November 9 Petition Mission

“The Lord repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge” (Ruth 2:12).

This has often been a prayer of mine for those who have helped us in ways we cannot reciprocate. The Lord certainly can make it up to them on our behalf. In the end, only the Lord can give His faithful servants “a full reward,” and He certainly will do that!

The word for “wings” here is kanaph and is used again in the threshing-floor scene in chapter 3, where Ruth asks Boaz, “Take your maidservant under your wing (KJV, “skirt”), for you are a close relative [near kinsman]” (v 9). This is the same word for the garment hem where the ribbon of blue was to be affixed (see Num 15:38). There was promised healing in that hem of Messiah (Mal 4:2), a promise taken seriously by the woman in Matthew 9:20. Today we might pray, “How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings” (Ps 36:7).