Standing in the Gap

" I looked for a man from among them who would repair the wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it, but I found no one."
Ezekiel 22:30 (NET)


Standing in the gap, standing firm. Standing for the Lord. Is there anything else for one to do?

I dabble on Facebook a bit, and often post on a daily scripture verse board. There is a guy who posts frequently, and quite frankly, our gospel views do not agree. Sometimes there is give and take, sometimes we ignore each other and post over the other.
Once or twice we just bogged down and stop talking about the glory of God and the love of Christ and were more focused on winning an argument for the sake of winning, like the rules of the game were the one who posts last wins. It seems like I am wasting time, arguing with a stone wall that has turned a deaf ear to me. He is just repeating the same thing over and over, which I believe to be in error. I repeat the same thing over and over, but I believe I am right, so that's OK. When that happened I just like felt dropping off the board for good and moving on to something else. Anything else.
But one thing holds me in place. Although we disagree, I have to admire his focus and faithfulness to his belief structure; his drive and determination. I believe he would mislead the uninformed, and he is there everyday posting the same stuff no matter what the bible verse is that you should be commenting on. He isn't going away any time soon, so neither do I.
So I stand in the gap. Even those couple of times when I wanted to move off and away. I do not want to be like the hired hand of John 10:13, running from trouble. I want to act like a member of the family, God's family. So I stay put. If nothing else, I owe a debt of gratitude to my nemesis for making me focus on the need to stand in the gap.
Believe me, this is no cosmic battle amongst hosts of spiritual forces. Posting on a board that is not well visited in a very small corner of a social networking site seems kind of futile. But there are a few people there discussing the bible, and who knows who comes by and reads without ever posting? But it made me realize that battles fought for the Lord in quiet or dark corners of the world bring no less glory to Him than those on open and public fields of battle. (Don't get me wrong, that Facebook board is neither dark nor lonely, I have some good friends on it with me, and we get encouragement and insight from each other). The most difficult struggles are those waged in places where you are the weakest, that is often when you are or feel alone. But God knows and measures the heart, He knows the effort and there is no less glory for God if few, or no one else is watching but Him. Because He has won your heart and you are ready to stand in the gap for Him.
So build the wall and stand in the gap. Do not be discouraged, but know in your heart that others are standing in their own gaps, beside their own piece of the wall, waging battle as well. You do not know them, but He does as well as he knows you.

So build and stand, because when you step back and look at your daily actions through the lens of eternity, is there anything else for one to do?