God’s Hedge Around Us
“O satisfy us in the morning with Your loving-kindness, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.” Psalm 90:14
Years ago I heard a powerful teaching at a seminar about the way God places a hedge of protection around His kids. One of my favorite devotional authors, Glynn Evans, shared a teaching yesterday on this topic in his classic devotional, Daily with the King (Moody Press):
The great gospel message is that in Christ Jesus I am free! Thank You, Lord, for this truth. But it is just as true that IN CHRIST JESUS I am bound, hobbled, hedged and limited. My freedom is really only my freedom to change hobbles and to realize that Satan, my former hobbler, meant only viciousness for me while Christ, my new hobbler, intends only eternal welfare and good for me.
You said about Israel, “I will hedge up her way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her so that she cannot find her paths.” (Hosea 2:6) This was the wall of CONFINEMENT. Whenever we rebel against You and grow surly, as Israel did, a confining hedge will always be placed around us. Despite its confinement, that hedge was an expression of Your love, Lord. It shows the extent to which You will go to protect Your children from sinning, and, therefore, from reaping a sad harvest.
Job had a confining hedge also. Satan said, “Hast Thou not made a hedge about Him?” (Job 1:10) Thank You for this hedge, Lord. It is a hedge of PROTECTION around an obedient child f Yours to keep out the external enemy.
Lord, You build a hedge around every one of Your children. I may, if I will, break through the hedge and run pell-mell after my own selfish desires. But if I do, the consequences will be mine also. If I stay within the hedge, the consequences are Yours.
Thank You for Your hedges, Lord, whether illness, poverty, disappointment, sorrow, alienation, or whatever. I find my freedom when I realize that the hedge is not a confinement of my love for You, or Yours for me. It does not hinder my obedience to You, but makes me free to be abandoned to all the glories of a God-planned life.
Can you think back over your walk with the Lord and identify the hedges of confinement and protection that He has placed in YOUR life? If so, thank Him for the hedges. – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick
Compass Pointers: May the power of your love, Lord Christ, fiery and sweet as honey, so absorb our hearts as to withdraw them from all that is under heaven. Grant that we may be ready to die for love of your love, as you died for love of our love. Francis of Assisi
Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 11:19; Level 2: Proverbs 11:8-13
Anchored to the Rock: A wicked man in prayer may lift up his hands, but he cannot lift up his face. Thomas Watson
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