No Fear Under God’s Care

My favorite book of the Bible is Ruth.  In my book, The Gospel According to Molly, I have a whole chapter based on Ruth 2:16.  The King James Bible really grasps the whole beauty of that passage more than any other version.  “And let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her.”  This is God’s promise to His people.  He will let fall for us “handfuls of purpose”.  By His loving design He drops in front of us all that we need.  He does it because He loves us and cares for us. 

In Ruth 3:11 Boaz, who had commanded his reapers to let grain fall for Ruth, said to Ruth, “Fear not.  I will do all that you request.”  Ruth was an outcast.  She was a foreigner from a hostile country.  She had no birthright to ever enter the tabernacle of God.  She was also the widowed wife of a near relative to Boaz.  Her request had been that Boaz would take her “under his wing” and fulfill the Jewish law of redemption of her dead husband’s property.  He would do this by marrying her and giving her a child.  Taking on a despised Moabite, a religious outcast, was no small thing.  There was a relative nearer to Ruth than Boaz was and he refused to do so.  Boaz, however, told her to fear not.  He would take care of her and her aging mother-in-law. 

In the account of Ruth, Boaz is the picture of Christ.  He is the Redeemer Kinsman.  Ruth is the picture of all the world.  We are outcasts by birth.  When we throw ourselves at the feet of His cross, as Ruth had thrown herself at Boaz’s feet, He will not reject us.  He will make us His bride and care for us.  The “handfuls of purpose” then become showers of blessings. 

Here again the grace of God replaces the fear of man.  Here we see the sacrificial care of our Redeemer.  Under His wing there need be no fear.  He loves us.  He hears us.  He cares for His own. 

William Cushing wrote the beautiful hymn, “Under His Wings”.  It contains the Redeemer’s promises for us. 

“Under His wings I am safely abiding, though the night deepens and tempests are wild, still I can trust Him; I know He will keep me, He has redeemed me, and I am His child.  Under His wings, under His wings, who from His love can sever? Under His wings my soul shall abide, safely abide forever.”

 

 

 

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