Don't Blame God
…The hand of the Lord is gone out against me. Ruth 1:13 (KJV)
Naomi said this, for she had just lost her husband and two sons. She had been through bad experiences and was disappointed and discouraged. Just because we have hard, difficult, and disappointing times does not mean the Lord is against us or that He brought on our troubles.
Naomi believed wrong based on her experiences, feelings, and lack of knowledge of who God really is. She even told people to stop calling her Naomi, which means pleasant, and to start calling her Mara, which means bitter. Because she had experienced bad things, she expected the rest of her life to be bad as well. And she blamed God for it.
And Naomi said unto her daughter in law, Blessed be he of the Lord, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen. Ruth 2:20 (KJV)
In the midst of her trouble and heartbreak, God began to work for Naomi, turning good out of tragedy. He began to line up a new husband for her daughter-in-law Ruth, one who could provide for them and give them a good life. And Naomi’s view of the Lord began to change. She began to praise God. God used Ruth to give Naomi a good ending, making her latter years better than her former ones. As Naomi’s belief and confession changed, so did her life. She began to see that God was kind and He had not forsaken her. Her attitude changed.
As a result. Naomi’s bitterness changed back to pleasantness. As a matter of fact, when we refer to the story of Naomi and Ruth, we do not call her Mara (bitter), but Naomi (pleasant). In the end, Naomi glorified God for His goodness to her. Ruth married Boaz and gave birth to a son, Obed. Obed was the gradnfather of David, who became king of Israel and out of whose lineage Jesus came. God used what Ruth and Naomi went through to bless them and the generations that would follow them.
And the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the Lord, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age: for thy daughter in law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath born him. Ruth 4:14-15 (KJV)
