SIULAI 6, 2023
מרר Call Me Bitter
UI AU KO MALA
RUTH 1:20-21
SHE SAID TO THEM, "DO NOT CALL ME NAOMI; CALL ME MARA, FOR THE ALMIGHTY HAS DEALT VERY BITTERLY WITH ME. I WENT AWAY FULL, AND THE LORD HAS BROUGHT ME BACK EMPTY. WHY CALL ME NAOMI, WHEN THE LORD HAS TESTIFIED AGAINST ME AND THE ALMIGHTY HAS BROUGHT CALAMITY UPON ME?"
LUTE 1:20-21
20 Pea ne pehē kiate kinautolu, ‘Oua ‘e ui au ko Neomai (ko Melie), ui au ko Mala (ko Kona); he kuo fai kona ‘a Sātai kiate au. 21 Na‘a ku ‘alu atu kuo u fonu, pea kuo fakafoki au ‘e Sihova kuo u maha: ko e hā ‘oku mou ui ai au ko Neomai; ‘osi, kuo hopo mo au ‘a Sihova, pea kuo fakamamahi‘i au ‘e Sātai?
No Hallmarkish platitudes exit Naomi's mouth. She's blunt. She's honest. God's hand has struck her (v. 13); embittered her; emptied her of everything; brought calamity (literally, "evil") upon her; and testified against her. He who is supposed to defend widows (Ps. 68:5) has demolished her life. Because she is hardly the same woman anymore, she renames herself (the only person in Scripture to do so). No longer will she be Pleasant ("Naomi") but Bitter ("Mara"), "for the LORD has dealt very marar with her."
Naomi personifies the lamenter. God does not want brownnosers or bootlickers. He wants honest children. That's why he's given us the lament psalms-bitter and raw prayers for suffering people. Like Naomi, we lay at the Lord's feet our bruised and bleeding hearts. We cry to the same one who "offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death" (Heb. 5:7). And he listens, loves, and-when the time is right-acts to heal and console us, as he did for Naomi.
Place the healing balm of your mercy, O Lord, into the wounds of our broken hearts.
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