It’s never as bad as all that! – Ruth 1:

It’s never as bad as all that! – Ruth 1: 19 – 22

There was a change of her circumstance
‘Can this be Naomi?’ shatters Naomi. It brings her face to face with her circumstance. Her circumstance has dramatically changed, because she has lost so much. She wants to change her name from Naomi, meaning pleasant to Mara, meaning bitterness. She was once living a full life but now it is empty.
“Don’t call me Naomi anymore. That’s what I once had, but my circumstances have changed.”
Her life has gone so far off course that her very identity has changed. “Call me bitter.”
At some point we all will experience loss. Great hopes and dreams can be blown away. You know what could have been, what should have been or even what was had this or that never happened to you. You and others were on the verge but today things are different. This bitterness can even be tasted:
He has filled me with bitter herbs. Lamentations 3:15

And yet at times being empty can be a good position to be in.
• Before creation the earth was empty.
• The widow’s poverty only came to an end because she had empty jars. 2 Kings 4.
• The disciples fishing boats only began to sink under the weight of the catch because they had gone out to fish with empty boats. Luke 5:7
• The disciples were baptised in the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost because they were not already filled. They were empty vessels. Acts 2:4