“The Hedge of Thorns”

Series: “God Speaks”

Text: Hosea 2: 1-13

Introduction: (What?)

Perhaps you have heard of people “praying a hedge of thorns” around someone. Although there may be some validity to this action, it does not fit the context of scripture. In this message we will see that God can, and sometimes does, actually block our way when we are pursuing sin.

Examination: (Why?)

1. Mama Mia! (vv 1-5)

“Call your brothers: ‘My People’ and your sisters: ‘Compassion.’ Rebuke your mother, rebuke her. for she is not my wife and I am not her husband. Let her remove the promiscuous look from her face and her adultery from between her breasts. Otherwise I will strip her naked and expose her as she was on the day of her birth. I will make her like a desert and like a parched land, and I will let her die of thirst. I will have no compassion on her children of promiscuity. Yes, their mother is promiscuous; she conceived them and acted shamefully. For she thought, ‘I will follow my lovers, the men who give me my food and water, my wool and flax, my oil and drink.”

In v 1 God is calling for reconciliation. After giving the names that meant “not my people” and “no compassion”, He now calls on Hosea to reverse those names to “My People” and “Compassion”. The grace of God is available to those who repent.

In v 2 God calls on individual Israelites (children) to bring charges against their mother (Israel). This is pictured in the immorality of Gomer who represents sinful Israel. When Gomer (Israel) left her husband and went into prostitution, she was the pursuer. It wasn’t that her “lovers” were chasing her, it was the other way around. She thought that she was dependent upon her “lovers” for sustenance. There are people today who think that they must play along with the world’s system in order to get along. But God called for repentance. Basically He is saying what He says to sinners today, “Stop your sinning!”

2. The Hedge of Thorns (vv 6-7)

When Gomer (Israel) began pursuing her “lovers”, God intervened in a most unusual way. “Therefore, this is what I will do: I will block her way with thorns, I will enclose her with a wall so that she cannot find her paths. She will pursue her lovers but not catch them, she will look for them, but not find them.”

It is hard to live a sinful life. In order to do so we must go against the drawing power of God which draws us to Jesus. (Jn 6:44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.” God will do everything He can to keep a person from dying without Christ. Peter wrote in his second epistle 2 Pet 3:9 “The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.” God does not want anyone to perish. He desires for everyone to repent and return to Him. The reason that Jesus has not returned yet is because God is giving more time for more people to be saved.

Once Gomer (Israel) has been blocked from her lovers (idolators) God said that “Then she will think, ‘I will go back to my former husband (Hosea/God) for it was better for me then than now.” The whole reason for God putting a hedge of thorns around Gomer/Israel was to bring her to realize what she had lost and to determine to return (repent).

Now, as to our praying a “hedge of thorns” around someone, let’s look at the application. When we have a wayward spouse or child or grandchild who has tasted the good life in Christ and then has chosen to pursue the ways of the world, then we can pray for God to do to them what He did to Gomer. This could have been the prayer of the father of the prodigal son. When the son finally “came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food, and here I’m dying of hunger! I’ll get up, go to my father, and say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight.’”

Do you see the parallel between what Gomer said and what the prodigal son said?

3. What you don’t know CAN hurt you (vv 8-13)

The lure of the world system is to make us think that we can only thrive when we trust that system rather than trusting God. We may start out just “dabbling” with the things of the world, but soon we will believe that our wants and needs can only be met by that system. John warned us in 1 John 2:15-17 “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s possessions—is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does the will of God remains forever.”

What Gomer/Israel did not realize was the true source of all good things. “She does not recognize that it is I who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the fresh oil. I lavished silver and gold on her, which they used for Baal.”

James reminded us in James 1:17 “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” God is the source of all the good things we enjoy in life. When we begin to think that the good we have is of our own making or from the world system, we are in danger of losing everything.

Because Gomer/Israel lost sight of where their blessings came from God pronounced judgment upon her/them. “Therefore, I will take back my grain in its time and my new wine in its season; I will take away my wool and linen, which were to cover her nakedness. Now I will expose her shame in the sight of her lovers, and no one will rescue her from my power. I will put an end to all her celebrations, her feasts, New Moons and Sabbaths--- all her festivals. I will devastate her vines and fig trees. She thinks that these are her wages that her lovers have given her. I will turn them into a thicket, and the wild animals will eat them.”

When we don’t recognize that every good thing in our lives comes from God, we are in danger of losing what we think are our rights.

Application: (How should I respond to this message?)

There are hundreds of thousands and perhaps millions of people in our world who have tasted the goodness of God and then walked away. Most of you know people who were at one time active in church and perhaps even served in ministry who have turned their backs on God. They are prostituting their talents and gifts to the world. The fact that nothing bad has happened to them thus far leads them to think that they don’t need God. There is currently a move of some well-known pastors, Christian musicians and authors who have recently renounced their faith in Christ and His church. Be we must remember what Paul wrote to the church in Galatia. Gal 6:7-9 “Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows he will also reap, because the one who sows to his flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit. Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up.”

How secure are you in your walk with God? Are you trusting Him to meet your needs or are you trusting your job, bank account or retirement funds?

Are you sowing good seed (the gospel) or are you mixing tares (weeds) into your crop by sowing promiscuity and idolatry (worshiping anyone or anything other than God)?

What do you sense that God would have you do right now?