This was Naomi's response after returning to her homeland minus her husband and two sons. She was not a happy camper. She didn't pretend to be religious in front of everyone, nor did she try to hide what she was really feeling. She basically said, "I don't like what You have done to me, God!" I, too, have had those same feelings. "God, I don't like what You have allowed in my life. I don't understand it. I don't like it. How could You do this...not just to me, but to my children, too?"
Sometimes when we read the Bible, we tend to think the people and the stories are not real...that they are just made up to prove a point. But, they were real people just like you and me with real human emotions and feelings.
I have always tended to be "brutally" honest in my conversations with God, not holding back any frustration or anger I might have about the situation. (After all, I figure, He does know what I'm thinking!) But, sometimes I would wonder if that was okay.
I have discovered that God does want me to be truly honest and open with Him. He desires to have a close, personal relationship with me (Wow!). He wants me to be His friend. Friends share everything. Friends don't encourage you to hold your feelings inside or to just "get over it and quit whining!" It's the same with God. Imagine how terrible it would have been for Naomi if she would have felt like she couldn't be honest with God about her feelings.
One of the most amazing things that I have discovered about God is that He loves me so much that it is okay for me to run to Him and scream and throw my fit and have my pity party and tell Him just how much it hurts and how much I don't like what I'm having to go through. He patiently listens....oh, the awesome feeling of just knowing that you've been heard, of being able to spill your guts so to speak and know that someone is listening. He truly listens to me, but He also doesn't let me stay there. After letting me get everything off my chest, He lovingly and patiently begins to speak to my heart.
When I read about Job and all that he went through, I tend to forget what it must have felt like to him. The man lost literally everything...not just his wife and children, but his house, his income, his servants, etc. etc. Yet, Job was able to respond, "...the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord....Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" (Job 1:21b, 2:10b)
Even though Naomi was angry at her circumstances, she still acknowledged that God was God. There is a verse in the Bible that says, "Seek God while He may be found." I believe this verse is talking about when things are going good, all the time, seek God, get to know Him intimately because when the overwhelming floods of life come, if you don't already know who He is, that He is God, it is going to be difficult to find Him then.
You know why Job was able to respond the way he did? Because he knew that God understood his pain. God wasn't asking him to jump up and put a smile on his face and say "Bless God for slaying me!" I used to read those verses and wonder how Job could respond that way...how on earth? But when I found myself in that position, I understood that God didn't expect me to like it or to not be hurt by it. He knew it hurt. He only wanted me to trust His sovereignty that He has a purpose for it and allow Him to walk with me through it and heal those gaping wounds with His love and tender care.
Too many times when troubles come into our lives (no matter how big or small), we tend to run away from God in anger instead of running to Him with our unbearable hurts just like a child would run to their parent for comfort. God knows it hurts...that makes all the difference because that gives me the freedom to run to Him and pour out my hurts for Him to soothe and comfort as only He can. This is what God desires for us to do with even the smallest trials that come into our lives.
Job was able to respond the way he did because he knew intimately that God was sovereign. It doesn't mean that what he experienced wasn't hard and didn't hurt. You can be sure he felt the same pain and devastation that you and I would feel when going through circumstances like his.
Something else that I have thought about as I contemplated whether to walk away from God in anger or trust His Sovereignty is that God sent His Son to die on the cross for my sins. If I had been the only one on the face of this earth that was a sinner and needed to be saved, He still would have sent Jesus to die for me. If He never does another thing for me, He has saved me from eternal punishment. He doesn't owe me anything. He is Almighty, Sovereign God and Holy Lord.
In going through the difficult circumstances that God has allowed to come into my life, I have discovered that He is real. If I hadn't gone through them, I wouldn't know God the way I know Him now. And knowing Him like that makes life worth living...it doesn't make it pain free or easy all the time...but it does make it worth it.
As you probably already know, Naomi ends up having a grandson named Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David....and the line that Jesus came from! Her life wasn't always easy, but I think she would tell us it was worth it.
