Read today’s texts first: Ezekiel 22-24; Revelation 9
To be “outstanding” you need to
stand out from the crowd.
stand out from the crowd.
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 (22:30). God’s hand of judgment was often held back by an intercessor, be it Abraham, Moses or one of His prophets. We often ask, “what can one man do to change their world?” God’s answer – a lot!
To be outstanding you need to stand out from the crowd. It’s not easy to be different. Our insecurities cause us to conform, to try and fit in, to be like everyone else. But our world has enough followers. Like the lemmings, what looks like a walk on the beach can turn out to be deadly. In my younger days, I often tried to justify wrong choices with the well-used “everyone’s doing it!”, to which my mom would predictably respond, “if everyone jumped off a cliff, would you jump too?” Unfortunately, metaphorically and literally, that actually happens, every day!
To be the man in the gap doesn’t mean you have to dress weird, talk weird or act weird. In fact, it requires just the opposite. Turning around a nation, or even just your next-door neighbour, requires a rational and relational representation of Jesus. When Jesus walked planet Earth He was that man in the gap, and sinners loved Him. Our world is looking for leaders, for wall-builders, for intercessors – those who can point out the right way with confidence and clarity.
“Lord, change whatever You need to in me to make me that man!”
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