So, I’m not a person who tends to take risks. I’d rather play it safe. To take my time in making decisions and act carefully and cautiously. I prefer to have control over situations and taking risks when I’m not 100% sure means I’d have to give up control. Anybody with me in this? Do you avoid taking risks or putting yourself in situations in which you have zero control?
Sadly, we really don’t have any control over much, even if we would like to think we do. We’d like to think if we have prepared enough, weighed all the options, listing the pros and cons to decisions, than everything should go as we have planned. Limiting the risks or hedging our bets, means the outcome should be as expected, and we won’t have to risk losing much.
I recently was visiting a church service and overheard the pastor praying for a “hedge of protection” over the members of his church that were traveling on a mission trip. Now, if I had a dollar for every time I have heard that prayer spoken over a traveling group, well, I’d have a lot of dollars. It has even been the subject of a joke from a popular Christian comedian here in the US. “Jesus I pray a hedge of protection over us, Amen.” Don’t get me wrong, there isn’t anything bad about this per se, but it did make me think. What if we shouldn’t pray to be safe, but pray that whatever comes our way, good or bad, we pray to trust God through it? What if we didn’t pray for this Great Wall of hedges or hedge rows around us, so that nothing dangerous gets to us, we prayed instead for little flower beds that offer no real protection? I can picture it in my mind.
When my family was stationed in Kansas, we bought a home with a huge backyard. But one thing about homes in Kansas, especially new homes, there weren’t many trees, so our yard was open to everyone peering in. I preferred a bit of privacy with a young child running around, so we decided to plant a hedge row of fast growing bushes. The buses took off and we gained some level of privacy, at least until the back gate was left open and two neighboring kids decided to come up to our sliding glass doors and peer in at us as we ate supper. They say good fences make good neighbors, but I would like to add, good gates for those good fences are also important.
So, I understand why hedges are preferred, and praying for hedges to surround us and keep us safe is preferred. No one wants to get sick, hurt, or other wise inconvenienced. Especially not far from home and while you’re doing the Lord’s work. But….What if that inconvenience was the Lord’s work? What if that injury or sickness or accident, put you in the exact place you should be?
It is something to think on and grapple with. I have heard recently of a man who used his unexpected trip to the hospital as an invitation to share his testimony and the gospel with the medical staff. He had come from a place where many gave up on him, yet Christ had turned his life around, and I believe this new found joy and peace he was experiencing through Christ, was the catalyst to share his faith. He doesn’t like his medical situation to be sure, as he had to have his leg amputated, but instead of complaining, he is finding ways to witness to others.
God can place us just where we need to be, even if it is not our preferred choice. I mean, no one wants to get sick, hurt or delayed on our trips and our daily life. We want everything to run smoothly, right? Who wants to be inconvenienced? But my challenge to you, and myself, today is to realize that we really aren’t I control of much, just our attitudes and reactions. So maybe we shouldn’t try to be safe and pray for safety like our life depends on it, but rather pray for God to lead us and be with us in whatever comes our way. Let’s pray to have courage and no hedges around us, if it means someone else’s life changed, instead of our’s staying safe behind those darn hedges! God Bless you – Nancy
