BLAMING GOD

Why do you call me Naomi? Yahweh has answered against me, and the Almighty has brought calamity against me? Ruth 1:21b

You’ve heard the question before – “If God is so good, why did He bring this problem into my life?” It’s a question of doubt. Pain has a way of magnifying the present and minimizing the truth.

It’s the same question that Naomi asks. She believed that the problems in her life were a direct result of Yahweh's dealings against her. Three times she asserts this (vs. 13 “against me”; vs. 20 “has dealt very bitterly with me”; vs. 21 “has afflicted me”). She was failing to recognize God’s goodness in the midst of trials. Instead of trusting God, she turned bitter. Instead of dwelling on truth like “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes” (Psalm 119:71) she had allowed lies to fill her mind. Instead of choosing to be “pleasant,” i.e. Naomi, she chose to be “bitter”, i.e. Mara. Instead of choosing to see God’s provision for her in the form of her daughter-in-law, Ruth, she declared that she came back “empty” (vs. 21). Blinded to God’s goodness, she returns to the land of Israel bitter and hardened against God.

But this is where we begin to see God’s grace. Naomi may be done with God, but God is not done with Naomi. What does this mean for me? First, I need to guard my heart from bitterness toward God regardless of what trials I may be experiencing. Hebrews 12:15 says “Seeing to it that no one falls short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled.” Second, I need to be continually reminded of God’s grace. Every trial I encounter is His way of helping me grow (James 1:2-4).

Philip Moeller