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"Under His Wings" There Is Protection · Enjoying the Journey

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  The Book of Ruth begins in dark days,
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  but even in the darkness, God was at work.
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  Through loss, uncertainty, and unexpected turns,
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  we discover a beautiful story of grace,
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  redemption, and hope. Join Scott Pauley for this
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  new study, The Gospel According to Ruth. Light for
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  Dark Days.
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  I want to share with you today one of the most beautiful and powerful descriptions
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  in all of scripture. You know, God is amazing
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  in the way he communicates to human beings, the,
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  the verbiage that he uses, the visual imagery
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  that he uses in scripture. He really is of the master teacher
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  and communicator. He draws pictures for us so that we can
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  see the truth that he is saying to us. And one of those phrases
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  is couched in Ruth chapter number 2.
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  I want to pick up in verse number 10 where Ruth falls
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  on her face and she asks this question of Boaz, her redeemer:
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  Why have I found grace in thine eyes
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  that thou shouldest take knowledge of me seeing I am
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  a stranger? Isn't that the question we all want to ask? Lord,
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  why would you love sinners like us? But God commendeth his love
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  toward us in that while we were yet sinners,
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  Christ died for us, Romans chapter 5, verse number 8 tells us.
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  So we have the same question. We marvel
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  at the grace of God. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
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  that saved a wretch like me. I once
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  was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see.
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  And so that is the— that's the question. Now the answer that
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  Boaz gives is, I think, profound.
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  Beginning in verse number 11, Boaz answered and said unto her,
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  it hath fully been showed me all that thou
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  hast done unto thy mother-in-law since the death of thine husband,
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  and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother in the land of thy
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  nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore, The Lord
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  recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee
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  of the Lord God of Israel. Now this is the key phrase: under
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  whose wings thou art come to trust.
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  Do you hear the phrase under his wings?
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  Under whose wings thou art come to trust. At a glance, when you
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  read verse 11 and verse 12, you think, well, she's getting all this
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  blessing because of what she did. She's getting all
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  this blessing because of her works and, and of
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  her, uh, effort. But when you come to
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  the bottom line of his answer, all of that simply
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  grew out of faith. This is very important
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  because we know that in scripture we're taught that salvation comes
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  not of works which we have done, lest any man should boast, but rather
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  it's all by the grace of God. It is by grace through
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  faith. But James teaches us in the New Testament that
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  a faith that works is a working faith,
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  that if it's genuine faith, that faith will be produced—
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  producing obedience, that we will obey
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  the Lord, will follow the Lord Jesus Christ. And so did Ruth
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  follow? Yes. Did she obey? Yes.
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  Did she make right decisions? Yes. But all of that
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  was really the outgrowth of one thing. It was
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  her simple faith in the Lord
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  Jesus, in our Lord God. And he uses this imagery,
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  under whose wings thou art come to trust. He continues,
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  look at verse 13. She says to him, let me find favor in thy
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  sight, my lord, for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoke
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  friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine handmaidens.
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  And Boaz said unto her, at mealtime come thou hither and
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  eat of the bread and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside
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  the reapers, and he reached her parched corn, and she did eat and
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  was sufficed and left. And when she was risen up to glean,
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  Boaz commanded his young men, saying, let her glean even among the sheaves and reproach
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  her not. And let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her and
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  leave them, that she may glean them and rebuke her not. So she
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  gleaned in the field unto even and beat out that she had gleaned, and it
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  was about an ephah of barley. So all these
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  blessings come as a result of one thing.
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  And what was that one thing? She had come to trust
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  the Lord God, under whose wings
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  thou art come to trust. Do you understand that every good thing in
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  our life comes because of grace?
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  And it comes by faith. Let me repeat that: every good
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  thing in our life comes because of grace and
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  by faith. Don't miss those 2 key elements,
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  the 2 vital ingredients in Ruth, because remember Ruth
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  said that Boaz showed grace to her, and Boaz in
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  turn said, I showed this grace because of your trust,
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  or because of your faith. I think
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  sometimes we get the idea that God just
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  haphazardly blesses people. He, he just decides
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  he's going to do something for people at
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  random, flipping a coin in heaven. Friends, that's not how God works.
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  God has a sovereign plan and purpose. God is at work in this world,
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  but God is revealing himself to man. Man is responding to God,
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  and then God in turn responds to man's
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  response to him. Sometimes we have the idea
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  that people get blessed because of some effort on
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  their part. And while I believe in hard work and I certainly believe
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  in obedience, I want you to know that all of that must be rooted in
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  faith, because it's not us, friends, it's all the Lord.
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  Now, this phrase, under his wings, we're going to come back to
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  I want to show you that this expression is used throughout scripture to
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  reveal both the strength and the tenderness of God, his care and keeping
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  of his children, peace in turmoil,
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  and divine safety in dangerous times. In fact,
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  let me give you just a little footnote to this. Perhaps you
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  can begin looking them up on your own. There are approximately 55
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  different references to wings in the Bible.
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  And most often those wings are a symbol of strength. For example,
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  the eagle lifting up— here it is coming under.
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  But in both of those analogies or imageries, the idea
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  is the strength, the wing strength.
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  So we, we come under his wings. But let me begin
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  by showing you the implications of this. What does it mean to trust the Lord?
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  What does it mean to come under his wings? Well, first of all,
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  It is a picture of protection. We're sheltered,
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  not from all trouble. No, Ruth had her problems.
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  I have my problems. You're going to have your problems. But we are sheltered
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  from eternal loss. Do you understand that the devil
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  cannot get to you, and evil cannot
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  harm you, and hell cannot touch you because
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  you are under his wings. And so the idea
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  here is that there is— there's safety, there is protection
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  in that. Mr. Moody, D.L. Moody, left Great Britain after
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  a year of ministry in 1892, and 3 days out of port, their ship
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  ground to a halt. There was a broken shaft and they started
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  taking on water. And after about 2 days, the situation got so
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  desperate Moody called a prayer meeting,
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  and they said that the ship was rocking and reeling And
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  so Mr. Moody held on to a pillar, uh, on board
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  that ship, and he opened his Bible to Psalm 91.
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  And Psalm 91, of course, is a famous psalm,
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  but this is the way it begins: He that dwelleth in
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  the secret place of the Most High shall abide
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  under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord,
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  he is my refuge and my fortress, My God,
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  in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee
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  from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome pestilence. Now listen to verse
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  number 4: He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under
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  his wings shalt thou trust. His truth shall be thy shield and
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  buckler. Do you hear the exact same expression? Under his wings they've come to trust.
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  He later said that in the darkest hour of his life, when he thought he
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  might die, God sent relief through Psalm 91 in
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  a season of prayer. He went to bed, went to sleep, and a ship came
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  and rescued them all. Oh, aren't you glad that we belong to the God who
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  can be trusted? He is trustworthy, and you can come under his wings
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  to find protection.
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  Thank you for joining us for today's study. If you've enjoyed
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  this journey through Ruth, visit us at etj.bible
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  and explore our Journey Through Scripture section, where you'll find overviews, Bible teaching,
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  and preaching for every book of the Bible.
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  keep following God's Word and finding Christ's joy.