Don't Change Your Name: A Short Bible Study About Naomi

Before doing this Bible study, please read the 1-minute introduction Bitter is a Bad Name. It about Naomi's bitter attitude after the death of her son and her husband. No one would disagree that she had some terrible circumstances in her life. But Naomi overlooked some very important blessings God was giving her.

So let's look at some elements of this story and carefully examine our hearts for similar attitudes: 

1. Naomi was focused on herself, blaming God, and unable to sympathize with her grieving daughters-in-law.  

Have you gotten so focused on your difficulties that you've ignored the difficulties of others? 

Ruth 1:11-13: Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? 12 Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— 13 would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD’s hand has turned against me!” 

Yes, Naomi had lost her husband and sons, but Ruth had lost her husband before they had opportunity to have children.   

2. Naomi showed no regard for Ruth's spiritual health. 

Have your troubles caused you to lose interest in eternal values? Are you bitter toward God? 

Ruth 1:15-18: “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.” 16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.  

This is Ruth's statement of faith. We don't know if she had converted to her husband's faith when she married him, but she genuinely believed and trusted the true and living God at this point. Yet, Naomi was encouraging her to return to her pagan gods. This is perhaps the cruelest, most selfish thing Naomi could do.

3. Naomi couldn't see the blessings right in front of her eyes. 

Have you lost your perspective on God's many blessings?

Ruth 1:19-20: So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?” 20 “Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. 21 I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.” 

Naomi suffered great losses--the death of her husband and two adult sons. But she overlooked some important blessings in her life. She had left a land of famine and was now in a land of plenty. She had a daughter-in-law who vowed to care for her and Ruth did that in very tangible ways as the story continued. Naomi's attitude made her grieving worse.

 Ask God to speak to you through this true Bible story. What is He saying to you? 

For more insights on Naomi and Ruth, I encourage you to read these devotions:

Was Naomi a Good Mom-in-Law?

The Cost of Selfishness 

copyright 2015, Gail Burton Purath, BiteSizeBibleStudy.com, updated in 2023

5 Verses to Help You Face Injustice: Bible Study

Before doing this Bible study, read the 1-minute introduction Mistreated or Misunderstood?  It offers 5 important things to remember when we're dealing with anger, fear, resentment, or sorrow.

1. Remember that Jesus is our example. 

Nothing we experience can compare to what Jesus did for us. He humbled Himself, he didn't demand the glory and honor He deserved, and He died a criminal's death to save us.

Philippians 2:5-8: In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!

Reading the passage above can be an encouragement when we are in the midst of a difficulty, especially a relationship difficulty. Remembering Christ's humility should help us maintain our own humility. 

See Over 30 Scriptures About Humility.

2. Remember that Jesus fully understands our pain. 

He's been in our shoes and knows how we feel. He can fully sympathize and fully comfort us. 

Hebrews 2:14-18: Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. 17 For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

We can take our concerns, sorrows, anger, bitterness, and resentments to the Lord. He never sinned in the ways we sin, but He understands the challenges we face.

See Jesus Understands Our Pain.

3. Move in the opposite spirit. 

It's extremely difficult to return good for evil, but it will mature our faith in a powerful way. 

Romans 12:21: Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

I have successfully done this at times and it hasn't always changed the other person, but it's changed me, helping me forgive. 

See Didn't Want to Do It, But Did It Anyway. 

4. Transform your thinking.

Dwelling on God's Word keeps us from dwelling on our hurt, pain, and injustice. Reading God's Word, having regular Christian fellowship and taking our concerns to God in prayer help us stay grounded during times of injustice.

Colossians 3:15-16: Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 

I desperately need to focus on specific Scripture passages when I'm dealing with difficulties. God's Word has power to change our hearts and lives.

See A Practical Method for Overcoming Sin.

5. Believe God will use your sorrow for good. 

At the very least God can use our difficulties to help us mature in our faith, but He often does far more than we can imagine.

Romans 8:28: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Sometimes I am absolutely amazed how God can and does use bad in my life for good.

See Do You Believe It?

I encourage you to check out the Wisdom for Life Devotional. It contains 100 one-minute devotions to challenge, encourage, instruct, and inspire your love for God's Word. Read the story behind Wisdom for Life HERE. And find out about the two free Bible studies with purchase HERE.

 

copyright, Gail Burton Purath, BiteSizeBibleStudy.com, updated in 2023

A Woman Who Said "Goodbye" to Her Christian Faith

Before doing this study, I encourage you to read the one-minute Bible Love Note titled Can We Bear Watching a Loved One Reject the Lord? It is a fitting intro to this true story and Bible study. This situation did not involve one of my closest loved ones, but it still deeply troubled me. And I believe it offers some helpful insights. 

