When I first started praying with my colleagues at The Bowery Mission I noticed many of them using the phrase "hedge of protection," especially when lifting up a person or a program going through trying times - a client in danger of relapse, staff faced with unruly clients, etc. It was especially used in situations where the darkness of evil was a real and genuine threat. "God," they would pray, "please put a hedge of protection around so and so."At first I was puzzled by the imagery and then came to use it myself. It is not biblical, although some link it to the cloud and the fire that God used to protect the Israelites from the Egyptians as they escaped from Egypt.
Hedge of protection language echos the fortress language of the psalmists and picked up by Martin Luther in his famous hymn. I see the hedge of protection as a mess of brambles between us and the evil of this world which threatens us and our faith. I take comfort in God's promise to protect me and keep me secure.
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