Morning By Morning #350

Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-by, but Ruth clung to her.

Ruth 1:14

From the pen of Charles Spurgeon:

Both of Naomi’s daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth, loved Naomi and therefore set out with her upon her return to the land of Judah. But then the time of testing came when Naomi quite unselfishly laid out before them the trials ahead, urging them to return to their friends in Moab for the sake of their own ease and comfort. Initially both of them declared they would return with her to the Lord’s people, but upon further consideration Orpah “wept again” and then “kissed her mother-in-law good-by” (Ruth 1:14), returning to her idolatrous friends. Ruth, however, followed through on her commitment and with all her heart submitted herself to the God of her mother-in-law.

It is one thing to love the ways of the Lord when times are easy but quite another to cling to them during all kinds of discouragements and difficulties. The kiss of an outward profession is easy, yet worthless. Actually clinging to the Lord, which reveals itself through a holy decision for truth and holiness, is no small matter.

What about us? Is our heart fixed on Jesus? Is our “sacrifice [bound] with cords, even unto the horns of the altar” (Ps. 118:27 KJV)? Have we counted the cost and are we sincerely ready to suffer all worldly loss for the sake of the Master? The future eternal gain will be abundant compensation, for “the treasures of Egypt” (Heb. 11:26) “are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18).

Orpah is never heard from again, for her life melts away through worldly ease and idolatrous pleasure into the gloom of death. In great contrast, however, Ruth lives today in history and in heaven, for God’s grace placed her in the royal lineage from which came the “King of kings” (Rev. 17:14). “Blessed…among women” (Luke 1:42) are those who for Christ’s sake renounce all things, but forgotten—or even worse than forgotten—are those who in a time of temptation sear their conscience and return to the world.

May we never be content with having only the form or pretense of devotion, which may be no better than Orpah’s kiss. Instead, may the Holy Spirit do such a work in us that we will cling with our whole heart to our Lord Jesus.

From the pen of Jim Reimann:

The story of Naomi’s daughter-in-law Orpah is much like the sad account of Lot. Abram gave Lot the first choice of the land where he would settle by saying, “If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left” (Gen. 13:9). Of course, Lot chose what he considered the best land, but we are told he “pitched his tents near Sodom. Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD” (vv. 12 – 13).

The fact that Lot “pitched his tents near Sodom,” which was well known for its wickedness, should be a red flag to us. Attempting to pitch our tents at the edge of the world’s wickedness will never work out well for us either.

Lord, help me remember: “The world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:14). Help me walk in that glorious truth, and may I never have simply the “form of godliness” while “denying its power” in my life” (2 Tim. 3:5).