CALL ME BITTER

 

Ruth 1:19-22

 

Tragedies bring home the awful truth that we are not in charge. All of us, at one time, or another… think that we can control the outcomes of our situations, but in reality, it is God who is in charge of all of His creation. 

Do you realize according to the world’s standards we live in a hopeless society. 

Approximately 23 million Canadians and Americans claim to suffer from anxiety disorder.

17.5 million Struggle with clinical depression.

Every day, more than 200 people in Canada attempt suicide.

Every year, approximately 4,500 people in Canada die by suicide, which is equivalent to 12 people dying by suicide every day.

Adults in Canada experienced increased suicidal paranoia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the pandemic, in 2019, 2.7% of adults in Canada reported suicidal tendencies. In spring 2021, this percentage rose significantly to 4.2%.

Airline passengers worry about the safety of their flights.

Mourners grieve pessimistically at the loss of a loved one.

Patients agonize over the dangers of surgery or their diagnosis.

Business people worry constantly about deadlines, decisions and finance.

Countless others endure daily feelings of fear and hopelessness.

 

This is not just affecting the secular world, but it’s poked its ugly head inside the church. 

In fact, 62 % of evangelical Christians are concerned about the future.

20 % are searching for meaning and purpose in life.

Sickness, suffering and doubt are affecting the Church of Jesus Christ more than ever!

 

Many are angry with God. Why? Many are worldly-minded and they tend to follow after the hopeless path and affirmations of this generation. Because misery loves company, and its easy to find miserable people. Where do you find hope in times like this? It’s easy to get caught up in the false hopes of this world and to be left empty and disappointed in the end. It’s easy to get drained by this fallen generation that has no hope outside themselves and narcissism. It’s even easier to look to material things as a way of drowning those hopeless blues.

Where does your hope turn to? The things of this world are only temporary, they have no long-term value, they have no eternal value.

 

Our hope is to be in Christ alone. Our hope is to be in the eternal promises of God; because they are trustworthy and they are forever.

 

The New Testament speaks of a firm and solid expectation of what we can truly hope for.

The promise of Christ’s return. (Titus 2:13)

The promise that we will be like Him. (1 John 3:2-3)

The promise that we will be partakers in His glory. (Col 1:27)

The promise that we will dwell with Him forever free from the curse of sin. (Rev 22:3-5)

 

A biblical worldview is described as trusting God at His word. It’s a Christ centered hope that rests on the foundation of God. True hope stems from the unwavering confidence that God is absolutely faithful to His promises and therefore all those promises are sure and certain.

 

A Sure And Certain Hope The Bible Described As:

 

Good…… “who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace,” 2 Thess 2:16

 

Living…. “according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” 1 Peter 1:3

 

Blessed…. “looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,” Titus 2:13

 

Sure and Steadfast…. “His hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil,” Heb 6:19

 

God’s hope doesn’t disappoint…. “But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.” Rom 5:15

Ultimately! Christ is our only hope…. “our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope,” 1 Tim 1:1

 

If the truth of God’s word gives us these eternal promises!

What should be our response?

 

Our response should be… even though we feel our strength is spent, God has not forsaken us. “But I will hope continually, And will praise You yet more and more” Psalm 71:14

 

We are to be like David reminding ourselves of the grace and mercy we have in God despite what surrounds us in the present. “How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.” Psalm 13:1-6

 

Our hope is only found in an All-Sufficient Living God who loves, and came to redeem us from our rebellion and sin. This hard journey home brought about a woman who once was known for being pleasant or sweet, but now is known for being bitter and empty. Naomi is bitter towards God and circumstances as we see her in entering the land flowing with milk and honey. (And the question I think of as she enters the Promise land)

 

Is it ok to be angry with God?

No, it is wrong to be angry at God.

 

Anger at God is a result of our inability or unwillingness to trust God even when we do not understand what He is doing. Anger at God is essentially telling God that He has done something wrong, (as Adam blamed God for Eve) which He never does. Paul wrote, “But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Rom 9:20

 

Does God understand when we are angry, frustrated,

or disappointed with Him?

Yes, He knows our hearts, and He knows how difficult and painful life in this world can be as His children. Does that make it right for us to be angry with God? Absolutely not. Instead of being angry with God, we should be pouring out our hearts to Him in prayer. We submit, and trust, that He is in control of His perfect plan in our lives.

 

Here is a woman who enters the land that was given to her and her people. She comes back changed physically, and worst of all spiritually. Don’t call me Naomi, which means pleasant. call me “Mara” which means bitter. “Mara” describes intensity of suffering of mind and body, something that is difficult to bear, something that causes animosity and reaction, something that is brought about by hatred or resentment. The phrase, “grieves me very much…”, is the word for bitter as she already said in (v13).

Bitterness is destructive.

Bitterness leads toward rebellion.

Bitterness rips at our heart and soul.

Bitterness leads us away from the green pastures and still waters of God’s provisions.

 

Think about the dangers of bitterness….. 

Bitterness leads to devouring others in your path……. Gal 5:15

Bitterness belongs to our sinful nature. Gal 5:19

Bitterness allows us to murder others in our heart…..Gen 37

Bitterness turned Cain into a murderer……. Gen 4:3-8

Bitterness hates and lives in darkness…… 1 John 2:9-11

 

The nation of Israel felt this way, which is where this word “Mara” originates from.

