The Blessing of Faithfulness
And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people. …and Orpah kissed her mother in law; but Ruth clave unto her. -Ruth 1:10, 14
Here we see two women, Ruth and Orpah: both had lost their husbands, and both had intended to stay with their mother-in-law, Naomi. We see similar intentions, but we see very different paths of action for these two sisters.
Orpah: loving, but not faithful
In the story of Ruth, we read in the Bible that both Ruth and Orpah were loving, and cared about their mother-in-law. Both of them wept when Naomi announced that she would be returning into the land of Canaan. Both kissed Naomi, and intended to go back with her. But, ultimately only Ruth was faithful.
Orpah changed her mind, not seeing the advantage or the benefit of remaining with her mother-in-law, nor in following her back into a strange land.
Ruth: a faithful friend
The very name Ruth means “a faithful friend.” And when her mother-in-law tried to persuade her into staying behind as Orpah did, Ruth would not be swayed: she wanted to stay true to Naomi. She gave this famous and touching speech:
And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me. -Ruth 1:16-17
A critical element of this speech was when she said: “your God will be my God.” In declaring that she would not only follow Naomi’s footsteps, but that she would also serve her God, forsaking the strange gods of her homeland, she secured a tremendous blessing upon herself from the one true God of Israel.
The blessing of faithfulness
As I explained in yesterday’s entry, God’s Comfort for the Afflicted, Ruth eventually ended up meeting and marrying a godly man, and become a parent in the lineage of Jesus Christ.
But the cause of this blessing came not by mere words of love spoken by Ruth, as Orpah spoke, but by her actions of faithfulness. Ruth truly loved her mother-in-law Naomi, and she would not leave her side for anything. It was through this true love—with nothing fake or shallow—that she was able to become a part of God’s amazing plan, and become blessed beyond measure.
In essence, true love acts, and does not merely speak:
My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. -1 John 3:18
Related posts:
Leave a Reply