“I went out full, and the LORD hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the LORD hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?” (Ru 1:21 AV)
We have to be careful when we read a narrative. The words spoken may be more about how the speaker felt rather than the whole truth of the matter. Naomi returned to Bethlehem after a decade or so in Moab. While in Moab, she lost her husband and two adult sons. When she returned to Bethlehem, there was rejoicing. The town came out, welcomed her back, and celebrated her return. Part of her response is stated in the verse above. Naomi felt God was against her. She felt she had caused the circumstances under which she is currently suffering. She felt she made choices and now the LORD was punishing her for them. She took personally the events of misfortune that came her way. She took all the blame. However, there is something important to remember. Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, was the leader of his house. Or, at the very least, was supposed to be. Perhaps Naomi was the force that pushed her husband into a series of poor choices. We will never know. But Elimelech had a will of his own. So, too, did her two sons. Once the famine was over, they could have returned. Naomi may or may not have had a part in her circumstances, but her husband was ultimately to blame. Sometimes, we allow the adversary to convince us we are more to blame for our circumstances than we are, and as a result, God is angry with us.
When insurance companies battle over liability, they are battling over fault. Which party is to blame and to what degree are they to blame? No matter what end we might be on, there will always be a part of us that doesn’t think the outcome was completely fair. We always think the other party is more to blame than we are. We hire a lawyer who fights for us. We look at our suffering and cannot fathom any culpability on our part. We see the suffering we endure and always think it is greater than our lapse of judgment. The other guy was at fault. We couldn’t possibly be. My wife is live color commentator with anything we watch. She always has a comment to make. We were watching a show with the law as the main theme and the defendants were suing a company that made a faulty product. They made a product that could be charged with any style charger that fit the port, but there was a safety warning on the product that explicitly stated only the charger that came with the product could be used. The product exploded when used with a non-approved charger. My wife, being a legal secretary/paralegal, was all over the plaintiffs who would not take responsibility in first, using such a product, and second, not following the manufacturer’s recommendations. But this is not that. Naomi was beating herself up and taking on more responsibility for her circumstances than she should have.
Those of us with an over-developed sense of guilt do this all the time. We look at any misfortune as an expression of God’s anger. We see a flat tire as God’s way of saying we are completely out of the will of God rather than wear and tear on a tire. We see illness as an expression of God’s displeasure when sickness is a human condition brought on us by Adam’s sin. Sure, we might be responsible. We might even be totally responsible. But not always. Sometimes it is not as much our fault as we think it is. Naomi shouldered the entire burden of a poor choice by herself. She beat herself up for something her husband should have prevented. Next time the adversary tempts you to shoulder more blame than you deserve, simply plead the grace and mercy of God. Then resist the devil and he will flee from you.
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