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A Sweet and Bitter Providence: Sex, Race, and the Sovereignty of God

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In A Sweet & Bitter Providence, John Piper explores the story of Ruth and its impact on all mankind. The lineage of David and Jesus Christ emerging through Ruth is astounding and wonderful, and a testament to the fact that God can use anyone for his glory.

I have read a few of John Piper's books, but I was a little disappointed with some of the ideas that he explored in this book. The subtitle of the book was Sex, Race and the Sovereignty of God, and he eloquently covered the role of race (Ruth was a Moabite) and the sovereignty of God (Naomi's role of hearing her heart); however, I think that he stretched the role of sex a bit too far for application. It is not that I disagree with his statements (masculanity / feminity roles) in general, but it seemed that they did not fit in the context of the story of Ruth.

Piper beautifully illustrates God's wonderful plan for Ruth and Naomi, and although Ruth is barren for ten years, God is preparing her for history. Ruth's faithfulness to Naomi is a testament to the power of family. The book was a good listen, and I received many good insights into the role of Ruth for future generations that I was not aware of previously.

The book has some good insights, and it is worth a listen if you like the story of Ruth or are a John Piper fan.

Recommended: John Piper's A Sweet and Bitter Providence explores the book of Ruth to teach the powerful truth that God is at work even in the worst of times. In Piper's able hands, we learn that God's affectionate sovereignty brings glory to Christ, comfort to Christians, and hope that leads to risk-taking love for others.

God Is Good Even When Life Is Bad

Only a confident author like John Piper would begin his book saying he wasn't "sure that you should read this book." Of course, he then lists seven reasons why readers might be helped by the message of Ruth:

*Ruth is the Word of God which is our unwavering rock and anchor.
*Ruth is a love story--conveying the richest and deepest truths in the form of a passionate love story.
*Ruth is the portrait of beautiful, noble manhood and womanhood.
*Ruth addresses one of the great issues of our day: racial and ethnic diversity.
*Ruth's most prominent purpose is to "bring the calamities and sorrows of life under the sway of God's providence and show us that God's purposes are good."
*Ruth teaches risk-taking love--the gift of hope in God's providence is meant to overflow in radical acts of love for hurting people.
*Ruth aims to show the glory of Christ--all of history, even its darkest hours, serves to magnify the glory of God's grace.

God Is at Work in the Worst of Times

Piper gleans his title from Ruth 1:20-21, where Naomi, Ruth's mother-in-law, candidly laments, "The Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty. The Almighty has brought calamity upon me."

Summarizing his summary, Piper notes, "Here's the question the book answers: Is God's bitter providence the last word? Everywhere I look in the world today, whether near or far, the issue for real people in real life is, Can I trust and love the God who has dealt me this painful hand in life? That is the question the book of Ruth intends to answer."

Piper's answer, Ruth's answer, Naomi's answer, and God's answer is clear: God is at work in the worst of times. The worst of times are not wasted--globally, historically, or personally. Piper's quote of William Cowper's verse says it well:

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, But trust him for his grace; Behind a frowning providence, He hides a smiling face.

Piper makes the additional, important point that the answer to this question is meant not merely to help us to think right thoughts about God, nor merely to give us hope in His good providence. "That hope-filled confidence is meant to release radical, risk-taking love. It's there to make you a new kind of person--a person who is able to `do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God' (Micah 6:8)."

A Journey with Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz

The book is a brief, but rich, four-chapter journey through the four chapters of the book of Ruth. The trek begins with the trials and travails--the bitterness and calamity--of Naomi, her sons, and her daughters-in-law. Piper rightly affirms Naomi for her acceptance of the sovereignty of God even in the darkest days of her life. "When the world is crashing in, we need assurance that God reigns over it all."

Piper somewhat takes Naomi to task, perhaps more than I would, for not seeing with spiritual eyes God's good purposes. I'm not sure that Naomi failed to see the goodness of God, so much as she was candidly lamenting the badness of life--a common theme in Job, Jeremiah, Lamentation, and the Psalms of Lament.

However, Piper is certainly not without feeling for Naomi and other sufferers. In fact, Piper obliterates the false stereotype that a Gospel-centered, Reformed focus on God's sovereignty is somehow cold, calculating, and emotionless. Rather, A Sweet and Bitter Providence is an emotion-provoking, passionate, and compassionate read. Piper's writing wraps the words of the Bible around the heart of the sufferer.

