The Book of Ruth ~ Devotion Eight

"Is Your Name Bitter?"

Ruth 1:19-22 So the two of them continued on their journey. When they came to Bethlehem, the entire town was excited by their arrival. “Is it really Naomi?” the women asked. “Don’t call me Naomi,” she responded. “Instead, call me Mara, for the Almighty has made life very bitter for me. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me home empty. Why call me Naomi when the Lord has caused me to suffer and the Almighty has sent such tragedy upon me?” So Naomi returned from Moab, accompanied by her daughter-in-law Ruth, the young Moabite woman. They arrived in Bethlehem in late spring, at the beginning of the barley harvest.

As we draw Chapter One of Ruth to a close, we will continue to travel on with Naomi and Ruth as they venture toward Bethlehem. Having settled the issue of whether Ruth would continue to accompany Naomi to the Promised Land, the women set out.

The women walked on together. We know this because the Hebrew word for “traveled on” is “halak” which means "to walk." Their journey wasn’t on donkeys or in a car. Theirs was a hard and long journey. It took about a week and a half with a rise in elevation of 2000 feet. As the crow flies, it was about 40 miles, but their journey took them around the Dead Sea and greatly increased their trek. It was extremely hot and long.

It had been at least ten years since Elimelech took his little family to Moab. So, when Naomi came home without him the women in Bethlehem weren’t sure if it was her or not. Time, tragedy and poverty had more than likely etched a few wrinkles in her face and turn a few hairs white on her head.

I remember going to my 25th High School reunion. It was fun for me to see everyone. Of course, some had changed more than others. The faces had aged and the hair was either gray ~ covered with color ~ or simply gone.  Experiences of life had aged those teenagers I had known.

Can you imagine how Naomi must have felt as she walked into Bethlehem ten years later without the husband and sons she had left with ten years earlier? Instead she walked in with a Moabitess on her arm and hunger in her eyes.

Apparently Naomi was trying to explain her appearance. She had lost so much and had so little that I wonder if she was worried what the women thought of her. Were these the women she had grown up with? Did they marry around the same time? Did they have babies together? Whatever the reason, Naomi felt a need to explain herself.

Even well-fed with our faces washed and made up, we as women tend to think we need to explain our looks. We make apologies for the condition of our houses when people come over. When we receive a compliment most of us tend to pooh-pooh it.

The Hebrew word that Naomi has given herself is “Mara.” She states that it means “bitter.” But with bitterness comes other emotions. Anger seems to always accompany bitterness. It appears that she is angry toward God for the situation she is in.

Blaming God for our circumstances is common. Remember, she left the Promised Land with her people. Granted, her husband led her to Moab, but she had experienced the results of turning away from God’s provision. And now she blamed God for the dire situation she found herself in.

Little did she know that God was leading her back home. She was on a supernatural journey as well. Her life was over as she knew it and now she had to face people with her damaged, battered and bruised self. But, beyond all this God was at work and soon we will see how He would restore this bride of Elimelech. He would remind her of her name ~ Naomi ~ my joy.

Think about your life. Are there things that you blame God for? Why wasn't He there for you? Maybe you feel abandoned now. You've asked the question, "If God is a loving God, then why did He let this happen?"

God has big and strong shoulders. He wants to hear what you are feeling and thinking. Even though He already knows, He wants us to voice it. Let me say this though, that when we do approach God with our hurts and such, we should approach Him with the respect He deserves. Even if we don't agree with Him, He is still God. He's a loving God who allows choices in life. It's a fallen world. It has been since Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. And with a fallen world we have heartache and calamity, illness and death.

God knows our hurts and it grieves Him. It grieved Him so much that He made a way for a Savior to overcome this dark world and all its fallen-ness.

John 16:32-33 "But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when you will be scattered, each one going his own way, leaving me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

Jesus knows what it is like to feel abandoned. He was left by His dearest and closest friends to face a lonely cross and be accused of trumped-up charges. He faced this so that we could, through belief in Him, overcome this lost world and be accepted into His Kingdom.

He took on all our bitterness, sin and pride. He bore it all to make a way for us to approach God. He overcame death and rose to eternal life. He invites everyone to enjoy the benefits of this eternal destiny with Him. One day He will return and renew this planet and make His Kingdom here. AND we're invited! Now that's a loving God!

Let’s not change our names to "Mara.”(Bitter). Let’s except God's joy and delight. (Remember that we have a new name waiting for us.)

Naomi seems to forget the famine she and her family had left ten years before. Yes, she had her family intact, but she also left out the part about hunger and poverty. Sometimes we do the same. We look back and want what we used to have and forget about the way things really were. Things weren’t right for Elimelech and Naomi. They had walked away from God’s promises. They didn’t bend their knees before Him and ask for His help as far as we can tell. They searched for filling somewhere else.

Where do you look for your needs to be met? Do you look to the bottle of prescription drugs? Do you look to your loved ones to fill that need? Do you look to blame someone else to release some of the guilt and regret you feel? Is your name "bitter?"

So we close Chapter One with Naomi explaining herself and her situation. Did you notice that she didn’t introduce Ruth? The last verse says, “And so Naomi was back, and Ruth the foreigner with her, back from the country of Moab. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.” She was back and not only that, she had a foreign daughter-in-law with her. The Israelites were not supposed to marry outside their people and here she was with Ruth a Moabitess in tow. She forgot to introduce faithful Ruth who had been beside her every step of the way.

I wonder what everyone thought. Did they think she had brought her suffering on herself? Or did they agree with her that God was angry? We’ll see that God had something else in mind for these two women. And the good news is that He has something far better in store for us too.

What is your name? Are you called "bitter?" Do you forget the Faithful One standing beside you just as Naomi did to Ruth when she faced the women of Bethlehem? Do you or have you blamed the God who gave up His Son for you?

John 3:16-17 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him."

It's hard to trust God when so many things happen to cause you to want to blame and not trust Him. I'm there right with you. I'm asking myself the same things. But this I do know and take on as my life's shield ~ Jesus has overcome the world!