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"Under His Wings" We Have Provision · Enjoying the Journey

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  The Book of Ruth begins in dark days, but even
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  in the darkness, God was at work. Through loss,
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  uncertainty, and unexpected turns, we discover
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  a beautiful story of grace, redemption,
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  and hope. Join Scott Pauley for this new study, The Gospel
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  According to Ruth. Light for Dark Days.
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  My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is
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  made perfect in weakness. That's what
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  the Lord God said to the Apostle Paul at the weakest moment
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  of his life. And I want you to know that scripture is
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  given to show us the divine sufficiency, that we are
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  not enough but the Lord is enough,
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  that, that men are not enough but God
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  always is. We return today to Ruth chapter number 2
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  and to this amazing picture of coming under our Lord's
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  wings. This is really what it means to, to put your
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  trust in the Lord, to have confidence in him. We run
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  to him, we hide in him, And he shelters us.
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  We learned in our last study of Ruth chapter number 2 that
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  to come under his wings means that he protects
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  us. He is, he's caring for us.
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  And by the way, there is no safe place if you're
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  not a saved person. If you don't know the Lord Jesus as your
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  personal Savior, there's nowhere you can hide when the Lord comes back someday,
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  when judgment falls on this earth. There will be nowhere
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  to hide. In fact, Jesus said that on that day, men are going to cry
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  out for the rocks to fall on them to hide
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  them from the wrath of the Lamb. But nothing will hide us
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  from the wrath of God on that day. You cannot hide from
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  God, but you can hide in God. And that's what it
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  means to come under his wings. It means to have protection. And I want to
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  just remind you that the world has no wings. There's no safety
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  in this world. There's no protection for your soul, for your
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  eternity in this world. None of that in Moab,
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  friends. No, you must come to the Lord God and
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  trust him, and in him you find protection.
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  But then, this is very important, because God doesn't just want you to survive,
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  he wants you to live in his sufficiency. God didn't give just enough grace
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  for you to eke by and endure. No, he gives
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  the, the kind of sufficient grace so that you can press on,
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  so that you'll have all that you need in him. So secondly, I want you
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  to know that under his wings, not only is there protection, but it
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  means provision. You see,
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  to come under the wings of someone means that they're going to nourish
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  you, they're going to, to meet your deepest needs.
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  And you find that in Ruth chapter number 2. He says— Boaz says to
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  Ruth in verse number 12, the Lord recompense thy work.
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  And a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of
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  Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust. Now, was Boaz
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  going to be a blessing to her? Yes. And the verses that follow,
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  he's going to give the handfuls of purpose, he's going to reach her parched corn.
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  There are going to be many blessings that come from Boaz's hand. But I think
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  this is very important. Though there may be many channels, there's only one source.
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  And Boaz is acknowledging that all of the sufficiency is
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  not from him, it is rather from the Lord.
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  Every blessing that comes into our life,
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  though it may come through many means and God may use many delivery boys,
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  it always comes from God's good hand.
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  James said it this way in James 1: Every good and every perfect
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  gift cometh down from above, from the Father
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  of lights, in whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning. Now, why is it
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  important to say that it comes down, because it reminds us to look up.
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  If you're not careful, you start looking around you, you start looking to
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  people for their sustaining help and for their
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  sustenance. No, don't ever do that. You start leaning on
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  men, men will disappoint you. That's a, that's a terrible way to live.
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  And God will let all the crutches get knocked out from under you so
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  you'll learn to lean on him alone. And don't lean on your own understanding,
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  lean on the Lord. Keep your eyes on God. He is
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  the great provider. He is Jehovah Jireh, and the
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  provision always comes from the God of all sufficiency.
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  Read through Ruth chapter 2 again. Look at all these terms and the tone
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  through the passage. Only God can give a full
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  reward. Only God can give a true recompense.
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  That is not in man's power to do. I said to you in
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  our last study that this particular picture
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  of coming under the wings of something or someone is
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  used throughout scripture. Let me give you a little sampling of what I'm talking about
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  today. May I— go with me to the Psalms. Let's compare scripture with scripture,
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  and you will see this protection and provision element
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  in each of these places. For example, David writes in Psalm 36 and verse
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  number 7, how excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God!
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  Therefore the children of men put their trust
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  under the shadow of thy wings. They shall be abundantly
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  satisfied with the fatness of thy house, and thou shalt make them
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  drink of the rivers of thy pleasure. What is he saying? He is saying
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  that there is safety and sufficiency, there is protection,
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  and there is provision by trusting in the Lord.
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  Again, Psalm 57, verse 1, he writes from a cave,
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  be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me.
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  For my soul trusteth in thee. Yea, in the shadow
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  of thy wings will I make my refuge until
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  these calamities be overpassed. He's running from
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  Saul, but he's hiding in the Lord. And in the Lord he
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  finds both the, the shadow of the wings, the refuge,
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  the protection, but also the provision that he needed.
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  Again, Psalm 61 and verse number 4: I will abide
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  in thy tabernacle forever. I will trust in the COVID
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  or the covering, of thy wings. Selah.
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  The idea here is we find our refuge in the Lord. Just across
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  the page, Psalm 63, verse 7: Because thou hast been my help, he writes,
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  therefore in the shadow of thy wings will
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  I rejoice. Isn't that beautiful? We're not just safe, we're singing.
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  We don't just have refuge, we're rejoicing. By the way, when David wrote
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  Psalm 63, he He was in the wilderness of Judah. Think about this.
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  When you're out in the desert, you're in the wilderness, do you know what you
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  need? You need some shadow friends. You need a hiding place.
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  You need a refuge. And where did he find that? He found
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  that by hiding in the Lord. It's the same picture
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  we read in our last study in Psalm 91 of coming under the wings
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  of our great God, because there you
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  find protection. And there you find provision.
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  Now, can I give you a little picture here of why this imagery is
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  so vital and what it would have meant to these Jewish
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  believers? Really, it's twofold. On one hand,
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  it's a picture of a mother, like a mother hen.
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  Remember Jesus said, oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
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  how often would I have gathered thee as a hen would gather chicks, but ye
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  would not? That was what he was saying. I would like you to come under
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  my wings, but you, you ran the other direction.
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  So it's a picture of the motherly heart of our Heavenly
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  Father. Can I ask you a question? Who gave mothers their
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  mother's heart? The Heavenly Father did. You see, he loves
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  and cares. He is strong as a father, tender as a
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  mother, nurturing and nourishing. But there's a second picture of this that
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  Israel would have immediately seen with this phrase, under his wings.
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  It's not only a picture of the motherly heart of God, it is also a
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  picture of the mercy seat. Do you remember that mercy seat,
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  the place where the blood was sprinkled,
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  the place where the Shekinah glory came down, the place where they met
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  with God, that the safe place?
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  Now this is very important. Over top that mercy seat, there were
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  cherubim, these angelic beings carved
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  And if you looked at the mercy seat, you would have seen their wings were
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  outstretched. Literally, the mercy seat was under those
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  wings. It was the place of protection and provision.
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  It was the place of safety and security and sufficiency.
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  You see the picture here of our salvation. Run to
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  the Lord today. Don't run from him. Run to the Lord today.
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  Don't run to men. Run to the Lord today. And under his wings
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  you can trust.
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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
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  at etj.bible. Until next time,
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  keep following God's word and finding Christ's
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  joy.