Call Me Mara

who are joining us online. I'll tell you, I have to remember what time of day it is. I almost said good morning. I know that's not the case. Would you all stand and join me in prayer? Father, we thank you for this opportunity this evening to worship in song and to study your word, Lord. Father, we want to lift up our service to you. I'll begin by asking you to pray for those in the nursery

looking after the youngsters, the little babies, those who are working with the children's church group there up through fifth grade, and that you would bless that youth group, Lord, and be with the teachers and all those that are involved. Just bless our time, Lord, this evening. And as we worship in song, Lord, we come just as we are. There's no time that you don't hear us.

There's no time you don't sing. It's your grace and your mercy and your sovereign blood that's shed on the cross. Thank you for your sovereignty. And we know what you rule is always. We thank you for your goodness. You're able to stand for this last song.

I think I started that wrong. Yes, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. We'll sing out now to Jesus. We do this service as we worship in song and worship as we study your word, Lord. Actually, we worship and we look to you as we trust you, Lord. You're worthy of our praise. You're worthy of our worship because you loved us first. We love you, and we want to serve you, Lord.

And it's because of that love we give you thanks, Lord. I'd ask that you would move on each of our hearts by your Holy Spirit, Lord. Just fill us afresh this evening, as we study. Lord, I lift up each one in here tonight. You know each of their hearts, Lord. You know what they're facing, what they're praising you about, where they feel joy, where they feel sadness,

whatever may be going on, Lord. Bless and strengthen and speak to us by your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name, in the name of Pastor Ryan, in Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated.

If you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Ruth, could we get lights? Oh, there we go, there they are, found them. Open up in your Bibles to the book of Ruth, chapter one.

Ruth, chapter one. Two books in the Bible that are named after women, Ruth and Esther. And the book of Ruth, if I'm being honest, is one of my more favorite books of the Bible. It's always held a really special place in my heart. A long time ago, I taught this book at a youth conference. And ever since then, it's held a really special place in my heart. There's a lot of really neat things in it.

And sidebar, she's not in here, it's okay. This is my wife's favorite book for me to teach. When I was doing Bible studies, apart from this, and we'd come to the end of a book, I'd say, I wonder what I should do next. And every single time, she'd say, do Ruth. So, hopefully she's listening a little bit in the nursery now. So, Ruth, interestingly enough, I almost look at it like a four-part miniseries.

I don't know if that's the right way to look at it, but it's the way that I look at it. And I think it's a great way to look at it. And I think it's a great way to look at it. And I think it's a great way to look at it. Because there's almost like four episodes, right? Because Ruth is a book of redemption. There's a lot of fascinating things in the book of Ruth.

We're gonna see some practical lessons about just life in general, about being good people, about being who God has called for us to be. There's some redemption truth in that we see the line of David, ultimately the line of Jesus, being followed through here. And then also there's redemption that is pictured because of the kinsman redeemer that we'll see in the book of Ruth. But it's kind of interesting.

And so the first episode, chapter one, I have entitled, Call Me Mara. So anyway, you'll see why here in just a little bit. So we pick up in chapter one, verse one, and it says this. Now it came about in the days when the judges governed that there was a famine in the land and a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons.

Now, just kind of by way of background, again, we're told that Ruth is gonna take place in the midst of the time of the judges. We just finished the book of Judges. And so this is really another addendum, if you will, kind of like the last few chapters of Judges. It takes place within all of that time. Remember during the time of the judges, everyone did that which was right in their own eyes

because there was no king in the land at that point in time. But in the midst of all of the darkness of the book of Judges, and it is, it's a dark book. Sometimes it's a little hard to find, and Jesus and Judges, amen? And so in the middle of all that, we have, if you will, a bright spot in the book of Judges, or in the book of Ruth. And actually, isn't it kind of like God

that oftentimes he writes his greatest stories of redemption in the absolute darkest times? I think that that's true of God in general, in history. We have seen some of the most beautiful stories of redemption take place in some of the most horrific times, but also it's true in our own lives. Sometimes that which appears to be the absolute darkest in our own life ultimately becomes God's greatest picture of redemption.

