Misunderstanding God

by Darryl Manning            12/02/01

There is a story in the Old Testament that clearly illustrates how many people misunderstand God and become bitter toward Him. The woman’s name is Naomi and her story is recorded in the book of Ruth. She lived during the time of the Judges. It was a time when Israel went back and forth between serving the true God and serving idols. God had clearly promised rain and abundant harvests to the people as long as they honored Him. He had just as clearly promised lack of rain and famine if the people served other gods. (See Deut. 28)

In our story, a famine came upon the land of Israel indicating the nation had turned away from the true God and to serve other gods. Naomi and her husband, Elimelech and their two boys, who were from Bethlehem, moved eastward to the land of Moab where things went from bad to worse. Elimelech died and the two boys took wives from the Moabite women. Before any children were born, Naomi’s two boys both died.

Soon word came that the famine in Israel had been broken. Apparently the nation must have turned back to God and God honored His promise and gave rain to the land. Naomi decided to return home. She encouraged her two daughter-in-laws to stay in Moab with their families and remarry. In her conversation with the daughter-in-laws, Naomi reveals her bitterness toward God.

Ruth 1: ¹²Return 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—¹³would 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 gone out against me!”

One daughter-in-law, Orpah, agrees to return home but the other, Ruth makes her famous declaration of love and commitment to Naomi.

Ruth 1: ¹⁶But Ruth said: “Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God. ¹⁷ Where you die, I will die, And there will I be buried. The LORD do so to me, and more also, If anything but death parts you and me.”

When Naomi and Ruth arrive home in Bethlehem, the people hardly recognize Naomi. She is a broken and bitter woman. Naomi’s bitterness gushes out in her response to her people’s greeting.

Ruth 1:19  …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, (Pleasant)” she told them. “Call me Mara, (Bitter) because the Almighty^£ has made my life very bitter. ²¹I 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.”

Obviously Naomi became extremely bitter toward God. In her understanding, God had afflicted her and was responsible for the death of her husband and sons. She blamed God for all her misfortune.

Many people would agree with Naomi’s understanding of God. Many have experienced much sorrow and pain in their lives and are also bitter toward God. Their reasoning is that since God is omnipotent (all powerful) he could prevent any sorrow. By allowing sorrow, they believe God is responsible for it.

Lets take a closer look at Naomi’s experience and see if she is justified in her bitterness towards God.

First of all, the nation had taken itself out from under God’s protection and blessing by serving other Gods. Even if Elimelech and Naomi had been the Godliest of people, they would have suffered from the famine that affected the whole nation.

Unfortunately our human authorities are not perfect. When they sin against God they leave an opening for the attacks of the enemy. The more ungodly the authority becomes, the more those under their authority suffer. That is why we are instructed to pray for those who have authority over us.

Though the nation of Israel at this time was not right with God and the nation was suffering, it was still a better place to live than Moab. At least Israel had a covenant with God. It had the promise of God that with repentance healing would come to the land.

Moab had no covenant with God. The Moabites were the descendents of an incestuous relationship between Lot and his oldest daughter. Several centuries later the Moabite King, Balak hired the prophet Balaam to prophesy against Israel. When God would not let Balaam prophesy anything but good he gave Balak a wicked plan to use against Israel. He counseled Balak to send the young women of Moab into the camps of Israel as prostitutes. This led to great wickedness and brought judgment upon Israel.

Many people follow in the steps of Naomi. They opt out of the authority structure they are under choosing a far worse authority. Young women and men who dislike being under the authority of their parents may get married unadvisedly or leave home to escape. But being under an ungodly husband or living without any authority gives much greater opportunity for the devil to attack and bring about great sorrow.

Naomi blamed God for the sorrows in her life but it was she and her husband who made a choice to leave God’s people. Some might say, but Elimelech and the boys may have died in Israel if they had not left. That certainly could have happened though it would have been less likely. That brings up another question. Is God responsible for the death of our loved ones? Let us look at what the Scripture says.

Ja. 1: ¹³Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. ¹⁴But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. ¹⁵Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

First we see here that death is a result of sin. Second we see there is a time element between sin and death. After Adam and Eve sinned against God, several hundred years elapsed before their physical death but their death was a result of sin. Death came into the human family as a result of sin and it continues because of sin. Because of the initial sin of Adam and Eve, we all will face death one day.

