Bible Text: Ruth 1:1-22 | Preacher: Pastor Joe Ricchuiti | Series: Ruth, The High Cost of Bitterness

1. Naomi blames God for her situation, speaks in anger against Him, seeing Him as the cause of her affliction (but God did not force them to go to Moab).   “Naomi sinned by getting bitter and blaming God for her plight….A ‘root of bitterness’ can poison your life and the people around you (Dt. 29:18; Heb. 12:15), so avoid carrying grudges.” (Wiersbe)

2.  How a root of bitterness begins:  we experience a disappointment, a trial, a challenge (sometimes of our own making); we react with hurt, lashing-out at God and at people; we nurture the hurt and won’t let it go.  Our alternative is to react with faith–seeking what it is that God wants to do in me. It is not the circumstances of our lives which cause bitterness, but our reaction to the circumstances.

3.  The cost of bitterness in Naomi’s life in Ruth 1:

-bitterness blinded her to the pain of others and to their real needs (1:13)

-bitterness warped her perception in that she didn’t see how God was working in her situation, she didn’t leave room for God to work (1:13,21)

-bitterness takes a physical toll (1:19)

-bitterness blinded her to hope, she didn’t recognize the brightest spot in her life, Ruth (1:22)

4.  Ruth, in a beautiful statement of commitment, puts her trust in Ruth’s God.  She gives up her national identity, her family, and her idolatrous religion.  She made a decisive break with the past (1:16,17) embracing the one true God.

5.  Ruth chapter one ends with Naomi bitter and empty, yet with a note of hope in the mention of the Barley harvest, subsequently her bitterness would become joy and her emptiness would become fullness.