Hedge of Protection

“The righteous person may have many troubles,
but the Lord delivers him from them all;” Psalm 34:19 (NIV)

I’ve talked here many times about how I used to be afraid … very afraid of many things. I was afraid of the dark, afraid my family would die and leave me an orphan, grew to be afraid of thunderstorms, etc.

I don’t remember exactly when I started praying the following way, but when I would pray before going to sleep, I would ask God to “surround our house with His angels” and would picture the angels all joining hands (as children would who were playing “ring around the rosey”) and that no evil could penetrate the strong angels’ bodies or interlaced hands. As I got older, that prayer turned into asking God to have His angels give our family and our extended family a “hedge of protection,” just a fancy way of saying, “Please put them in the ring around the rosey pose again and keep us safe.”

Last week Monday I had to go to the hospital for a routine procedure.  It had been six years since I was last hooked up to machines to keep track of my heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen levels, an IV for fluids and the sedation I would receive, etc.  There were a lot of wires and tubes stuck in and on me.  The doctor was delayed so I was hooked up and then allowed to wait … and wait … and wait.

It was during that time of waiting I started having a conversation with God.  I was thanking Him that I wasn’t familiar with hospital procedure anymore because it had been a long time since we had visited one, and never for trauma from a car accident, heart attack, etc.  Eleven years ago we had spent a lot of time in the ER and Bill was even admitted for a few days for testing, but trauma and major accidents haven’t really been a part of our family history.

Three days after that conversation with God, I found myself in another type of “emergency” situation.  While this one wasn’t life or death and didn’t affect our family physically, it was an emergency nonetheless.  And while it only took 24-48 hours to fully resolve, God used this emergency to remind me of something else.

When I pray for God’s hedge of protection around our family and extended family every night, my thoughts usually drift to keeping burglars away, sickness, accidents – issues that affect us physically.  However, God showed me not three days after our conversation while I was hooked up to a gazillion wires and waiting, He loves His children so much more than just protecting us physically.

When we take the time to invite Him into our lives, all of our lives, He promises us protection in every area – spiritually, physically, emotionally, physiologically, psychologically, financially … and the list goes on.  Whatever area of life that the enemy can touch, God promises protection when we invite Him in.

Sometimes that protection includes having to go through the trial, as happened to our family three days after my procedure.  We still had to go through the “emergency,” but even when in the midst of it, I could see God’s protection keeping it from being much, much worse.

I’m actually glad I had the routine procedure last week.  It reminded me to be thankful for God’s protection – not just physically but in every area of my life.  I’m even grateful for the emergency three days later because God used that to show me He protects even when we have to go through the trials, keeping things from being much worse than they could be.

Now when I pray for God’s hedge of protection, I don’t just envision the angels surrounding our home in a ring around the rosey position. Now I realize God uses them to offer us protection in every area of our lives. And that allows me to rest in God’s peace not just throughout the night but all day too.

© Cheri Swalwell 2018