July 17, 2008
Losses
Read Ruth 1:19-22 and Psalm 22
Naomi is finally among her own people once again. Bethlehem certainly seems
excited to have her back. But it must have been a bittersweet reunion. What a
joy to be with friends and family again, and to see beloved and familiar sights -- and
yet, how her life has changed since she first set out with her husband and sons.
The whole town wants to hear her story. Verses 20 and 21 give us the way she
sums it up. She wryly suggests a name change, from Naomi, which means 'pleasant'
to Mara, which means 'bitter,' because of the bitter turns her life has taken since
they saw her last.
There is warning for us here, but also perhaps an example for us to imitate. A
negative and a positive. First the negative.
Naomi here defines her life by her losses. It is hard to blame her. She left with a
husband and sons and she has returned without them. Those are genuinely bitter
losses. Yet there is a hint in the next verse that there are things which she could
choose to celebrate. She has not returned alone. Faithful Ruth has seen to that.
And there is barley to be harvested! Famine drove Naomi's family away, but she
has returned to survivors and the Lord has blessed them with a harvest once again.
It is awfully easy to define our lives by our losses. Ask most of us how we are, and
we'll list our troubles if we answer honestly at all. There is a great Yiddish word for complaining -- kvetching. To kvetch is to complain. But the word suggests a sort of complaining that is more a way of life, a general outlook. While it may be too trivial
a word for Naomi's tragedy, there is at least a subtle warning in Naomi's answer not
to let our losses be our lens on life. Not only do we miss what God is doing, but
kvetching saps our faith for the future. More often than not, the people in the
wilderness defined their life not by what God had done in parting the sea to
rescue them, but by what foods they lost when they left Egypt. It got them into
trouble every time.
At the same time, I find something honest and honorable in Naomi's answer. She
has truly suffered, and, at the very least, she knows God has allowed it. She blames
him directly. Here we hear her talking to others, but if she took her complaint to
God directly, it would be okay! In fact, all through the scriptures God pleads with
his people to call out to him directly -- to take him on honestly when they suffer.
We hear Abraham complain when God takes too long to give him a son. Job
fearlessly faces God with his questions and God rewards him. Many of the Psalms
of David begin this way.
Psalm 64:1 begins: "Hear me, O God, as I voice my complaint"
Psalm 74:1 begins: "Why have you rejected us forever, O God? Why does your
anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?"
Perhaps most startling is Psalm 22. It begins: "My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?"
The fact that Jesus cries out this verse from the Psalms while he suffers on the cross
should encourage us. It is important to face God honestly with our fears, even our
complaints. God hears our hearts anyway, but it is harder for him to answer us if
we won't talk directly to him! In the book of Malachi, God's people complain to
each other that God isn't treating them fairly (Malachi 3:13-18). Finally God
intervenes and makes them articulate their complaint directly to him so that he can
reassure them directly!
The Psalms that begin with complaints still end with 'no-matter-what' praise to the
Lord. Resurrection Day follows Good Friday. Even when we can't see light at the
end of the tunnel, we need to remember that what we are experiencing isn't the
whole story. If the book of Ruth says anything, it says that hiding beyond our woes
are God's wonders. So while we must learn not to define our lives by our losses,
we must also learn to pour out our sad and angry hearts to God directly, knowing
that he alone can redeem our sorrows.
My favorite example is from Habakkuk 3:
Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
Yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.
So if you find yourself defining your life by your losses, rehearsing a litany of sorrows, resolutely look around you for what blessings you can find and thank the Lord as
an act of the will.
And pour your heart out to God, remembering that what you see, what you may
be suffering now, is not the end of the story.
Marcia Lebhar
