Call Me Mara

 Ruth 1:19-22 (NASB)

¹⁹  So they both went until they came to Bethlehem. And when they had come to Bethlehem, all the city was stirred because of them, and the women said, "Is this Naomi?"
²⁰  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, 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?"
²²  So Naomi returned, and with her Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, who returned from the land of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.

Naomi and her husband along with their two sons moved to Moab during a famine. They were there for ten years. Calamity struck Naomi. First, her husband died. Later both her sons died leaving her with two daughters in laws. One opted to return to her people. Ruth chose to stay with Naomi. Naomi decided to return to Israel. Her arrival caused quite a stir in town. That is where our story picks up. 

The women wondered if it truly was Naomi who had returned. The name Naomi means pleasant. She must have been a pleasant personality for so many to get excited about her return. Only she was not the same Naomi they remembered. She was harder. More bitter. Grieving. Disillusioned. Broken. 

She told the women not to call her Naomi but to call her Mara. Mara means bitter. She goes a step further and accuses God of dealing bitterly with her. We can understand why. She left happily married. She returned as a grieving widow. She left with two sons. She returned with one grieving daughter in law and no sons. 

She told everyone that the Almighty dealt bitterly with her. That means she accused God of chaffing her and discontenting her. Pretty strong accusations. Again, we can see where she is coming from trying to cope with overwhelming sorrows. She goes on to say she left full but came back empty. She said the LORD afflicted her. She was saying the Lord brought her low, oppressed and troubled her. None of that sounds like a woman with a pleasant personality. 

I wonder how many who are reading this today can identify with Naomi. You too have had your bitter afflictions. You know the gut-wrenching sorrow of losing a husband, wife, child or grandchild. You know the emptiness left in your heart. You have your why questions. You may have also accused God of afflicting you. The pain does not go away. 

A grieving widow recently sent me an article about the grief process. It was hard to read because it was so honest. The article reported grieving people always feel like a third wheel in social settings. Living in the grip of depression. Finding it hard to will yourself to do anything. Questioning God. Trying to put on a brave face for others who just do not understand that you are not really okay. That some days the tears fall like rain. 

There are others who could say call me Mara. They have worked hard for decades but cannot seem to get ahead. There are always more bills than there are finances no matter how much overtime they work. Cars break. Appliances have to be replaced. Unforeseen injuries occur requiring unexpected medical expenses. Success is elusive in the workplace. The grind of all those things combined can lead a person to identify with Mara. Bitter and disillusioned with a God they do not understand. 

The ways of God are mysterious. The path of discipleship often leads through some bitter experiences. Saints suffer. Some of the saints God uses most suffer the most. 

From Naomi's perspective all she could see was bitterness. She could not see the bigger picture. That her mara circumstances would be used and captured in the Bible to help billions of people going through their own mara. Their own bitter afflictions. How many have been ready to give up on God until they stumbled across the book of Ruth and recounted the story of Naomi? She could have never predicted the surprise ending of the book. 

Ruth got married. She and Boaz had a child. Naomi got to help raise the child. Turns out that child would be the grandfather of King David. In that lineage eventually Jesus would be born. Out of the mara God did not abandon Naomi or Ruth. All Naomi could see was mara. She did not realize that more pleasant days awaited her. Her pleasant personality would return. 

I do not make lite of your mara trials. I know they are real. I also know the God you love; worship and trust appears to have failed you. You have your own accusations against the Almighty. He may even be silent during this time of sorrow. Do not interpret His silence as His absence. Do not interpret the faithfulness of God against the backdrop of your mara. I assure you that you are not the only one to go through mara. Just look at Naomi. Look at Ruth. Look at Amy Carmichael. Look at Fanny Crosby. Look at Billy Graham, Ann Graham Lotz, Sara Edwards, Jonathan Edwards, David Brainerd, Charles Simeon, Lottie Moon, Bertha Smith, and Corrie Tin Boon. Each suffered their own mara trials. Each persevered in faith and found God faithful. You can do the same. God is able to turn mara to more pleasant times if we just hang onto faith and stay in His word. 

I do not write that from an ivory tower of a life insulated from mara. I have faced my own maras and found a God who loves me and helps me in the pain. It was the pain of past and present maras that helps me to write things like this to hopefully help someone. I have been tried and tested. I stand on this side of mara declaring God is faithful, trustworthy, good, and more than able to turn mara into more pleasant times.