As the new year starts it is good to look towards the future. Recently, some of us were discussing our future role in missions. During the discussion the concept of “standing in the gap” came up. In my mind that term had always meant intercessory prayer. Intercessory prayer, praying on behalf of another and asking God to meet their need or to remember his promises to them, is certainly good and encouraged throughout the Word. I do not mean to minimize that in the least. However, as I investigated the topic, I noticed that there was a distinct difference between praying that a friend would do well in a job interview and standing in the gap for someone about to experience the wrath of God.
The earliest example in the Word is Abraham’s interceding for Sodom in Genesis Chapter 18. Here Abraham was not simply bringing a shopping list of material goods to God on behalf of the people in Sodom. He was standing in front of God, face-to-face with him, suggesting that it would be wrong to destroy the righteous along with the miscreants of Sodom. Likewise, Moses pleaded with the Lord to withhold his wrath from the people of Israel when they sinned against him by worshipping the golden calf (see Exodus 32), basically saying, “take me instead.” Also, in Acts 7:60, Stephen pleads with his dying breath that the Lord would not hold the sin against the people who were in the process of killing him. Ultimately, Jesus stood in the gap for us all by laying down his life, and he is currently in heaven before the throne interceding on our behalf today (Romans 8:34).
While these are great examples, the concept of “standing in the gap” is most clearly defined in Ezekiel 22:30, where God said that he was looking for someone to rebuild the wall and stand in the gap before him so that he would not have to destroy the land. During our discussion, Executive Director Paul Gossman pointed out that this metaphor has two aspects applicable to the Prayer League. On the one hand, we stand before God pleading with him on behalf of the lost, and then we take action by going, even being willing to lay down our lives in order to share the gospel with them. We also have a role in standing in the gap for the church, particularly that portion of the church that has forgotten its responsibility for the Great Commission.
Thank you for “Standing in the Gap” with us.