The Hedge Of Protection

(1) He talks about how traps that people set for each other often trap those who set them.

Illus: Have you ever set a rat trap and had it snap and catch your finger?

Illus: A good example of setting a trap and getting caught in it is found in the Book of Esther, where wicked Haman was hanged on the gallows he built for Mordecai.

There are folks that spend their life setting traps for others.

• There are those who are our enemies and they are always setting destructive traps for us, to bring as much misery to us as they can

• Merchants who want to sell us their merchandise are always setting traps for us. While we are sleeping at night, they are behind closed doors trying to figure a way to trick us into buying their merchandise

• The highway patrolman is always setting traps for us. The highway patrolman will park in some inconspicuous place behind some bushes, and wait for us to come along and fall into the speed trap he has set for us

Illus: Speaking of speed traps reminds me of the a man who had decided that he was going to ride a 10-speed bike from Phoenix to Flagstaff Arizona. He got as far as Black Canyon City before the mountains just became too much and he could not go any further.

He stuck his thumb out, but after 3 hours hadn't got a single person to stop. Finally, a guy in a Corvette pulled over and offered him a ride. Of course the bike wouldn't fit in the car. The owner of the Corvette found a piece of rope lying by the highway and tied it to his bumper.

He tied the other end to the bike and told the man that if he was going too fast, to honk the horn on his bike and he would slow down. Everything went fine for the first 30 miles.

Suddenly, another Corvette blew past them. Not to be outdone, the Corvette pulling the bike took off after the other. A short distance down the road, the Corvettes, both going well over 120 mph, blew through a speed trap. The police officer noted the speeds from his radar gun and radioed to the other officer that he had two Corvettes headed his way at over 120 mph.

He then relayed, "...and you're not going to believe this, there is a guy on a bike screaming and honking his horn trying to pass them.”

Solomon teaches that when it comes to setting traps, we need to be careful! Why? Because we may be the one WHO SETS THE TRAP and the one WHO GETS CAUGHT IN THE TRAP.

Over and over again, the Word of God has proven to be true; WE REAP WHAT WE SOW!

But this wise man says something else in this verse of scripture.

(2) He said, “…And whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.”

WHAT IS SOLOMON SAYING? He is saying that God has set up hedges around us to protect us from outside trouble in our life.

WHAT IS A HEDGE? A hedge physically can be a number of things:

• It can be a fence around our yard to keep outside danger from entering our yard

• It can be a thick row of bushes around our yard that prevents outsiders from entering our yard

• It can be a bunch of low trees planted as a fence or boundary to keep outsiders from entering our yard

A hedge provides protection from things that MAY ENTER OUR LIFE.

God has set up a SPIRITUAL HEDGE around our life to protect us from outside evil forces that threaten us each day of our life. We all need to thank God for the hedge He has built around our homes. The only reason we are not in a hospital or some funeral home today is because God has built a wall of protection around us to keep Satan from getting to us.

Let’s take a good look at these hedges. We need to consider-

I. THE REALITY OF THE HEDGE

The Bible tells us that JOB HAD A HEDGE AROUND HIM. Satan wanted to get to Job, he wanted to bring as much harm and misery to his life as he could. But God had built a hedge of protection around him and Satan could not get to him.

Let me show you some things in the life of Job that many do not know. Many folks do not know that Satan was kicked out of heaven, but he still has access to visit there.

Look at Job 1:6-7, we read, “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”