Call me Mara
Ruth 1:19-22 (NKJV) 19 Now the two of them went until they came to Bethlehem. And it happened, when they had come to Bethlehem, that all the city was excited because of them; and the women said, “Is this Naomi?”
20 But she said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went out full, and the LORD has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the LORD has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?”
22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. Now they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest
I wonder when we began blaming all of our troubles on God. We can go all the way back to the Garden of Eden when Adam said in Genesis 3:12 (NKJV) 12, ( …The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”
Naomi, instead of having some measure of happiness at being home, answered her friends’ inquiries by saying that God had dealt harshly with her. We need to realize that it is not God who causes suffering, but instead it is the enemy who comes to steal, kill and destroy. (John 10:10), He works relentlessly to steal our hope, kill our joy, and destroy our witness. But we have the power to prevent this!
We have been given mighty weapons to fight against the enemy. First, we have the armor of God found in Ephesians 6:12-18 (NKJV) 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”
Secondly, God has placed people around us to stand in the gap for us when we are too weak to function alone. And finally, we each have the power of the Holy Spirit upon whom we can call night or day.
May we remain strong in the Lord and be of good courage as we go forward in the battle today and every day.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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