"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).

Early each Monday morning I gather to pray with a group of believers in a restaurant in our community. I realize in doing so I am a part of scores of local prayer groups that gather all around the world. Yesterday our choir sang a number that really has an intriguing line. It speaks of the ordinary people that God is using all over the world to advance His purpose. "I'm so very ordinary, nothing special on my own. I have never walked on water, and I have never calmed a storm."  God continues to call and use ordinary people like you and me!

Ezekiel lived for God at the time of the fall of Jerusalem and the first period of the exile in Babylon about 2,600 years ago.  The daily text is a word of the Lord to Ezekiel.  "I looked for a man."  The previous several verses prior to this describe the awful conditions in Jerusalem at the time of its final days and the corrupt, apostate leadership. 

The two qualities God sought were:

1) Those who would build up the wall.

2) Those who stand before me in the gap. 

Although they did have literal fortified walls and gaps the image is surely spiritual.  The walls were a means of protection and the gaps had to be closely guarded as entrance points.  God looked for a man who would stand against the tide of spiritual apostasy, political corruption and social oppression described in the previous verses.

"But I found none."  Surely this is one of the saddest verses in the entire Bible!  "None" should certainly not be taken as absolute.  After all, Ezekiel was staying faithful to God, along with aged Jeremiah, young Daniel and others such as Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah (Daniel 1:7).  But among the political leadership none was found that would meet these qualifications.  And the land was indeed judged and the people taken into exile in Babylon.

Two lessons for us "ordinary people" today:

1) Let us all determine that we will meet this call in our age.  I want to be a man who will build up the wall and stand before God in the gap. I want to build up the wall by holding to God's truth and His standards of righteousness.  I want to stand in the gap regarding the moral filth that is far too prevalent.

2) Let us remember to pray for the godly remnant in political leadership in each of our lands.  They need our prayers to stand faithful!


Be encouraged today,


Stephen C. Weber

Brooksyne's prayer – Lord, I am an ordinary person who has submitted my heart to You.  But it is in the ordinary people that the infusion of Your power makes them extraordinary.  Your Holy Spirit gives me boldness that does not come naturally to my personality.   Thank You for giving me the strength to stand against the basic principles of this world when they collide with Your principles.  Lord, help me to be a watchman for my family, my co-workers and my friends as I intercede for their salvation.  I want to stand in the gap on behalf of those who have not yet bowed their knee to Christ.  When I feel as though I am alone, as I stand in the gap, may I be reminded of Your words to the disciples before Your crucifixion.  You told them they would scatter each to his own home and leave You alone.  But then You said "I am not alone, for my Father is with me."  I thank You that we do not stand in the gap alone but You, my Father, are with me and I stand in Your strength!  Amen.

* The song referred to in the first paragraph is titled "Call on Jesus". Here's an audio version by a local church in Maryland.