It ultimately becomes God's greatest story of redemption for us. And we see that in the life of Naomi as well as we see it in the nation of Israel. And so it's in the time of the judges when the book of Ruth takes place. Actually, some have said that perhaps Ruth was a contemporary with even Gideon. So perhaps around that time. And the book of Judges, Judges is thought to have been written by Samuel,

or the book of Ruth is thought to have been written by Samuel who also wrote the book of Judges. And so we see what's taking place here. It was during the time of the judges and there was a famine in the land. Now, if you don't know what a famine is, basically a drought took place in the land of Israel. If I understood correctly, there's about 13 famines that are listed throughout Scripture

and this is one of them. And there was a time in the nation of Israel, again, probably because of the sin that was taking place during the time of the judges. Sin. It had come into the land and so God was dealing with the sin and oftentimes the way that God begins to deal with sin is first to touch the finances, is first to touch the place of strength in the land and that's usually in the crops.

And so this famine is in the land and there was a man who was living in Bethlehem in Judah and he went to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons. Now, there's a couple of things I want us to pay attention to. And there's gonna be a lot of meanings of names in here. The name Bethlehem is really interesting because the name Bethlehem means house of bread.

The name Judah, interestingly enough, means praise. So this man is living in the house of bread and praise, only there is a famine in the land because in the house of bread, there's no bread because they were not obeying God. And so he decides that he's going to go to the land of Moab. Now, here's the thing about Moab. Does anybody remember the history of Moab?

Moab has quite the history. It's quite the sordid history, right? If you don't know the history of Moab, let me take you down a dark trail for just a moment. So this was all the way back in the book of Genesis when Abraham interceded for Lot because he was living in Sodom and Gomorrah. God was going to judge Sodom and Gomorrah because of the sin that was taking place there.

And so God went down to deliver Lot from Sodom and Gomorrah. And so ultimately the only three people that are saved in all of the region of Sodom and Gomorrah, including all of Lot's family, is Lot, who was Abraham's nephew, and Lot's two daughters. So they flee to the mountains where they can be saved from the coming judgment. Only while they're in the mountains, his daughters say, there are clearly no men left.

How are we going to be able to continue the family line? And one of the daughters comes up with a plan. She decides they're going to get dad drunk and each of them will take a turn sleeping with him in order to propagate the line. And that's exactly what happens. And one of those descendants that comes out of that incestuous relationship is named Moab, who becomes the father of the Moabites.

Interestingly enough, if you go further in scripture, you find that in Psalm 108, David says of God that he calls Moab his washpot. Let me use a much less desirable term. Moab is his toilet, right? Because much like the rest of the world, Moab was going down the drain. I stole that from John Corson. I can't take credit for that myself. Anyway, but that's what he calls Moab.

So he's going to the place where you should never go. So, this is a little bit of the scene that's being set. Now, verse two, the name of the man was Elimelech, which is a fun name to say. And the name of his wife was Naomi. And the names of his sons were Malon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah. And they entered the land of Moab and they remained there.

Now this guy Elimelech, his name means something as well. The name Elimelech means my God is king. And his wife's name is Naomi. And her name means pleasant. And it's kind of interesting because this will come into play as we go. But it's kind of interesting to me that Elimelech, who says my God is king, is not acting like his God is king. Because in the land of Judah,

in the land of Bethlehem, there is a famine that's taking place. Now, if God was really his king, he would rest in the fact that God is a God who provides. That God is ultimately the one who will take care of him because God has said in the promised land, I will always take care of you as long as people are living the way that they're supposed to be living. And yet he does not trust in God enough to stay in the land.

