Stop the Gap

Ezekiel 22:30

And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.

One of God’s greatest desires for nations and individuals who are not doing what they are supposed to be doing is for someone to stand in the gap for them. What does it mean to stand in the gap? To understand this phrase, you need to understand the context that God is using. God often refers to Israel as a vineyard. He says in Isaiah 5:4, What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? The fencing that many owners put around their vineyards to protect them was a thorny shrub to keep the wild animals from coming in to destroy the vineyard. This is what God was talking about in Song of Solomon 2:15 when He says, Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes. Those little foxes chewed a gap in the shrub, and the husbandman’s job was to make up the gap, or fix the gap, so the foxes could no longer get through.

When God talks about standing in the gap, He is talking about you stopping the gap by interceding for the one who has allowed a gap to come into their lives. When God talks about interceding for others, He is talking about praying for the spiritual needs of others when they are not concerned about their spiritual needs. God was looking for one man to intercede for Israel though Israel did not care about God or following Him. God was willing to save Israel from destruction if there was one man to make up that hedge by standing in the gap through intercession.

James 4:8 shows us best how this gap happens. This verse says, Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Notice, when draw closer to God, He draws closer to you. Therefore, if there is a gap between you and God, it is because you pulled away from God resulting in God pulling away from you. That gap that is left between you and God can only be made up by someone interceding for you to come back to Him. Because you won’t draw nigh to God, He looks for someone that will draw nigh to God for you. That person who intercedes for you is drawing nigh to God for you to stop the gap so that God will not destroy you.

My friend, one of the greatest things you can do for the backslidden is to make up the gap between them and God by interceding for them. The intercessory prayer of the believer is often the tool that causes the backslidden to get right. We have often hear about someone coming back to God because of a praying mother. Oh, for believers to get back to intercessory prayers for those who have strayed so that we may bring them back to God. Intercessory prayer will do more for the backslidden coming back to God than preaching at them every time you see them will ever do.

Are you stopping the gap for others through intercessory prayers, or are you widening the gap because of gossip? One of the greatest sins of believers is their lack of intercessory prayers for the backslidden. Let me challenge you to become a believer who stops the gap for the lost, backslidden, and your nation by interceding for these when they refuse to draw nigh to God themselves.