Praying a Hedge of Thorns

The first time I heard of this Biblical concept was from a friend I met soon after our move to the state of Texas. She and her husband had been through untold problems with their teenage son who seemed bent at the age of 15 to do his own thing even at the cost of breaking the hearts of his family. She spoke of their family beginning to pray a hedge of thorns around this son of theirs. It was just a foreign thing to me but made perfectly good sense in the light of Scripture. She spoke of all of the answers to these prayers that kept their son hedged in from his usual rebellious activity and even, at times, the way his friends were “mysteriously” kept away from him.

There are two examples of this concept in Scripture that are often referred to, the first being that of Job. Job was a good man and a Godly man. Although wealthy as the world would count wealth, he was devoted to those things that really mattered in life, especially his family. Job functioned as the priest of his family as God intended the man of the house to be. In Job 1:5 we find that Job sanctified his children “and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all.” Job prayed, “It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” That verse ends by saying that Job did this continually or consistently. He had seven sons and three daughters. His daily concern was for their salvation and spiritual welfare.

However, Satan was watching Job. Oh how he loves to pull the godly down to his own level. Satan picked Job to be his next special project. Satan managed to have a conversation with God and if Satan was intent on picking on someone, God suggested Job. I don't know God's purpose or thinking in this but He knew what He was doing. However, Satan saw a problem with this wonderfully righteous man. Satan's quick reply was that it was no wonder God picked Job because with all God had done for Job, Job wouldn't be an easy pushover.

Satan said to God in Job 1:10:  Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side?

Amazingly God lifted the hedge of protection around Job but limited Satan in what he could do to Job. Satan could not kill Job, but we find later that Satan did so much to Job that Job cursed the day he was born. Even in it all, God was right there. Job would know sorrow upon sorrow but would come forth as gold after the testing God allowed in his life.

Another prime example of the hedge of thorns of protection is in the book of Hosea. This book reveals to us a beautiful love story that symbolizes God's love for us and His redemptive work on behalf of men. We aren't sure if Gomer, the wife of Hosea was a prostitute prior to marriage, with Hosea knowingly marrying her, or if she turned to prostitution after her marriage. This Old Testament book illustrates the infidelity of the people of Israel and God's efforts to restore His people. She bore children for Hosea but was still bent on the ways of the world. It was a life of pure misery for Hosea and the entire family when Gomer forsook them and fled into the world to satisfy her own wants.

God finally told Hosea: 

Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.  And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.    Hosea 2:6,7a

Thorns come in all shapes and sizes, but they all have one special thing in common. They all have very sharp, pointed ends than can slice through human skin with little effort. When little, I thought the worse thorn I ever saw was on the stem of a rose and it hurt when I dared touch the point of it. Think of thorn bushes that usually have very little foliage. I can't imagine being hemmed in on all sides by such horrible hedges. No way would I want to walk through, break through, run through, climb over or crawl under such a hedge. God's hedge isn't going to be a physical one as just described. His thorns can take any number of shapes or forms where He makes use of various people or circumstances to deter ones determination to do evil. Those can be as bad as any real garden variety thorns.

When we think of thorns, we think of the crown of thorns pushed down on the forehead of Jesus prior to being nailed to the cross. Those were not thorns off of a small rose bush...they were long, pointed thorns that could do a great deal of damage to one's head....all for you and me.

When protected by God's hedge of thorns, one cannot get out from that encircled area nor can anyone get through unless they want to get pretty torn up in the process. God can lift that hedge if he feels we need testing, sharpened for further use to the Kingdom just as He did with Job. God's hedge can serve several purposes: protection, prevention of evil coming or going and God's purpose in one's life kept in tact. Our problem is that we don't know that this is a prayer we can pray for ourselves, family members or others that are of concern to us. Many parents pray for God's hedge of protection around their children who are living in rebellion. I hasten to say that this prayer isn't to be prayed just for those who are rebellious or who have rotten attitudes toward God. Our families are facing great stressers in our day. Satan is at work overtime wanting to trip them up any way he can. We must be faithful to pray. Not only do I pray this for children and grandchildren now, but did when children were in college or not living in our home. It can be prayed not just for family but for friends as well. I have prayed this for my church and pastor remembering that Satan is out after the church, it's people and it's pastors.

