Bridging A Gap

“I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall 
and stand before me in the gap…”   Ezekiel 22:30 (NIV)

Have you ever said yes to a ministry opportunity and then very quickly realized you may have made a mistake?

I wish I could say that situation just never happens to me because I pray through every decision and completely wait upon the Holy Spirit’s prompting and guidance. However, if I’m honest, I have to admit there have been times when I said yes knowing in my heart my answer should be no.

The most recent ministry experience that seemed to initially fall under this category for me was very different. When first approached with the opportunity to serve in this ministry I said I would pray about it—a good start. And I did pray and seek the Lord. I had received another request from another ministry leader at about the same time for a much different role and I responded with “I will pray about it.” Another good and truthful reply—I did pray about both opportunities and ultimately believed I had my answer. I knew which one I would accept and which one I would decline.

It wasn’t long before I found myself questioning my decision and wondering if I really heard from the Lord.

I’m sure I’m not alone with these doubts especially for those of us who believe we are being obedient only to find ourselves in the midst of a very painful ministry situation. When ministry is painful and every effort appears to be just one more failure it’s hard to not doubt. I mean we talk about the joy of ministry and we know how good we feel when we are making a difference—when we know we are being used by the Lord as a way for Him to reach others. So where does that leave us when everything about our experience leaves us feeling defeated, rejected and seeing ourselves as a failure?

Perhaps the answer is the Lord needed us to be a gap-filler—called to bridge a gap created by someone else. Maybe it’s not that we didn’t hear and obey the Holy Spirit—we did. We were obedient and just because the experience was personally painful, doesn’t mean we failed. We simply persevered. And although our efforts appeared to us to be in vain; we must trust that God makes no mistakes and if we served Him with a pure heart and a pure motive then His will was done. It doesn’t matter that we aren’t skipping away from the encounter feeling really good about our experience—it only matters that we were obedient. And it’s in our obedience that we truly see the hand of God in our lives—sometimes He’s pruning away something that needs to go but sometimes He’s taking us to a place of peace and communion with Him we’ve never experienced before. Sometimes it’s both.

Author

Carla D Johnson