What is God looking for?
We are all looking for something but what about God, what is God looking for? Could we ever know just what God wants? Yes, and God used an ancient prophet to tell us exactly what He wanted.
"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." Ezekiel 22:30. NIV.
GOD IS SEARCHING
"I looked for a man..." God is gazing upon humanity and he is trying to find something. It is incredible that the All-Knowing God would search as if in spite of His omniscience He is still hopeful of finding a certain man; As if God is hoping he is wrong, and that he somehow overlooked this special man.A MAN
You would think God is looking for someone who is a PhD., or a philosopher, or a Nobel Prize laureate, or a great humanitarian, or one who is the head of a university, a government, or a charity. God is not looking for any such celebrity; He is looking for “a man.” This definition is unexceptional, common, and mundane as if just a man; any of us could be that one!THE GAP
The walls were the city's defenses, but these walls were broken down and weakened, they were a danger and not a security. The man the Lord sought then and seeks now is one who will build up the walls, to protect and defend the people of God's affection. We as a church and a world need a man to build up the walls of prayer around our communities.What does it mean to stand "in the gap?" It is a term that comes from ancient warfare, it meant to fill in part of the defenses with your own self thereby becoming part of the wall against defeat and disaster.
There is a gap today between lost humanity and God's wrath. We need one who stands before God in the priestly function of intercessory prayer. We need to be people who pray for our nation and our brothers. We need to confess our own sins and the sins of those of our community. We need to plead with our God for mercy on our houses and our neighborhoods.
OUR WORLD IS SEARCHING
Our world today is looking for solutions through movements, government, institutions and even guns, but God is looking and waiting for one to stand in the gap, the gap between us and his judgment. In the ancient time of Ezekiel he found none, may it not be the case today. May you and I be such people that God seeks, who stand before him in prayer for those around us.
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(c) Adron 2/22/11
