So when you were a kid and a playground bully — whether boy or girl — started harrassing one of your weak or insecure friends, were you the type to step in and tell the bully to stop?
Or were you just glad that you weren’t being picked on?
Part of being a faithful Christian is to stand beside people who are being attacked by those wanting to exploit them for selfish reasons.
If you have a co-worker who is being treated unfairly by other employees, do you ignore the situation? Or do you make an obvious effort to encourage the person and show the troublemakers that you believe they’re wrong?
There is, of course, a risk in standing up for people who are under attack though they’ve done nothing to deserve it. The attacks will likely expand to include ourselves.
But if we don’t help somebody in that situation — whether it involves hurtful gossip or outright schemes to get someone fired — then what kind of person are we?
A “not my problem” person, that’s what.
And not a good example of faith, either.
I’ve suffered wounds in the past because I chose to come alongside of people who were being unfairly attacked in workplaces or sometimes even in churches. But I would have suffered the more painful guilty conscience in those situations if I had not tried to help.
It’s a Golden Rule thing, you know.
If you or I were the ones being harrassed, we’d sure like it if somebody came alongside of us.
This morning’s reading in the One-Year Bible reminded me of what God expects from His people when it comes to helping others.
“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. 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, declares the Sovereign LORD.” Ezekial 22:30-31
The context of this passage involves the rampant rebelliousness of the Hebrews in the years before the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonian army. God really, really did NOT want to destroy Jerusalem and its inhabitants. And He sent a number of preachers over the years to warn the Hebrews to seek God, not sin.
They didn’t listen to the preachers, though. God longed for a king who would maintain his own faithfulness to God’s Word and then compel all the Hebrews of Jerusalem and the Southern Kingdom of Judah to be faithful in rebuilding the walls of faithfulness. That way, the city wouldn’t have to be destroyed.
Nobody capable for the task wanted to step into that gap, though. The risk of suffering for themselves must have been perceived as too high.
And so God destroyed the city and many of the people who lived in it. Those who weren’t killed were placed into bondage.
If only someone would have stepped up to fill that gap and lead the Hebrews to godlier living, incredible suffereing might have been averted.
Somebody you know needs your help right now. They need you to stand in the gap that they haven’t been able to fill on their own.
Is God stirring your heart to help, even though it involves a risk for you?
Remember that if God is calling you to help another, the risk of NOT doing it and displeasing God should be of far greater concern to you than what the antagonists might redirect your way when you step in to help.
As always, I love you
Martin
