We have learnt that it is in the word of Abba Father where true freedom lies. Obedience to the word of the Father brings freedom to live in purpose. How can something that encloses you, bring freedom? King David understood this concept and I want to close this series with the study of one more verse from the word of Abba Father with regards to true freedom.
Psalm 139:5 “Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.”
Some translations say “You have fenced me in from the front and from behind…” What does it mean seeing that this does not really match the picture of freedom that the world constantly pursues? The moment we realize that the word of Abba father was not given to us to limit us, but to guide, lead and protect us, we start seeing the picture of true biblical freedom. Are speed limits set to limit us or to protect us against accidents? Within this protection of the law, regulating the speed limit, lies a freedom to move freely with my car, from one place to the next.
When we study the Hebrew of Psalm 139:5 we see an amazing picture come to life. In Hebrew, this verse literally says “In freedom, Abba Father fences me from the front and from behind.” How does this work and what does it mean? In Hebrew, this concept has the meaning of, hedging me from behind in order for me not to return to my old life. My old life of sin and death. This hedging from behind implies, protecting me from the hurt and sins of my past. It paints a vivid picture of how Abba Father closes us off from our hurtful past in order for Him to heal us and restore your joy and peace again. The enemy wants to continuously remind of our past and every single thing that we did wrong. The word of Abba Father says He wants to remove our transgressions from us, as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). He wants to hedge us in and remind us that although our sins may have made us red as scarlet, He wants to wash us as white as snow (Isaiah 1:18). He hedges us from behind to free us from our old life of sin. How beautiful is that?
The Hebrew meaning of hedging you from the front, implies, that we have to understand that all possibilities within future choices, are not safe and healthy for us. Abba Father excludes these choices from His will for us and for our lives. We must acknowledge that, not everything the world has to offer, is good for us. Abba Father wants to exclude these choices of bondage from us and therefore protects us from that by hedging us in from the front. He does not want us, making choices that will hurt us or leave us in bondage and stripped of true freedom in Him. But listen to this, prince and princess of the Most High God. Abba Father hedges the way forward to guide me in purpose. How amazing is our King? He defines and hedges our road ahead because He does not want us to make choices that will hurt us. With this comes the freedom to serve Him. It is like when we, as parents, hedge the choices of our children to protect them from hurting themselves. It is not to limit them or bind them that we tell them not to come near the boiling pot of oil. It is to protect them from having the freedom to play without the bondage of excruciating pain of lying in hospital with third degree burns.
We want to erase the past and treat the future as a blank canvas, but the future is our guided pathway of purpose. The question is: who do you want to direct those ways? Do we trust Abba Father to guide our ways, to guide our country? King David made his choice – I want to be in Your ways Abba Father. That is covenant after all.
True freedom in the word of Abba Father constitutes voluntary obedience to the word of the Father. It includes relinquishing control in the realization that there is no freedom without the guarding fences of His word that protects us and hedges us in. We must understand that only when, the will of Abba Father, becomes our nature, true transformation starts. When we, as a country, return to the word of the Father and pursue His will in what we do, true transformation will embrace, guide and hedge South Africa! Now is that not what we all desire?
Prof Gerrie Bester PhD