June 6<\/p>\n
Hedged In<\/p>\n
“Reckon it nothing but joy…whenever you find yourself hedged in by the various trials, be assured that the testing of your faith leads to power of endurance” (James 1:2-3) Weymouth<\/p>\n
God hedges in His own that He may preserve them, but oftentimes they only see the wrong side of the hedge, and so misunderstand His dealings. It was so with Job (Job 3:23). Ah, but Satan knew the value of that hedge! See his testimony in chapter 1:10. Through the leaves of every trial there are chinks of light to shine through. Thorns do not prick you unless you lean against them, and not one touches without His knowledge. The words that hurt you, the letter which gave you pain, the cruel wound of your dearest friend, shortness of money–are all known to Him, who sympathizes as none else can and watches to see, if, through all, you will dare to trust Him wholly.<\/p>\n
“The hawthorn hedge that keeps us from intruding,
\nLooks very fierce and bare
\nWhen stripped by winter, every branch protruding
\nIts thorns that would wound and tear.<\/p>\n
“But spring-time comes; and like the rod that budded,
\nEach twig breaks out in green;
\nAnd cushions soft of tender leaves are studded,
\nWhere spines alone were seen,<\/p>\n
“The sorrows, that to us seem so perplexing,
\nAre mercies kindly sent
\nTo guard our wayward souls from sadder vexing,
\nAnd greater ills prevent.<\/p>\n
“To save us from the pit, no screen of roses
\nWould serve for our defense,
\nThe hindrance that completely interposes
\nStings back like thorny fence.<\/p>\n
“At first when smarting from the shock, complaining
\nOf wounds that freely bleed,
\nGod’s hedges of severity us paining,
\nMay seem severe indeed.<\/p>\n
“But afterwards, God’s blessed spring-time cometh,
\nAnd bitter murmurs cease;
\nThe sharp severity that pierced us bloometh,
\nAnd yields the fruits of peace.<\/p>\n
“Then let us sing, our guarded way thus wending
\nLife’s hidden snares among,
\nOf mercy and of judgment sweetly blending;
\nEarth’s sad, but lovely song.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
June 6<\/p>\n
Hedged In<\/p>\n
“Reckon it nothing but joy…whenever you find yourself hedged in by the various trials, be assured that the testing of your faith leads to power of endurance” (James 1:2-3) Weymouth<\/p>\n
God hedges in His own that He may preserve them, but oftentimes they only see the wrong side of the hedge, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[8],"class_list":["post-43720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-streams","tag-streams-in-the-desert","odd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellsofgrace.com\/devotion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellsofgrace.com\/devotion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellsofgrace.com\/devotion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellsofgrace.com\/devotion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellsofgrace.com\/devotion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wellsofgrace.com\/devotion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43720\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellsofgrace.com\/devotion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellsofgrace.com\/devotion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellsofgrace.com\/devotion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}