Orpah's choice became her destiny.
Haunting words really. Both Ruth and Orpah were given the same choice, whether to follow Naomi to her native land of Israel. Ruth elected to follow Naomi, but Orpah chose to remain in Moab.
And, Orpah's choice became her destiny.
I suppose what bothers me is the finality of her choice. Did she have any clue as to what she was passing up? Might Orpah, instead of Ruth, have become the wife of Boaz and grandmother of King David had she followed Naomi. Esau chose pottage over birthright; Saul chose to persecute David; Joab chose treason; Judas chose betrayal; and Pilate chose to wash his hands. Their choice became their destiny too.
This business of our choice is frightening in its eternal implications. I always picture a road that forks to the right and left. You choose one of the two roads and in a bit, you find another fork in the road. And, then another, and another, and another, and another. Soon your choices have either taken you so far away from your destination that you are hopelessly lost, or you have gotten closer and closer and closer to your goal.
Choices grounded in faith and trust in Jesus Christ always lead you closer to your eternal home with God. Choices based in self-interest and sin always lead to destruction and misery and your eternal separation from the presence of God. Although we have all made wrong choices and traveled the wrong path away from God, "bridges" periodically arranged along our journey allow us to recognize our wrong choices and make our way back to God.
Even today there are "Orpah" choices that are forever final, choices that become our destiny. I have watched young teenagers make such choices. At first, their choices are somewhat innocent, perhaps a theft followed by a few lies along the way; later a cigarette or a beer or a little "weed" and then some pills. Soon they are 18 or 20 or 22 years old, and their innocence has faded; the eyes are jaded and cold, and any tender spirit they had toward God has been hardened like a rock. Those little choices, day after day, send them farther and farther down paths leading away from the things of God until they wake up not knowing where they are and, sadly, not knowing how to get back to where they were.
I've also seen young teenagers whose hearts were tender toward God making Godly choices as they grew. Now, years later, they are reaping the reward of those choices. A righteous life lived in close harmony and fellowship with God is a relationship that cannot be purchased or obtained by force or artifice. Meanwhile, the person who made the "Orpah" choice can only look longingly and wish they could go back in time, for one more chance to choose God's way.
Sometimes there are one or two more bridges of grace ahead. They lead from your path of destruction to God's road of righteousness. They are shaped like a cross. It is one more opportunity to get back to God. Take it!
Haunting words really. Both Ruth and Orpah were given the same choice, whether to follow Naomi to her native land of Israel. Ruth elected to follow Naomi, but Orpah chose to remain in Moab.
And, Orpah's choice became her destiny.
I suppose what bothers me is the finality of her choice. Did she have any clue as to what she was passing up? Might Orpah, instead of Ruth, have become the wife of Boaz and grandmother of King David had she followed Naomi. Esau chose pottage over birthright; Saul chose to persecute David; Joab chose treason; Judas chose betrayal; and Pilate chose to wash his hands. Their choice became their destiny too.
This business of our choice is frightening in its eternal implications. I always picture a road that forks to the right and left. You choose one of the two roads and in a bit, you find another fork in the road. And, then another, and another, and another, and another. Soon your choices have either taken you so far away from your destination that you are hopelessly lost, or you have gotten closer and closer and closer to your goal.
Choices grounded in faith and trust in Jesus Christ always lead you closer to your eternal home with God. Choices based in self-interest and sin always lead to destruction and misery and your eternal separation from the presence of God. Although we have all made wrong choices and traveled the wrong path away from God, "bridges" periodically arranged along our journey allow us to recognize our wrong choices and make our way back to God.
Even today there are "Orpah" choices that are forever final, choices that become our destiny. I have watched young teenagers make such choices. At first, their choices are somewhat innocent, perhaps a theft followed by a few lies along the way; later a cigarette or a beer or a little "weed" and then some pills. Soon they are 18 or 20 or 22 years old, and their innocence has faded; the eyes are jaded and cold, and any tender spirit they had toward God has been hardened like a rock. Those little choices, day after day, send them farther and farther down paths leading away from the things of God until they wake up not knowing where they are and, sadly, not knowing how to get back to where they were.
I've also seen young teenagers whose hearts were tender toward God making Godly choices as they grew. Now, years later, they are reaping the reward of those choices. A righteous life lived in close harmony and fellowship with God is a relationship that cannot be purchased or obtained by force or artifice. Meanwhile, the person who made the "Orpah" choice can only look longingly and wish they could go back in time, for one more chance to choose God's way.
Sometimes there are one or two more bridges of grace ahead. They lead from your path of destruction to God's road of righteousness. They are shaped like a cross. It is one more opportunity to get back to God. Take it!
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