Don’t call me Naomi (pleasant)... Call me Mara, because the El Shaddai has made my life very bitter. 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.
(Ruth 1:20-21)

Satan’s Lies to Naomi:
      God took your family (your job, your home) from you to punish you.
      You committed an unforgivable sin by moving to Moab (getting pregnant, divorcing, _____________________).
      If you had been a better mother, your children would have lived longer (lived better lives, not gotten into drugs, had better marriages, __________________).
      Ruth acts like she loves you, but she will soon get tired of living with a depressed old woman. (If people really knew you, they wouldn’t want to be around you.)

God’s Truth for Naomi:
      God forgives our sins as soon as we confess. His compassion for Naomi was shown through Ruth and Boaz.
      God wants to use and bring redemptive meaning to every mistake we make. Nothing is wasted in the economy of God.
      Mahlon and Chilion’s names (“sickly” and “pining”) probably mean that they were unhealthy from birth. Perhaps it was a miracle that Mahlon lived long enough to marry Ruth - and so fulfill God’s purpose to bring a Gentile into His family tree.
      Naomi’s faith in earlier days had such a profound effect on Ruth that, during Naomi’s time of grief, Ruth desired to return the nurturing Naomi had given her.
      Meaning of El Shaddai: the strong and powerful God who comes to us in the dark nights of the soul with the faithfulness of a nursing mother.

Satan’s Lies to Ruth:
      There will be no one to help or protect you in Israel, so how can you help Naomi?
(You’ve failed over and over, so how can you help anyone else?)
      You will be an “untouchable” in Bethlehem. No decent Hebrew man would ever marry a Moabite widow. (Who would want you if they knew what happened in 19__?)
      If you leave Moab, you will never have the chance to be a mother. (God is good - to other people - but how can you know that His promises apply to you?)

God’s Truth for Ruth:
      God had already appointed Boaz to be Ruth’s kinsman-redeemer.
      Boaz was the son of Rahab, so Boaz understood the problems of a refugee.
      God planned to give Ruth a son whom she would name Obed (“servant spirit”).