Make Up The Gap

“Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.” (Eze 13:5 AV)

When I read this, I thought it would make a great sermon.  It still may.  But the Spirit does not do things randomly and for no immediate purpose.  Judah was going into captivity.  This was prophesied.  They didn’t have to.  They had every opportunity to repent and receive God’s grace.  They rejected every overture from the Father.  They turned their back on His mercy.  Even though the end was a foregone conclusion, they were still expected to protect areas of weakness.  The gap had to be filled.  The hedge had to be maintained.  This reminds me of a self-destructive personality.  This type of person is failing, and he or she almost dares God to complete the process and make a dust pile of them.  They deliberately leave areas of their lives open for attack that need not be.  They lay themselves open for complete destruction and are at peace with it.  They see some sort of pleasure in complete failure.  It appears as though they are humble, but in reality, it is a form of pride.  They know what God wants of them and are unwilling to give it to the LORD.  When they fail, there is a warped sense of satisfaction because deep down inside, they have no sense of worth.  They see themselves as disposable and unlovable.  Not even God can love them.  So they embark on behavior that they believe fulfills this prophecy.  Even God will hate them in the end.

What is interesting is the solution to this problem.  It is a simple one.  God will not give these individuals what they wanted.  Israel went into captivity.  They suffered great hardship.  But the LORD never destroyed them.  Their suicidal mission was a failure.  The nation survived and thrived.  They learned God loved them despite what they did and what they were.  God did not allow a decree from an anti-Semite to destroy them in the book of Esther.  Daniel tells us of all the nations that have come and will come against Israel.  They will all fail.  Messiah will come and the nation will rise to the favored status promised to their founder, Abraham.  In the meantime, they need to fill in the gap and make up the hedges.  There is something that can be salvaged.  There is some good that can be saved.  There were elements of their nation that did not have to be lost.  The king of Judah was told not to run.  If he ran, the Chaldeans would burn the temple and city.  Had he submitted to Nebby and gone into captivity, the original temple would not have been lost.  There is always something redeemable no matter how far we have fallen.

It pains my heart to see someone who has given up.  The funny thing is, even if they have given up, God has not.  He is in the reconciliation business even if we don’t think it possible.  He is in the reclamation business, even if we think we are unsalvageable.  God works these things often with men.  Even the prodigal son and much of what he lost was restored.  This reminds me of the words to the church at Sardis, “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.” (Re 3:2 AV)  God will build you back up whether you like it or not.  You may be self-destructive, but God is not.  He will not destroy His child.  He will allow You to go through some rather hard times and deep waters, but you will come out the other side.  How many gaps and hedges you build in the meantime will determine the condition in which you are restored.  Fight the inclination to destroy yourself.  As the LORD implored Judah just in the next chapter – LIVE.