Piper is at his best in chapter two as he explores how God turns Naomi's mourning into dancing. He describes the key to facing suffering face-to-face with God: take refuge under God's wing (Ruth 2:12). As Piper puts it, "Seek refuge under the wings of God, even when they seem to cast only shadows, and at just the right time God will let you look out from his Eagle's nest onto some spectacular sunrise."

By esteeming God's protection to be superior to all others, love-releasing hope develops. Humble confidence in the mighty and merciful wings of God leads to risk-taking love.

Chapter three is intriguing, with some interesting analysis of the plans of Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz, that some preachers, commentators, and theologians might disagree with at points. However, Piper's overall theme is clearly biblical. He calls it "strategic righteousness." Hope helps us dream. Hope helps us think up ways to do good. Hope helps us pursue our ventures with virtue and integrity. Hopeful people not only survive, they thrive. They not only don't retreat, they advance; they strive. They strive for strategic righteousness as Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz did in pursuing the eventual marriage relationship between Ruth and Boaz.

It is in this chapter that the subtitled word "sex" enters the picture. Piper has strong, challenging, biblical words to share about sexual purity today in light of the choices Ruth and Boaz made in a situation fraught with sexual temptation.

In chapter four, Piper addresses the reality that life is not a straight line leading to glory. It's a mountain road with switchback after switchback--winding and troubled roads. And God is in all these strange turns. He's plotting the course and managing the troubles with far-reaching purposes for our good and Christ's glory. We see this in Ruth, of course, when we realize that she, a Moabite woman, becomes one of the ancestors of Christ.

Piper explains that understanding this eternal perspective is crucial to address one of the great diseases of our day--trifling, or spending our life on the trivial. We were meant to live for magnificent causes. "The book of Ruth wants to teach us that God's purpose for his people is to connect us to something far greater than ourselves. God wants us to know that when we follow him, our lives always mean more than we think they do."

This is where the subtitled word "race" becomes visible. Whereas with chapter three and sexual purity, Piper spent a good deal of time highlighting modern-day applications, the same cannot be said for race relations. This was the one disappointing aspect of the book, especially given its inclusion in the subtitle. It was there, but more implicit than explicit, more "back then" than "here and now."

Seven Final Appeals

Piper ends with seven appeals based upon his seven reasons to read the book.

*Study the Scriptures: May the Lord awaken in you an insatiable hunger for his Word.
*Pursue Sexual Purity: Choose seeing God and desiring God over sexual license and a mere collection of appetites.
*Pursue Mature Manhood and Womanhood: Affirm and pursue the differences.
*Embrace Ethnic Diversity: Explode the forces of ethnocentrism and racism.
*Trust the sovereignty of God: God is good even when life is bad.
*Take the Risks of Love: The sovereign goodness of God is revealed to us not only for our comfort, but also to free us from the fear and selfishness that quashes the radical risks of love.
*Live and Sing to the Glory of Christ: It's all about Him!

A Sweet and Bitter Providence is a splendid exposition and application of the story of Ruth to our lives today. The story of Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz plays out under the invisible hand of God, as told by the skillful hand of John Piper.

John Piper is perhaps best known for his teaching on and passion for seeing the glory of God in all things. You cannot read or listen to him without him making a beeline for proclaiming the wonder of the sovereignty of God. I was excited to have the opportunity to read his newest book, "A Sweet & Bitter Providence: Sex, Race & the Sovereignty of God" and see how the sovereignty of God played out in the Biblical story of Ruth. I was not disappointed.

According to Piper, the book of Ruth is for those who, like Naomi, see God's hand against them but cannot see that even in these dark times of suffering, God is working for their good and His glory. The question Ruth attempts to answer is "Can I trust and love the God who has dealt me this painful hand in life?"

Much of the book's focus is on God's sovereignty and how He is "plotting" for our good. Comparing the Christian life to a curvy, dangerous mountain road, Piper says Ruth was "written to give us encouragement and hope that all the perplexing turns in our lives are going somewhere good....In all the setbacks of our lives as believers, God is plotting for our joy." In the narrative of Ruth, Naomi could see that it was God's hand working against her in events such as the famine which drove them to Moab and the subsequent deaths of her husband and sons. It isn't until later in the story that Naomi also sees God's hand in bringing her through these trials.

As expected, Piper does a great job of pointing us through the story of Ruth to the comfort of knowing that not only is God in control, but He is "plotting for our joy." Even though I was familiar with the book of Ruth, it was refreshing to read it in the light of God's sovereignty, seeing how God was working even in circumstances that seemed to offer no hope. It was also interesting to read how Piper tied this book in with the ultimate Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

Although the book talks about sexuality and racial diversity, these two areas didn't get very much attention and I felt they could have been flushed out a little more. Additionally, while many of the statements Piper makes regarding sexuality are true, he seems to be reading too much into the text, making it say something that it doesn't with assumptions about the situation's context that aren't stated. But these do not detract from the greater message of God's sovereignty in all circumstances.

