Why Ezekiel 22:30?

"I looked for someone 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 no one." Ezekiel 22:30

Why have I  chosen this verse to be the theme of this blog and the theme of my own fatherhood? The short answer is that I believe this verse epitomizes what it means to be a Christian husband and father. But more than that, this verse issues a challenge—a challenge I desire to rise to, and a challenge I want to share with you.

But first, some context. There is nothing worse than cherry-picking a verse out of the Bible and making it say whatever you want it to say, so let's start by talking about what's going on here in Ezekiel:

In short, the book of Ezekiel begins about five years after the first exile of the southern kingdom of Israel. Ezekiel was one of the captives taken away to Babylon and God appears to him and tells him to make accusations on God's behalf against the Israelites. Ezekiel also warns the Israelites that Babylon is going to attack again and Jerusalem and the Temple will be destroyed and the rest of the Israelites will also be exiled.

In the first 29 verses of Ezekiel 22, the LORD Himself plainly lays out the Israelites' (and Jerusalem's specifically) vast array of sinful and wretched behavior. After this despicable depiction of their moral failings God comes to verse 30, our core verse, and makes this statement (as read above): "I looked for someone 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 no one."

Wow.

What a picture of complete, abject failure as God's people. So why such a dour verse as our mission statement? Why should we write these words on the banner of our fatherhood and fly them over our families? Because, fellow men of God—fathers and future fathers—we need a constant reminder of what's at stake—of what God is looking for in this world. We should always live with this burdensome picture of what our failure will mean for our families riding on our shoulders so that they don't have to. The world is harsh and full of sin—and it is yearning to sink its teeth into our families.

So at this point some of you reading this may find that your brow has furrowed and a frown is creeping onto your face. Why such depressing doom and gloom talk? This isn't what I came here for! Where is the positive, encouraging...K-Love! Being a Christian father is supposed to be about warmth and love, isn't it? (I don't mean to be dismissive—we will get to the positivity and encouragement. Keep reading!)

Well, yes, it is. Sort of.

I envision being a true Christian father much like sitting around a campfire. The front of you—the side facing your family—is warm and toasty, full of joy. But your back—the side of you facing the world—is cold, battered by the frigid night air. We bear the cold on the one side while smiling on the other because we know we're keeping that cold from reaching the ones we so love. Or think of it like an animal attack: You grab your precious child in your arms and hold them tight to your chest, whispering that it will be okay while bearing the bites and slashes to your back.

Is this not the minimum that Christ did on the cross for us? Did he not hold us to his chest and tell us all would be okay while bearing the pain of our sins in our stead? And is it not He whom we are to emulate as husbands and fathers?

This then is why Ezekiel 22:30 should be the verse we stamp on our fatherhood.

I first came upon this verse in my Bible reading about five years ago when I was single. But seeing my thirtieth birthday coming on the horizon I was beginning to think about what it meant to be a Christian man and how that should translate someday when I became a husband and father. I had never heard this verse or passage before, but it stopped me in my tracks. God wanted me to know this verse. He wanted me to dwell on it. So after considering how I should react to it, this is what I wrote in the margin of my Bible:

And that is what all of us should be asking ourselves. Will I stand in the gap? Can I? Except, if you are already a husband and/or father its too late for that question. Now you must ask yourself: Am I standing in the gap? How will I stand in the gap for my family today?

Because what God was saying in this verse was that He was looking for a Godly leader to stand for Israel. He was looking for a leader who would wrestle that willful nation back into His arms and protect it from the sinful world around it and also from its own inborn, sinful nature.

And lest you doubt that one Godly man can make a difference, consider all those who shouldered that burden and stood in the gap for Israel throughout the Old Testament:

• How many times did Moses plead for God to have mercy on the Israelites and not destroy them?
• Joshua kept the entire nation clasped to God throughout his lifetime even after the passing of Moses.
• Each of the judges, at least for a time, stood in the gap.
• How about Samuel and King David? Look at the mess Israel was before them and how quickly it fell when Solomon couldn't hold the line.
• And of course, if you need a truly incredible example of how one man can stand in the gap, look no further than King Hezekiah. He had the strength to enact sweeping reforms calling the people back to God. He rebuilt the spiritual "wall" that the wicked kings before him had kicked down and stood in the gap for the people before God. Because of this, his generation was preserved and God waited until after his lifetime to send Judah into exile.

Of course, by no means do I want this community to be one of doom and gloom, doing nothing more than lamenting how dark the world is around us. We all have eyes. We can see. We all hear the beast growling in the darkness waiting for us to slip. Instead I want this to be a space of encouragement. A place where we share ideas and success stories.

However, we can never forget that there is darkness on the other side of the wall. We cannot ignore it. As Christian husbands and fathers we don't have that luxury. Like a guard standing watch, we must always be wary and vigilant. This is not a job for the faint of heart and should never be taken lightly. Because if we fail to stand in the gap...well, just read verse 31. Finding no one to stand in the gap, God pronounced:

"So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done..." Ezekiel 22:31

So... Do you love your wife and kids? Talk is cheap.

Stand in the Gap.