Leaving and Cleaving
By Phil Wainright
By leaving we are able to cleave! If we are not willing to leave, it is impossible for us to cleave. To often, people tend to cleave to things they should leave, and leave the things to which they should cleave. God teaches us about leaving and Cleaving through the example of the Husband and Wife. Gen. 2:24, “a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” The word “leave” means, to loose, to depart from, to leave behind (Strong). The word “cleave” means, to cling, to stick to, to join (Thayer).
Jesus quoted Gen. 2:24 and added, “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” “Put asunder” means to place room between, to part, to separate. In Eph. 5:31-32 Paul also quotes Gen. 2:24 and says, “This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” God is looking for a people that will cleave wholly to Him, just as a husband and wife cleave to one another.
Instructions on “cleaving unto the Lord,” beginning with the Old Testament. Deut. 11:22, “For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you to do, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to cleave unto Him.” Notice keeping His Word, love the LORD and walk in all His ways, is cleaving to Him. God has spoken to mankind about things that please Him and things that displease Him. If we please Him there is blessing. He calls for a people simply to love Him. This is the glue that enables us to cleave to Him, no matter whatever trials and troubles may come. Deut. 13:4, “Ye shall walk after the LORD your God. And fear him and obey His voice, you shall serve and cleave unto him.” Fear Him means to revere or reverence (strong). Recognizing He is the God of the universe, obey His voice. If we are not careful, we tend to obey God only when it is something we want to do and disobey when we would rather not, like a child would. Serve Him, and coming to a place of perfection in our spiritual lives, we will develop as God intends.
What does it means to cleave unto the Lord? Acts 11:23, “Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.” We must purpose in our hearts to cleave unto the Lord. Eph. 6:6, “…doing the will of God from the heart.” In our relationship with the Lord, difficult things need to be decided. Mt. 10:35-37, “For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, the daughter against her mother…A man’s foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.” “Variance” means “to make apart, to sunder, alienate. There may be relationships that we simply must leave behind if we are to cleave wholly unto the Lord.
Rom. 12:9, “Let love be without dissimulation (hypocrisy), unfeigned. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.” Our society seems to abhor that which is evil less and less. II Thess. 2:12, Paul states, “That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” We must not conform to society, there are choices to be made.
Col. 3:14, “And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” Love is what causes us to leave certain things, like old pleasures and to cleave to the Lord. Love binds us together. Col. 2:2, “That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ.” Spiritual maturity leads to a love for one another and love for the Lord Jesus Christ. “And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” – Rom. 5:5.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” – Rom. 8:35. The word separate here means to “put asunder.” There is no power that can separate us from the love of God. A song that I have grown to love is entitled. “I am His, and He is Mine.” Some of my favorite phrases are, “In a love which cannot cease;” “His forever, only His;” “Who the Lord and me shall part?” May we learn to respond to that same love!