Note: Because this woman has cut off contact with me I doubt very much that she would read this study. But I have not used her real name nor have I added specifics which could identify her. 

Sold Out to God

“Susan” was a new Christian and a Bible Love Notes reader who got in touch with me several years ago. Because I was visiting her city, she arranged to meet me. Boy, was I impressed. 

She'd been living with her boyfriend and her family and friends fully accepted and approved of this. But when she became a Christian, she was convicted that sex before marriage wasn't pleasing to the Lord, so she moved to her own apartment. Furthermore, she wasn't comfortable in her previous relationship because her boyfriend didn't share her faith, and she knew that was biblically important. 

 

She was serious about living according to God's Word and she understood that His commands are loving.

No matter how long I’ve been a Christian, a new believer is always a delight for me. They remind me of the life-change Christ brought into my life... the joy, the commitment, and the comfort. 

Susan had lots of questions for me. She wanted to honor God and she was willing to sacrifice things in order to do it. We friended on Facebook and kept in touch. 

It was such a blessing to see her constantly “transforming” through the power of God’s Spirit, and I enjoyed meeting with her on my annual visits to her city. But the third year I visited, something about her was different. 

Halfhearted Devotion

When we met, she told me that she’d decided her former boyfriend was a Christian, so they were seeing each other again and probably would marry. I told her that they must be very careful not to get sexually involved again until they were married, and she seemed to agree.

 

She also told me that she was no longer attending her Bible study and prayer group at the college she attended because she felt they were too legalistic. I told her that it was important to have fellowship with Bible-believing Christians and I encouraged her to find a group where she was comfortable.

As you can imagine, things didn't feel the same, and my prayers for her changed direction. I was no longer dealing with a sold-out Christian. And I noticed that she was initiating contact with me less and less. 

The following year when we met, she brought her boyfriend, a nice young man, but the only mention of God in our conversations was on my part. 

Back to Her Former Life

The following year when my husband and I met with her and her boyfriend again, she told me they were living together, and they saw no problem with that since they were going to be married. She knew what the Bible taught, and on her own she'd been convicted that it was wrong, but she was becoming braver in her rejection of God's principles.

I gave her boyfriend a copy of Mere Christianity, and my prayers for her changed even more. She certainly didn’t resemble the woman whose faith inspired me a few years earlier.

After that meeting, I was the only one who initiated contact. Then Covid hit and my husband and I were unable to return to her city for several years.

Sold Out to Satan

One day when I messaged her on Facebook, I realized she’d unfriended me. It was apparent why. Her page was filled with pro-LGBTQ and pro-abortion information, and she still wasn’t married. 

I don't want to get into a Calvinist - Non-Calvinist debate. The Calvinist would say Susan was never saved. The non-Calvinist would say she lost her salvation. Either way, she was no longer serving the Lord, and she was fully aware that she was rejecting Him. That is the only reason she would cut me off. We hadn't had an argument or exchanged an unkind word.

We’d love it if all of our stories had happy endings, but as sin increases in our world, we're also going to see some of these sad stories. 

When we genuinely understand the love and redemption of Christ, we can’t imagine someone rejecting the gospel. 

So let’s look at what things contribute to people walking away from their faith:

1. They never were genuinely committed in the first place. 

This didn't appear to be true of Susan. Her new faith was pro-active and sacrificial and she stuck with it for several years. I believe she fully understood the gospel.

 

But some people only appear to become Christians. Their faith is all about words.

"For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power." 1 Corinthians 4:20

2. They ignore the warnings. 

 

Susan moved away from God one step at a time. At any point she could have caught herself and gotten back on the narrow path.

 

Please read James 1.  It talks about the testing of our faith and clearly explains that people who know God's Word can still reject it. That's why this command is so important: "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says" (verse 22).

3. Temptation wins.

This is the most obvious reason some people choose the wide highway instead of the narrow path. The decide something sinful is more important than their faith. And very often the sin which wins is a sexual one.

Please read 1 Corinthians 10. It's a chapter which tells us how blessed God's people were in Old Testament times, seeing so many miracles and experiencing deliverance from their enemies. But they turned away from God. Their stories are meant to help us "as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did" (verse 6). Their temptations included idolatry, sexual immorality, grumbling against God, and testing God. 

"So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it." (verses 12-13).

copyright 2024, Gail Burton Purath, BiteSizeBibleStudy.com