A word of caution...when we decide to pray for this hedge of protection, we must not be in the middle of our own sinful state praying that someone elses sinful state will improve. When praying for another, we should have our own doorstep cleaned off first.

We also can't pray other than with the purist of motives. We can't just want our lives to return to some normalcy even though that would be nice, that is if another person is causing us a great deal of discomfort. We can't have the attitude that we're sick and tired of rotten behavior and being embarrassed in front of the church congregation. Our prime concern

must be for the person we are praying for, child or adult and their spiritual welfare. I wonder how many of the prayers we pray out of wrong motives get canceled out because of our selfish desires.

Another thought...this isn't a prayer that we pray once and we're done. I pray this prayer most days for my children and their families. I want them to have God's special attention if such is ever possible. Again, this isn't a group of magic words we conjure up and then everything will be okay. As in everyone's life, God is still sovereign and sees our lives and the lives of our loved ones from His own perspective. He will work as He sees fit, but He loves our concern for others enough to ask this special thing of Him.

Let's pray boldly for friends and family whether for their protection or prevention of trouble...whether they know it or not, they are counting on you and me. I would also add that it can't hurt to pray for the salvation of our loved ones just as did Job. They don't have to know that we are doing such so as to save feelings of insult, but it can't hurt for us to pray in that direction anyway. I want those dear to me first of all knowing Jesus Christ as Savior and be in right relationship with Him. I then want to be faithful in prayerful support and with God's help to keep them protected form the evil one, his influence and his tactics that are so destructive.

Dear Father...Thank You for all You are doing in the lives of my family members. I pray again today that You will surround them with Your hedge of thorns keeping the evil one from them and keeping them inside Your protective hedge. I pray for my pastor right now that You would also keep him protected in every way from evil. You love these dear ones of mine more than I ever could and You know their every need they have today. I pray all of these loved ones of mine will find their peace and joy in You this day...peace and joy in abundance. I love You. Amen

"Don't Wordy 'Bout It"

Be careful for nothing: but in everything

by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving

let your requests be made known

unto God.

Philippians 4:6

I have often relayed the story of a little girl who once lived next door to us. Her name is Allison but everyone called her Allie at the time. She dearly loved my husband Brian. Little kids have always gravitated to him. Allie for a few weeks got into a bit of a habit. She pretty much knew when Brian would arrive home from work in the evening. It became a rather frequent thing for Allie to come over to the house just about the time Brian would arrive. I don't know what sense she had about it but when Allie arrived, I knew Brian wouldn't be far behind. Allie would ring the doorbell and walk into the house into the living room. She would plop on our couch right on the center cushion and would patiently wait. When Brian arrived, he would always do the same thing. He would walk over to her, point at her and say, “Allie, you are nothing but an alley cat.” She would fold her little arms and cross her legs at the ankles and just look at him waiting for him to repeat the sentence. Brian always accommodated her by repeating the same sentence. Her reply was always the same, “Don't wordy 'bout it.” Most of the time, she got to say her sentence twice. Allie was little, cute with wonderful parents and like most little children, had no real idea even what worry was and yet she spoke that word “wordy” with such authority.

I must admit to you that there are portions of Scripture I struggle with because they seem to be so incredibly impossible to follow or obey. Our above Scripture says that we are not to be anxious or worry about anything. Come on now...I could win prizes at this thing of worry and I hate to admit it. I am a born again Christian, I love God, I trust Him knowing He holds me in the palm of His hand and yet, worry for me has always been a personal and spiritual struggle. At one time worry gave me an ulcer. This was when I worked in a slum area in my early career days with hard to reach kids. I ate baby food til it was about to come out of my ears. The doctor told me to quit worrying...easy for him to say.