Instead, when things get hard, he runs. Now, I want you to notice the word that's used there for what he does. It doesn't say he left. It says he sojourned. In other words, he left with the purpose of coming back. He was just leaving because things got hard. Now, I want to draw a quick little conclusion to this here and something that we need to pay attention to

because we live in a culture right now, that when things get hard, we like to run. We like to go somewhere where we think things might be a little bit easier. That's why there's such a lack of commitment in our culture today is because we think life is supposed to be easy. We've bought into an idea that everything is supposed to be really, really easy in life.

And if it's not easy, then God must not be involved. If it's not easy, then I must not be where God wants me to be. And so we say, I'm going to go somewhere that'll be a little bit easier for a little while. And then I'll come back when things get better here. And that's our way. That's our tendency, just like Elimelech, to instead of letting God be our king

and tell us where we need to be, we start looking for a plan B. And that's what Elimelech does. He says, things are hard here. I'm going to run. And I'm going to go somewhere where it might be easier for a little while, but only for a little while because when things get better in Israel, I'll be back. Brothers and sisters, as believers in Jesus Christ, we need to stick around when things get hard.

You need to stick around in your relationships when they get hard. You need to stick around in your job when it gets hard. You need to stick around in your marriage when it gets hard. You need to stick around when it gets hard because if that's where God has called you to be, then even if it's hard, he's still with you because he is the God who takes care of you, right?

If God is your king, then let him really be your king. And so he goes to the land of Moab and he takes with him his wife, whose name means pleasant. And he takes with him his two sons. Now his two sons, Malon and Chilion, have already, ultimately terrible names. You know what the name Malon means? The word Malon means sickly. And the word Chilion means pining.

Can you imagine naming your kids that? You're like, oh, a little sickly and pining. Come on, right? They had to have been like the most gaunt looking kids known to man, right? When they were born, they're like, I don't know if they're gonna make it or not. Let's call them sickly, right? Sickly and pining. Come on, boys. It's okay, we'll carry you, right? Because that's who these guys are.

So he takes these kids and they go to the land of Moab, God's wash pot, and they remained there. This is, if you will, a little bit of an Old Testament picture of the prodigal son. Only it's not just the prodigal son this time. It's the prodigal family. And so they depart and they go to the land of Moab. And then notice what happens in verse three. Because while living in Moab,

there is heartache that takes place. Matter of fact, I think I called this, yep, heartache in the land of Moab. Verse three. Then Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died. And she was left there with her two sons. This is another one of those places where I find myself going, I could have used some more detail here. I could have used some more detail to know exactly what happened.

Like what caused his death? Did he get sick with something? Was there something wrong? Was this guy's judgment because he didn't stick around in the land of Bethlehem like he was supposed to? Whatever it was, Elimelech died in the land of Moab. And so there's Naomi living in a land that she's not from with her two sons, sickly and pining, that doesn't look like an overly good idea.

That doesn't look like an overly good option for her, right? And so these two sons, notice what it says in verse four. They took for themselves Moabite women as wives. The name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other was Ruth. And they lived there about 10 years. Now, if you know very much about what God had told the children of Israel, they're living where they shouldn't be living.

Elimelech has now died and now the two sons marry women. They should have never married. Now, God's going to bring a redemption story out of all of this. But the moment they married foreign women, they made a mistake because God had specifically told them, that's not what you're supposed to do. You're not supposed to intermarry with the people. And so they marry these two women.

Now, again, we're going with names and what they mean. And even their names are kind of interesting. The name Orpah means gazelle, which J. Vernon McGee in his commentary, which by the way, if you want to really read a funny commentary, read J. Vernon McGee on this. It's great. You'll love it. J. Vernon McGee's commentary on this, he says that means that she was athletic.

So he literally refers to her as the athletic one. And the name Ruth actually has several different meanings. So let me tell you what these meanings are. Ruth can mean friendship. It can mean personality or it can mean beauty. Ruth was quite the lady. As a matter of fact, every commentary that you read, goes on and on about the amazing character in the Bible that Ruth was.

