When Life Knocks You Down
Life has a way of taking the breath right out of us.
Your schedule may be so hectic that you have no margin of time for self-care. Perhaps you are so disconnected in your relationships that you feel less than cherished. And in some cases, our circumstances have been more than challenging, leaving us to wonder if God even hears us.
So much can come at us in life, knocking us down in the process, but with Jesus, we can always get back up.
Naomi’s Misfortune
Naomi was a woman who once was married with two sons. As a family, they lived in Bethlehem. During that time, there was a terrible famine, so her family decided to leave and travel downward to Moab. (To travel to Moab required them to travel south, around the Dead Sea. This is significant because sometimes, in our own lives, we will be required to leave our personal comforts to travel south, which could initiate a downward spiral.)
Naomi’s family found themselves leaving the pleasures and comforts of home to travel to a place they didn’t know. Eventually, Naomi’s husband died, her sons got married, and then they died, and now she was left with no one to care for her.
Sometimes, we find ourselves knocked down by something out of our control. It was not caused by anything we said or did; it just happened. The same was true of Naomi. And with everything she endured, she left us a legacy of how we, too, can get back up when life knocks us down.
What Naomi Teaches Us
“Now the two of them went until they came to Bethlehem. And it happened, when they had come to Bethlehem, that all the city was excited because of them; and the women said, ‘Is this Naomi?’ But she said to them, ‘Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?’ So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. Now they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.”
Ruth 1:19-22, NKJV
Naomi is a distinctive kind of woman. Her name means “kindness, pleasant one,” and for all of her life, she lived up to that meaning.
Have you ever met a woman like that? She is the kind of woman that, no matter what she goes through, you want to be around her. She seems to have it all together even when you know she is struggling and is still a joy to be around. She wasn’t just this way to her community but also to her family. (For those of you with a husband and kids, you know that in seasons of hardship, they are the ones to see you at your worst!)
Well, soon after her husband and sons die, guess what happens to Miss Pleasant? Worry, doubt, and clouded identity kick in.
And while Naomi experienced a few personal lows, she models how she got back up for us.
Naomi Models for Us What It Means to Be a Mentor
It is important to note that when we go through seasons of hardship, it is not about us.
Yes, the pain you are experiencing is real and valid. I know your heart is broken because the person you loved has died, and now you feel alone. I know you are scared of the diagnosis you just received from your doctor. And I know the frustration you have because your kids are acting up. I know, and I see you.
But here is the key to our hardship and why you must fight to get back up: other people are watching.
Naomi was an incredible mentor, and do you know how I know that? Because when Naomi and her daughters-in-law were heading back to Bethlehem, Naomi suggested that they go back to their families and their gods. And at this moment, both daughters-in-law began to weep (I am talking ugly cry!) because they didn’t want to leave her.
It is often said that you attract people to you by how you live. People watch you, whether your life is good or bad. They watch how you converse with others, how you treat strangers, and even whether you put your cart where it belongs after loading your groceries into your trunk. Someone is watching, and they are learning from you.
Naomi poured so much into her sons’ wives that they would rather have been with her than go back home. She models what it looks like for women to be in relationship with other women.
Naomi Models for Us What Goes on Mentally During Life’s Hard Circumstances
In Ruth 1:19, we read that the city of Bethlehem was so excited to see Naomi that when they called her by her name, she declared a new sentiment telling them, “Don’t call me that! That was who I was when I left here, but it is not who I am now. Who I am is bitter.”
Reading between the lines, she was saying that God didn’t cherish her because she had been dealt a bad hand.
Can you relate? How do you talk to and about yourself when things in your life go south? For many of us, that is when we begin to question who we are, Whose we are, and why God created us.
Now, I want to applaud Naomi because, in the lowest of the low, she was honest about how she was feeling. After all, she is human!
In trying times, are you honest about your emotions, or do you tend to over-spiritualize them? I am sure you have encountered a friend or acquaintance going through rough waters only to respond by saying, “I am blessed. God is good, and He will bring me out of this.”
Yes! God is good, and He will always take care of you, but if you are struggling, it is okay to give yourself the space to admit and feel where you are mentally and emotionally lacking. Emotions are good, and God created them so we can process the hard things on this side of heaven. But remember, we want to work through our emotions, not get stuck in them!
Naomi struggled here. After a time, she began to call herself things based on the troubles she was walking through.
In the Hebrew culture, names were the essence of a person. Upon further contemplation, they explained what was happening in that parent’s life.
When my husband and I named our six children, we made sure to call them names with significant meanings.
One of my daughters, Natalie, was born on December 31st, which means “nativity child.” So not only does her name signify the season of the year she was born, but even to this day, she loves Christmas!
Another daughter of mine, Ana, which means “graceful one,” proved from her first day on earth that she was just that. In the hospital, just a few days old, she would stretch out her little arm and gracefully bring it back down.
Names are important, and they mean something.
What you call yourself is who you will become! I encourage you to stop calling yourself by your circumstance – don’t call yourself betrayed, victim, unloved, and ugly. You are the very essence of who God says you are – royal heir (Romans 8:17), free (Romans 8:36), friend (John 15:15), and justified (Romans 5:1)!
After all, God didn’t change Naomi’s name; she did. And He didn’t change ours either!
Naomi Models for Us How to Keep Maintaining
Naomi experienced significant loss and devastation. She not only lost her husband and sons, but she went back home with nothing but her widowed daughter-in-law. However, these things didn’t keep her from fulfilling her purpose.
The same goes for you and me; regardless of how trying times are at this moment, we must resolve to continue moving forward in what God has called us to do!
Even though nothing tied Naomi to Ruth, God commanded her to keep pouring into this woman. In Ruth 2, Naomi encourages and teaches her how to make money, maintain relationships on the job, and find a godly man. Through her hardship, Naomi continues to mentor Ruth so that she would learn how to live a life pleasing to God.
Daughter, be encouraged; somebody is watching and waiting for you!
Fight to keep mentoring.
Fight to speak God’s truth over yourself.
Fight to walk in your purpose.