Stand in the Gap...

Moses must have been ONE patient man. I mean...seriously, those Israelites were complainers! Whinging, whining and grumbling all day long. I would hope that if I got to see the miracles they saw, and if I got to tangibly see God's clouds and presence like they did, I would live in awe and not complaining! Actually even God got angry at them. And Moses knew it. In Numbers 16:46 Moses tells Aaron to hurry up and make atonement for the people because "Wrath had come out from the Lord; the plague had started".

So rather than saying "OK God...go for it! These people are driving me crazy too!! Knock 'em out" what does Moses do? It says "He stood between the Living and the Dead" (Numbers 16:48). Wow. What a man of God. No wonder God chose him!!

But you know what...God is calling us to do the same with His people today. God needs us to stand in the gap between the people that know and are alive in Him, and those that aren't and are seemingly dead in this world. He needs us to fight for those that are dead inside, and don't know God. How easy it would be to just step aside and let "nature take its course". Spend all our days focused on ourselves and what WE need for God. But God needs us to stand up for those in need. Those who are hungry, lost, hurting...maybe even those who are just living with a sense of "numbness". Who have no sense of the awe and might of God.

I don't know what "standing" for them looks like for you. Maybe its giving a smile to someone. An encouraging word. Food. Shelter. Love. Maybe its writing a blog or a book or a card when God prompts you too, so others can sense His love and goodness. Whatever it means to you...just remember that there is power in standing in the gap. The whole of Israel could have been wiped out by God in one moment had Moses not had the compassion and boldness and willingness to stand between the dead and the living. Now its time to take our stand.

PS. I am not sure that God really would have taken out the whole of Israel. Its hard to know. God's wrath is pretty powerful. But He's also a loving and compassionate God. Maybe it was something that Moses had to sense in order to stir something inside of him. To trigger the response God needed him to have. Just food for thought...