Bitter to Sweet

 

“You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.”

—John 16:20

The disciples sorrowed over Jesus’ death. Their only Hope, the One whom they had given up all to follow had died and they were left alone. Yet, in such a short time, Jesus came to them in His resurrected body, bringing them joy and a new, stronger faith.

Many years before, Naomi had lost her husband and her two sons. The story of the Book of Ruth tells of her journey from joy to sorrow and back to a renewed joy. Upon her return to Bethlehem after her losses, she said, as recorded in Ruth 1:20-21:

“Don’t call me Naomi [which means pleasant],” she told them. “Call me Mara, [which means bitter] because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty.”

About this divine alchemy Charles Spurgeon remarks:

…the more sorrow the more joy. If we have loads of sorrow, then the Lord’s power will turn them into tons of joy. Then the bitterer the trouble the sweeter the pleasure: the swinging of the pendulum far to the left will cause it to go all the farther to the right. ¹

Through the faithfulness of Naomi’s daughter-in-law, Ruth, along with the divine plan and design of her Lord, Naomi’s life was turned back to joy. No, not in the way she would have ever expected or even dreamed. But, in a way the power and love of her God had conceived before the Creation.

Through a wonderful story of redemption in the book of Ruth, this daughter-in-law, marries the man Boaz and has a son named Obed. This joyful event does not remove Naomi’s grief and loss of her husband and sons. Nevertheless, in God’s plan it gives her new joy and new hope.

Here’s how author, Carolyn James, puts it:

The miracle birth of Obed is truly the most joyful moment in the book, hailed by the women who celebrate with Naomi. This child renews Naomi’s life. Instead of the dead end she had reached, Obed creates for Naomi a brand new opening into the future and a vital new kingdom assignment. ²

They exclaim in Ruth 4:15:

For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him [Obed] birth.

And the punch line in Ruth 4:16:

Naomi has a son!

Even with all this joy for Naomi that turned back her bitter life to better, she had no idea of the plans God had through her grandson. Obed, the grandfather of King David, and the line through whom the Messiah would come!

We miss so much of what God is doing and plans to do, and forget, in our bitter times, the miracles behind the scenes—the things He alone can see of the future. Naomi and Ruth, though flawed, trusted in God and lived to see the blessing of that trust. God give us the same strength of faith and hope to rely upon Him and accept the bitter pills as seed for something new He wants to do in us!

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1 Spurgeon, Charles, Faith’s Checkbook. Chicago: Moody Press, 1980. p. 166.

2 James, Carolyn Custis, The Gospel of Ruth. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008. pp. 201-202.