The unseen hedge

The unseen hedge

THE UNSEEN HEDGE
The reply of Satan is noteworthy. He does not need to ask, "Which Job?"
or, "Where does he live?" He had considered GOD’S servant, and
evidently knew all about him. How came it that he was so well acquainted
with this faithful man of GOD? It may have come about in this way: those
subordinate spirits of evil who are evidently under the control of Satan had
in vain tried ordinary means of temptation with the patriarch. Probably
reporting their want of success to some of the principalities and powers of
evil, these likewise had essayed their diabolical arts, but had not succeeded
in leading Job to swerve from his integrity. Last of all, the great
arch-enemy himself had found all his own efforts ineffectual to harass and
lead astray GOD’S beloved servant. He found a hedge around him, and
about his servants, and about his house, and about all that he had, on every
side — an entrenchment so strong that he had been unable to break
through, so high that, going about as a roaring lion, he had been unable to
leap over, or to bring disaster within the GOD-protected circle.
How blessed it must have been to dwell so protected! The work of Job’s
hands was prospered — his substance increased in the land, and he became
the greatest as well as the best of all the men of the East, for in that day
GOD manifested His approval largely, though not solely, by the bestowal
of temporal blessings.
Is there no analogous spiritual blessing to be enjoyed now-a-days? Thank
GOD, there is. Every believer may be as safely kept and as fully blessed,
though, perhaps, not in the same way, as Job — may be delivered from
the power of the enemy, and preserved in a charmed circle of perfect
peace. The conditions are simple, and are given us by the Apostle Paul in
the 4th chapter of Philippians, 5:4-7, "Rejoice in the LORD alway..... Let
your moderation [your gentleness, or yieldingness] be known unto all men.
The LORD is at hand." Not your power of resistance of evil, and of
"maintaining your own rights ‘", but your spirit of yieldingness, believing
that the LORD will maintain for you all that is really for your good; and
that in any case He is at hand, and will soon abundantly reward fidelity to
His command. And lastly, "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made
known unto GOD. And the peace of GOD, which passeth all
understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through CHRIST
JESUS."
How is it that believers so often fail to enjoy this promised blessing? Is it
not that we fail to be anxious for nothing, and to bring everything by
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving before GOD? We may bring
nine difficulties out of ten to Him, and try to manage the tenth ourselves,
and that one little difficulty, like a small leak that runs the vessel dry, is
fatal to the whole, like a small breach in a city wall, it gives entrance to the
power of the foe. But if we fulfill the conditions, He is certainly faithful,.
and instead of our having to keep our hearts and minds — our affections
and thoughts — we shall find them kept for us. The peace, which we can
neither make nor keep, will itself, as a garrison, keep and protect us; and
the cares and worries will strive to enter in vain. Hudson Taylor mighty man of God
 
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