More Precious than Jewels

I’ve been reading through the book of Ruth recently with daily devotionals on She Reads Truth. I’ve really enjoyed it and have found myself reading it over and over, actually to be honest it’s a 14 day study I’ve been re-reading for about 6 weeks now. 

Today I read (again) Ruth 1:19-21

So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. And the women said, “Is this Naomi?”  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?”

Up until this point Naomi had a rough decade or so, she lost her husband and then lost both of her sons. Her two daughter-in-laws, Orpah and Ruth, stayed with her until she decided to return to Bethlehem. At this point Orpah went back to her people and Ruth basically told Naomi that she isn’t going to get rid of her. V.18 “and when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.” 

When Naomi and Ruth returned to Bethlehem Naomi was so exhausted both physically and spiritually that she was almost unrecognizable to the townspeople. Naomi had lost her husband, sons and daughter-in-law, she had no hope of having grandchildren, no hope in life- she was empty. She tells the women in Bethlehem to not call her Naomi but to call her Mara because the Lord had dealt with her bitterly. She wasn’t blaming God in this but calling it how she felt and never once did she lose her faith but she was hurting and she was bitter. Her circumstance made her bitter, so she changed her name to reflect that. 

I think that often this falls into my sin of comparison and perfectionism and the names that I give myself, the names that I use to define me are far from the names my Father calls me. We often label ourselves as  too poor, too rich, too tall, too short, too fat, too skinny, too shy, not bold enough, not intelligent enough, not clever enough, unworthy, unlovable, we allow our past circumstances to take control of the plans that the Lord has because we allow bitterness, resentfulness and anger build up in us. 

Comparison and perfectionism is a trap we all fall into. We give ourselves names like unworthy, and forget that we are created in the image of the God that created the universe (Genesis 1:27). We call ourselves unlovable but God loved us so much he sent his only son to die for us, for our sins (John 3:16). We believe our past is unforgivable but all have fallen short of the glory of God and He forgives us (Romans 3:23).  God calls us his sons and daughters (2 Corinthians 6:18), friend (John 15:15), justified and redeemed (Romans 3:24), set-free (Romans 8:2), a new creation (2 Cor 5:17), precious (Proverbs 3:15), and his heir (Romans 8:17).

I encourage to look beyond your circumstances, look beyond what society says you are and fight to know who God says you are. We have to stop comparing ourselves to the person next to us and instead rejoice in who God has created us each to be! Rejoice in the unique gifts He has given each of us! Rejoice in each other’s joyful moments! Rejoice that we are not named by our circumstances but by God who is good!