"Call me bitter," she said, "because the Almighty has made my life very bitter." Ruth 1:20  Naomi was in a very bad mood, and she was quick to tell all her friends that she was none too pleased with her God, because all she had experienced from His hand was misfortune.

"Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune on me."  Ruth 1:21 

Life was hard for Naomi: Her husband and her two sons died, and the place where she lived was in the midst of a famine, so food was scarce. Now she faced an uncertain future as she made the hard decision to leave everything and head out towards Judah, where she had heard rumors that at least you could find food there.

This was a very distressing thought, because in 1989 I received a nanosecond glimpse of Jesus that was so breathtakingly beautiful, all I wanted was to feel more and more of his intimate presence. And yet the agonies of these past five years have been slowly transforming me into a sourpuss, and so it seemed that any hope of enjoying the sweet presence of Jesus was about to soon fade away like early morning mist under a hot sun.  

But I got a wonderful surprise as I was reading through the book of Ruth, where I found myself amazed at Ruth's commitment to Naomi, this woman who now personified Bitterness:

"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. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." Ruth 1:16,17  

As I read that passage, I suddenly gained a new understanding of what Jesus meant when he said "I am with you ALWAYS, even unto the end of the world."  Matthew 28:20  Jesus is the Ruth to my Naomi, and scripture promises that not even death will ever separate us from one another. Romans 8:34-39  

When I am crabby and mean, he is with me. When I am sullen and depressed, he is with me. When I am fearful or annoyed, he is with me. When I am succumbing to my sins, he is with me. "NEVER will I leave you; NEVER will I forsake you." Hebrews 13:5

Jesus is committed to me, no matter what! And amazingly enough, Naomi's bitterness melted away as Ruth brought her the rich blessings of a comfortable and wealthy future. Naomi's worst fears did not come to pass, and God himself directed Ruth and Naomi towards the fruitful and abundant fields of Boaz.

And so it is that Jesus is my Ruth, and though I am Bitter, he remains my constant traveling companion, and through the Holy Spirit's leading, he brings me into places of divine appointments that lead to wealth, favor, comfort and success. It only gets better with Jesus!

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