Pleasent Or Bitter

In our Woman’s Bible study, we have been going through the book of Ruth. We see where Naomi’s life comes crashing down due to the death of her husband and two sons leaving her destitute. Now she was going home to face all of her friends and family members. No one wants to return broken. Naomi was broken and angry. Life had not been what she thought it would be. Naomi had become so angry and disillusioned that she changed her name, her very identity. It was a significant change to say that I am not who God originally made me.

I am no longer pleasant. He has now made me bitter. I think her downcast attitude spoke that she believed God had caused this. She didn't tell the people my husband made this decision, and now I have come back empty because of him, but she named God. She said He was the reason she left full and came back empty. Sometimes we have been angry at God; we didn’t understand why he would leave us in this predicament and why he would allow these things to come into our lives when he could have stopped it. Many people suffered during that famine. Naomi was not the only one that lost someone. But she was the one that left the ark of Gods safety to find sustenance outside of the will of God. How many times do we find ourselves angry at God for our circumstances even though we are the ones who looked for answers outside of what Christ did for us on the cross.

Remember, God is Sovereign. He doesn’t have to explain his plan. But we also serve a God who is merciful, and even though Naomi accused God of being unjust, God never left her. Naomi could not see that God had already put her redemption and answers to her prayers in Ruth. Later we will see the beginning of healing in Naomi’s life when hope returns to Naomi. Ruth came home with so much grain that Naomi questioned her about where she had gotten it. She saw the hand of God, and she began to realize she was not forgotten. Then we see healing completion when she holds Obed in her arms. I believe the Bible points this out to us because we have been in Naomi‘s shoes many times in our life, and he showed us that even in Naomi‘s anger, God‘s hand remained with her, and he blessed her. Naomi changed her name, but God never did. We still know her as the “pleasant one,” not the “bitter one.”

God has not forgotten you!