Why ‘Standing in the Gap’?

OK so there have been a couple of people ask me how I came up with the title for this blog ‘Standing in the Gap’ well, here goes for my attempt at an explanation.

Some years ago, whilst reading my bible, I came across Ezekiel 22, I cried my way through the whole chapter, because in it I could see our country being described, for those who don’t know, it basically describes the way that Israel is/was at the time,  it doesn’t make pleasant reading.

Anyhow, in Verse 30 we read: 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.

This verse is often used to refer to Gods people praying for their land, and indeed it is a very good call to prayer, so why do I take it as the title of this Blog? after all I am hardly a prayer warrior, I don’t spend hours in prayer or intercession, so?

Well when I came across this passage, pre-adoption of our 2 children, I felt that there was more to the concept of building up the walls and standing in the gap than simply prayer, although that is very important and I don’t intend to diminish the importance of prayer in the slightest.

For me, the deeper meaning has more to do with bringing Heaven to Earth than lifting earth up to heaven, if that makes any sense? I will unpack it a bit anyhow!

For me, standing in the gap means yes prayer but it also means being the answer to prayer.

It means standing in the ago on behalf of Man but it also means standing in the gap on behalf of God, it means presenting (or representing) Man to God but also presenting (or representing) God to Man.

No one can truly stand in the gap and appeal to our God on behalf of Man if they are not also prepared to stand in the gap appealing to Man on behalf of God.

OK that sounds pretty complicated stuff I know! how do I represent God to man? well by being like Christ before Man, by doing the things that we see the father doing, by loving those who are unloved, by caring for those who are uncared for, by loving, loving, loving.

I felt so strongly at that time that we, myself and Joy, were being called to a life of serving in the place of the Gap, to look at the wrongs in our society and instead of recoiling into ourselves we were to stand up for the rights of the oppressed, we were to take God into the situations we face, not necessarily, in fact rarely, to preach with words, but always to preach with actions, to love with God’s love and to care with God’s care.

What I didn’t know at that time was exactly where it would lead us, into the centre of a community made up of probably the most marginalised and misunderstood people in this nation, those with learning difficulties.

Through not being able to have our own children and our decision to adopt children, regardless of what they threw at us, we have had the privilege of being Christ in situations that we could never have considered in any other situation.

I am not sure where we are heading with this but I am passionate about the need to stand up for the rights of the oppressed, not just those with learning difficulties but others too, I believe that, as a Christian, I am called to a life of speaking out for the oppressed, to speak out where I see injustices and to be Christ to those who are at the receiving end of oppression and injustice as well as fighting to ensure that the oppression and injustice stops.

Standing in the gap is not easy, it was never meant to be easy, its tiring, its difficult and it leave you exposed and weak at times.

In order to stand in the gap you also have to be prepared to build up the walls, if the gaps too big for you to stand in you need to do some repair work first, building up the walls may involve getting involved in political campaigning, trying to get unjust laws overturned, trying to establish justice through the law courts and through official channels seeking to have new, just and right, laws established and upheld in this land, I think an example of Ezekiel 22:30 in action in this land could have been seen in the likes of Shaftesbury, Newton & Wilberforce, to name but 3 well known names from previous generations but it can also be seen in hundreds and thousands of Gods children working in possibly very small ways to change the world for those they come into contact with.

So my challenge to you, if you Know Christ, is are you prepared to stand in the gap? I mean really stand in the gap, in the way I have outlined? its challenging but the rewards far outweigh the cost.