Are You Standing in the Gap?

It takes a confident voice to stand up for something when your surroundings are contradictory. It can be hard to stand up and speak out into the microphone knowing that our audience only seeks our hurt. Some refuse to speak knowing this will be the result. Jerusalem had a voice problem—no one came to the mic.

Ezekiel’s mission was among the captives at Chebar (Ezekiel 1:1). He also wrote about the troubles in Jerusalem, seeing they were about to be destroyed. He warned them to repent and urged them to listen to God. Their destruction was heavy. The walls of spiritual holiness were broken. In response to this, from His holy throne, God “sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it” (Ezekiel 22:30, ESV). God’s problem? “But I found none.” Spiritually, we need individuals families to stand in the gap so that the enemy doesn’t enter in where we are.  

Hoping to spare the city from utter destruction, God wanted to find a man who could help build the walls of spirituality and stand in between Him and sin—no one signed up to the task. Similar to this search in the past, today God looks for those who will stand in the gap. In a nation full of wickedness and divisiveness, who will raise their hand? Three observations catch our interest.  

God is Patient. Jersualem erred for hundreds of years before God was done with them. Likely thousands of inhabitants existed in the city and yet God waited until there was no more faithful men and women on the earth. He was not going to be totally through with them yet, until they were completely through with Him. The minute hand still turns because of God’s longsuffering (2 Peter 3:9). Continue to let the patience of God stand. STAND IN THE GAP. 

The Importance of One Person. Jerusalem’s existence lay in the hands of a man who would stand up—but even he could not be found. Single or a small number of intercessors have been said to be able to save nations. God promised Abraham that if 10 righteous people were in Sodom He would not spare it (Genesis 18:23-33)—they were destroyed. When God was about to destroy Israel, Moses stood in the gap. The Psalmist wrote, “Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had no Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach[1], to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them” (Psalm 106:23). Jeremiah wrote “Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it” (Jermiah 5:1). Ezekiel would previously pen, “Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD” (Ezekiel 13:5). Your example, light, and influence is powerful. Your faithful life might just be able to save an entire nation! Don’t give in and don’t give up. STAND IN THE GAP. 

Sprinkle Salt on All the Food You Eat. Jesus proclaimed, “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men” (Matthew 5:13). Salt preserves food; be the salt of the world that preserves the world’s existence. There was not one man found who could provide preservation for Jerusalem. Not one man stood in the gap in areas like:

• Proclamation (Ezekiel 22:25).  

• In Worship (Ezekiel 22:26).

• In Leadership (Ezekiel 22:27).

• In Life (Ezekiel 22:28).

Unlike Jersualem prophet, priests, princes, and people, we should be in the gap. We should be filling the gap between sin and godliness by

• Proclaiming the Gospel. If we won’t who will?

• Maintaining purity of worship. If we won’t stand for objective authority, who will?

• Leading people, families, and citizens. Will you be a leader or a follower?

• Living Christian lives. The Christian life is the best life.

 Christians create a pure world by living pure lives. Someone said that if we don’t stand for anything we will fall for everything.

The world can only be made better through our different lives. Horribly, we would not want to be the man that said he was leaving his job to become a preacher and his co-workers said “you’re a Christian?” Different, distinct, and declared are three powerful adjectives we need to maintain. The only way we can stand up rightly is to stand in the gap courageously. The early Christians turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6). This can only have fruitful results: “Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation” (1 Peter 2:12). Unconformity is the answer (Romans 12:2). Brethren, STAND IN THE GAP. 

The alternative is physical and spiritual destruction (Ezekiel 22:31). We can prevent and change our surroundings through righteous living (Proverbs 14:34). Will you STAND IN THE GAP?  

Endnotes

[1]The same Hebrew word is found in Ezekiel 22:30