Standing in the gap!
Today I am standing in for Tracy. Tracy is one of our talented LWG writers and she was not able to submit her devotion today. She asked me if I would stand in for her. Of course, I was happy to do it, as I know she or any of our wonderfully gifted writers would do the same for me.
As I pondered my eagerness to step right in, God pricked my heart and ever so gently whispered to me, “How eager are you to stand in the gap for your sister?”
“Stand in the gap, Lord?” I responded. “Of course I am willing to stand in the gap.”I was pretty quick to answer God and then I began wondering how BIG of a gap is He talking about?
When my kids were young, we would go down to the waterfront and walk. There was a long pier that we would walk out on. My boys were young and as boys do, they were a little bit boisterous.
They liked to hop.
They liked to run.
They liked wiggle.
I would get very nervous as we would walk out on that pier. As they got a little too close to the edge, my “mother” instinct would kick in and I would stand in the gap that appeared between the pier and the railing to protect my young sons from getting too close to danger. Too close to the edge with their wobbly legs and high strung energy could possibly send them overboard. By standing in the gap, I was keeping them from harm’s way.
Sometimes it is necessary to take a stand to protect those you love from danger, even from their own shortsightedness at times. There is a gap sometimes between clear vision and cloudy vision. Much like my “mother” instincts, those around us sometimes just need someone to stand between them and the danger that they face.
When you and I stand in the gap for our spouses and our children and our loved ones, we are in essence saying that we will sacrifice whatever it takes and stand in for them. It is not God’s desire that any man (woman or child) would perish but instead have eternal life:
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”
This is His desire, but we have to choose it. When we choose poorly, danger will lurk. We must do all that we can do to protect our loved ones from this danger and to lead them to the cross. We MUST pray! We MUST fast! We MUST pray some more and do not become weary! We MUST stand in the gap. Someone’s life may be dependent upon it!
Standing on that pier with my children, if they would have fallen in the deep waters, I would have been willing to jump in right after them. When God asked me how willing I was to stand in the gap for my sisters, I wondered to myself, “Am I willing to jump in the murky waters to save her?”
Are YOU willing to stand in the gap? And if needed, will you be willing to jump in the water? Someone’s life may be dependent upon it!
Would I stand in the gap for my sisters? Yes, I would. I think that our support system in the Christian community if very important; be an encouragement and ‘safety net’.