mother-in-laws get a bad wrap.
Television always portrays them as being nosy, controlling, and interfering.
They are often referred to in a derogatory manner.
However, this is not always the case.
I have known others who have had poor relationships with their own mothers, benefit from a relationship with their mother-in-law.
Some have been abandoned by their mothers or their mothers have passed away and their mother-in-law is precious to them.
This is the kind of mother-n-law we see in Naomi.
I have titled her...
I. Naomi, Mother-in-law Extraordinaire
Not only is she a great mother-in-law, but she is a mother-in-law under extreme conditions.
Her life is fraught with hardship.
However, I find Naomi to not be a singular woman, but to be an example of good mothers in general.
As we walk through Naomi’s story this morning, I wish to highlight some of the struggles and blessings of motherhood.
A. Mothers live lives of Adversity
Lets walk a moment through Naomi’s story as she obviously qualifies as a mother of adversity.
Things were not all bad in the beginning.
In many ways Naomi made a good marriage.
Elimelech was a man of some substance.
He was an Ephramite.
Ephraim were a rather royal line since they were the offspring of Joseph.
Later in the story we learn that he was a land owner and as such was most likely a man of some substance.
However, at this point in time there is a...
i. Famine
Living in farm country, we can somewhat sympathize with their plight.
It is difficult to know exactly what the issue was, whether lack of water, blight or whatever.
This fact tells us a little more about this story.
The story begins with “in the days when the judges ruled...”.
Those were not good days for Israel as a general rule.
In fact, if you look back at the book of Judges we find...
We also know that one of the ways God directed them when they were doing wrong was to close up the waters and a bring pestilence upon the land.
So we can guess that this was during one of those times.
Elimelech should have had more going for him that others less fortunate than he, however he chooses to go to Moab to escape the famine.
This does not seem to be the choice of many.
The reading of the story makes it sound like this was his decision alone.
This is an extreme measure since Moab was never very friendly to the Israelites.
They refused them to pass through their land when they came up from Sinai.
There were never very good relationships between the two nations, however Elimelech chose to move there anyway.
One reason for this desperate action may be due to the second hardship for Naomi.
ii.
Frail children
They may have had money, but the kids appear to be sickly.
We know this by their names.
Children were named based on descriptions about them.
So we find...
Mahlon - “sickly”
Chilion - “failing”
Under these circumstances, Elimelech may have moved thinking his sons had a better chance of making it through the famine.
With two boys of poor health, it was quite a feat and they were soon...
iii.
iii.
Uprooted from home to travel into enemy territory
This would not have been an easy journey.
It was approximately 50 miles and they had to journey around the Dead Sea to get there.
The journey would have been through mountainous country and they would have to cross the Jordan River which could be deep and treacherous in places.
After 7-10 days, they would finally make Moab, but it is not clear how far into Moab they went before they settled.
Iv.
iv.
Settles as a foreigner
Things appear to be better in Moab as they do settle.
However, once again hardship hits.
Elimelech dies and it appears to be rather suddenly.
Some say he died within the year of the move, though I was unable to confirm that.
Some believe this was due to his action to leave Bethlehem and come to Moab.
Essentially, he was acting outside the will of God.
There is really no way to know this for sure.
Whether or not this was the case is not essential to this sermon, so we will not take time to evaluate it.
All we know is that now Naomi is living as a foreigner, in a foreign land and is...
v. Widowed
This becomes a real problem as it is not easy for a woman in that day to make it on her own.
They are usually not in a place to make money for themselves.
However, as sickly as her sons are, they must be sufficient to make a living.
However, they do not make an effort to return home.
It is possible that they are...
vii.
Stranded
Perhaps due to the poor health of her sons, they are unable to return without the help of Elimelech.
Whatever the case, they settle and the boys seem to be well enough to marry and they seem to marry well.
Here again is another hardship for Naomi as she...
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