What Do You Do When Joy Turns to Bitterness? (Ruth 1)

A Few Thoughts to Consider

Are you going through a hard season that has turned your joy into bitterness?

Life was good, but out of nowhere, it took a turn. A horrible diagnosis, a lost relationship, or the termination of a job hit you in the face, and you don’t know what to do. You feel abandoned by God and aren’t sure what’s next. If this is where you’re at, the Book of Ruth is just the encouragement you need.

Daniel Block writes,

“The Book of Ruth is one of the most delightful literary compositions of the ancient world. The narrator is a master at painting word pictures. He skillfully employs the techniques of dialogue, characterization, repetition, reticence, ambiguity, suspense, wordplays, inclusios, et cetera to produce this moving work of art.”^[1]

The Book of Ruth's main message revolves around loyalty, kindness, and redemption. As with every book in Scripture, there are two narratives at work. The first is the obvious story we read, and the second is the grand narrative of God’s redemptive plan.

The main emphasis of Ruth 1 is on Naomi. She’s married to a man named Elimelech, whose name means “My God is king.”^[2] This meaning contrasts sharply with the last verse of the Book of Judges, which says, “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did whatever seemed right to him.” As Daniel Block notes,

It seems most reasonable that moving to Moab had been a last resort for Elimelech. Before he would embark on such a drastic (and shameful) course of action, he would have attempted every other alternative, including selling the land to an outsider. Obviously the poverty continued; and after the money from the sale was used up, he seems to have been faced with two choices: sell himself into slavery (cf. Lev 25:47–55) or move to a place where food was available. In moving to Moab he chose the lesser of two evils.^[3]

While we don’t know the precise date of the Book of Ruth’s writing, we understand the context and desperation of Naomi's situation when we read the Book of Judges. Over a few short years, she loses everything she once held dear—her husband, her sons, her home, and her community. As a result, she goes from being called Naomi, which means “good, pleasant, and lovely,”^[4] to asking to be called Mara, which means bitter. Everything good in her life has turned sour, and it will take years before she begins to understand God’s redemptive nature at work.

While it’s tempting to rush to this point and “get to the good part of the story,” it’s essential to pause and ask ourselves this important question: Have I become cynical and bitter?

Cynicism and bitterness creep up on us. We don’t notice them at first, but with every failed promise, every broken relationship, and every lost dream, we’re tempted to surrender our joy. As Carey Nieuwhof writes, “If you’ve grown cynical, please understand that cynicism happens not because your heart is closed but because it was once open.”^[5] You once had hope, but now you do not. And if you’re not careful, your bitterness can consume you.

To this point, Nieuwhof writes,

“My theory goes like this: As you grow older, you become more of who you already are. Just like your body stiffens a bit, your personality becomes less flexible. It’s like there’s this war inside you that’s battling for hope—and cynicism will win, or it will lose. But you won’t just be a little cynical or a little hopeful. The die is cast, and the concrete hardens.”[6]

Life is hard, and sometimes, the only joy we will have is the hope that God is redeeming every situation and will one day make every wrong right. And this is enough.

A Meditation to PRAY