Sometimes standing in the gap takes courage, whether its standing in the gap with an individual or for our country. God is looking for us to be courageous and stand in the gap for our country and also for individuals, to help them with the difficulties in their lives.
Case in point: I was recently involved in a situation that the Lord wanted me involved in, but I did not want to go. I can’t go into the details because I would be violating a promise not to talk about these details.
On this particular occasion, I was asked if I would transport a person to an appointment. In the course of our conversation, I discovered it was a meeting like an unpleasant one I had attended with several others, several months earlier. The person I was transporting told me that our pastor was going to be there, and that I could be there if I wanted, but I didn’t have to.
That began an argument with the Lord this person knew nothing about. Here are some of the arguments:
“Lord, my friend says I don’t need to go and since Pastor is going to be there….”
“But I don’t want to go….”
“It’s not going to be pleasant…”
I even tried, “But I’m not dressed for a meeting!” (I was wearing jean shorts, a multicolored bandana and a T-shirt with a bleach stain on it I’d not realized was there until late in the afternoon)
So, we arrived at the destination. “Are you sure you don’t need me?”
“You don’t have to go.”
“I want to be supportive.”
“You are, Coleen. Believe me, you are.”
So my friend left and I left for the gas station.
All the way to the gas station (not far) I felt the finger of the Lord in my back. “You need to be there.”
“Yes, Lord. You are right. I should have gone. But it’s too late now. It’s getting close to meeting time and by the time I finish here, it will be too late.”
Really? I argue about time with God who works outside the limits of time?
“You know they never start on time.”
Earlier in the morning, I had rearranged the music on my MP3 player in my favorites and added a couple of songs. While on the way to the gas station, I was listening to the music. It was about this time the Lord pulled an unfair trick on me…. (I say trick with extreme respect, by the way). One of the songs that played on my way to the station in the middle of my argument with the Lord was Courageous.
The Lord reminded me that most of the people in the Bible were in places they didn’t want to be. Jeremiah spent some time in a cistern up to his waist in muck, Paul was in prison awaiting execution, Daniel and his friends were exiled to Babylon, even though they were some of the faithful ones. Jesus didn’t really want to be on the cross, but He knew that was the only way to open the door for humanity to get the relationship back with God the Father that was intended from the beginning.
Then the Lord made a point I’d not thought of ever in my life before. The Bible is not done being written.
What?
No. All of us, whether we believe in Jesus or not, are in the Bible and it is being written even today; we still have to ask Jesus to be Lord in our lives, but all our stories are in the Bible. Now, I have to say that several months ago the idea came to me that in the Lamb’s book of life, our stories will be written, not just our names. Now, the Lord is telling me the Bible is still being written? Wow.
Needless to say, I did go to the meeting, and when I got there, my friend and our pastor were still waiting for the meeting to start. I grinned and told them a little bit of the argument I had and they laughed. And in case you’re wondering, the meeting was not as unpleasant as I thought it would be, but it was still, very unpleasant. God never promises that obedience to him is going to be easy or pleasant.
But I was glad I obeyed the Lord and went.