Because though she was a Moabite woman, though probably not the one that should have ever been married into the family, she was the kind of girl that you just found yourself drawn to. Because not only was she beautiful on the outside, but she was beautiful on the inside. She wasn't beautiful like high maintenance. She was beautiful like you'd never want to not be with her.

That's the kind of girl that Ruth was. And so they marry these two girls, and they live for about 10 years. And you can imagine how Naomi feels at this point in time. She may have lost her husband, but at least her boys have found these wonderful women that are gonna be able to help take care of her. And her boys are still around to take care of her. And they live this way for about 10 years.

They live in the land where they should have never been, but at least God's blessing seems to be coming upon the family. Until we come to the next verse. It says in verse five, and then May long, and Chilion also died. And the woman was bereft of her two children and her husband. Now I want you to put yourself in the place of Naomi right now. Because I don't think we always spend enough time

talking about this anytime we look at the book of Ruth. Because Naomi finds herself in literally the most impossible place for a woman living in that era. Her husband has died, and that's usually the one that a woman looked to for all of her security. Her husband has died. Now her two sons have died, the ones who would have thought to be the ones that would take care of her in her old age.

And not only has her husband died, not only have her two sons died, but she is completely separated from all of the rest of her family. She is, if you will, as alone as you could possibly be in the era that she lived in. Truly, there was heartache in the land of Moab. And if I may draw a quick personal application here, I think it's important for us to remember that when we run from something hard, it doesn't get easier.

When we run from something hard, when we run out of the place of God's blessing, because in the place of God's blessing, we face challenges, the challenges that we face outside of God's blessing are much worse, are much more difficult. And that's exactly where she found herself. Because when you're living in the land of Moab, listen, there's always heartache. I think that's a word for somebody in here tonight, is that when you're living outside of God's blessing, it always brings heartache.

And so this is where she finds herself. What is she gonna do now? Because everybody that she's known and everybody that she cares about and everybody that she loves is gone. Says in verse five, in Malone, or excuse me, in verse six, she goes with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the land of Moab. For she had heard in the land of Moab that the Lord had visited his people

in giving them food. And so now we come to the next part, which I've just simply titled, Coming Home. Now I find this kind of interesting in verse six, that here she is living in the land of Moab, which by the way is not exactly close to the land of Israel. It's not exactly a place where you could easily hear news about what was going on in the promised land.

And while she was living in Moab, with everything gone, she heard something. She heard in the land of Moab that the Lord had visited his people in giving them food. Remember how we said that this is a little bit of an Old Testament picture of the prodigal son? It's almost like here's Naomi, living in a place she should have never been, surrounded by people she should have never been around, and facing grief that she thought she would never have to face.

She finds herself going, what am I gonna do now? And then she hears, there's food back in my father's house. Maybe I could go back to my father's house, and I could find a little bit of bread there. Maybe it's time for me to go home. And you know what the beautiful thing about God is? When you find yourself in the land of Moab, when you find yourself in all of the difficulties

that you face, when you find yourself completely broken by the world, you start to hear, oh, you start to hear, maybe it's time to go home. Maybe it's time to come back home. Because maybe if I go back home, I'll find some bread in my father's house. Maybe if I go back home, I can be a part of the family again. And that's what she finds herself doing. And so her and her daughters-in-law,

they return from the land of Moab. And so as she's on this journey, notice what it says in verse seven, she departed from the place where she was, and her daughters-in-law with her, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. And Naomi said to her daughters-in-law, go, return each of you to her mother's house. And may the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me.

And may the Lord grant that you may find rest each in the house of her husband. And then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. And they said to her, no, but we will simply return to your people. But Naomi said, return my daughters. Why should you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may be your husbands? Return and go, for I am too old to have a husband.