Our death has a greater and greater chance of happening prematurely as a result of more sin. We can abuse our bodies with drugs, alcohol, excess food, etc. and hasten our death. We can live recklessly and die of an accident or by disease. Another person can violently take our life in the commission of a crime. We cannot blame God for premature deaths. We can only blame sin.

Some might say, “What about floods, tornadoes, earthquakes and other acts of nature? Isn’t God responsible for the deaths of those who die in this manner?”

The answer is no. Again, there were no death or death causing acts of nature before sin entered the world. The Scripture states that the earth is also under a curse and looks forward to a day of liberation.  “…the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. ²²For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now”.(Rom. 8:21-22)

Listen closely to what St. James 1:16 says. “ ¹⁶Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. ¹⁷Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”

God only gives good and perfect gifts to His children. There is not even a shadow of evil in His gifts. When God revealed Himself to Moses, He showed him “His Goodness.”

Naomi had a bad understanding of God and what had happened to her. But, that did not prevent God from working good things in her life. First, God gave Naomi a special daughter-in-law in Ruth. Ruth not only went home with Naomi. She accepted Naomi’s God. She gleaned the fields so they could have food. Ruth became known in Bethlehem as a good and honorable woman. Soon a near kinsman of Naomi, Boaz, married Ruth and took Naomi into his home. Ruth and Boaz were blessed with a son, Obed, who became the grandfather of King David.

Listen to how the women of Bethlehem gave praise to God for the blessings He brought into Naomi’s life.

Ruth 4: ¹³So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. Then he went to her, and the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. ¹⁴The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! ¹⁵He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”

¹⁶Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him. ¹⁷The women living there said, “Naomi has a son.” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

My friend, perhaps you have become bitter towards God concerning sorrows you have experienced in your life. I want to encourage you to re-evaluate what has happened and understand God is only good. He only gives good gifts.

Many people are bitter at God and do not realize it. I believe this is why many people have such a difficult time worshipping God with joy and celebration. In their mind or perhaps even subconsciously they have reservations concerning God’s goodness and love for them because of sorrows in their life.

Think about Naomi. Do you think she could give herself fully to joyful worship given her perception of what God had done in her life? Even after Ruth was married and the grandbaby came Naomi was unable to give praise to God. The women were the ones who expressed God’s goodness. We cannot worship joyfully anytime we see God as responsible for any sorrow in our life regardless of many joys we may experience. Crediting God with any sorrow in our life diminishes our respect and love for Him. It diminishes our ability to worship freely and joyfully.

If you think a little more about what Naomi believed, you realize she was believing virtually the same lie that Eve fell for in the beginning. Satan accused God of not treating her and Adam fairly. He accused God of not being totally good to them. Eve believed the lie, ate the fruit and gave it to Adam.

We are still falling for the same lie of Satan today. We cannot worship God with joyful abandonment unless we know the truth about our Great and Loving God. Jesus said in John 4:23 ²³But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.

What is the truth Jesus refers to? It can only be the truth that God is always good and never evil. Jesus revealed this truth first of all through His life. He healed everyone who ever came to him for healing and He raised several people from the dead. As Jesus did these wonderful works He would often say, “The Kingdom of God has come near.”

You see the Kingdom of God has no sickness or disease in it. It has no death. It has no heartache. Obviously, we are not currently living fully in the Kingdom of God or we would not have these terrible sorrows.

The second thing Jesus did to prove God is totally perfect was to die on the cross for us. Romans 8:32 says “³²He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”

God wants to give us all things. Jesus said ³²“Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. (Luke 12:32)  God wants to give us the Kingdom of God that will end all sorrows. He instructs us to pray for His Kingdom to come.

Are you praying for the God’s Kingdom to come? Only God’s Kingdom can save us from suffering and death. We must become intense in our prayers if we are to ever see God’s Kingdom come.

Revelation 22:17 says ¹⁷And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!”

Let us put an end to our bitterness toward God. Let us lay down our misunderstanding concerning the sorrows in our life. Let us get angry with the enemy of our soul. Let us even be angry at our own susceptibility to his lies. Let us lift up our God and rejoice in His great love for us. Let us celebrate! Let us pray “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done!”