If you’ve read any of the hedge prayers posted here, you have undoubtedly figured out that they tend to be grouped into two categories; prayers of protection, blessing, deliverance, etc… and those of containment, direction, confinement, disarming, etc.
But there’s a fair amount of nuance that such a simple explanation misses. And that nuance is worth our attention. (At least it is IMO.) So a few more nuanced descriptors to help you understand the hedge prayers that get posted here:
- First, hedge prayers tend to be raw and unfiltered. While a poetic sonnet of a prayer delivered in dulcet, pulpit tone might be the soothing reflection needed during a Sunday morning worship service, it’s anything but a hedge prayer. A hedge prayer is delivered right in the moment, standing in the breach, staring down Leviathan and Behemoth, knowing fully and completely that without God’s IMMEDIATE and full attention, you are essentially toast! While a prayer something like this works for that interim period in worship between the children’s sermon and choir’s anthem: “Gracious and all benevolent Lord, while we fully appreciate your creativity seen in the full diversity of all creation… including even the alligators and serpents who call the swamps of the world their homes… we would certainly beseech thee for thy full protection as we make the perilous transit from our current position to the safety of high ground where we may fully be thankful for your deliverance…” That is anything BUT a hedge prayer for protection! In the same circumstances, a hedge prayer is raw and immediate: “Oh Lord God! You MUST be aware that we are up to our asses in alligators being lost in this swamp! Please protect us and lead us to high ground before one of these damn alligators bites our legs off! Now would be a good time Lord… to point us in the right direction!” See the difference? One may sound wonderful framed by stained glass windows sitting in a pew. The other is raw and immediate, essentially saying “HELP! NOW!!!”
- Hedge prayers are honest: They don’t mince words. They very well may be a bit “whiny” in tone, or they just as well could convey a sense of frustration and anger. Much like Habakkuk’s prayer in Habakkuk 1: 2 – 4:
“O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen?
Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save?
3 Why do you make me see wrongdoing and look at trouble Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.
4 So the law becomes slack, and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous; therefore judgment comes forth perverted.
This prayer is straight to the point: It’s essentially asking God, “Come on Lord! Are you asleep at the wheel while the world falls apart?” Frankly, a prayer like this is often on my mind and lips when I read the latest news of our current government’s insanity. Something along the lines of “What are you doing God? Are you going to sit back and let 42 million people go hungry because our nation was stupid enough to elect the assholes we currently have in Congress and the White House? Are you REALLY going to let this kind of BS happen?” That is both a raw AND honest prayer, by the way. It might not pass muster in most church sanctuaries, but it doesn’t get much more honest than this – and like it or don’t – you cannot say that is isn’t Biblical in light of passages like Habakkuk chapter 1.
- Hedge prayers are most decidedly not “politically correct.” In fact? Given the current state of litigiousness in our society, not to mention the paranoid quest for revenge that seems to be all the rage in Washington anymore, some hedge prayers are better prayed silently instead of aloud. (And CERTAINLY not written down and published on the world wide web.) Much like the leavening of hedge prayers sprinkled all throughout the Psalms, hedge prayers are an opening of the heart, sometimes appropriate and other times certainly not. Have you ever wondered about a prayer found in the Psalms asking for enemies to “go down alive to Sheol?” (Psalm 55:15) Stop and put that into everyday language: The Psalmist here is asking God, “Let my enemies go to Hell.” In other words? Talk about a raw and honest prayer! “God… Kill them!” (Probably the most common prayer lifted to God’s ears about Paul while he was still Saul, before his conversion on the Damascus road. I’ve no doubt that countless Christians were praying for him at this time; and most of those prayers must undoubtedly have been some version of “O Lord… Please… Kill him!”) And yeah, this is probably better left unsaid than openly proclaimed – given the current sense of distrust and division here in our nation. But lest we forget – especially all those voices clamoring for America to “Be More Christian!” This kind of violent imagery is right there in that very same Bible they say makes us a more loving and considerate people – those after God’s very own heart.
This certainly isn’t an exhaustive list; but it might well give you some context for some of the prayers you read on this site. They may not be written with polished eloquence – they aren’t designed to be that. They most certainly will be immediate and heartfelt. They are an attempt to use Karl Barth’s idea of “The Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other” as a vehicle to help us pray for those people, circumstances, events and issues that we wish for God’s input, involvement, protection, and yes, even punitive intervention if necessary.
Food for thought – to assist you the next time you need to pray for God to drain the swamp WHILE you are up to your ass in alligators.