Up for the challenge

"I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land.  I searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn't have to destroy the land..."  Ezekiel 22:30

I came across this verse the other day as I was doing my morning devotional.  It stood out to me as I noticed the words "stand in the gap."  I have heard a few people use this phrase when speaking about foster care or adoption and I have always thought it was a way of describing how a person would stand in the gap that is created when a child is found without a home or parents.  But as I read it in this context here, it gave me a whole new perspective of standing in the gap.  Maybe you all have been clued in before now and I am the last to come across this, but I'll share what I have discovered anyway.

My Life Application Study Bible has an excerpt at the bottom that helped clarify for me:

"The wall spoken of here is not made of stones but of faithful people united in their efforts to resist evil.  This wall was in disrepair because there was no one who could lead the people back to God.  The feeble attempts to repair the gap - through religious rituals or messages based on  opinion rather than God's will - were as worthless as whitewash, only covering the real problems.  What the people really needed was a total spiritual reconstruction!  When we give the appearance of loving God without living his way, we are covering up sins that could eventually damage us deeply. Join with others by "standing in the gap" and make a difference for God in the world.

What a great word picture!  Just as Jerusalem's walls were in disrepair, as well as it's people, we are living in a country with a disintegrating moral infrastructure.  Morals are tossed to the side for whatever the newest thing of the day is. 

In fact, don't even discuss morals because then that would mean someone is wrong and well, we don't want to hurt anyones feelings, right? 

As children of God, we need to be standing up for what we know is right, and not apologizing for it.  This doesn't give us license to be rude or inconsiderate, but we have been called to show this light to a dark and hurting world.  Let's show it in love and compassion.

Where can you stand in the gap in your own life? 

Your neighborhood? 

Your workplace? 

At home? 

We have been given the great commission to go out tell others the Great News.  God is calling US, His followers, to be the ones to stand in the gap and make the wall of righteousness strong. 

In our homes. 

In our churches. 

In our neighborhoods. 

In the mission field. 

So when these trials of the Destroyer mark our path, our wall can stand strong.   In Ezekiel God states that He could find no one in the land who could stand in the gap.

 Let it NOT be the case for us.

Comments

  1. smwSeptember 18, 2012 at 12:29 PM

    really good thoughts. i have been thinking about our nation and it's constant further straying from any basis on God. it's discouraging to me, but this is encouraging, and a reminder of what we can do!!

    ReplyDelete

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