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Text: Ruth 1:19-22
I’ve had a change in approach to Naomi’s situation. Where I used to be accusatory and highlight her statement of bitterness, I see it a little differently.
Grief has changed Naomi (vs 19)
- The people of Bethlehem say things that most people say like, She hasn’t been the same since she lost her husband and the boys.
- Grief is normal
- Ecclesiastes 3:4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
- There is an appropriate time to weep and to mourn.
- An entire book in the Bible called Lamentations.
- Jesus Christ did not escape grief associated with the evil of this world. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Jesus wept
- Harvest time, celebration, and holidays are particularly bitter.
- Celebrations aren’t the same. There’s an empty seat. There’s lost fellowship.
- Other people will enjoy this time and that’s not wrong.
- Memories are a deep mixture of joy and loss. Their picture reminds you of their life, but it’s mingled with the hard fact that they’re gone. An old home movie reminds you of their presence, but it’s mixed with the reality of their absence. This is grief.
- Grief changes people. It makes some more compassionate, more thoughtful and empathizing. Others it hardens and makes them angry.
Grief’s assault (vs 20)
- Grief feels like an attack by God.
- Naomi says, I went out full, with a family, and have returned with only a daughter in law. Look what God did to me.
- In grief, the danger is not that you stop believing in Almighty God, but that you come to believe that He is a monster.
- The treacherous ground is not that I waiver in whether God exists, it’s that I waiver in whether God is good. Or is God a sadist who tortures his creatures with death.
- There is an entire book in the Bible called Job that deals with this very problem of what you believe about God.
- As much as it feels like God did this, there is no indication that he killed off the whole family.
Grief misunderstood (vs 21)
- If you choose to share your burden with others just know others will not carry your burden like you do. Understand they are trying to help, but they haven’t been given the same burden you have.
- But you and I can be just as fickle in our grief. We see people coming our way debating whether they’ll say something or not. And if they say something, we wish they wouldn’t. And if they don’t say anything, we wish they would.
Naomi returns with a comforter (vs 22)
- In God’s economy, those who grieve are not left without a comforter. Naomi returns with a comforter. Her name is Ruth. She is going to be there for her. She is going to make sure day to day things are taken care of. She’s going to make sure she has basic necessities. Ruth is the comforter. Weep with those that weep. Luke 6:31 And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. You want to cry, I’ll cry with you. You want to laugh, I’ll laugh with you. You want to eat, I’ll eat a meal with you.
- There is the grace of God in the house of mourning, Isaiah 61:1-3.
