Day 8: Pain-Grief-And GOD (Ruth 1:9-14)

Today’s Passage: Ruth 1:9-14

I have often said that believing in Jesus does not transform our lives into “We all live happily ever after”. Certainly, not the kind of “happiness” that phrase implies. No, in this life, Jesus tells us that we will have trouble, but take heart for He has overcome the world.

As rational beings, we so often are looking for answers to the why questions. “Why has this happened? What is the point in all this hurt? God, is this what you intended? God are you paying attention?” The list goes on. And yet, if we knew the answer to the why questions, our pain would not be lessened.

Therefore, how we deal with the pain of this life, indeed, how we grieve, are the real questions. The Book of Ruth models the how for us, all the while not dwelling on the why.

In this scene we read of Naomi directing her daughters-in-law to return to their homeland, to their Moabite people. Naomi can not envision how them staying with her can provide any chance of a prosperous life.

However, I want to go beyond Naomi’s logic—and look at her perspective and tone—because it is her perspective and tone that shows us how. How she puts full faith in God while simultaneously grieving.

10 Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept.

The weeping expressed the grief. This grief exploding from the years of struggle. Of the loss of 3 husbands, and the childlessness that left them with seemingly no future.

The picture is one of hopelessness and despair. Yet consider Naomi’s perspective and tone.

13b No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone forth against me.’ 14 Then they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.

Naomi’s how simultaneously declares her feelings, her bitterness, and that God is in the middle of it all. She does not blame God. She does declare that He is in ultimate control—and in the midst of His control, she weeps.

“What is impressive is the truthfulness of her life before God. There is no hiding of the feeling, no pretense that her anger is not there, no sweeping aside with either Stoic upper-lip-stiffness, nor with false affirmations that all in fact feels well. While from the perspective of her faith in God’s providence all is well, it certainly does not feel so.”*

Naomi’s how is that she grieves and she mourns with God. Most of us do not know how to practice this. We somehow believe that as followers of Jesus, we cannot grieve in God’s presence, as if doing so is to show a lack of faith. Yes, as followers of Jesus, death has lost its sting, yet we must not deny the pain of certain aspects of life—Naomi models this for us.

Is there something you need to sit with God and grieve over?

*Atkinson, David J. The Message of Ruth (The Bible Speaks Today Series) (p. 46). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.