HEDGE

Hosea 2:6 – Therefore, behold, I [the Lord God] will HEDGE up her way [even yours, O Israel] with thorns; and I will build a wall against her that she shall not find her paths.

Have you ever seen those giant mazes made out of bushes and trees? Part of me is fascinated and would love the adventure while the other part of me is a little intimidated by the towering walls of green. I wonder if there are maps and guides just in case you get lost. What if hours pass and hunger and thirst set in? Do people finally cry out in despair and beg for release? That's probably a little over dramatic.

When God spoke these words to His people through the prophet Hosea it sounded as if He were being hard and harsh. Israel had been terribly unfaithful to God so that a series of blockages and crossroads had to be built. Out of God's love for His children He purposely constructs hedges of thorns to block our paths when those paths lead away from His loving embrace and into the paths of evil.

God's perspective is always higher than ours. Image Him looking down into the maze and seeing us heading down a course leading straight for danger or a dead end. What if He began calling out to us and even sent guides to direct our paths toward safety and out of the maze and haze of confusion. After all, He sees the opening and He is the Light at the end of every tunnel. From His vantage point He sees all. Our decisions can then be ones of trust and obedience to His voice, even though we cannot see the outcome, only walls all around us. Or we can choose to ignore His voice and go our own way.

Israel had been going their own way until, out of love, God hedged them in and blocked their path. Sometimes we find ourselves in a hedge of correction, while at other times we are in a hedge of protection. If you are in a season of feeling "hedged in" it may be God's boundary of grace or His wall of discipline. Either way, as long as you seek His face and His direction and obey His tender voice, you will find the way out. You will find Him!