Judges 1:20-21 “Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty….”
Ever feel like circumstances you face are irreversible? Think there’s no way the breakthrough you long for is going to happen? You realize your faith is falling far below what it takes for a miracle. It’s halftime and your team is down by double digits.
I recently watched the musical production of Ruth, performed by the outstanding students at Lancaster Bible College, where I teach. It reminded me of the perpetual problem of seemingly irreversible circumstances. Do you know the story? If anyone had reason to be sucked into the quicksand of hopelessness, it was Naomi. Forced to leave her homeland with her husband and two sons, she faced the option of either staying in Israel and starving to death, or traveling to a foreign country. But her bad situation got worse.
After a number of years in Moab, her beloved husband died. And then, the unthinkable happened. Both sons followed their father in death, leaving Naomi alone with her two Moabite daughters-in-law. When she decides to return to Israel, her one daughter-in-law, Ruth, insists on going with her.
So the two enter Israel poor, broken and helpless. Naomi’s heart is filled with so much bitterness, she directs people to call her Mara (meaning bitter). Her circumstance has emptied her of all hope. Any prospect of leaving a legacy vanished in the Moabite desert. Naomi’s desolation appeared irreversible.
But nothing is irreversible when it comes to the God with whom all things are possible (Mark 10:27). Naomi’s kinsman, Boaz, marries Ruth and Ruth gives birth to a son who becomes the forefather of King David, the ancestor of Jesus. Talk about a reversal!
So to you, concerned about the poor decisions your daughter is making—her situation is not irreversible. To you watching your son walk away from his faith—his situation is not irreversible. To you witnessing your friends throw away their marriage—their situation is not irreversible. And to any of you facing what appears irreparably hopeless—your situation is not irreversible.
Let the God of reversals fill your emptiness. “Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you…” (Judges 4:14).