Corona Devo 592

Sometimes life hands us lemons, but sometimes all we get are the cotton-pickin' lemon rinds. 

All of the sweetness of life seems vacant.  The color has drained and only black and white remains.  We can get bitter because life has taken away the "better".

Are you going through a (spiritually/financially/emotionally/sorrowfully/physically) lean time today?

Sometimes we do, and there's no fast-forward button to skip through the hardness of it...it's just hard.  Even if there is a sunrise on the horizon of tomorrow, we can't see it yet. 

Naomi was a strong, faithful, loyal woman and she had entered into a difficult season of her life.  Her husband and both sons had died and (understandably) most of her purpose and joy had been wrapped up in them.  She had two daughters-in-law living with her, but she was practical enough to encourage them to leave, begin-again, and look for new husbands.  These younger women could have a second-chance at life, but Naomi had decided that her chances had been exhausted.

Has your hope been exhausted? 

Done with the hope-of-faith, done with optimism, and done with niceties too...in a word, Naomi had become bitter. 

Have the lemons of life ever taken you to that sour place?  Are you there today?

Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. (9) May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.”

Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud (10) and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”

(11) But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? (12) Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— (13) would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!”...

(19) ...When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”

(20) “Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. (21) I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”  ~Ruth 1:8-13, 19-20

Do you ever say ridiculous and "woe-is-me" things when you are really upset?  Some of Naomi's laments seem silly to read, but I do the very same thing.  I embellish. I exaggerate. I speak my "issues" woefully to others in the hopes of pity, empathy, or even admiration. Sometimes when we are sucking on the lemons of life all we want is a "poor me" or someone to notice.

Naomi was the same.  She was bearing a burden, and (like us sometimes), she needed a little help...a friend, a lifeline, a buddy.  God gave Naomi one named Ruth. I pray that He provides one for us when we are in our sour seasons too: 

(14) At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.

(15)“Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”

(16) But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. (17) Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” (18) When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

(19) So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”... ~Ruth 1:14-19

Naomi needed someone and the Lord provided. In a season of deep (and warranted) bitterness and emptiness, Ruth stood by Naomi and was a buddy, a helper, a loyalist.

Sometimes we need those people. And sometimes we are those people for others.

Ruth, and her sweetness during Naomi's bitterness, was written into both of their life-plans by God Almighty. The hard season was part of Naomi's faith-journey, and our hardships are part of ours, but for both of them (and for us too), the Lord had good things coming down the pike. He is always working: during harvest and famine.

But even when the color has drained from our days, don't think for a moment that the monochrome is forever. God has a sunrise on the horizon of "tomorrow", even if we can't see/feel/hope for it yet, and may we each have a "Ruth" that stands up to support us and stick with us, even in when we are buried in lemon rinds and chewing on their bitterness.

We have another "friend" standing up for us, too. Listen again, and hear the voice of Jesus in Ruth's words: Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. (17) ...May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” ~Ruth 1:16-17

If we are in a season of "lemons", remember that we have a Savior that sticks with us through it and promises a sweet ending eventually. Jesus offers His presence even in our hardship and bitterness and may he also provide a friend that won't leave us or to turn back from us today if we are in need.

Blessings, 

sarah     

https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com