Easter Devotional - Day 22
"Then she told them, 'Don't call me Naomi any longer! Call me Mara, because God has made my life bitter. I had everything when I left, but Yahweh has brought me back with nothing. How can you still call me Naomi, when God has turned against me and made my life so hard?'" Ruth 1:20-21
Life looked bleak for Naomi. There was seemingly no hope left for her. She had no husband to care for her and protect her rights. She had no sons to take his place. They had been her security in society. As a landless, childless widow, she had little opportunity. Per custom and law, her deceased husband's closest male relative should have accepted her as a wife to provide her with children, yet as her three sons had married before their deaths, she was likely too old to bear more children. All she had enjoyed in the past was lost, save for the daughter-in-law who had chosen to stick with her.
It was strange that Ruth chose to follow Naomi back to Israel. There was seemingly little it would do for either of them. Naomi could by no means to provide for Ruth. As a widow and foreigner, Ruth was unlikely to find a new husband in Israel. She had better chances among her own people to find a new husband and a new beginning on life.
Things did not look like they would improve any time soon. There was not much thought they could get much worse, either. There was just no light to be seen at the end of the tunnel. For all practical purposes, it seemed Yahweh had forsaken Naomi, casting her out on her own as though in punishment for some crime. While it was her husband and sons who had died, it was Naomi who suffered in the balance. Gone were her security, her support, and her means of survival in a world that did not give women much value or respect. Her options were limited both by her gender and her status as a widow, as well as by her age.
Her loss was what she could best see. It was easy to look at the past and fall into fear, despair, and doubt. It was depressing to look toward such a bleak future that seemed to stare back at her. Hope may be the last to die, as the saying goes, but from her standpoint, hope was already gone. For her, it was an overwhelming sense of loss which dampened any sense of possibility and restoration.
She could not see beyond the disaster of life that enshrouded her. Grief was coupled by a sense of hopeless abandonment by God. After all, it was God who had allowed her husband and sons to be taken away from her. It was God who had allowed her to return empty-handed to Israel with no hope of a new tomorrow, a new beginning.
Unlike Naomi, we can see beyond the bitterness she claimed as her own. We can look to the end of the story and see that Yahweh was not done with Naomi, or with Ruth. Nothing was hopeless and helpless in the situation. Hopelessness was simply a product of her despair and depression. Yahweh had new opportunities and options in store, as unlikely as they seemed to Naomi. Her future was still bright and pleasant as her name stated, even if she failed to see it. Her grief was still just as real, but there was hope in God, even if she could not see what was in store.
Turn your attention from your doubts and problems to reflect instead on God's faithfulness.
"Lord, help me look to you as the light at the end of the tunnel, rather than what I can see."
—©Copyright 2009 Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/
Life looked bleak for Naomi. There was seemingly no hope left for her. She had no husband to care for her and protect her rights. She had no sons to take his place. They had been her security in society. As a landless, childless widow, she had little opportunity. Per custom and law, her deceased husband's closest male relative should have accepted her as a wife to provide her with children, yet as her three sons had married before their deaths, she was likely too old to bear more children. All she had enjoyed in the past was lost, save for the daughter-in-law who had chosen to stick with her.
It was strange that Ruth chose to follow Naomi back to Israel. There was seemingly little it would do for either of them. Naomi could by no means to provide for Ruth. As a widow and foreigner, Ruth was unlikely to find a new husband in Israel. She had better chances among her own people to find a new husband and a new beginning on life.
Things did not look like they would improve any time soon. There was not much thought they could get much worse, either. There was just no light to be seen at the end of the tunnel. For all practical purposes, it seemed Yahweh had forsaken Naomi, casting her out on her own as though in punishment for some crime. While it was her husband and sons who had died, it was Naomi who suffered in the balance. Gone were her security, her support, and her means of survival in a world that did not give women much value or respect. Her options were limited both by her gender and her status as a widow, as well as by her age.
Her loss was what she could best see. It was easy to look at the past and fall into fear, despair, and doubt. It was depressing to look toward such a bleak future that seemed to stare back at her. Hope may be the last to die, as the saying goes, but from her standpoint, hope was already gone. For her, it was an overwhelming sense of loss which dampened any sense of possibility and restoration.
She could not see beyond the disaster of life that enshrouded her. Grief was coupled by a sense of hopeless abandonment by God. After all, it was God who had allowed her husband and sons to be taken away from her. It was God who had allowed her to return empty-handed to Israel with no hope of a new tomorrow, a new beginning.
Unlike Naomi, we can see beyond the bitterness she claimed as her own. We can look to the end of the story and see that Yahweh was not done with Naomi, or with Ruth. Nothing was hopeless and helpless in the situation. Hopelessness was simply a product of her despair and depression. Yahweh had new opportunities and options in store, as unlikely as they seemed to Naomi. Her future was still bright and pleasant as her name stated, even if she failed to see it. Her grief was still just as real, but there was hope in God, even if she could not see what was in store.
Turn your attention from your doubts and problems to reflect instead on God's faithfulness.
"Lord, help me look to you as the light at the end of the tunnel, rather than what I can see."
—©Copyright 2009 Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/
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