On a note regarding the narration of the audio version, Grover Gardner is, as always clear, precise and easy to listen to. His voice seems to lend itself more to academic books and doesn't feel like it fits quite right with the book's poetic, pastoral style, but this doesn't overly distract from the book's message.

I would recommend this pastoral book for a study on God's sovereignty in our circumstances, but not necessarily for the issues of sexuality and racial diversity.

(Thanks to ChristianAudio for providing a review copy of this book.)

Of all the books by John Piper that I've read, this short commentary and exposition of the book of Ruth may well be my favorite. It is certainly one of his most accessible.

As the subtitle suggestions, Piper explores the themes of human sexuality, racism/ethnocentrism, and God's sovereignty, as they are presented in the story of Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz. The way these three relate to each other and to God has profound implications for us today, as it reveals God's plan for salvation and His design for human relationships.

His premise is that God is sovereign over every circumstance, even the ones that seem most bitter as we experience them. Just as bitter ingredients (like vanilla extract) are added to a cake to make it taste good, so bitter experiences are used by God to work together according to His good purposes. We are shown this in the book of Ruth as we see how God was working through a series of terribly bitter circumstances in Naomi's life (famine, move to a pagan nation, death of her husband & sons, barrenness of her daughters-in-law, etc) to bring about the circumstances that would lead to the birth of King David, and ultimately, of King Jesus.

Through the process, we also see how Boaz and Ruth exemplify Godly purity in their relationship with one another, and how they model biblical manhood and womanhood. Furthermore, their interracial marriage and Ruth's acceptance of (and by) the God of Israel shows us that there is no place for racial or ethnic preference or separation among God's people. Saint Matthew includes four unlikely women in his lineage of Jesus Christ, including two adulterers (one of whom committed adultery with her father-in-law), a prostitute, and Ruth, a formerly Pagan Moabite. God is the God of all peoples, from every nation, tribe, and tongue.

Piper begins and ends his book with seven lessons we are to take from the book of Ruth, leading to seven appeals for us to apply this teaching to our lives:

1. Study the Scriptures
2. Pursue Sexual Purity
3. Pursue Mature Manhood and Womanhood
4. Embrace Ethnic Diversity
5. Trust the Sovereignty of God
6. Take the Risks of Love
7. Live and Sing to the Glory of God

These are lessons for everyone, taught in a loving and conversational way, using Piper's poetic, pastoral language (as opposed to the weighty, academic language used in his larger works such as Desiring God). For example, I love his great portrayal of Scriptural sexuality as "another kind of sexual power -- like a river running deep between the high banks of righteousness. Without banks, a river overflows everywhere and creates havoc. It also gets muddy and shallow. That's what happens to sex without the restraint of God."

JOHN PIPER IS A VERY TALENTED AUHTOR, THEOLOGICAN,& PREACHER !!!

THIS BOOK IS AN EXCELLENT COMMENTARY ON THE BOOK OF "RUTH" !!!

IT HAS BECOME A VALUABLE ADDITION IN MY PERSONAL LIBRARY, JUST AS JOHN PIPER'S RELIGIOUS POETRY BOOK OF "RUTH" HAS BECOME !!!

Few books or stories in the Bible match the grandeur and evocative power of the Book of Ruth. It may be one of the best stories from a literary perspective, of all time. John Piper has skillfully unpacked the beauty of this literary masterpiece in a beautifully produced work of his own.

A Sweet and Bitter Providence traces the story of Naomi and Ruth through tragedy and despair and on to grace and joy. Before I can even talk about Piper's writing I have to stop and point out how beautiful and attractive this book is. The sleeve is beautiful enough, with a first rate painting of Ruth from the Bridgman art gallery. Then the hardcover has the same beautiful image on the front with a detailed map of Israel on the back in soft whites and gray. The sleeve contrasts the white and gray with a bold maroon. Such a beautiful packaging will help draw the reader in to the glory of the Book of Ruth.

The book is divided into four chapters that match up with the four chapters in Ruth. Before each chapter the biblical text in the ESV is provided. This allows the book to serve as a devotional alongside the reading of the Biblical book of Ruth. Piper adds an introduction and "final appeals" on either side of the four main chapters.

