Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. Ruth 1:14

Naomi had just urged her two daughters-in-law to return to Moab, to go back to their families and the familiarity of home. With remarkable grace, she blessed them both, releasing them with love. One daughter-in-law wept, kissed Naomi goodbye, and turned back toward Moab. Her tears were real, but her decision was final. The other daughter-in-law, however, could not move. She clung to Naomi and perhaps she couldn’t even articulate why.

There are connections between souls that defy logic. When they are God-breathed, they transcend age or even distance. They are rare and holy. When such a bond forms, life feels aligned and deeply right. When it’s severed, even by miles or years, an ache lingers.  God binds hearts together for His eternal purposes. 

Orpah made her choice to return to Moab. Ruth, however, couldn’t consider separation. Perhaps she felt the weight of destiny and that transcended sacrifice.  Naomi had made the cost clear: to follow her meant leaving everything—home, family, culture, even the gods she once trusted. It was a call to foreign soil, unfamiliar people, and an uncertain future. Yet Ruth’s heart already knew what her decision would be.

I understand that kind of call. When Jesus invites me to follow Him, it always comes with a cost. He asks me to release the familiar, old securities, comfortable thought patterns, the people or places that once defined me. Each time, love and connection constrain me.  Like Ruth, I cannot turn back. His presence has become my home, and to walk away from Him would be to lose everything that makes life worth living.

To follow You, Lord, is to surrender all.  Not to follow would be an unbearable loss.  So I cling to You and I will not let go of Your hand. Amen.