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Naomi:  Bittersweet, but It Ain’t Over!

Any parent wouldn’t want their children to starve. That is why when I had hit rock-bottom and my siblings asked me to return to the Philippines with my children, I declined. I retorted, "I’d rather work three jobs to provide for my children than to allow them to experience the poverty I experienced growing up." In the US, I explained, both the poor and the rich drink milk and eat grapes. 

Due to famine in Judah, Naomi and her family moved to Moab. It’s ironic how their hometown called the “house of bread” (Bethlehem, Ephrata) would have nothing to eat and the heathen place of “nothingness” (Moab) would be their refuge! 

Moab was only thirty miles away, but distant enough from God due to idol worship. To go to such a land bereft Naomi, but after her husband, Elimelech, died, she stayed in Moab because her two sons married Moabite women. Oh, when it rains, it pours! Naomi seemed to have one problem after another: famine, the move, widowhood, pagan-worshipers for daughters-in-law, and then she had to survive her two sons. 

Thank God, when we don’t know what to do, the Holy Spirit does! Naomi was guided by the Lord to return to her homeland. She overheard that the economy had gotten better, so she urged her daughters-in-law to remain at Moab when she leaves, but Ruth insisted to keep her company. 

When she returned, Naomi’s relatives recognized her and called her by name. Naomi’s name means “pleasantness of Jehovah,” but deep sorrow overshadowed her, so she asked to be called "Mara," which means “bitter,” a name that resonates with the life she lived in Moab. But as the Lord had written her life in His book, her return was just the beginning, and the Moab experience was the introduction. The family she thought had perished had been restored even so through the Moabitess, Ruth, and her genealogy continued. 

Dear one of the Lord, whatever it is you’re going through is not the end of your story. Naomi’s bitterness and all the tragedies can be seen in the first chapter of the book, but her life wasn’t over yet. There was still a kinsman-redeemer to come. As for you and me, the best is yet to come! The chapters in our lives aren’t over. So, choose to be better, not bitter. Our Redeemer has come and will come again.