Looking for a prayerful person to stand in the gap - Ezek 22:30

Quiet Time – Ezek 22:30 03/19/06

These days I really enjoy my QT, and here’s my conversation with God this morning. I spent so much time writing stuff down that I was almost late for church – not good at all, but it was worth it. Before I started reading, He reminded me about His special people – the widow, the fatherless, the poor and the stranger. He reminded me of one of the verses that really brought comfort when my dad passed away – Ex 22:22-24 – that God would visit His wrath upon anyone who touched the widow and the fatherless, and it’s a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the Living God. In addition, this morning, He gave me Ezek 22:7, Jer 5:28 and Jer 7:6. And … I just realized He’s made this a ‘theme’ for me today - on my way home from church, I had my hymn book and one song that I enjoyed singing was MHB 428. I just realized that it is linked to His words to me this morning – lemme share the words …

I'll praise my Maker while I’ve breath,
And when my voice is lost in death,
Praise shall employ my nobler powers;
My days of praise shall ne’er be past,
While life, and thought, and being last,
Or immortality endures.

Why should I make a man my trust?
Princes must die and turn to dust;
Vain is the help of flesh and blood:
Their breath departs, their pomp, and power,
And thoughts, all vanish in an hour,
Nor can they make their promise good.

Happy the man whose hopes rely
On Israel’s God: He made the sky,
And earth, and seas, with all their train:
His truth for ever stands secure;
He saves th’oppressed, He feeds the poor,
And none shall find His promise vain.

The Lord has eyes to give the blind;
The Lord supports the sinking mind;
He sends the labr’ing conscience peace;
He helps the stranger in distress,
The widow, and the fatherless,
And grants the pris’ner sweet release.

He loves His saints, He knows them well,
But turns the wicked down to hell;
Thy God, O Zion! ever reigns:
Let every tongue, let every age,
In this exalted work engage;
Praise Him in everlasting strains.

I’ll praise Him while He lends me breath,
And when my voice is lost in death,
Praise shall employ my nobler powers;
My days of praise shall ne’er be past,
While life, and thought, and being last,
Or immortality endures.

---

My QT this past week has been on prayer, and I’m learning so much about prayer. Two people whose prayers, (or better put, conversations with God) intrigue me are Abraham and Moses, … Especially in the cases of Abe and Mo, they challenged God – they challenged Him to move if He didn’t want His enemies to gloat over His children and claim victory. They took what they knew of God, and spoke it back to Him, affirming their faith in His attributes – His faithfulness etc. In Gen 18:17-33 for example, Abe’s prayer was marked by three things: first, He affirmed God’s nature and used that as the foundation for His prayer. Secondly, he acknowledged his own nothingness before God – he put things in perspective. Lastly, he did not hold back, but was sincere and honest, and dared to question God ‘cos he knew God and had faith in God’s nature. God honored his sincerity by responding to a mere mortal who was trying to negotiate mercy on behalf of a fallen nation. Only problem was this … there were no righteous people/intercessors to attract God’s mercy!

Okay, now on to my QT. Prior to v. 30 of Ezekiel chapter 22, God was listing His charges against the people – their leaders had lead them astray, there was social injustice and irresponsibility and many vices – oppression etc, and unbelievers and believers alike (false prophets) profaned His name, and being the God that He is, He sought an intercessor. What blew my mind was that – not that it was the human beings who sought an intercessor, but God Himself sought an intercessor. They were just going about business as usual, and God, knowing that He’s a God of justice, could not let them go unpunished. However, in His divine order, or according to His divine principles, prayer - intercession could stay His hand of judgment and so He sought intercessors so He could show mercy.

He sought a man from among them – likewise, in any group or community/among any people, there must be a few righteous ones who know what God seeks after – people who are still alive spiritually – this is what could have saved Sodom and Gomorrah, but they were nowhere to be found. God sought intercessors, and He was going to give them work to do on the wall of Jerusalem. I can’t help but remember Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the wall. These intercessors had 2 tasks…

First, they had to make/build a wall. God calls intercessors to create protection, a covering over others. When someone is going through battles, the intercessor’s prayer casts a wall (note, not a fence, but a wall) around the weak one. As the physical defenses of Jerusalem had to be built, so did they (prophets) have to build up their moral and spiritual defenses. In intercession, we must be on the defense – build up a wall of preservation – these are the kinds of prayers that ask God for protection – “deliver us from evil, and lead us not into temptation…” Since I may not know what is plaguing people I intercede for, or the extent of their battles, my first stop on the journey of prayer, is to ask God to surround them and hem them in – shield them from the eye of the enemy – to fortify them and keep them from harm. Referring to Ezek 13:5, the Lord accused the prophets of not going up to build a wall so that Israel could stand in the day of battle.

Second, they had to stand in the gap – where there was any gap or breach in the wall. Gaps/breaches are inevitable, and they need to be repaired – Is. 58:12, Amos 9:11, Is 59:16. There is a gap between God and man – a spiritual separation that we’re to repair. Sin comes between God and man, and once these gaps appear, the intercessor is to rise and stand in that gap. Our human nature invites sin (gaps), by default, and these gaps separate us from God. In the context of a vineyard, someone had to stand guard as a watchman until the gap in the wall was repaired.

Sin gives the devil legal ground in our lives – breaches/gaps, and where there’s this ‘legal’ ground, we must take it away by intercession. Following the loss of our Adamic dominion, the devil gained access to us, to harass us, and when we sin, we activate his access in our lives, drawing us farther away from God. Standing in the gap means keeping watch – being on guard. A gap is a breach that removes protection or compromises it – it invites trouble, and for this reason, the intercessor is to stand ready in the gap and look out for signs of trouble and be summon help from heaven in the time of need.

In some Bible versions, mention is made of repairing the gap/breaches in the wall. A repair may leave scars or just like a sore may leave a scar or filling up potholes leave visual/physical evidence of what happened – likewise, sins/gaps/breaches in our lives may lead to consequences and even though there’s repair, there may be scar/consequences (Num 14:34 says “… you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you …” If I am disobedient and I go and fight with my neighbor, although God will forgive my disobedience of His voice not to fight, and He’ll deliver me, that does not mean I will walk out scarless – I may walk out with a few reminders of that situation.

The most important truth to remember from all this is that restoration to God comes through humans – evangelism is the key to restoring the relationship. The lack of intercessors to build up and stand in the gaps leaves God no choice but to deliver judgment/justice, and it is the role of the evangelist, the intercessor, that stays God’s hand of judgment In instances where the wall cannot be built, there must be repair going on, restoring the relationship between God and man. Prayer repairs breaches!

Verse 31 tells the sad ending of the situation when God finds no intercessors – He goes ahead and metes out justice – He visits deserved wrath on people, where this could have been avoided if there had been an intercessor! My prayer is that God keeps me interceding – I don’t have to analyze or understand any situation, all I need to do is to build walls through spiritual strategies such as prayer, and in the share God’s message of restoration in the physical, and prepare the way for God to move! Amen!