If I said I have hope, if I said I should even have a husband tonight and bear sons, would you therefore wait until they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is harder for me than for you. For the hand of the Lord has gone forth against me. So as the journey goes on, she sort of looks at her daughters-in-law, who are from Moab, who need to find husbands,

because that was the security that they would have living in that age, living in that era. She looks at them and says, girls, you need to go back home. Orpah, there's gonna be some lovely man at the 24-hour fitness that's just gonna be perfect for you and your athletic build. Ruth, there's gonna be a man at Nordstrom who's gonna absolutely find your beauty, who's gonna be amazing.

You guys need to go back there, right? You need to go back and find husbands there. But Naomi says something really interesting that I want you to pay attention to, and it's in verse nine, and it's another little place of personal application. It says this, may the Lord grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband. I found that verse kind of interesting,

and David Guzik pointed it out as well. He points out that the fact that they were to find rest in a new marriage. And I think that that's an interesting thing for us to pay attention to, because marriage should always equal rest. And in our culture, it doesn't always, right? When you hear most people paint the picture of marriage, they paint the picture of marriage as this drudgery.

We even do it in the church sometimes. We're like, marriage is hard. It is hard work. Listen, it takes an investment, but there should be a certain aspect of rest in your marriage, right? Those of you that maybe don't know, maybe looking for a husband, you need to know that when you find someone that you can truly be yourself with, you may be onto something there.

Those of you looking for a wife, when you find someone you can truly be yourself with, you're kind of onto something there. When you find a place where you can just go, ah, there's just so much rest in that, right? But I remember when Erin and I started dating, we both had kind of come out of some not great relationships, and I remember the very first thing that I ever told her, and I can't believe she even stayed with me. This is how you know this is God, right?

The first thing I told her is I said, listen, this will be almost verbatim, right? The only thing that I can promise you is that I'm a roller coaster ride, okay? What you see is what you get, and that's all that there is to it. And she looked at me and she said, I feel the exact same way. And we just kind of let it all hang out from the word go, right? We just kind of warts and all, look, this is who I am.

Am I gonna be really emotional sometimes? You're doggone right I am. Am I gonna cry at the drop of a hat? Probably, but that's who I am. You gotta take it or leave it. And she said, well, this is who I am. You gotta take it or leave it. You know what, from that point on, it was pretty restful. And now she's my best friend and we just love spending time together.

And the greatest place of rest that I have is when I'm with her. The greatest place of rest that I have is when I get to spend time with my wife because she's my place of safety. She's my place of security. She's the one who I can tell anything in the world to. And sure, she may look at me funny sometimes because I deserve to be looked at funny sometimes, but she's still gonna love me.

And she knows that's true about me too. And I'm here to tell you right now, if you're here and you're married and there's no rest in your marriage, you need to ask yourself why. You need to ask yourself why there's no rest there. Is there sin that needs dealt with? Is there bitterness that needs dealt with? Is there some unforgiveness that needs dealt with?

Have you never really laid out what it looks like to truly be married? Because your marriage should be your greatest place of rest. The only place that's a greater place of rest is your relationship with Jesus Christ. And so, she says, may the Lord grant you rest in each in the house of her husband. She says, but listen, as far as me, I can't have any more sons, right?

I can't provide you with another husband. I think the best thing that you can do is just go home. Go back to where you came from and find yourself a husband there. And of course they go, oh, no, no, no. We are gonna stick with you. Notice what it says in verse 14. It says, and they lifted up their voices and wept and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.

And she said, behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. Return after your sister-in-law. But Ruth said, do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you. For where you go, I will go. And where you lodge, I will go. Your people shall be my people and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die. And there I will be buried.

Thus may the Lord do to me and worse, if anything but death departs you and me. Now there's two different ways that this response is handled. Initially, they both say, no, we wanna go with you. You're who we wanna stay with. You're our family. They all lift up their voices and weep. But then there's two different responses. Orpah, who said, I'm gonna stay with you,

eventually gives her a little kiss, which is just a greeting to say goodbye, and departs and goes back to her family, to her people. And did you notice the last part? And to her gods. You know, I think that's a picture of a lot of people that initially make a commitment to Jesus Christ. You ever notice that some people, everybody gets excited, right? You have that moment.

