Praying a Hedge of Thorns
I will fence her in with thornbushes. I will block the road to make her lose her way. When she runs after her lovers, she won’t be able to catch up with them. She will search for them but not find them.
(Hosea 2:6-7)
Have you ever felt as if you have run out of prayers for a prodigal in your life (whether a teenager, a niece or nephew, or a spouse) and that person is still running headlong toward destruction? If so, you might identify with Hosea, whose wife, Gomer, was continually on the wrong path and running after other lovers. God said that he would block her path with thornbushes, wall her in so that she couldn’t find her way.
When people we love don’t have the wisdom to see the destructive paths they are on, we can pray for a “hedge of thorns.” We ask God to separate our loved ones from destructive influences, to cause those who lure them into evil to lose interest and to cause the prodigals to lose interest in them.
Just as God’s actions caused Gomer’s lovers to depart, this prayer can form a barricade, or a double hedge, to keep destructive influences out and the prodigal in. This prayer can’t change a person’s will, but God can remove wrong influences and frustrate the prodigal’s attempts to get to them. Then you can pray that in that frustration, the prodigal will turn to God.
LORD, I ask you to build a hedge of thorns around [insert name], to separate my loved one from any influence not ordained by you. I pray that those who are a bad influence will lose interest and flee and that my loved one would lose interest in them as well.
May that hedge of thorns defend against any contact with those who are out of your will.
God is eager and able to deliver and bless the world He has redeemed, if His people were but willing, if they were but ready, to cry to Him day and night.
Andrew Murray (1828–1917)
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