“Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.” (Ruth 1:20–21, NIV 1984).
My Musings – She (Naomi) went away full, with a husband and two sons. She came back empty, leaving three graves behind. But then again, not quite empty. A daughter-in-law (Ruth) returned with her. Sometimes, maybe more often than we would like, we must go through the bitterness, emptiness, affliction and misfortune. Such things happen in a fallen world. But God has a way of taking these things and turning them out for the good. Blessings we may not have otherwise had any other way.
So, Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. Then he went to her, and the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.” Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him. The women living there said, “Naomi has a son.” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. (Ruth 4:13–17, NIV 1984).
And now you know the rest of the story.
My Advice – You may be going through your own set of difficulties right now. Perhaps more than you feel you can possibly endure. It’s alright to grieve, but do not allow the bitterness of the situation to make you “very bitter.” Rather be encouraged that God will “renew your life and sustain you” by working it out for the good (Romans 8:8). Just make sure you have a relationship (“to those who love Him“) accepting Jesus Christ as your kinsman-redeemer (“called according to His purpose”). Had Naomi not become Mara, what would have happened to the Davidic line?
The Brew Is A Musing 