Hindrances to a Deeper Walk with God in Christianity
A deeper walk with God in Christianity can be hindered by various obstacles, often described in biblical texts and theological traditions as "hedges" or "fences" that impede spiritual progress [3, 5]. These hindrances can arise from internal spiritual conditions, external circumstances, or a combination of both.
One significant hindrance is sin itself, which creates a distance between humanity and God. The Jamieson, Fausset & Brown Commentary on Acts 17:27 explains that the difficulty in finding God outside of revealed religion is not due to God's distance, but "in our distance from Him through the blinding effect of sin" [4]. This "blinding effect" suggests that sin obscures spiritual perception, making it difficult to discern God's presence or will. The Apostle Paul, in Romans 6:2, rhetorically asks, "How shall we that are deed as touchynge synne live eny lenger therin?" [2], emphasizing the incompatibility of continued sin with a life devoted to God. John Gill, commenting on Romans 5:2, discusses "access by faith" to God, implying that sin obstructs this access, which is then restored through Christ [8]. This access is characterized by boldness and freedom from servile fear, granted through Christ's mediation [9].
Slothfulness and a lack of genuine desire for God are also identified as significant barriers. Matthew Henry, in his commentary on Proverbs 15:19, observes that difficulties in the "way of duty" often arise not from the nature of the duty itself, but "from the slothfulness of those that have really no mind to it" [7]. Such individuals may pretend that their path is "hedged up with thorns," making their work impossible or fraught with hardship, when in reality, their reluctance stems from an unwillingness to engage [7]. This perspective suggests that a lack of spiritual discipline and an aversion to effort can prevent believers from pursuing a closer relationship with God.
External circumstances, while sometimes perceived as hindrances, can also be divinely ordained to redirect individuals toward God. The Jamieson, Fausset & Brown Commentary on Hosea 2:6 interprets "thorns" and "wall" as hindrances that God places in the path of Israel to prevent them from pursuing idols [5]. These "crosses in an evil course are God's hedge," designed to lead individuals to seek God as their "only God and Husband" when false gods fail them [5]. Similarly, John Gill, commenting on Job 19:7, describes how God can "fence up" a person's way, creating obstacles that bring them to a "full stop" [3]. While these situations can be challenging, they are presented as opportunities for spiritual redirection, forcing individuals to re-evaluate their path and seek divine guidance [3].
The "way of the wicked" is another profound hindrance, as it is described as "an abomination unto the Lord" [10]. John Gill explains that this "way" encompasses the wicked person's thoughts, choices, and entire course of life [10]. While an individual persists in a life of sin, all their religious exercises are considered "abominable to the Lord" [10]. This highlights that a deeper walk with God requires a fundamental alignment of one's life with divine will, rather than merely external acts of piety.
Fear, particularly the fear of falling into the hands of God, can also be a hindrance. Hebrews 10:31 states, "It is a fearfull thynge to faule into the hondes of the livynge God" [1]. While this verse often serves as a warning against apostasy, an excessive or misdirected fear of God's judgment, rather than a reverent awe, could potentially paralyze an individual's spiritual initiative and hinder a confident approach to God.
The concept of "hedges" or "fences" is frequently used in biblical commentary to illustrate these obstructions. These can be physical barriers, like thorns and walls, or metaphorical ones, representing difficulties or divine interventions [5]. The Jamieson, Fausset & Brown Commentary on Luke 14:23 extends this imagery to those "outside the city altogether," referring to the heathen who are "without Christ, strangers from the covenant of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world" [6]. This suggests that being outside the sphere of revealed religion and divine invitation is itself a profound hindrance to a deeper walk with God.
Sources
- Hebrews “Hebrews 10:31 (Tyndale) — It is a fearfull thynge to faule into the hondes of the livynge God.”
- Romans “Romans 6:2 (Tyndale) — God forbyd. How shall we that are deed as touchynge synne live eny lenger therin?”
