RiverTigress
Moderator
Ruth 1:19-22
So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi? And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi (pleasant), call me Mara (bitter): for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me? So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter in law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.
These days it can be hard to venture out among brethren with anything less than a joyfully ecstatic mood without somebody questioning your faith, but the evidence of faith is in actions, not in feelings. Naomi may have been upset with God at the time of this passage, but the more important and relevant thing is that she still came back. And even the condition of being upset with God can be an act of faith in itself as it's one thing to think bad stuff happened to you but it will be ok because God will fix it and quite another to fully understand and accept that God was also equally in control of the bad stuff too. Naomi didn't blame her husband or Moab for the things that happened to her, she blamed God, just as Job didn't blame bad luck or evil people for the things that happened to him, but accepted that it was God that was ultimately responsible for it as well. But neither of them stopped following Him as a result of it. They were just being honest about their feelings during difficult times, and the Bible says we should give people the freedom to do that:
Proverbs 25:20 As he that taketh away a garment in cold weather, and as vinegar upon nitre, so is he that singeth songs to an heavy heart.
So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi? And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi (pleasant), call me Mara (bitter): for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me? So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter in law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.
These days it can be hard to venture out among brethren with anything less than a joyfully ecstatic mood without somebody questioning your faith, but the evidence of faith is in actions, not in feelings. Naomi may have been upset with God at the time of this passage, but the more important and relevant thing is that she still came back. And even the condition of being upset with God can be an act of faith in itself as it's one thing to think bad stuff happened to you but it will be ok because God will fix it and quite another to fully understand and accept that God was also equally in control of the bad stuff too. Naomi didn't blame her husband or Moab for the things that happened to her, she blamed God, just as Job didn't blame bad luck or evil people for the things that happened to him, but accepted that it was God that was ultimately responsible for it as well. But neither of them stopped following Him as a result of it. They were just being honest about their feelings during difficult times, and the Bible says we should give people the freedom to do that:
Proverbs 25:20 As he that taketh away a garment in cold weather, and as vinegar upon nitre, so is he that singeth songs to an heavy heart.