I must say at that time, I had never looked in the Bible regarding the subject of worry. I must say that I was really surprised. When in my 20's, worry was something I had really mastered and now I was told to drop it like a hot cake. Fortunately, I also learned that there was no sin I could overcome minus the strengthening and power of God in my life.

As I have looked at worry, there are somethings I have noticed that worry CANNOT do:

• It can't heal disease
• It can't put a marriage back together
• It can't find a job for an unemployed person
• It can't mend a broken friendship
• It doesn't pay bills
• It doesn't bring a wayward child to the Lord

Some physical problems resulting from worry can be:

• Eating eating disorders
• Sleep Disorders
• Headaches
• Moody
• Anger, temper outbursts
• Spiritual backsliding
• Selfishness
• Variety of mental disorders

Not only are we instructed by Paul to not worry or be anxious about things but gives us the way to overcome our worry. He says that with every worry, we are to pray about that concern. It doesn't intimate that we are just to take our worry to the Lord, have a little chat about it and then pick that concern up and walk away with it. No, we are to go to the Lord with a spirit of thankful supplication, LETTING our requests be made known to God. There's some hint of surrender in that word “let.” When we give over our concerns to God in faith, in that same moment, we are giving ourselves over to Him as well. When followed to the letter of God's Word, the end result will be:

And the peace of God which passeth all

understanding shall keep your hearts and minds

through Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:7

(A word of caution...whatever our concern, if there are things we need to do to correct a situation, we need to do that. Buying a car you can't afford can end up causing worry, and eating 6 meals of junk food a day is a nervous and physical breakdown waiting to happen, or spending what money we have on frivolous things. There is such a thing as the prevention of worry by avoiding unwise decisions.)

There is nothing like the peace of God. People who know we are going through a troublesome time will be blessed when they see us walking in peace. That will be a witness to the power of God in our lives and an example for others. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could adopt Allie's innocent attitude, look in our own spiritual mirrors and just repeat a few times...”Don't wordy 'bout it.”

************************************************************************

Dear Father...I'm sorry for resorting to worry when things get tough. I know that my worrying will not solve a problem but will create more problems. Help me to trust You with my every care because I want to walk in Your peace. Thank You for being so powerful that You can handle anything that comes into my life. I love you....Amen

Lessons Learned From a Scooter

Train up a child in the way he should go:

and when he is old, he will not depart

from it.

Proverbs 22:6

Here we are just finished with another Christmas holiday season. Not only have children enjoyed receiving gifts but some of us have pleasant memories of past Christmas gifts that weren't thrown to one side after a Christmas afternoon's play. I have thought recently of those things I most enjoyed receiving...my baby dolls and always the large red, mesh Christmas stocking that had such a variety of goodies and small toys in them. Some things stand out though in this recalling process.

One thing I do remember getting for Christmas when I was about six or seven years old, was a scooter. It was a bright red METAL one with RUBBER rimmed wheels. My red scooter was my pride and joy. For a brief time, my Daddy ran along side as I learned to keep one foot on the scooter with the other foot pumping up and down on the sidewalk. It was a challenge with few spills along the way but in it all, there were lessons learned on that scooter. Thus, I share the some of them that will seem rather elementary:

* In order to move on the scooter, I had to do the work to make it move. I could stand on it until the cows came home but it wouldn't move without my own physical effort....such is still true. It takes good old fashioned work to get things accomplished. Most often, no one will do for you what you can do for yourself.
* I learned boundaries on my scooter. Riding on a sidewalk, one learns where the edges of the concrete are. Boundaries are important in all areas of life. They guide and even protect us. Move out of boundaries and you can be hurt or in trouble.
* My scooter took me to one end of the block and then back to my home. I learned my way home on my scooter. The scooter was fun but home was better.
* Where I didn't know how to balance myself very well at a young age, my scooter contributed to my learning just that. Oh that even today, I will constantly seek a balance in my life. It may be a different kind of balance now (or maybe not) but balance is so necessary in our day and in our spiritual walk.
* I came to really know the benefit of wind in ones face, of smelling the freshness of an early morning, of even experiencing the seasons of the year on my scooter. Thus, I still seek the scent of those dewy early mornings that I have never quite been able to experience again.

