The Gap

 “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, but I found no one."  Ezekiel 22:30....."A blinded world needs us to stand, to fight, and to pray." Chris Tiegreen

When you read the verse from Ezekiel, what registers upon you? Upon us? When you look at the word "land," what do you think it refers to? The particular nation you live in? Surely. Does it also reference the church? I think it does.

There is no question that the culture of America has plunged into ever deepening darkness. Many speak of the "new normal," even in the church. Sin, perversion, violence, sexual confusion, murder, pornography, sex trafficking, pedophilia, and a raging epidemic of drug and alcohol addiction. No one feels safe. Few if any trust their government or the media that is supposed to hold the government accountable. This is the new normal, and we, even in the church, have become desensitized to it all. We just shrug and say that it's the way of things today. Spiritual blindness is not only the characteristic of the world. It's becoming the characteristic of much of the church as well. The Bible says that we sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. We have been sowing for a long time now. We are seeing only the beginnings of the reaping. It is the desire of God's heart to deliver us from the judgement sure to come upon a wayward world and backslidden church. How many of us will really stand with Him in that desire? As He looks about for those who will stand in the many and ever widening gaps in the culture of the world and the church, does He see no one, including not seeing us? Not seeing you, or me?

There are many today who are more than willing to be politically active but remain spiritually asleep. Believers should be actively involved in the political process, and seek to elect those who at the least, stand on morally righteous ground. However, we will not overcome the darkness at the ballot box. It is much too late for that and was  never an option anyway. We will fill the gap and push back the tide of darkness and death from our knees, and from our pulpits, and with our testimonies. Not with words of anger and hate, but of heartfelt love for a lost human race. Yet the words we speak must be words of truth, spoken in both boldness and love. Many will reject that truth, some violently. For the sake of those held captive in the darkness, we cannot leave off. We must press on. We must stand in and upon Him, Jesus Christ, as we stand in the gap both for those engulfed in the darkness, and for the Almighty God who seeks through His church to rescue them.

The gaps before you and I are everywhere. In every level of society they are there. In every institution and system. The disease of sin permeates everything. In Isaiah 6, as God appeared to him, Isaiah heard God speak of the terrible state that the people of Judah had fallen into. He issued a call; "Who shall I send, and who will go for us?" He didn't address Isaiah directly. He was issuing a call to all of His people. Isaiah heard it. We're not told how many didn't hear it at all, or heard but ignored it. He was looking for "gap fillers." Isaiah answered, "Here I am. Send me." That call has never ceased to go out from the throne of God. Which of us heard it today? Which of us will go? The life of the land we live in and the church body that we're a part of are at stake. Moreover, eternity is at stake. The gaps continue to widen. Who among us will go to fill them?

Blessings,
Pastor O