You have that moment where the guy gave the really good speech. We're about to go to Young Christian's Weekend. And I always think about Young Christian's Weekend when I think about this. Because there's a guy that teaches there, and he's amazing, I love him dearly. His name's Joe White, and Joe White is about the best I've ever heard in giving an emotional message.

He just gives this emotional message. And kids just flood forward to get saved. But I've been around some of those kids that have flooded forward to get saved. some of them who just like Orpah are like, I'll follow you, pretty soon kiss them on the cheek and tell them goodbye because they want to go back to their gods, and they want to go back to their people, and they want to go back to their family, and they want to go back to their land.

You see, too many people make an initial commitment to Jesus Christ, and they say, I'll follow you, but the pull of the world is just too strong. That lack of commitment is just too strong. Maybe some of you in here tonight are finding that the pull away from the things of God is pretty strong, and you're going, I know I made a commitment, but man, the pull is really strong, and I really just kind of want to go back because sometimes going back feels comfortable. It's just like the children of Israel when they left Egypt, right? They wanted to get out of Egypt because it

was slavery, but then they got in the wilderness, and it was hard, and they were like, we want to go back to Egypt, right? And sometimes that pull of the world is really, really strong, and you have to decide who you're going to follow. Orpah makes the decision that she's going to go back home. Sure, she gives her the hug, she gives her the kiss, holy high five, whatever you call it, but ultimately she left because her commitment wasn't really that strong. But then you've got Ruth. See, this is what I mean about

Ruth. She was not only beautiful on the outside, she was beautiful on the inside because there was a real heart inside of her, and I think that verses 15 through 17 are some of the more beautiful passages. And all of the Old Testament. Excuse me, verses 16 and 17, because Ruth looks at her and says, please don't make me leave or turn back from following you. And then she makes this great

statement, where you go, I will go. And where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God shall be my God. You see, that's commitment. Commitment says, I don't have people, but I have people. I have people. I have people. I have people. I have people. I have people. I don't have family back home anymore. I don't have family back home anymore. I don't have a home

back home anymore. You're my home now. You're my people now. Your God is my God now. You see, that's what wholehearted commitment to Jesus Christ looks like. You see, too many of us still have a home back home, and we want to follow Jesus here. But if we're really going to follow Jesus 100%, we say, no, no, your people are my people. You are my God. Your home, that's my home.

That's why the greatest thing that we can learn to understand as believers in Jesus Christ is once we made a commitment to him, this place, that's not our home anymore. Because we have a different home than that. And he's now our people. You're my people, right? Because we're the family of God. And that's exactly what we're supposed to be. And this is the commitment that Ruth makes. This is

why I think she's such a fascinating character within scripture. It's as if she says, I know that I was in the wash pot. I know that I was in the toilet. I know that I was in the wash pot. I know that my life was going down the drain, but now you are my people and I'm going to follow you and I'm going to stick with you. And that's the commitment that she makes. And I love this

because she says, and where you die, I will die in there. I will be buried. And thus may the Lord do to me and worse, if anything, but death parts you and me, brothers and sisters, that's commitment. That's what we're lacking sometimes in the church. Listen, I believe in God's grace. God's grace is the only thing that saves us. God's grace is the only thing that keeps us. His grace is,

is what saved me and has brought me safe thus far. His grace is going to leave me home, right? But at the same time, there's a commitment on my part where I have to decide wholeheartedly, who am I going to follow? Which is what Joshua told the children of Israel, choose this day whom you're going to serve. Whether you're going to serve the gods of the people,

whether you're going to serve the one true God. Ruth made her decision and she said, I'm going to stick with you. And what that had to have done to the heart of Naomi, right? It's not listed here. It doesn't say here what it had to have done to the heart of Naomi who had lost everything as far as the world was concerned to know that no matter what someone was going to stick with her. And you

know what? Sometimes when we've lost everything, we just need to know that someone's going to be with us. And again, that's why the body of Christ is so important to gather around the people who have lost everything so that they don't, so that they know that someone is still with them. And so it says in verse 18, and when she saw that she was determined to go with her, she said, no more. So they both went until they came to Bethlehem. And when they had come to