A dear friend told me years ago when our oldest child was a toddler that toys should be viewed as tools. Where a dad might have carpenter tools in the garage and a mom have a sewing machine, childrens tools can be just as beneficial. Toys can train and teach a child in preparation for life. What's wrong with a little girl receiving a baby doll (not a Barbie) or doll house. What's wrong with a boy getting a carpenter set, building blocks, things that are creative. Instead, today, children receive things that will keep them entertained by the hour that requires very little thinking or skill.

Some of this came to a head for me a little over a year ago when in September of 2010 I was visiting my sister Kay in Southern Illinois. As was my usual routine, I would take most of a day to drive all over town reliving memories of times and places long gone by. One of my favorite places has always been parking by the only house I knew growing up until the age of ten. I loved parking on Oak Street just looking at all of the houses I remembered and who all had lived in them. Those houses fairly worn with weather and time still gave me some comfort of heart. On that particular Monday, there were two children playing who might have been someone's grandchildren. They caught my eye because on that same sidewalk, in days long past, I had ridden a scooter and had also ridden my red firetruck that was like a pedal car. Some older kids parents had given it to me to play with as their boy had outgrown it. One white ladder was still attached but don't know what I did with the other one. However, the scene I was witnessing was quite different on that September day. As a result, I jotted down some thoughts and wrote the following:

 

SCOOTERS AND CARS

A boy was riding his scooter today

There on my old sidewalk

His little sis was driving a little car...

Oh, if that concrete could talk.

For both it took little effort

Not hardly the bending of knee

Both car and scooter were electric

Required no human energy.

Half the fun of a scooter

Was pumping with foot on the ground.

My little car had pedals

Moved by feet pushing up and then down.

Is this where we made a bad turn

With child's scooter and car?

Lazy bones now have developed,

No effort required anymore.

Kids now reside on sofas

Or better, in recliner chair.

Choosing the stuffiness of the indoors

Shunning the crisp outdoor air.

So we have raised a generation

Of children and all their demands

Walking around with attitudes

And with electronics in their hands.

How wonderful it would be for a moment

If we could go back just so far

With children running with scooters

And pedaling their own little cars.

9/28/10

You know, I'm not really against progress. It wouldn't be good to never allow children to keep up with what is necessary to know to survive in this age of ours. I'm afraid though that we're turning out some zombie-brained children who have to be constantly entertained with all of the modern hand held devices and things that won't work without batteries.

If we are grandparents, we have opportunities to give our grandchildren things that will help them think, encourage reading and use of their brains. Encourage the arts...anything that will help our children be creative and well rounded. The day is coming when our children are going to have to think and figure things out minus something that is battery run. We have a wonderful opportunity to feed into the brains of our children and grandchildren good, healthy things that will encourage thinking and perhaps even more physical activity.

At the time, I didn't realize that all the effort I put into riding my scooter for such a long time, led to the next step of riding a bicycle. Riding my bicycle for what seemed to be forever, taught me safety skills that helped me as I learned to drive a car....staying in the correct lane, observing traffic activity around me, hand signals, sense of direction, and other things as well. That scooter that was such fun was, in reality, a tool and I didn't know it. As I think about it now, I'm mighty grateful for that old scooter.

Just a thought....
There is no battery hookup with God. Batteries don't work with Him. We may have Scripture and devotions on Kindles and computers but the relationship with our Lord has no shortcuts. We don't dial God up...we don't push some buttons and He comes running. He waits for us to speak and to respond to His still small voice that cannot be regulated by a volume control button. He will give us the wisdom we need in our influence in the lives of others....even with those precious little ones we have so much influence on.

Father...I thank you for my children and grandchildren. May I be wise in my counsel, love and giving. Above all, may I be their greatest prayer warrior and encourager. Thank you for the privilege of having them in my life. Amen.