As the subtitle indicates, several themes are addressed throughout Ruth which have contemporary significance. Piper highlights the sexual chastity and bold assessment of character displayed by Boaz and Ruth (with Naomi). He highlights the racial aspects of a despised and destitute Moabitess' return to Israel with her Jewish mother-in-law. The predominant focus is on the sovereignty of God clearly seen by the characters in the story as well as the author of Ruth. God is sovereign over both the bitter providential suffering of Naomi, as well as the beautiful and gracious provision of a redeemer and an heir.

Piper doesn't miss the author's intentional way of setting the story in the larger framework of canonical history. The book ends by declaring Ruth to be the great-grandmother of David.

The final appeals Piper offers sound like the wise advice of a seasoned man of God. Perhaps listing them here will encourage you to pick up this little book and by it be awakened afresh to the wonder of God's sovereignty and the glory found in the small book of Ruth.

Piper exhorts us to:
1)Study the Scriptures
2)Pursue Sexual Purity
3)Pursue Mature Manhood and Womanhood
4)Embrace Ethnic Diversity
5)Trust the Sovereignty of God
6)Take the Risks of Love
7)Live and Sing to the Glory of Christ

This little book will do much to infuse your soul with worship to our Lord and Savior. It will also call you to a greater trust and deeper obedience. I recommend it highly.

Disclaimer: This book was provided by Crossway Books for review. The reviewer was under no obligation to offer a favorable review.

A Sweet and Bitter Providence is Pastor Piper's newest release and is a short book that examines the Book of Ruth. Like the Book of Ruth, Piper's book consists of only four chapters - Sweet and Bitter Providence, Under the Wings of God, Strategic Righteousness and May My Redeemer Be Renowned. I chose to read this book because I wanted to read an examination of a specific book of the Bible, but not a volume as heavy as the recent commentary of Ephesians I finished. I do not want to give the impression that this book does not discuss deep matters. It does, but you do not need do be an academic to understand Dr. Piper's interpretation of what the Book of Ruth communicates. Pastor Piper introduces A Sweet and Bitter Providence with seven reasons why you might want to read the book. He concludes the book by turning the reasons into seven appeals.

1. The Word of God/Study the Scriptures
2. A Love Story/Pursue Sexual Purity.
3. (Pursue Mature) Manhood and Womanhood.
4. Ethnocentrism/Embrace Ethnic Diversity.
5. (Trust) the Sovereignty of God.
6. Risk-Taking Love/Take the Risks of Love.
7. (Live and Sing to) the Glory of Christ.

If these reasons and appeals matter to you in the least bit, you might want to read the book.

A Sweet and Bitter Providence
By John Piper
Pastor John Piper has released a book called, "A Sweet and Bitter Providence" This is a book that covers the story of Ruth and then gives so much more. I picked up this book for mother, in which I am giving to her on Mother's day. I trust John Piper and his theology so I knew I did not really have to read the book to make sure it was biblical. I however decided to read the book to make sure it was a good suit for my mom to read.
I brought this book yesterday and finished it last night. John Piper does a great job of explaining the scripture and giving the history of Ruth. I was expecting to read a love story, in the man world what we call a, "bonnet movie" To my surprise as this was my first time exploring the book of Ruth, I found Christ to be the center of this beautiful story.
Pastor John Piper brought in so much history and genealogy with this study, I finished reading last night in breath taking amazement of God. Ruth has become a book I have learned to love with the help of John Piper.
John also does a great job at applying life applications with doctrine. Pastor John goes into exploring God's sovereignty and how God is in control of all things. This is a doctrine that is not really spoken on in mainstream churches today; thou I understood the doctrine before reading this book; this book has helped me to fully grasp the doctrine even more. John Piper also briefly touches on the Godly life of Ruth and Boaz, but that was a minor teaching in his book.
Pastor John did a great thing for the Kingdom of God by writing this book. If you are serious about studying the book of Ruth and knowing what sovereignty is I urge you to buy this book; you will not be let down.
This is not just a book for the women of God, men of God can be changed by this book, and theologians can use this book for their laymen; this book if rich full of Christ, full of God's sovereignty.

