By Elizabeth Prata
SYNOPSIS: Naomi, overwhelmed by loss, blames God and grows bitter, unlike Job. Yet God restores her through Ruth’s lineage, reminding believers to trust His sovereign goodness rather than interpret suffering as abandonment.
Long ago, there was a famine in Judah. A man named Elimelech and his wife Naomi took themselves and their two sons to Moab, where life was better. The two sons married Moabite women. There, they dwelled for many years, until it came to pass that Elimelech died. Then soon after, Naomi’s two grown sons died too, leaving Naomi and her 2 daughters-in-law widows.
This is a dire situation. The two most vulnerable populations at that time were children and widows. If a widow had no other extended family to care for her, she would live the rest of her days near or at starvation, on the fringes of society…or worse. I sympathize with Naomi. It is hard to lose the men in your family, and it is hard to feel you have no means to care for your remaining girls.
In addition, the culture of the time exalted women who were married and had produced sons. A woman’s worth was seen in the number of children she could give the husband. Being a widow brought a woman down from highest societal status, to the lowest. So, Naomi lost her position in society as well as losing her loved ones. She was looking at a rough future in a country not her own.
But Naomi took it so hard, she made charges against God.
“No, my daughters; for it is much more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the LORD has come out against me.” (Ruth 1:13).
She is blaming God for her circumstance. Naomi forgot God gave her Elimelech and gave her two sons, and gave her two nice daughters-in-law for the sons to marry, and gave her a long, prosperous life in Bethlehem and in Moab.
Naomi returned to Bethlehem with daughter-in-law Ruth.
So they both went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they had come to Bethlehem, all the city was stirred because of them, and the women said, “Is this Naomi?” But she said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the LORD has testified against me and the Almighty has afflicted me?” (Ruth 1:19-21)
Here, Naomi blamed God again, three times. It is sad to see that she said, I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty.
Job lost more than Naomi but he never sinned against God with his lips, or his heart. Naomi said ‘I’m bitter’ (against the Lord) but Job worshiped the Lord even in his affliction. Naomi is saying ‘I used to have a good life but the Lord took it away from me, so now I am so bitter [against Him] I am changing my name.’
Name changes were common in the Bible. Simon was called Peter and Cephas, Joseph was nicknamed Barnabas. Saul was renamed Paul. Jacob was renamed Israel. But Naomi renamed herself – as an indictment against God.
We need to be careful not to take the ‘bad’ with the ‘good.’ As we discover later, Naomi came though her dire times into a wonderfully blessed period. Naomi means ‘my joy’. Her grief and sadness had turned into an entrenched bitterness so that she felt Mara was better suited to her current character.
However, in God’s plan, suffering is for our good, and soon, Naomi learned that her precious daughter-in-law Ruth was to marry. Their union produced Obed, father of Jesse, father of David, which meant their union begat a son in the line of the Messiah. Naomi had the satisfaction of seeing Ruth safely and lovingly married, and to a wealthy man, to boot. How wonderful Naomi was allowed to finish her days in such blessed circumstances. That is often the way of the LORD. Naomi looked around at her circumstances but did not look up. She forgot that though she felt she had lost all, she still retained the One that makes all the difference. Naomi forgot about God’s faithfulness. She wasn’t ’empty’, she had God.
During our journey when we face adverse circumstances, we should be careful to be more like Job than Naomi.
Then Job got up, tore his robe, and shaved his head; then he fell to the ground and worshiped. He said,
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
And naked I shall return there.
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away.
Blessed be the name of the LORD.”
Despite all this, Job did not sin, nor did he blame God. (Job 1:20-22.)
Lord let me remember that despite my outward circumstances, to worship God through it all. Whether I am high or low, in or out, up or down, He remains the same and “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28).
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