Bitterness is anger and unhappiness about things that have happened in the past. The problem with bitterness is that it not only gnaws away at the soul, it also spills out of the heart and corrupts others (Hebrews 12:15). This message explores the story of Naomi’s bitterness conquered by God’s work of new mercy.
19 So they both went until they came to Bethlehem. And when they had come to Bethlehem, all the city was stirred because of them, and the women said, “Is this Naomi?” 20 She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went out full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has witnessed against me and the Almighty has afflicted me?”
22 So Naomi returned, and with her Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, who returned from the land of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.
ruth 1:19-22