Recently while in a conversation, someone on my squad asked me about the traits that I would want or the characteristics that I would choose from someone in the bible. It took me a moment as I thought about it.
My first thought was Ruth and how after the passing of her husband she stays loyal to Naomi, her mother in law, because she loves her. I think the most amazing thing about her is how humble she is before Boaz, the Lord, and with Naomi. Ruth is firm and consistent in who she is and stands humbly before the Lord in praise for the blessings he has given her. She never wavers and knows that he is her rock.
I admire her unwavering heart and commitment to the Lord through had things…. but then I realized that I sometimes am more like Naomi in this story.
I also, thought about the recent hardships since arriving in Sri Lanka and I was angry and sad and confused about why God put us here. He immediately reminded me of the book of Ruth and how important those women are.
Naomi means pleasant and for the first part of her life she is. Her and her husband are together happily and her sons are married and there is joy. After the famine that hits and her sons pass away along with her husband Naomi comes into a place of anger at the Lord and is very distraught.
She says “Don’t call me Naomi call me Mara because the Lord 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)
Mara means bitter and Naomi feels so let down by the Lord in this time that she abandons her identity. I thought about the times in my life that the Lord has walked me though misfortune and trials where I have gotten angry at him too. I feel that in the Bible we do not see this transparency with the Lord enough that Naomi shows here. There are multiple times in my walk with the Lord that I have to been angry and bitter… even this last week with adapting to the Sri Lanka culture.
I want to be like her because she shows whats it is like to have a relationship with the living God because later on in the book she sees the fruit that has been given to her and her daughter in law Ruth and praises the Lord for what he has done. The contrast from her suffering to the joy that she experiences is a great example of how the Lord works.
We’re allowed to be angry at him and feel lost at times but the important thing to remember is to not stop praising him in the bad as well as the good. It is so easy to praise him when we are getting the things we asked for or life seems easy. When he closes doors for us and makes the road a little more bumpy we then need to praise him too. He makes no mistakes.
