And the women said, “Is this Naomi?” She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; 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?” (Ruth 1:19-21)

From a broken bone to an unexpected doctor’s report, we all suffer in many different ways. In ways that are minor and major, ordinary and tragic, none of us escapes pain, bitterness or the emptiness that often accompanies them.
Suffering is an ordinary part of our human existence.
While there can be explanations to many of the sufferings we encounter, there are times when there is no explanation, no answer to the question, “Why?” And we can’t always resolve that tension or ease that pain with a good debate or sound philosophical or theological response.
For Christians, the belief has been popularized and promoted that when we suffer, Jesus will ALWAYS come and rescue us from that suffering. At times He will. But what if there are times when, rather than Jesus coming to rescue you from that deep pit, He comes to be with you in that pit?
SUFFERING IS NOT PROOF GOD IS UNFAITHFUL
Naomi declares to her friends that “the Almighty has afflicted me” (Ruth 1:21). God? Afflicts me? He has allowed this? Has He forgotten me?
Humanity, for the most part, judges the intent by the act. If the act is good, surely the intent must be good. God, though, judges the act by the intent. God looks on the heart. So, when Naomi describes God’s actions as she has, what must we make of God’s intent?
Naomi says that “the Almighty” has afflicted her - in Hebrew, El Shaddai. El Shaddai is the name often used in the Old Testament to describe God as a God who blesses, but also who judges. He is the cosmic, all-powerful, SOVEREIGN ruler who acts according to His desires. Yet, Naomi also uses another name for God: the Lord - in Hebrew, Yahweh. Yahweh is the covenant name of God. That is, when God made a covenant with His people in His grace and love, He did so as Yahweh. Naomi, then, is not only saying that God is over all things in His power, but is also saying that her covenant-making and covenant-keeping God is the one who is working in all things, including what has happened to her. God’s intent behind every act of His power is motivated by His covenant.
Put another way, all of God’s dealings with his children, both sweet and bitter, are within the framework of His covenant-keeping love. No motive in the heart of man to love is as pure and holy as the motive in the heart of God to love His own. Furthermore, no ruler ever loved his own as much as Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, has loved His own.
Suffering is not proof God is unfaithful.
SUFFERING IS NOT WASTED
Naomi not only says God has afflicted her, but that He has also “dealt very bitterly” with her. As a result, her friends should now call her, “Mara”. Naomi means “pleasant”, Mara means “bitter”. She feels she has been marred by God. But will she always remain marred and unlovely and unpleasant?
In chapter 2:20, we begin to see through Naomi’s eyes that God is doing something after all. Ruth has “happened” (2:3) to come to a field belonging to the long-lost relative and future kinsman-redeemer, Boaz. He provides food for her and Ruth returns to tell the good news to her mother-in-law. Upon hearing the news, Naomi proclaims, “May he be blessed of the Lord who has not withdrawn his kindness to the living and to the dead.” Naomi is beginning to see that God, even in His bitter dealings with her, had not withdrawn His kindness from her - EVER.
We read in Genesis 50:19-20 how God eventually turned the evil intended to Joseph by his brothers into something good; good not only for Joseph, but also for his brothers. God was kind to them, too! In James 5:11, we are exhorted to remember how Job endured his suffering and what the outcome of God’s bitter dealings with him was: namely, a demonstration of God’s compassion and mercy. God never answered why Job was suffering. But after, Job saw God’s kindness in it all.
Paul tells us in Ephesians 1:11 that God is doing all things according to the counsel of His own will. He’s not taking advice from anyone. There’s no counsel foreign or outside of Himself. He determines within Himself what is good and perfect. Ultimately, Paul says in verse 10, God is doing all things, determining all things, accomplishing all things -- working all the good and bad things together -- to sum up all things AGAIN in Jesus Christ. No suffering is wasted and nothing in your life is insignificant. Why? Because the glory of Jesus is at stake.
SUFFERING IS NOT THE LAST WORD
When Naomi left the land of Israel for the land of Moab, she went away full. But when she returned, she was empty. She was in a state of nothingness. She walked through the streets “empty”.
The Word of God was written and given for our encouragement (Romans 15:4), in particular during times when we need to take hope and endure. This is why Ruth is so encouraging. We get to read the end of the story! We get to see from beginning to end what exactly God was doing throughout the days of Naomi, Ruth and Boaz. So when we read the last few verses of the book of Ruth, we can see how Naomi’s emptiness was not intended to last. Rather, she would be brought from emptiness to fulness of joy.
“Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed is the Lord who has not left you without a redeemer today, and may his name become famous in Israel. May he also be to you a restorer of life and a sustainer of your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him” (Ruth 4:14-15).
Naomi’s friends, who had seen her stroll back into town afflicted and bitter, can now look at her and say “God, Yahweh, the covenant-making and keeping Lord, has not left you! He has blessed you!” God had provided a redeemer for Naomi. God was restoring life to her. God would sustain her until the end of her days. Naomi’s suffering was not the last word. Why? Because of Ruth.
Where was Ruth’s suffering in this story? Surely she did suffer. Nowhere in the book is there any mention of Ruth suffering, though we can imagine that she did. Rather, we have a picture of a woman entering into another person’s suffering, walking with and serving that person out of love: “...for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. 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 parts you and me.” When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her” (Ruth 1:16-18).
Where was Ruth’s suffering? Grace entered in. Where was Naomi’s suffering? Swallowed up in the birth of a son. Grace determinedly entered lives and ensured that suffering wasn’t the last word.
There is no other god who willingly enters suffering. Yet, Jesus Christ entered suffering -- our suffering. He took our punishment on the cross. He cared enough for our suffering that He came, was born, lived and died. He rose from the dead and will come again. He will dwell with His people and wipe away every one of their tears and there will be no more mourning, crying or pain (Revelation 21:3-4). God has not removed Himself from our suffering. He is in it with us until the end. All of God’s promises of eternal life, joy, peace and rest were secured in the sufferings of Jesus -- DEFINITIVELY.
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