Pray the Word with David Platt is a resource from Radical.net.

Ruth, Chapter 1, verses 20 through 22.

She said to them, do not call me Naomi.

Call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.

I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty.

Why call me Naomi, when the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me? So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite,

her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned from the country of Moab, and they came to

Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.

Oh, there's so much here.

I could talk for a long time about these three verses, but the big picture I want to show you

that will lead us into praying is Naomi is obviously hurting in this passage.

Over the last chapter, we have seen her husband die, her sons die.

She's now left a widow alone with a Moabite daughter-in-law and Moabites were

despised by the Israelites. That's why she says, call me Mara. The word means bitter because the

almighty has dealt bitterly with me, has brought calamity upon me.

So this is a very low, raw, honest moment for Naomi.

And she feels like everything, including God, in a sense, is against her.

But she has no idea that standing right next to her in Ruth

is a picture of God's provision in ways that will shock her imagination.

She could have never dreamed what God had planned in Ruth the Moabite,

standing next to her as they entered into Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.

And I read these verses and want to lead us to pray because I am assuming there are some of you

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