The Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me… The Almighty has brought calamity upon me…
Ruth 1:20-21
How are we to overcome the waves of sorrow, the distortions of grief, and the bitterness that lurks at sorrow’s door? A beautiful strategy unfolds in Naomi’s example. Here is the first of three principles for growing in faith in times of loss: affirm that God is sovereign.
Naomi speaks about God in two ways, and both are important. First, she describes God as “the Almighty.” When suffering comes, we feel our helplessness. This is true when you lose a loved one, are diagnosed with a serious illness, or are caught up in a traumatic event.
You know you are not in control, so it is natural to ask who is. There are only three possibilities. God is in control, evil has triumphed, or no one is in control, and it is random chance. Naomi speaks with faith here when she recognises the hand of God even in the hardest things.
A couple lost their son through a tragic illness, so they went to their pastor looking for something to cling to in their sorrow. The pastor identified with their pain and then said, “I don’t know what to tell you, except that sometimes even God makes mistakes.”
There is no comfort in a God who makes mistakes, no help in a God who lets things slip through His fingers, no hope in a God who can’t get His will done. Naomi gives us a marvellous example of faith. In the depth of her sorrow she affirms, “I believe in God Almighty.”
When you face difficulties, is it easier to believe that God is in control, that evil has triumphed, or that no one is in control? What would it take to move you to a place of affirming with Naomi, “I believe in God Almighty”?
