Standing in the gap – November 2, 2008

I was reading recently from Exekiel and I came across an interesting passage. In chapter 22 starting in verse 30 it reads
30 "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. 31 So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD."

Wow! According to this verse, God as actively searching for someone to stand before him and pray so he wouldn’t have to destroy the people. If only he could find someone, the circumstances would have changed.

I was reading comments recently on the question – does prayer make any difference?
Does it? – You bet it does. Over and over in the Bible, we are urged, we are pleaded with, we are encouraged to take our plea before God. We are encouraged to do this for our daily needs. But even more importantly as a Christian, we are to plead and interceed for others – for our nation, for our leaders, for the lost, for those hurting, for righteousness – and the list goes on and on.

When God was preparing to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for their great wickedness (you can read about it in Genesis 18-19) Abraham bargained with God, trying to talk him into not destroying the city. “You won’t destroy them if there’s 50 righteous?” “How about 45? – 40 – 30 – 20. What if there’s only 10?” Abraham pleads with God until God promises that he won’t destroy the cities if there are 10 righteous. Unfortunately for those two cities – there weren’t even 10 righteous.

Standing in the gap, pleading with God, bargaining with the Almighty. These are the things that we should be doing in our prayer life –

And maybe then, we can save cities!

God Bless You – Pastor John