Have you heard people pray for God to put a “hedge of protection” around someone? I was wondering where this came from. All I could find is that Satan said that God had a hedge of protection around Job before all of his troubles. That’s it.
So is this a legitimate thing to pray for? What if God doesn’t want to put a hedge of protection around someone? I suppose you could say the same for healing. We pray for it and God decides if it’s his will. But just this one mention of it? How often does Paul pray this way (which I haven’t looked at yet). It seems to be one of those things where it gets started somewhere and then spreads like wildfire, kind of like saying “just” once a sentence in some evangelical circles when praying. (“We just ask that you would just help our brother to just…”) We really need to stop minimizing our prayers but that’s a different topic.
Good point on just. It’s the praying version of um and uh which fills up dead space in speeches. I think names for God are also repeated too frequently when praying. It’s not like God forgets we are adressing our prayers to HIM.
As for the hedge of protection, I suppose put a hedge of protection around is a Christian highbrow way of saying protect.
That just drives me nuts. One of my pet peeves is when people all start to sound alike. Quoting the Bible or terms is one thing but to not put things in your own words and conform to each other bothers me.
I try to protect His name no matter what. Using it as a period or comma isn’t good.
I guess hedge of protection isn’t such a bad thing. People certainly don’t have bad motives or anything like that. Still small voice is another one.
Jeff
You hit the nail on the head referring to a period or comma.
I’m with you on the hedge not being such a bad thing. It must be one of those phrases that sticks in your head after you hear it and it comes to mind easily when praying. Just a theory.
Why pray a hedge of protection around someone? It’s not as though Satan’s special weakness is shrubbery. Why not pray a ten-foot concrete wall with barbed wire on top around somebody. That’d probably do the trick.
(HT)
That was the funniest thing I’ve read in a long time.
Thanks to whoever it was that thought of that. It’s nice to know someone else was thinking of it too. (Referring to his HT link).
Jeff
Here is a great comment I got by email that couldn’t get through:
———–
Jeff,
I tried to comment on your post about but was using a proxy and got
blocked. Here’s the text:
i agree that the frequency of “hedge of protection” usage in prayer is (too)
high, especially when compared to the frequency and context of biblical
usage. the hedge was put in place to protect the vineyard (house of Israel)
and there are plenty of vineyard references, Isaiah 5 being one of the best
to explain this usage. it appears to be one of those things where in the
ancient context of a vineyard, most people likely understood that a hedge
would be around it. it seems like a better context in which to use “hedge”
in prayer would be when praying for the church. but i don’t think it’s such
a stretch to envision God protecting an individual in a similar fashion. or
maybe even better would be to pray that God would not remove the hedge of
protection that already exists. again, not necessarily the best usage, but
not really an issue, in my opinion. maybe we could start praying for our
barbed-wire electric fence of protection to reflect the modern context,
haha!
Please let me know if you have any questions and thanks for taking the time
to blog!
Grace and peace,
markb.
Here is another example of being “hedged in” by the Lord…was it for protection? Might have been…
Hosea 2:5-6 (New Living Translation)
5 Their mother is a shameless prostitute
and became pregnant in a shameful way.
She said, ‘I’ll run after other lovers
and sell myself to them for food and water,
for clothing of wool and linen,
and for olive oil and drinks.’
6 “For this reason I will fence her in with thornbushes.
I will block her path with a wall
to make her lose her way.
Thanks Nancy. That’s a way people might not associate with being protected (!) even if it is.
Jeff