Bethlehem, all the city was stirred because of them. And the woman said, and the women said, is this Naomi? And she said to them, do not call me Naomi, call me Mara. See where I got my title from? Call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi? Since the Lord has witnessed

against me and the Almighty has afflicted me. So Naomi returned and with her Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, who returned from the land of Moab, they came to Bethlehem at the beginning, of barley harvest. Now, the whole city was stirred when they came back. And you can imagine when a new family comes to town, especially a town like Bethlehem, which is a pretty small area, everybody takes note. And everybody probably took note of when they left. And you know what I

wonder? I can't prove this biblically. This is just a thought that I have in my head. But we all know how it is when somebody does something that we disagree with. And yet everybody kind of looks and goes, that's not what I would have done. You know? And I kind of wonder, I don't know this for me. But I kind of wonder if when Elimelech was going, I'm going to Moab, if there were some

people going, that's not what I'd do. It seems like a bad idea, right? And now Naomi has to come back. And as much as she knew that there was bread back home, there still had to have been part of her that went, when I go back home, it's going to be hard. Because people are going to say, I told you so. And man, did they have a good reason to say, I told you so, right?

Can I say that sometimes this is the hardest thing for people to come back to church after walked away from Jesus? Is they know there's people there, they're going to go, I told you so. That's why sometimes the best thing we can do when people come back is just say, man, it's good to see you. Not, I told you so. They already know, right? There's a reason she came back. And everybody says,

is this Naomi? Now, I want you to think about something. Remember what Naomi's name means? Naomi's name means pleasant. Again, J. Vernon McGee in his commentary says, now from now on, we'll refer to her as Little Mary Sunshine, right? He goes, that's kind of what her name means, Little Mary Sunshine. Like, she's the pleasant one, right? She was the one that always had the

smile on her face. She was the one that everything was always going to be okay. God's got this, right? She was that girl. She was the girl that always had the smile for everybody that came along. She was Miss Positivity. And now she comes back and they look at her. And do you notice the question mark there? Is this Naomi? Because she didn't look like Little Mary Sunshine anymore.

She didn't have a smile for everybody anymore. Now she comes back and they say, is this Naomi? And I want you to notice what she says. And I want you to take note of the tone with which I think that she says it. Don't call me Naomi. Don't call me pleasant. Call me Mara. And the name Mara means bitterness. Call me bitterness. Why? For the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.

Now, isn't this just like us? When bad things start happening in our lives, who do we always blame first? We always blame God, right? Sure, they were the ones that left and went to Moab. Sure, they went to the place that they never were supposed to go before. But she says, God has dealt very bitterly with me. The last person that we thank when something good happens

is God. The first person we blame when something bad happens is God. And that's exactly what she does. And she is kind of the one that's going to be the first person to blame. And that's exactly what she does. is she is kind of bitter with God at this point in time because that's what happens to us right there are things that happen in life that bring us to a place where at times we can find ourselves

a little bit bitter with God and can I tell you God has big enough shoulders to handle that like some people go no no I can't tell God that I'm really bitter with him right now really because he knows you may as well tell him you may as well be honest about it God's got big enough shoulders to handle that God God is confident enough that he can handle that God's not insecure he's not going to be like what if they stop believing in me right he knows that the hand that just got dealt to her was very very difficult and he knows that bitterness is a potential that comes along there and listen I think sometimes the best thing we can do when we are experiencing that bitterness is to be honest first of all with ourselves you ever come across

