Hemmed in!

 Oh! Our poor neighbors! Two of their street-parked vehicles weren’t moving anywhere soon. Our street’s second sweep by a plow hemmed them in with an ice berm--front, side, and back.  They have other vehicles to get to work, and because these were parked on the street a long time before snow, I suspect they are temporarily disabled. 

“Hemmed in”—the phrase was so familiar to me, and I quickly remembered why. Years ago, I read Psalm 139 in a newer translation that turned up the light for me. At the time, I was grieving the deaths of my parents six months apart and, as a 31-year-old single woman, tasked with emptying the very-full family home for dividing inheritance. The Bible was a sympathy gift from friends who’d seen my well-worn older Bible. I read the newer one voraciously every day when not sorting or cleaning.  Coming to Psalm 139, about God’s intimate knowledge of me even in the womb, I paused at verse 5:
You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.
Reading that, I envisioned myself on a path full of hazards, but safe between two giant hands, one before, and one behind.  How I needed that picture of God’s encompassing care.  Other translations rendered it:
“You are all around me.” (Today’s English Version, 1970)
“You both precede me and follow me.” (New Living Translation, 1996)
“Thou hast enclosed me behind and before, and laid thy hand upon me.” (New American Standard Bible, 1973)

A HORSE-HEMMING
Another picture of “hemmed in” came in Acts 23, when the apostle Paul ran into violent opposition from Jewish religious leaders upon returning from a major missionary trip. Fearing for Paul’s safety, the military commander hurried Paul away from the riotous scene to a safe place in his barracks. Then Paul’s nephew overheard the Jewish leaders’ plot to kill Paul. The lad was taken to the commander, who believed his story and decided to foil the plot by a night march to move Paul 70 miles away to Caesarea. There, Governor Felix could settle the matter. 

Okay—the “behind and before.”  Acts 23:24 says the commander ordered up 200 soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearman to depart that night at 9 p.m., moving under cover of darkness.  Oh yes, Paul got his own horse, too. What a sight that must have been! The loud clopping of horses and heavy steps of hundreds of soldiers—for one prisoner!  I’m guessing Paul was riding in the midst of all this.  And I pity the soldiers who had to make the journey by foot!

This verse came back to my attention (thanks to those icy berms) as I prayed about a difficult “spiritual attack” situation in my life. Again, I needed the assurance that God is my protector. And surely, that is His character, affirmed in another favorite verse:

The LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. (Psalm 121:8 NIV)