Cleaving To The Lord

by SEDDON, J. W. | Category: N/a | May 2006

Ruth had come to the crossroads in her life; she had a decision to make that would result in blessing far beyond anything she could ever imagine.

Should she return to her own people, back to the familiar places she had known from her childhood and the security of her own family? Or, should she go with her mother-in-law Naomi to a strange land she knew so little about - Judah, a land which had been blighted with famine and known the judgement of God upon it?

Orpah decided to go back to her people in Moab and we never hear of her again in the Scriptures. But concerning Ruth we read that �she clung to� Naomi and said,

�"Entreat me not to leave you,

Or to turn back from following after you;

For wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge;

Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God"� (Ruth 1:16).

That decision to �cling� (or cleave, RV) to Naomi gave Ruth the honoured place some 1300 years later in Matthew�s genealogy of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Concerning Hezekiah King of Judah we read, �he held fast (or clung) to the LORD; he did not depart from following Him� (2 Kin.18:6). Hezekiah was born in a time of great apostasy as far as Israel and Judah were concerned and that condition prevailed until the time he occupied the throne of Judah. Like Ruth, he would reach �decision time� in his life. Should he walk in the ways of his father Ahaz who �did not do what was right in the sight of the LORD� or should he risk being unpopular, as no doubt he would be if he were to cleanse Judah of all her idolatry and misdemeanours and take his stand against the might and power of Sennacherib King of Assyria? Hezekiah made his decision. �For he held fast to the LORD; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the LORD had commanded Moses. The LORD was with him; he prospered wherever he went� (2 Kin.18:6,7).

In Acts 11 we find that, through the persecution of Stephen and the scattering of the disciples, the word of God spread to Antioch in Syria where they heard the gospel preached to them, resulting in a great number who believed, turning to the Lord. When the church in Jerusalem heard that the Gospel had borne fruit in Antioch, they sent Barnabas, who, �when he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad, and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart, they should continue with (cleave to, RV) the Lord� (v.23).

The word �purpose� presents the thought of �setting forth�, or �to present�.

The same word is used in the New Testament for the show-bread in Hebrews 9:2. Referring to the holy place of the Tabernacle we read, �in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread� or �the setting forth of the loaves� (RV margin). The twelve loaves were presented to the Lord every Sabbath as a continual memorial before Him. We mention this to show the significance of the word �purpose� and suggest it means, setting forth of the heart, in a continual sense.

So the new disciples at Antioch were exhorted to do two things: to continually set forth their hearts to the Lord; and to continue with (�cleave to� RV) the Lord.

So whether it is cling to, hold fast to, or continue with, the thought is to stay with the Lord. The same thought is expressed in the word Christian, a word given by the Romans to believers to signify adherents of Jesus and though at first used as an expression of scorn, it was accepted by believers as a title of honour �and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch� (Acts 11:26). The words in Acts 11 have a very loud voice for us today, that we, too, should continually set forth or present our hearts to the Lord.

How then do we set forth our hearts continually before the Lord? By cleaving to Him. The Lord expects from you and me to Him, the same attitude that Ruth had towards Naomi. She declared, �"Wherever you go, I will go; � wherever you lodge, I will lodge"�; and Peter likewise, �"Lord I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death"� (Luke 22:33), and he did. We need to be spiritual barnacles, cleaving to the Lord.

SEDDON, J. W. | May 2006
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