6. The Choice of Orpah

The Choice of Orpah

"And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, Go, return each to her mother’s house: the Lord deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me. The Lord grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice, and wept. And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people. And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters: why will ye go with me? are there yet any more sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have an husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should have an husband also to night, and should also bear sons; Would ye tarry for them till they were grown? would ye stay for them from having husbands? nay, my daughters; for it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord is gone out against me. And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother in law; but Ruth clave unto her. And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law. " (Ruth 1:8-15) Her two daughters-in-law said, ’We will go with you’. They went a certain distance, until Naomi told them to go back because there was no prospect with her, no, not naturally, she had nothing to offer to them. Well, Orpah was very courteous, she kissed her mother-in-law and she left her, and went back to her people and to her gods. It was obvious that the connection that Orpah had with these dear people from Israel had had no effect whatsoever on her, she had not benefited from the instruction that Naomi, I believe, gave to them - so she went back. Oh, it is a very sad thing when we see people going back to their gods, to their people, after making a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and going on for a short time because the company is encouraging, or because certain things are advantageous, and then a test comes, and they give up and they go back; what a sad thing it is to see. I do trust before the Lord that if anyone here has failed in that way, oh, may the Lord help you to do that which is right before Him. Do not be too proud to come back, do not be too proud to follow the Lord with His people. Humble yourself under His hand and you will find a blessing; do not go away. I trust there is not one here this evening who has a desire in his or her heart to go away; the seeds of that, perhaps, working in their mind, ’What is the use of a Christian testimony, the opposition is too strong, I do not see much fruit in it, there is no pleasure in it, so I am going to give up.’

Recently our hearts were saddened by a young lad who said this kind of thing, ’I do not get any pleasure in the meetings, I am not going to go any more.’ Well, for a Christian, the pleasure is not in the meetings, though thank God for all the pleasure that we do get in the meetings! Our links are with our Lord Jesus Christ, and if they are not strong, if they are not real and vital, we will be like that young man, we will soon give up. But I would say, and I am sure there are many more who would say, that the happiest moments of my life have been spent in fellowship with the believers, the happiest moments that ever I have enjoyed; and I know that many more here would say the same, and we would encourage you if you do feel like giving up to keep hanging on. There are difficulties, we are all conscious of them, but do not go back to the things that you refused perhaps a few years ago, do not let the enemy get the victory, rely upon Christ and His strength, and keep going on and you will find a blessing eventually.