When life seems cruel

"Don't call me Naomi," she said. "Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter."  Ruth 1:20

In Hebrew naomi means "pleasant", mara means "bitter". So there is a world of sadness in Naomi's words here.

What has happened? Something like this...

Naomi and her husband Elimelech seem to have been an ordinary couple living in Bethlehem about 1000 years before Jesus was born there. They had two boys, Mahlon and Kilion. Famine came to Bethlehem, and they decided to make a new life for themselves in Moab, a land on the other side of the Dead Sea. They were, in effect, economic migrants, like so many millions of people today.

I imagine life was hard for them - it can't be easy to uproot from your home country and go and live in a foreign land. This, of course, is something to remember if ever we are tempted to get angry about unfortunate people who make their way to Britain looking for a better life - not to mention the tragic asylum-seekers willing to risk the waters of the Mediterranean in order to get to Europe. But at least Elimelech and Naomi had one another.

Then... Elimelech died. This was a terrible blow to Naomi - but at least she still had her two boys with her. Eventually they married Moabite girls, Orpah and Ruth. Can you picture the weddings? I'm sure there was great rejoicing, the only shadow being "If only Elimelech was here!"

Naomi got on well with her new daughters-in-law, and they were a happy family group.

But then there was a double blow - Mahlon and Kilion died. We don't know why. Perhaps there was a plague. Or did some enemy attack, and lots of the young men get killed?

Whatever, Naomi suddenly finds herself alone in this foreign land with just her two newly-widowed daughters-in-law. She decides to head back to Bethlehem, and Ruth, though a Moabite, insists on going with her. Orpah prefers to look for a new husband in Moab (and we needn’t blame her for that).

And so the day comes when two travel-weary women, one old, one young, walk into Bethlehem. People look up from whatever they are doing as they approach. At first they assume they are total strangers come to town. But then someone, looking very hard, whispers in disbelief "Is that... Naomi...? Surely not!" And we know what Naomi said in reply: as if an Englishwoman might say “Yes, my name indeed is Joy - but you might as well call me Sorrow”.

Sad, sad, sad!

No doubt there are millions of people all over the world who could echo Naomi's words: "God has made life very bitter for me". Pain and tears are part of our human destiny. No-one, ultimately, escapes.

There is a lot one could say. But perhaps the most important thing is this: Naomi's story has a happy ending. I won't tell you what it is: the little Book of Ruth is only four chapters long, so you can read it for yourself! But God cleansed away the bitterness and tears, and there was joy once more. You may remember stories from when you were a child, and how they ended "And they all lived happily ever after." Well, it really is a bit like that.

Yes, life can be desperately painful and hard. But it is no exaggeration to say that for the child of God every story has a happy ending. A day will come when God will "wipe every tear from our eyes" (Revelation 21). Do you believe that?

It’s worth noticing too that not only does Naomi’s personal story end happily, but God even weaves it into his larger purposes: Ruth’s future son, Obed, becomes the great King David’s grandfather and thus, amazingly, takes his place in the family-tree of Jesus.

And so, too, even our little lives can have a big place in the working out of God’s plans.

I heard recently from a friend I had had no contact with for over 30 years. Life has dealt cruelly with him. He did a job that required excellent eye-sight. Then, in mid-life, his sight failed and he was registered blind. Mara, bitter!

But a remarkable thing happened. He has always been a gifted pianist, playing purely by ear. And this beautiful gift suddenly took a leap forward, and he has been playing in major venues round the country. No compensation for losing his sight, I know. But a reminder that God has this remarkable way of bringing good out of bad.

May God help us to believe it!

Lord, in the bitterness of hurt, disappointment, pain and grief, help me to cling to you by faith. And so bring me to that glorious day when all tears will be for ever wiped away. Give me also a heart of compassion for those whose tears still flow. Amen.