🌼Orpah [1

Happy new week, family. 🌸 Today, I want us to look closely at the life of a woman called Orpah. Her story is found in the book of Ruth.

Although not much is recorded about her, she doesn’t even have a single line of dialogue in scripture she is still a woman worthy of being spoken about. I believe her life serves as a quiet yet powerful template we can learn from, and some of us may even see ourselves in her story. You might be wondering: What could we possibly learn from someone who barely appears in the biblical narrative? The answer is this, we will learn from the little that is written. We meet Orpah in Ruth chapter 1, where we discover that she was married to one of Naomi’s sons, Kilion.

I have no idea how long she was married to Kilion but scripture says they were in Moab for ten years before the death of the males in the family. That must’ve been quite a short marriage.

“These sons married women from Moab. The name of one wife was Orpah. The name of the other wife was Ruth. Naomi and her sons lived in Moab about ten years. Then Mahlon and Kilion also died. So Naomi was left alone without her husband or her two sons.”

‭‭Ruth‬ ‭1‬:‭4‬-‭5‬ ‭ICB‬‬

I know some people who got married believing, in their heart of hearts, that they would walk together for the next 50 years. Young couples, full of dreams yet tragedy struck. Prophetess Anna is another example. You can meet the love of your life, make plans to have children in five years, build your home together, and then right in the early years of bliss, one passes away.

How do you rise from those ashes of grief?Orpah had no children. Perhaps she sometimes regretted not having them sooner. The truth is, no one can ever prepare for loss. You can’t say, “I’m ready to lose this person.” The pain is always fresh, always different. You can’t even say, “I’ve lost people before, so I’m used to it.” No one ever gets used to the pain of burying a loved one.

Some years ago, my mom told me, “The pain of losing a husband is like losing yourself, because you have known this person as a part of you so deeply that you’ve never learned how to live life without them in it.” I imagine Orpah must have thought, “My husband and I will grow old together.” But she didn’t know his time was short, and that she would have to learn how to live without him.

One of the hardest things about death is that the person no longer exists in any part of the world. They didn’t just travel. They’re not missing. They’re not visiting family. They simply no longer exist in the land of the living. And the reality that you can’t find them anywhere; not in the next room, not across town, not even on the other side of the world but only in pictures, videos, and memories… that’s what cuts the deepest. Orpah didn’t even have a photo or a video to hold on to. It’s like you’ve just told your friends, “Things are looking up,” and now you have to go back and say, “Things have changed.”

People of God, things change.

You don’t have all the time with that friend you’re keeping malice with. The parents you don’t respect or show love to. The siblings you fight with constantly, saying, “I don’t care if they died,” really? You don’t have all the time with those you will outlive, or those who will outlive you. Some people say, “Don’t speak about death, we might die,” but scripture is clear: death is a reality for us all.

Whether you will grieve them, or they will grieve you, the truth is, you don’t have a million years to live. Oh, you need to win the soul of that brother, now. You need to make the decision to follow Christ, now. Some people will not be here next year, whether we like it or not. Some people only have a few months to live. That’s why hospital evangelism is critical. This is not to scare anyone or introduce fear, but to awaken us to reality: you never know when the last time you see someone will be. So make it count.

Be kind.

Be dependable.

Love people.

Serve God.

And remember there’s only one of that person. You don’t want to lose them without having loved them well.

Above all, remember this: grief is not meant to last forever. God heals.

May He heal every broken heart and comfort every soul that has lost a loved one. We see it in scripture, and we see it in our own lives, God is faithful to comfort, heal, and restore our hearts. And maybe you didn’t lose someone to death, but they left your life in another way. Even that pain ; the grief of someone still alive, God can heal. God will heal. See you tomorrow for Part 2.

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