Daily Devotional

“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). 

Have you ever heard of geckel? North-western University researchers have combined the sticking capabilities of geckos and mussels to make a super adhesive that lasts through a thousand or more contact cycles and boasts a powerful clinging ability—even underwater! 

The Bible tells of a woman named Ruth with amazing “clinging” ability. An Israelite man, his wife, and their two sons had moved to Moab to escape the worst of a severe famine. After the father died, his wife Naomi and her sons stayed in the country, and the sons married Moabite women. Orpah was one of them; Ruth was the other. 

Tragically, the two young men died also, and the grief-stricken Naomi decided to return to her homeland in Judah. The three women set off together, but Naomi urged her daughters-in-law to return to their parents’ homes. She kissed them goodbye and blessed them. They all wept, and the young women stated their desire to go with her. 

Again, Naomi encouraged them to go home. “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Are there still sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? … No, my daughters” (Ruth 1:11, 13). There was no reason they should go with her, she argued. Although she loved them, she had nothing to offer them. 

At this point, Orpah kissed Naomi and went home. The Bible says, “but Ruth clung to her” (verse 14). One last time, Naomi pointed her back to Moab. Instead, Ruth’s response was, “Don’t ask me to leave you.” She pledged to stay with Naomi, to adopt her people and her God, to live and to die in her land. Naomi, crushed by grief, must have been greatly comforted by Ruth’s resolve to stick with her. 

Do you take comfort in Jesus’ loving resolve to never leave you? 

Precious Jesus, how blessed we are to have in You a friend who sticks closer than a brother!