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?”
— Ruth 1:19-21
Hearing things were now better in Bethlehem, Naomi decided to return. When she left Canaan she was wealthy, but on returning she had nothing. Naomi had become a bitter angry woman blaming God for everything. The women at the market see a face that is now drawn and old, not the fine woman that left.
She said, “Don’t call me pleasant or delightful. There is no pleasure in my life. I have given myself a new name. Call me Mara (which means bitter, disgust). God has dealt bitterly with me and taken away everything I had”.
She was mad at God and blamed Him for her misfortune. She had resentment – a long standing unresolved resentment that refused to be healed. She replays the events and lets them bleed all over again. She described herself in terms of the pain and hurt. She will not let it go. That is when life ended for her.
When things go wrong in our lives, we tend to think that it all goes wrong because of “that” or “that person”. We become the victim of “that”. We brood over it just as Naomi did – the loss, the abuse, the hurt. This kind of thinking produces poison as it did in her body.
Sometimes we order our life around what happened to us. We rehearse what God should have done and didn’t, what He could have done and didn’t. We have bitterness and anger and resentment toward Him. Naomi defined God through the lens of what happened to her.
God should never be defined by our circumstances. No, He joins us in the circumstances to be love, wisdom and strength and to walk us through them. Then He uses those circumstances for His love purposes.
Naomi’s view of God was wrong because she based it on her circumstances. In spite of that, God did not turn His back on her as we shall see. God had an unexpected and bright future for her and Ruth. This is your Heavenly Father. He turns things around and makes a way when we can’t see one. And God has not turned His back on you.
Jesus has entered your darkness, depression and despair. He has a bright future for you. Let this story speak to your situation. Trust Him and tell Him. Don’t wallow in self pity and what ifs. Let the bitterness, anger and resentment go and wait expectantly in peace because He loves you.
“Don’t define the love of God through circumstances, define circumstances through the love of God.”
God Is Working It Out