It was in the middle of one of the hardest of days that I heard this challenging charge to my heart & it was right on time! I thank God for the day someone said to me, “You can allow the situations of life to make you bitter or make you better!” I looked at my attitude, checked my heart & an adjustment started that day that has carried me to where I am now. As I type this letter, I’m a person who can look back upon all the toils of life & truly say that have made me better! Where there was pride there is humility, where there was selfishness there is sacrifice & where there was more of me there is simply more of Him!
Have you ever read the beautiful story of Naomi & Ester found in the book of Ruth? Naomi & her husband Elimelech had left their home land, with their two sons, and journeyed to the land of the Moabites. They lived there ten years, where both of their sons married and were living the good life. Then, tragedy stuck, Elimelech died and with him his two sons also perished. Now, facing an uncertain future where she was living, Naomi urged her two daughter-in-laws that she loved dearly to return to their homes. She was going to make a journey back to the land of her people, the Israelites.
Oprah, one of the daughter-in-laws, went back to her home but Ruth made a statement that sends chills down my arms. (Like my little Evan says, “It gives me chicken skin!”) In Ruth 1:16 her answer boldly came, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.” As the story goes on, together they return to Israel. Then, while gleaning grain in the field of Boaz like a poor person, Boaz falls in love with her. Ruth goes on to marry Boaz, one of the richest men in all the land, & brings Naomi into her home. Best of all, King David himself came forth from her. She became the mother of kings!
Oh my! Why does that story so grip my heart? Along the way Naomi, whose name means “pleasant”, wanted to change her name to Mara which means “bitter”. She felt this way because of how the situations of life had so affected her. As you see in the story above, God had a plan for her life by using her sweet daughter-in-law Ruth; the Lord brought deliverance & even the lineage of a King to Naomi. No, Mara was not to be her name for God had a plan to make her bad circumstances blossom into one of the most beautiful lives ever lived. He will do the same for you!
Now, both women had a part to play in the story! Naomi had to obey & return home not knowing what would happen. Ruth had to follow her heart, after losing her husband at a young age, by going to a land & a people she did not know. We will all have challenges before us as well that we may think are impossible, but I want to encourage you to follow hard after God & see the victory. The Word says in Prov 4:23 to “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” So, guard your heart, keeping your eyes on Him, and you will not become a woman named “bitter” but remain “pleasant” before the Lord.
He is & always has been faithful. He does & always will have a way out! We will & always will have to guard our hearts, knowing the one who went before Naomi still goes before us. If she could have only seen ahead, the name Mara would have never rolled off her lips. If we could see ahead, we would never allow life to make us bitter. God has a beautiful plan for us too & it will truly be “pleasant” to your heart!