- Job (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Job 19:7: He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass,.... A metaphor taken from travellers, who not only meet with obstacles and obstructions in their way, which make it difficult; but sometimes with such enclosures and fences, that they are at a full stop, and cannot pass on, and know not what course to steer: the people of God are not inhabitants of this world, but pilgrims, strangers, and sojourners in it, and travellers through it; they are bound for another country, and are travelling to it; and though their way for far most part is indeed troublesome, but generally passable”
- Acts (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Acts 17:27: That they should seek the Lord--That is the high end of all these arrangements of Divine Power, Wisdom, and Love. if haply they might feel after him--as men groping their way in the dark. and find him--a lively picture of the murky atmosphere of Natural Religion. though he be not far from every one of us--The difficulty of finding God outside the pale of revealed religion lies not in His distance from us, but in our distance from Him through the blinding effect of sin.”
- Hosea (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Hosea 2:6: thorns . . . wall-- (Job 19:8; Lam 3:7, Lam 3:9). The hindrances which the captivity interposed between Israel and her idols. As she attributes all her temporal blessings to idols, I will reduce her to straits in which, when she in vain has sought help from false gods, she will at last seek Me as her only God and Husband, as at the first (Isa 54:5; Jer 3:14; Eze 16:8). then--before Israel's apostasy, under Jeroboam. The way of duty is hedged about with thorns; it is the way of sin that is hedged up with thorns. Crosses in an evil course are God's hedge”
- Luke (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Luke 14:23: highways and hedges--outside the city altogether; historically, the heathen, sunk in the lowest depths of spiritual wretchedness, as being beyond the pale of all that is revealed and saving, "without Christ, strangers from the covenant of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world" (Eph 2:12); generally, all such still. Thus, this parable prophetically contemplates the extension of the kingdom of God to the whole world; and spiritually, directs the Gospel invitations to be carried to the lowest strata, and be brought in contact with the outer”
- Proverbs (Nonconformist/Puritan) “Matthew Henry on Proverbs 15:19: See here, 1. Whence those difficulties arise which men pretend to meet with in the way of their duty, and to be insuperable; they arise not from any thing in the nature of the duty, but from the slothfulness of those that have really no mind to it. Those that have no heart to their work pretend that their way is hedged up with thorns, and they cannot do their work at all (as if God were a hard Master, reaping where he had not sown), at least that their way is strewed with thorns, that they cannot do their work without a great deal of hardship and danger; and th”
- Romans (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Romans 5:2: By whom also we have access by faith,.... The access here spoken of is not to the blessing of justification; for though that is a grace which we have access to by Christ, and come at the knowledge of by faith, and enjoy the comfort of through it; and is a grace in which persons stand, and from which they shall never fall, and lays a solid foundation for rejoicing in hope of eternal glory; yet this sense would make the apostle guilty of a great tautology; and besides, he is not speaking of that blessing itself, but of its effects; and here of one distinct from "peace wi”
- Ephesians (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Ephesians 3:12: In whom we have boldness and access,.... Into the holy of holies, to the throne of grace there, and to God the Father, as seated on it: Christ is the way of access; union to him gives right of access; through his mediation his people have audience of God, and acceptance with him, both of person and service: and this access is with boldness; which denotes liberty of coming, granted by God, and a liberty in their own souls to speak out their minds plainly and freely; and an holy courage and intrepidity of soul, being free from servile fear, or a spirit of bondage; wh”
- Proverbs (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Proverbs 15:9: The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord,.... The way his heart devises, which he chooses and delights in, in which he walks; nor will he leave it, nor can he be diverted from it, but by the powerful grace of God. This is a way not good, but evil, and so an abomination to the Lord; and the whole tenor and course of his life, which is meant by his way being evil: hence his sacrifices, and all his external duties of religion performed by him, are abominable to the Lord; for, while he continues in a course of sin, all his religious exercises will be of no ”