“The Lord repay you for what you have done and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”
– Ruth 2:12
What a beautiful verse, what an awesome picture. Do you see it? A full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel under whose wings you have come to take refuge. Can you just picture your life right now in that way for all who’ve trusted in Jesus to forgive you of your sin, to fill you with His spirit, to reconcile you, to relationship with God for all who’ve confessed Jesus as savior and Lord of your life?
Jesus, we praise you for providing rest and refuge for us on the cross.
For all who are children of God to realize that right now, your life rests under the wings of the Lord, God Himself that you have refuge in Him, no matter what this world brings. Can you just picture yourself there right now under the wings of God with the refuge that He provides in a Psalm 46 kind of way?
Ruth 2:12 Reminds Us that God is Our Refuge
God is our refuge, our strength, and ever-present help in trouble. In the podcast episode from Ruth 1, we were praying specifically for people who are walking through hard times. Really regardless of what kind of times you are walking through, do you realize the rest and refuge and security that is yours at every single moment for all who know God, for all who walk with God, for all who know Jesus as savior and Lord of your life?
We all pray, O God, we are so thankful to be under your wings. We are so thankful for the refuge you are to us. In the middle of storms, you’re our refuge. In the middle of attacks, you are our refuge. And in the middle of trials and temptations, you are our refuge. We live, gladly live under your wings.
Ruth 2:12 Leads Us to Praise God for the Cross
We pray you’d help us to realize that’s our place or to help us to find our security moment by moment in you. Not in what this or that person says about us. Not in what achievement we have and this or that arena. That our security would be found in the fact that we are sheltered under your wings in this unshakeable security. This unshakable rest, and a refuge would permeate our minds and our hearts at all times.
Jesus, we praise you for making this possible for us on the cross. God, we pray, please use us to lead others to find refuge in you. Help us to point others today right around us to the refuge that is found in you amidst the storms and challenges of this world.
Praying for the People of Nigeria
And God, we pray that you would help us to lead others to refuge from you who are far from us in the world right now, God, for the Bade people of Nigeria, nearly half a million of them, especially in light of all the persecution that’s been happening in Nigeria on the eve on the violence toward Christians in Nigeria. God, we pray for Bade people. They would know.
God, we pray for our brothers and sisters in Nigeria, that they would know your refuge. And God, we pray that you would use them to lead the Bade people to know refuge in you. God, we praise you for the reality of Ruth 2:12 in each of our lives. Help us to realize we have the privilege of living moment. By moment under your wings to whom we have come for refuge. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
