Last year at this time Nate and I were packing our bags to travel to England. Hans and Katy’s firstborn, Nicholas Carl, was going to be christened, and we were eagerly looking forward to participating.

The time we spent with our shirt-tail relatives in northern England was delightful, and since I got to stay an extra week, grandma-time was abundant. It’s not easy having grandchildren so far from home, especially when there’s an ocean between us. Spending a big chunk of time being involved in Nicholas’ life was rewarding, not to mention the fun of being with Hans and Katy. Soon I’ll go back to cuddle newborn twins.

Last Easter we stayed with Katy’s parents, always gracious hosts, and slept in the bedroom they’d allowed Hans to use for many weeks before he married their daughter in the summer of 2007. We got to know Hans’ “other family” better, pleased at how warmly Sarah and Cliff have embraced their son-in-law.

While we were there, all of us visited several tourist sights, one of which included a complicated maze of thick hedges eight feet tall. The idea was to follow the curves and turns, many of which were dead ends, to eventually arrive in the middle. It wasn’t easy, and although none of us succeeded that day, we had some good laughs trying, and also hollering for each other over the bushes.

The well-trimmed hedges made me think of the scriptural principle of God “hedging us in” from harm. The famous story of the Old Testament character Job tells of how he was hedged in so well he prospered in every category of his life. At least that’s what Satan thought when he talked to God about breaking through that wall of protection. The devil complained that such a shield from harm wouldn’t allow Job’s faith to be tested. We know the story of how God “opened the hedge” for Satan, confident Job’s faith wouldn’t fail.

But how did Job feel, while hedged in by God? He tells us: “Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?” (3:23) Job didn’t like it!

The hedge maze we walked through in England had its disadvantages, too. Although no one could see us through the thick greenery if we’d wanted to hide, we couldn’t see them either or find our way to the center. And if we got going too fast along the path and bumped into the bushes, they poked and hurt.

Maybe Job experienced similar frustrations with his being hedged in from satanic harm. He did get his chance, however, to experience the absence of God’s hedge, and the result was torturous.

I’ve often asked the Lord to hedge in my children from evil and harm. Until I experienced the big, stiff hedge bushes in England, it never occurred to me that being hedged in might feel badly. When I pray fervently for the kids, more often than not the circumstances of their lives get worse before they get better. Could that be God’s removal of the hedge to allow testing into their lives? After studying Job’s example, I think it is.

Sometimes God’s provisions, structured for our gain, feel like prickles or punishments, much like the poking branches of a bush-hedge. When we feel life’s bristles, though, it might simply mean we’re bumping up against God’s protection. A really strong hedge might even have thorns in it. But we ought to be careful about trying to remove it, learning from Job’s example that nothing good is waiting on the other side.

“Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land.” (Job 1:9-10)