Should we resign ourselves to a miserable, bitter life--or trust that God will change our situation?

The Book of Ruth

Today I would like to share some thoughts with you about finding redemption from a bitter life. Some things are naturally bitter, like tea or coffee or dark chocolate without sugar. Other things can become bitter due to the conditions of life, like lettuce. Good lettuce is fresh, explodes in your mouth, and is refreshing. Bitter lettuce is usually that brown part of the lettuce, and it tastes awful. Lettuce becomes bitter from three things—lack of water, lack of nutrients, and heat.

In the same way, the harsh conditions of life can make us bitter—things that ought not happen, should not happen, things that bitterly disappoint us. Bitterness comes ultimately from having something done to us or taken away from us, that we can do nothing about. It is that frustration, it is that ineptitude, that bring about bitterness. Bitterness comes from finding ourselves in a life or in a place which is miserable or terribly disappointing, which—and this is key--we have no hope of changing. It is the giving up of hope. It is the loss of hope. It is realizing that something has been taken, and we can do nothing about it.

In the book of Ruth, we come to a story of a bitter woman, named Noami, and her daughter-in-law, Ruth. Naomi and her husband Elimilech are Israelites, and there is a famine in the land, and so they go to Moab to find food. While there, her husband dies. Then her two sons marry Moabite women—which could not have been their mother’s hope. The Moabites were the enemies of Israel. They were a people who came about from Lot’s incestuous relationship with his daughter, and they worshiped evil gods. They were associated with sexual immorality, and their women often led Israelite men into idolatry. Naomi must have been concerned about the spiritual condition of her sons, just as all of us would be if one of our children married a witch or a Satan worshiper.

Then her two sons died. And she is left with no husband, no sons, and two Moabite daughters-in-law. No food. No income. No social security. No medicare. No family to take care of her.

But she hears that God had lifted the famine in Israel, and so she decides to return. She tells her Moabite daughters-in-law to stay there and go back to their gods. One of them does, but the other, Ruth, says that she is committed to Naomi, and she will follow her. Naomi’s, Yahweh, will be her God. And so these two widows, one old, and one young, return to Israel. And when Naomi returns, she tells people, do not call me Naomi anyone. Call me Mara, which means, “bitter,” for she says that God has made her life very bitter.

It is easy to understand why Naomi is bitter. Her life has been ripped away from her. All of her hopes. All of her dreams. This was not the life that she envisioned or deserved. Not for a follower of God. God, she believed, had abandoned her.

How many feel this way today? Bitter about their marriage, and how they have been treated. Bitter about their jobs. Bitter about being mistreated and abused. Bitter about the loss of a loved one. With no hope of their life situation changing or having what they lost given back to them. And the belief that God either cannot or will not do anything to change their situation I’ve been there—how about you?

What do you do in this situation? What is the message in Scripture? Some say just suck it up. Accept this new reality. Pretend it does not hurt and just move on. Be “content”—and give up trying to change your situation. Give up your hopes and dreams and settle for a mediocre, miserable, painful life of regret.

Paul does say that he found the secret of being content in every situation. But I don’t know about you, but I am not Paul. And I need more hope than that. And Paul still did not want to be in a prison cell, I am sure. And the story of Ruth is not a story of resignation, but a story of hope and redemption.

And if we look closely in the story, we see God at work throughout. It says in chapter two that it “just so happens” that when Naomi and Ruth arrive back in Israel, it is harvest time—a good time to arrive if you are starving. Ruth goes to a field to pick up the wheat that the harvesters drop on the ground, which she was allowed to do under the law. And it “just so happens” that she picks the field of a kind and generous older man named Boaz who is part of the clan of Naomi’s dead husband—an extended family member, when she desperately needs family. He tells the men to protect her and let her pick up as much grain as she wants.

Ruth and Naomi then have a plan for Ruth to go and pretty much sexually seduce Boaz to gain his favor. If you are a poor and desperate woman back then, offering yourself sexually was one of the few options that you had. But Boaz does not take advantage of her. He willingly takes her in, and agrees to marry her.

And furthermore, because he is a relative of her dead father-in-law, he is able to redeem the land that once belonged to Naomi’s husband and provide Ruth with land. And after Boaz and Ruth marry, God blesses Ruth with a son. And it says that Naomi receives a son through this. While actually her grandson, God has given her a “son” to replace her sorrow and bitterness with joy.

And the story just gets better, because we find out that through this son down the line would be born David—who would become king of Israel! And from this line would eventually be born, hundreds of years later, Jesus—the redeemer of us all. And it is this Ruth who appears in the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

This story shows that the solution to a bitter life is not just resignation to a miserable condition, but having faith that God can and will bring about a different and better situation—that he is still alive and at work in our lives. It is about God restoring our fortunes. God changing the direction of our lives. God lifting us back to our former positions. God restoring and healing the relationships in our lives. And that, my friends, gives me hope. That is a great and glorious Story of Redemption. Today we affirmwthat was said by Job, a man who surely knew misery and bitterness--I know that my redeemer lives, and ever cares for me!

Say it with me, I know that my redeemer lives, and ever cares for me

Say it with me again, I know that my redeemer lives, and ever cares for me

May this message give you hope, that God is at work in your life, that he has not abandoned you, and that he will bring about something greater than you ever imagine.

How does this story encourage you? What do you think the solution to bitterness is?

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Comment by Jayaraj.E on June 11, 2015 at 10:50pm
Good article, it strengthen the hope in Him
Comment by Jayaraj.E on June 11, 2015 at 10:49pm
Good article, it sreabthrn the our hope in Him
Comment by James Nored on February 28, 2015 at 2:28pm

Thank you, dad. Belief in God's providence has indeed probably waned.

Comment by Lynn S. Nored on February 27, 2015 at 8:57pm
In former days Christians in this country both talked about, wrote about, and had great confidence in "the providence of God." Yes, bad things do happen to us whether cancer or less than optimal professional work conditions. But we have a hope in Christ both for " the world that now is and thst which is to come"
Comment by James Nored on February 26, 2015 at 4:30pm

Good question, David.

Comment by David Mitchell Smith on February 26, 2015 at 3:43pm

In her bitterness Naomi lost faith and her sense of mission sending her daughter-in-law back to her gods.  She regained her confidence in the Lord.  I wonder if she regained her sense of mission (for Orpah and others)?

Comment by James Nored on February 26, 2015 at 1:38pm

Thanks for reading and sharing, Ron! 

Comment by Ron Furgerson on February 26, 2015 at 1:31pm

Thanks James, for speaking out on hope.  The Redeemer does live and He cares for us. He is at work, as you say, throughout. <>/p>

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