 

It was at Marah in the wilderness on the way out of Egypt that the children of Israel grumbled against the Lord because they couldn’t drink the water. “Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah. And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” Exodus 15:22-24

Like her ancestors, Naomi’s heart was angry with God for the way her life was turning out. She was experiencing the pain of life in the desert and felt the judgments she was feeling was all God’s fault. Something we can learn from this heart of bitterness is…. She told her friends to call her Mara, this is a decision made in her mind. She has the impression that this is all on God, this leads to a wrong view of God. God is more concerned about our holiness than He is about our happiness. God is more concerned about our joy than our happiness. Bitterness can cause us to lose sight of the hope that is in Christ. Bitterness may be rooted in a misunderstanding that God works on our timetable.

 

Do you feel like Naomi sometimes?

Do you have that sense of bitterness and hopeless?

 

Her response is polar opposite to Job when he lost everything. “Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.” 

Job 1:20-22

 

Naomi’s response is more like Job’s wife. “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” Job 2:9-10

 

Naomi responds with a sinful heart and is non responsive to her confession of sin, as her sufferings is greater than God’s mercy and grace. Its amazing what suffering or bitterness does to outward appearance, because its not hidden from others. (v19) “Is that Naomi? “ This sounds familiar when we are burdened and bitter; even though Job didn’t sin, his burden and suffering was evident to his friends. “And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.” Job 2:12-13

 

Even when our suffering and bad decisions in life come upon us, it affects our whole being. Naomi’s bitterness was evident, because genuine hope is forward looking….. not backwards. And a worldly view will erode the Christian hope, and the hope we have in the gospel is absolutely vital to spiritual survival.

 

John Bunyan was a great testament of this kind of hope as he was put in a prison cell for proclaiming the good news of the Gospel. He said “Hope has a thick skin, that will endure many a blow; it will put on patience as clothing, it will wade through a sea of blood, it will endure all things, if it be of the right kind, for the joy that is set before it. Hence patience is called ‘patience of hope,’ because it is hope that makes the soul exercise patience and long suffering under the cross, until the time comes to enjoy the crown.”

 

This is God’s hidden providential care for His created children, as we cannot see the future plans of God in our life. Naomi is not naive about who is in control, she says it twice, “The Almighty has dealt with me.” (v20-v21)

 

This is the work of God in dark times….. One thing is for sure that Naomi knows that God exists, God is sovereign and God has afflicted her. This is another example of how God deals with our lack of faith and bitterness at times, especially when we have been thrown a curve ball. And for Naomi “Till sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet.” Thomas Watson. Her bitterness is keeping her from seeing the grace and mercy of God in her life, because she only views life from the past. And the only thing see she’s is bitterness for how the Lord has dealt with her.

 

For Naomi in this moment, hope is no different

than this post-modern worldview today.

 

Hope is all relative...it’s what you make or get out of it that counts. There is no such things as absolute hope, it’s a dream, or by chance (luck). Hope is like a lotto ticket, wishing it’s the one that will have the big pay out. Hope is like a lucky rabbit’s foot, a falling star or tossing a penny carelessly in a fountain Hope guarantees nothing and leaves a person empty like a horoscopes or fortune cookie. But that’s not the Christian hope! That’s not true biblical hope and bitterness keeps us from seeing the mercy and grace of God in our lives. It was God who took away the famine and opened a way home…. Naomi in her bitterness cannot even see the hope found in the last verse of this chapter. “at the beginning of barley season.” (v22)

 

She can’t see what Joseph knew when he was betrayed and suffered at the hands of brothers. “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” Gen 50:20

 

If only Naomi could see what this truly means in the light of God’s sweet bitter providence “the beginning of the harvest.” The barley field where she and Ruth are cared for, and protected by their “Kinsman redeemer” The barley field is where Ruth will meet Boaz, her future husband. The barley field where true love begins and ends with the line that our Eternal Redeemer would come from to die for our sin. John Piper wrote, “Not only does God reign in all the affairs of men, and not only is His providence sometimes hard, but in all His works His purposes are for the good and happiness of His people. Who would have imagined that in the worst of all times—the period of the judges—God was quietly moving in the tragedies of a single family to prepare the way for the greatest king of Israel? But not only that, He was working to fill Naomi and Ruth and Boaz and their friends with great joy.”

 

Our hope is living, powerful

and gospel saturated.

 

This generates peace and leaves the believer praising God, for each and every day, despite the situation that we may be living in. As Paul said, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” 2 Cor 4:17-18 Paul is speaking of something future, which is our eternal glory and happiness. Christ our Lord, is the object of our hope for every believer; its not about our circumstance or what this world declares to be hopeful. And as Spurgeon said "Without Christ there is no hope." Without Christ there is no remission for sin. If there is no remission for sin than your guilt still remains. If your guilt remains the wrath of God remains. If the wrath of God remains, there is no lasting blessing, but only everlasting misery. 

Bitterness is a powerful blindness

 

The whole of the Christian life is to be filled with Gospel hope, empowered by the providential care of God. No matter how fiercely the storms of this life may assault us. Naomi blamed God for making her life bitter and empty. All she could see was that she no longer had what she loved. Her present bitterness reflects a heart of unbelief in the justice and sovereignty of God. You must understand…. that the only cure for bitterness and anger is forgiveness. Bitterness is focused on what has been done to you, and we should be doing this instead. “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” Psalm 139:23-24. And its here that God is giving us a glimpse of how God mercifully and patiently leads His people out of the blindness and bitterness. This will soon be Naomi’s hope, Ruth’s hope, and this is my hope as we rest in the sovereign God who is over all things. A God who is working out our sweet bitter providence to everlasting life, as we know sin is bitter, but also knows Christ is sweeter.