"Can I trust and love the God who has dealt me this painful hand in life?" This is the question that John Piper so authoritatively and persuasively answers affirmatively in A Sweet and Bitter Providence: Sex, Race and the Sovereignty of God. It is a question that a lot of people are asking today. Naomi, the mother-in-law of Ruth in the Old Testament, asked the same question when she found herself a widow, living in a foreign country (having fled there to escape a famine in her own country) with her two widowed and childless daughters-in-law. With unemployment at record highs, a looming national healthcare crisis in the U.S., violence in many parts of the world, and millions around the world suffering the catastrophic consequences of floods, earthquakes, and tsunamis, most of the world can sympathize with Naomi when she says, "the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me." While most do not, indeed cannot, see the sovereign hand of God in their difficult circumstances, the difficulty of their circumstances is undeniable. Piper's thesis is this: "When you think he is farthest away from you, or has even turned against you, the truth is that as you cling to him, he is laying foundation stones of greater happiness in your life." For those who have experienced suffering (or are experiencing it now), Piper demonstrates God's sovereignty to be a warm blanket to their troubled souls. Referring to 2004's Indian Ocean tsunami and a missionary who lost his wife and daughter when his plane was shot down by the Peruvian Air Force in 2001, Piper reflects:

"We will see from the story of Ruth and from the cross of Christ that in this life our hope in the next depends on God's reign over all things. It may be hard to embrace when the pain is great, but far worse would be the weakness of God and his inability to stop the blowing of the wind and the flight of a bullet."

The book of Ruth is a beautiful love story, with many wide-ranging implications for our lives today. Piper tells the story brilliantly and draws out ramifications for our lives in seven specific areas: the Scriptures, sexual purity, biblical manhood and womanhood, ethnic diversity, the sovereignty of God, risk-taking love, and the glory of Christ.

[...].

`A Sweet & Bitter Providence: Sex, Race and the Sovereignty of God' analyzes, as only Dr. Piper can do, the book of Ruth. Here is the description from the back cover:
Ruth and Boaz were risk-takers - a younger, immigrant, peasant widow and a middle-aged, Jewish landowner, walking along the precipice of social exclusion with absolute integrity.

Here is the book trailer:
[..]

This book is broken down into four chapters - each chapter corresponds with a chapter from the book of Ruth.

Dr. Piper makes the important point that the book of Ruth is just as relevant to us today as it was when it was written 3,000 years ago:

As a means to that end - and everything is a means to glorifying Christ - the book of Ruth reveals the hidden hand of God in the bitter experiences of his people. The point of this book is not just that God is preparing the way for the coming of the King of Glory, but that he is doing it in such a way that all of us should learn that the worst of times are not wasted. They are not wasted globally, historically, or personally. (p. 24)

He also addresses the truth of God's sovereignty as portrayed in Ruth's story:

Thousands of Christians who have walked through fire and have seen horrors embrace God's control of all things as the comfort and hope of their lives. It is not comforting or hopeful in their pain to tell them that God is not in control. Giving Satan the decisive control or ascribing pain to chance is not true or helpful. When the world is crashing in, we need assurance that God reigns over it all. (p. 27)

Dr. Piper points out that Boaz is a God-Saturated man, and Ruth provides a wonderful example of Godly qualities in a woman (pp.-62):

* She takes the initiative to care for her mother-in-law
* She is humble
* She is industrious

He goes on:

She is different from most people today. We have a sense of entitlement. We expect kindness and are astonished and resentful if we don't get our "rights." But Ruth expresses her sense of unworthiness by falling on her face and bowing to the ground. Proud people don't feel amazed at being treated well. They don't feel deep gratefulness. But humble people do.... [T]hey receive the gift. Joy increases, not self-importance. Grace is not intended to replace lowliness with pride. It's intended to replaced sorrow with joy. (pp. 64-65)

I love how Dr. Piper gets to the truth of the Word, regardless of how it may make us feel getting there! I have always appreciated that about his writing, and this book is no exception to that rule. I love the thorough exegesis of each passage.

I so enjoy Pastor Piper's writing style. This section in particular stood out to me:

At one level, the message of the book of Ruth is that the life of the godly is not an Interstate through Nebraska but a state road through the Blue Ridge Mountains of Tennessee. There are rockslides and dark mists and bears and slippery curves and hairpin turns that make you go backward in order to go forward. But all along this hazardous, twisted road that doesn't let you see very far ahead, there are frequent signs that say, "The best is yet to come." (pp. 99-100)

As is the case with every John Piper book I have read, I highly recommend this one as well. He understand scripture so well, and I appreciate his overview.

You can learn more about Pastor Piper at his comprehensive website, Desiring God (http://www.desiringgod.org/). His catalog of sermons from the last 25 years, as well as other materials, is available there at no charge; he also blogs on that site. He tweets on Twitter ([..]/JohnPiper); I would highly recommend that you follow him if you haven't yet. You can also become his fan on Facebook ([..]).

This book was provided to me for review purposes by Crossway Books ([..])of Wheaton Illinois.

Reviewed by Andrea Schultz - Ponderings by Andrea - [..]