What Are You Cleaving to?

What are you cleaving to?

My favorite definition of the word cleave is to "follow hard after" or to "adhere to"; which makes me think of glue. In other words, what are you glued to? What do you pursue with all your heart?

Some cleave to their career, their idols, their past, but the christian cleaves to Christ. We realize that Christ is all we have, our only hope, our righteousness, our only refuge in the storm, and our Advocate in the Judgement to come.

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. Acts 11:23 KJV

Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name. Deuteronomy 10:20 KJV

But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the LORD charged you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. Joshua 22:5


That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. Deuteronomy 30:20 KJV

Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. Deuteronomy 13:4 KJV

Definitions of "Cleave":

to cling, cleave, keep close
NASB Word Usage
cleaves (4), cling (14), clings (3), closely pursued (1), closer (1), clung (4), deeply attracted (1), fasten its grip (1), follow closely (1), held fast (1), hold (2), hold fast (2), holding fast (1), joined (2), joined together (1), overtake (1), overtook (5), pursued him closely (1), pursued them closely (1), remained steadfast (1), stay (1), stay close (1), stayed close (1), stick (1), stick together (1), stuck (2). NASB Concordance

abide fast, cleave fast together, follow close hard after, be joined together
A primitive root; properly, to impinge, i.e. Cling or adhere; figuratively, to catch by pursuit -- abide fast, cleave (fast together), follow close (hard after), be joined (together), keep (fast), overtake, pursue hard, stick, take. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance


I wrote this poem late last night as I studied the significance of cleaving to the Lord.


Cleave to Christ

When those you love betray you and the enemy surrounds,
When your many imperfections are more than you can count.
Cleave to Christ.

When you start to feel discouraged and your loaded down with cares,
When you haven’t heard an answer from the hours spent in prayer.
Cleave to Christ.

When the narrow way is lonely and your faith begins to wane,
When others try to tell you that your faith has been in vain.
Cleave to Christ.

When the cross is hard to carry and it feels like you are failing,
When the warnings that you’ve shared looks like they are unavailing.
Cleave to Christ.

When the finish line to heaven is hard to keep in sight,
When the dawning of the morning is being hid by night.
Cling to Christ.

When the only song your singing is a mourning over sin,
And the anguish of lost souls has been a heaviness within.
Cleave to Christ.

When life’s final breath is taken and our pilgrimage complete,
And we’re passing through death’s valley onto the golden streets.
Cling to Christ.

Our only rest and refuge is Christ in Whom we cleave,
His promises uphold us if by faith we do believe.