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The Hedge - Job 1:10

Satan seemed to ask God a relevant question in Job 1 when he says, "Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has?" Satan was saying that Job feared God because God was protecting everything. If Job didn't fear God, God would remove that hedge and all would come tumbling down. The word "hedge" used in Job 1:10 is used only once more in the Old Testament than in Hosea 2:6. In both places, it is used to describe a thorny and impenetrable wall. 


In Brazil, you will often see what is called a "Cerca Viva" or Living Fence. You do NOT want to come close to that obstacle because it is loaded with inch-long thorns that will penetrate your flesh and then break off. The wound takes weeks to heal and leaves scars that last a lifetime. So, with this picture in mind, go back to Satan's words and let's try to understand more of what he was saying. 


When Satan made his accusation of God's protective hedge, God didn't deny the accusation. Instead, God said, "Very well then, everything he has is in your power." This conversation is revealing in several ways. First, God protects but also allows troubles to come. Second, God and not Satan determine the limit and depth of our trials. And, you will remember that at the end of Job's story, God doesn't explain why Job went through what he went through. 


Thinking of the hedge once again, we note that Satan couldn't penetrate it to touch Job without God's permission. That fact alone is intriguing. Sin's curse has had a devastating effect on nature and history. Yet, we are so used to the way things are that we overlook its havoc. We preach and believe in God's sovereign control yet see planes crash and wars happen. Yet, in Job one, we know that God permits terrible stuff to happen. Someone put it this way, "Nothing can touch me except that which has passed the loving hands of my Savior God." This statement is true, but it doesn't make our nor Job's horrors any less painful and desperate. 


The only truth that we can cling to when going through trials is that God knows and we don't. We can look for lessons to learn or directions to take, but in the end, we can only throw ourselves down before our God and cry for help and comfort. God's hedge is as impenetrable as he wants it to be. In the end, he alone will receive the glory for our trial. So the question we might ask ourselves is, "Will we, like Job, come forth as gold?"

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