Protection 3 ~ Hedge

Hello Everyone!

Our next topic on the subject "Protection" is...Hedge.

For a list of all of our topics, please refer to "Protection 1"

in the archives on the sidebar.

Hedge.

What do you think of when you hear that word?

Here is a picture of a gigantic, humongous hedge that I found online:

It is beauuutiful, isn't it?

Here are our Scriptures for this week:

"Have you not put a hedge
around him and his household and
everything he has?
You have blessed the work of his hands,
so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land."
-Job 1:10


"Now I will tell you
what I am going to do to my vineyard:
I will take away its hedge,
and it will be destroyed;
I will break down its wall,
and it will be trampled."
-Isaiah 5:5


"The best of them is like a brier,
the most upright worse than a thorn hedge.
The day of your watchmen has come,
the day God visits you.
Now is the time of their confusion."
-Micah 7:4

Here's a rousing rendition of "Jesus Be A Fence" by Fred Hammond.

This song has been around for a while, because my brother, Delton

in the 1970's sang this song when he was a member of the Calvary Four Quartet.

I've always liked it for its upbeat-uplifting words of comfort and remembering that

Jesus is our Protector.

Here goes...hold onto your hats, while you dance around the kitchen!! :D




Weeeeee!!

W.O.W.

Now that our blood is really pumping,

let's continue!!!

The word "hedge" is used 3 times in the New International Version Bible

and 9 times in the King James Version Bible.

Somethings I read in my research, rather put down this idea of praying for

a "hedge of protection".

But as we can see, it IS Scriptural.

There are two ways that we are going with this topic:

1. The hedge is a shadow of things to come, in the Old Testament, of Jesus.

He is our Protector.

He surrounds us with His love and care.

Not saying that bad things won't happen to us, because they do!

But He is the Great Shepherd, carefully watching over us.

In John 10:1-4 it says...

¹"I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. ²The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. ³The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice."

This is a commentary that I found online here that speaks of

Jesus as the Door and the Great Shepherd:

" V. 6-8 His Personality - In these verses, Jesus reveals His identity as the Door. If you will remember, there was only one opening going into or out of the sheepfold. It was in this opening that the shepherd lay. Therefore, the shepherd himself became the door of the sheep. Nothing could enter the fold, nothing could exit the fold without going through the shepherd himself."

The following are 2 pictures that I found of sheep folds:

I found out that the shepherds built them about about 5 feet in

height and:

"At night, animals were kept in a sheep-fold - an enclosure with a circular stone wall and one small entrance, just wide enough for one animal to pass through. At night, when the animals were inside the enclosure, the shepherd was expected to sleep lying across the entrance, his body providing a gate for the enclosure so that nothing could get in or out."

This last paragraph was found at this link under "The Shepherd" section.

So what I am trying to say is that:

Nothing gets to us that doesn't go through our Savior first!!

He is our Protector, our Great Shepherd and The Door to our salvation!

Praise God!

2. In my devotions this morning, I came across, again, the story of Hezekiah

in 2 Kings 18 and 19.

Hezekiah was the King of Judah, a small kingdom.

King Sennacherib of Assyria sent 185,000. men to surround and

conquer Jerusalem.

Here is an artist's picture of what they think Jerusalem looked like in the

8th century based upon recent archaeologist's finds.

Long story, short...Hezekiah did not know what to do,

so he went to the Lord in prayer.

He spread out before the Lord, a threatening letter that was sent to him

by the enemy.

God answered the King through the prophet Isaiah and basically

said that not one arrow would enter Jerusalem and that the Lord

would defend the city.

The next morning, when the city awoke, they looked out and saw that the

WHOLE enemy army lay dead!!

185,000. men! And they did not have to do ONE thing!

Talk about a hedge of protection....shuweeee!!

2 Kings 19:35-

"That night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a 185,000.

men in the Assyrian camp..."

In my Study Bible, Life in the Spirit Bible (or original name was Full Life

Study Bible) Bro. Stamps says in his commentary:

"Judah's miraculous deliverance from the Assyrians is one of the great redemptive moments in OT history, recorded no less than three time in Scripture.

• 2 Kings 19:35-36
• 2 Chronicles 32:21-22
• Isaiah 37:36
  

The most powerful political kingdom on earth stood against the little nation of Judah. When defeat seemed inevitable, God intervened and delivered his people. In mercy God showed his willingness to renew the covenant and to be Judah's God and Protector if the people would place their trust in Him."

As we close, here is another CBN video regarding

"Divine Protection"...

Thank You Lord, for Your Divine Protection.

I pray a hedge of protection around my family and friends.

Thank You for how you have helped us in the past

and I KNOW You will continue in the future.

AMEN.

Debbie G.