Stand in the Gap

February 15

Standing in the Gap
From: Today God Is First by Os Hillman

“I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before Me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none,” Ezekiel 22:30

The people of Israel fell into sin when they worshiped the golden calf (see Exodus 32:8), It would not be the last time God's people would fall into idol worship. They had forgotten the great things God had done for them. This angered God so much that He was going to destroy the whole nation. Only one thing changed God's mind in the matter—Moses.

Psalm 106:23 says, "...had not Moses, His chosen one, stood in the breach before Him to keep His wrath from destroying them..." Moses was a man willing to stand in the gap, sacrificially, for those who were not deserving of such sacrifice. This sacrificial love by Moses is called for among His people today.

The prophet Ezekiel described another situation in which God's people fell into sin. God was ready to destroy the nation when He spoke to Ezekiel, asking him if there is a man willing to stand in the gap so that God would not have to destroy His people.

Judah was a man who stood in the gap on behalf of his younger brother Benjamin. Joseph held his brother Simeon hostage as insurance that the other brothers would bring Benjamin to Egypt. Judah had a long history of a me-focused life, but in this instance he came forward to stand in the gap for his younger brother. He responded to the anguish of his father, Jacob, by personally guaranteeing the safe return of both Simeon and Benjamin. Judah's sacrifice was rewarded (see Genesis 42-43).

Just as Christ did, we are to be those who will stand in the gap on behalf of others who are not aware of their own vulnerable condition. It is a proactive, sacrificial position.

For whom is God calling you to stand in the gap? Perhaps it is a mate; perhaps it is a co-worker who has not come to know the Savior; perhaps it is a wayward child. Are you willing to become the sacrificial offering to God to change His plans of judgment because of your willingness to stand in their place?

This is a hard teaching. This is what Jesus did for each of us. When we stand in the place of another, God moves because of our willingness to stand on their behalf. If we don't, His plans will go forward because He is a righteous and holy God who will honor His own word, even if it means destruction.

Are you willing to stand in the breach of the wall for someone today? Perhaps you are the only person who will stand on someone's behalf.

As our Brother Hillman has here stated so clearly, we who believe in Jesus are called to a purpose greater than ourselves, greater than our own salvation. Were we not, He could simply allow us to die and achieve our heavenly reward at the moment of our salvation.

Instead of beckoning us home, He instead says to us, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature," Mark 16:15.

Oz Hillman has made another important observation in the verse he quoted here: “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before Me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none,” Ezekiel 22:30. This states clearly that God’s endeavor to find believers to stand in the gap for those who do not know Christ as Savior and Lord often falls short of His expectation.

Many of us have reneged on our calling to fulfill the ‘great commission.’ Many of us have become so preoccupied with living our life that we fail to observe the lost condition of those around us and we fail to appropriate our Lord’s charge to us that we remedy it by standing in the gap for them.

Let us resolve at this juncture in our walk of faith that we shall be mindful of the need for the unsaved to come to a knowledge of the Holy One who died to set them free from sin. Let us pray for the unsaved neighbors around us, let us be on our knees continually for the lost relatives in our families, let us beseech our Jesus to visit in the night those who commit acts of great evil out of a misguided effort to do their god a favor by slaying those who do not bow the knee before him.

Let us make Christ’s Kingdom’s greatest purpose—the salvation of lost souls—our own greatest purpose. Let us stand in the gap until there is no gap. Let us stand in the gap until there are no lost, unsaved men.