somebody that's really bitter and they're like I'm not bitter and you're like oh I'm sure you're not right like like every time I see you it's like I have a lemon head in my mouth right because of how bitter you are right and you can just see it in people you're like wow that's that's a lot of bitterness like I'm not bitter about these things really because it's all you talk about and you seem pretty angry about it I think that's bitterness that's settled in there first thing we should do is be honest with ourselves and I appreciate that about Naomi and she's like don't call me Naomi call me Mara because God has dealt bitterly with me and then the second person you know we need to be honest with you need to be honest with God

because the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me but you know there's the next great statement that she makes in this next verse and I don't even know that she fully intended to make this statement but it was exactly the place where she needed to be I went out full but the Lord has brought me back empty can I just go ahead and say the best place we can find ourselves in life is to come back empty because we may go out full the prodigal son he went out full but how did he come back he came back empty because usually if we go out full it's full of confidence it's full of self-righteousness it's full of pride it's full of me and when we come back we're empty because

while in the present time it may have brought bitterness what it really brought you was emptiness and that's exactly where you need to be and that's exactly where you need to be and that's exactly where you need to be because spoiler alert things are going to turn out a lot better for her than she even imagined better for her than she could have even dreamed of because that's who God is but she says right now I'm bitter why do you call me Naomi middle of verse 21 since the Lord has witnessed against me and the Almighty has afflicted me I want to say one word about about bitterness here one more word about bitterness your bitterness comes from in situations like this only looking at our present circumstances

and not looking at God's potential right like we become bitter when all we can see is the circumstances in front of us and not the potential of God bringing something beautiful out of it because you and I when we're in the midst of the death when we're in the midst of the garbage when we're in the midst of the charred blackness that's all around us that's all that we can see and we don't see the potential for something beautiful growing out of it I use this illustration a lot when I do funeral services but I remember as a teenager I used to go to a funeral services but I remember as a teenager 14 15 years old driving down to Florida around this time of year

my parents were going down there for a principal's conference and we went down there with him it was spring break and so we drive down to Florida and on the way down they were burning off all the pasture land and I don't know why I've seen it my entire life but I really noticed it this time because what at one point in time was all of these beautiful flowing pastures right the wind whips across there's just nothing but charred death there's just nothing there's just black and gross and disgusting and I remember saying that's so sad that used to be pasture land and now it's all burned off and I didn't think about it we went down to

Florida and we spent our week down there and while we were down there it started raining around here like it does this time of year and when we came back where there was black charred death there was now little green grasses growing up and it's the very first time I ever remember thinking that I heard anything from God and it was this I bring life where there's death and you know that's true of God and you know we get bitter because all we can see is the death and we can't see the life that he may bring out of it and so if you're in that place right now where your life feels a little bit better because of things that are happening inside of you things are happening around you things that

are happening to you things that have happened to you you find yourself going I don't know if I can ever get past this bitterness man I just speak a word to say God wants to bring life where there's death God wants to bring life out of that you just have to sit back and watch him do it. You just have to sit back and see what he's able to do and pray, Lord, give me the vision for what you're able to do because I don't see how you can do it right now. Right now, I feel a whole lot more like Mara than I do Naomi because I feel like you've dealt very bitterly with me and I need to see some life where there's death. Just keep waiting because he'll be right on time.

Amen. And so they show up, verse 22, so Naomi returned with Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law who returned from the land of Moab and they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. An important fact to know for next week because in episode two, we're going to see a man named Boaz. Amen. All right, let's pray. Father, thank you so much for your word. Lord, thank you

so much that you have blessed me. Lord, thank you so much that you have blessed me. Lord, thank you so much that you have blessed us with the truth of your word. And Lord, that you have given a really bright spot in what is really a tragic time with this time of the judges. Lord, I thank you for your redemption. Lord, I thank you for your ability to make even the bad things good. And so

Lord, do your work in our hearts. Lord, help us to see the life that you want to bring where there is death. Help us to keep our eyes on you. In Jesus' name. Amen.