"Bitter or Better?"
"Don't call me Naomi," she responded. "Instead, call me Mara, for the Almighty has made life very bitter for me. (Ruth 1:20 NLT)
We have all been here. Some of us more than others. Bitterness has taken root in our lives & we don't know how to make it go away. In fact, bitterness affects every area of our lives.
Naomi, which means "pleasant", is so bitter that she actually wants people to call her "Mara" from now on, which is Hebrew for "bitter". She has every reason to be bitter or so it seems. She has moved from her home to a foreign land because of famine. She has lost her husband & sons to death. She has been left alone in the world without a provider & protector. (In these days, widows were often very poor & unable to care for themselves without a husband or son.) She has no male heir to carry on her husband's family name. Not only this, she has two other mouths to feed in her daughters-in- law. Wouldn't you be bitter?
See, none of those things were in her control. The famine, the deaths, the difficulties I'm sure we're never part of the plan. She knows God is sovereign because she says that God has made her life bitter. But what's important to see is that in spite of all the horrible things that have happened to Naomi, she CHOOSES to be bitter.
We are going to have circumstances that are out of our control. We will face difficulty in this life. We will be faced with loss, death, & wanting. Life will not be perfect. We know this very well! But in all of this we have a choice. We have a choice to be bitter or to be dependent. We have a choice to trust our viewpoint or God's. We have a choice to look to ourselves or him. We have a choice to blame God or take refuge in him. Are we choosing to get bitter or better?
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