Bitterness at its Core and the Solution -- Biblical Example in Ruth

If anyone typifies the Christian who struggles with bitterness, look no further than Naomi in the Book of Ruth.

A woman of Bethlehem-Ephrathah, she left her home when a famine broke out in the land. We can learn form this example, that no matter what our circumstances may be, we should never lose sight of who we are in Christ, we is the bread of Life, and try to find the life that we seek in other places, in the world at large.

In the land of Moab, a cursed country born out of the incestuous relationship between Lot and his two daughters (Genesis 19), Naomi and her husband Elimelech and her two sons Mahlon and Chilion made due as best they could. The two sons married Moabite women, Ruth and Orpah. Time passed, and Elimelech, Chilion, and Mahlon all died. Naomi was left alone with her two Gentile daughters-in-law, poor and alone with no place to go but back home.

When the two daughters in law pleaded to go with Naomi back to Bethlehem, her reproachful response dripped with sacrasm, as well as the source of her bitterness: a perceivec chasm between herself and the LORD:

"11And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters: why will ye go with me? are there yet any more sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? 12Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have an husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should have an husband also to night, and should also bear sons; 13Would ye tarry for them till they were grown? would ye stay for them from having husbands? nay, my daughters; for it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD is gone out against me." (Ruth 1: 11-13)

When she arrived back in her home town with Ruth, she had nothing but "bitter" on her mind:

"19So 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? 20And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. 21I 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?" (Ruth 1: 19-21)

Can you imagine being so bitter, that you would identify with it, that you would call yourself "Bitter"? Yet that's what Naomi did.

Why was Naomi bitter? She believed that the Lord had "dealt bitterly with her", that it was His fault that all those terrible things had happened to her.

Now, was it true what she said about God? Not at all. Strictly speaking, it was her husband's fault initially for taking the entire family away from Bethlehem (which means "The House of Bread"). Also, her bitterness was her fault, in that she did not believe in how good He is.

Yet this bitterness did not prevent God from blessing her, and blessing her through Ruth.

"22So 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." (Ruth 1: 22)

The very moment when all was lost, so Naomi assumed, she was walking into blessings and favor. For the record, the only time that Naomi is ever referred to as "Marah" is out of her own mouth, and nothing more. Even when we speak against ourselves, as Naomi did, God's grace is still greater.