Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I joke that I’m a bitter old man. I like my coffee bitter. I like my beer bitter. I like my chocolate with a hint of bitterness. I’m really not bitter – at least in my heart. However, right now, as I type, I’m more than a little disappointed. Why? I had a big weekend coming up with lots of celebrations. And then – COVID! For that I’m a little bitter.
Our Old Testament lesson this week is about bitterness. Naomi is a woman who seems okay. Her family finds refuge from a famine. Her sons get married to local women. Things are okay … until her husband dies and then her two sons die. Leaving her all alone in a foreign country with nobody to look after her. Which means one thing – without a man to care for her, she’d be left to a life of poverty. Her life went from sweetness to bitterness. (Ruth 1:1-5)
But bitterness isn’t the end of Naomi’s story. Things started looking up when she heard “the Lord had visited His people and given them food.” (Ruth 1:6) So she decided to return home. And one of her daughters-in-law, Ruth, decided she’d return with her saying, “Where you go I will go … your God (shall be) my God.” (Ruth 1:16)
What Naomi may not have realized is that throughout her bitter suffering, God was with her, providing for her. As we read the rest of the Book of Ruth we see God providing Naomi comfort, even restoring her family through Ruth. Ruth ends up marrying a man named Boaz and having a son Obed. Obed fathers Jesse who fathers David, the shepherd who would become king of Israel and part of the long line leading to Jesus, the Messiah. (Ruth 6:13-17)
Naomi’s bitterness was real – just as ours is real. But throughout it, God promises to be with us – sustaining, rescuing, and leading us through the bitterness into the sweetness of eternity. We catch a glimpse of this promise in the life of Naomi.
In Christ’s Love,
Pastor Jim