Stand In The Gap

I was on a site visit in the Sierras during the first rain after the King fire. The site director mentioned that the local schools had been closed for several days due to the poor air quality. She was excited that the rain had come and the air would be made fresh again.

In my life, especially when I was practicing therapy, I’ve had an opportunity to witness a similar process in people. I’d meet someone whose life had become so filled with smoke that they could barely function. And then something would happen to make their life fresh again. Tiffana shared such a story in Life After Death.

When it comes to people, and their ability to change, I remain hopeful. I guess that’s because I’ve seen it often enough to believe it’s possible.

Like my dad. For years he was so depressed and angry that when he wasn’t working he was holed up in a self-made cave. Now he’s the biggest cheerleader at his grandkids activities and one of the most outgoing people you’ll ever meet.

Or my husband. He hurt, lied, and manipulated until no one trusted him. Now he’s known for his integrity and caring nature.

I saw it countless times with clients who would enter the office so defeated you could hardly scrape them up off the ground. And then, one day, they were walking with their head held high – a new creation.

The changing process is rarely fast and never easy. In each scenario it took someone (and usually several someones) who was willing to stand in the gap of hope and breathe grace and truth over the crumpled person. Not self-righteous truth but the kind of truth that comes when you have the courage to face gigantic lies and call them the monsters that they are. When you become like the Biblical account of little David facing the giant Goliath and shouting – you no longer have the power to intimidate my friends!

This recently happened with a man that Jason has stood in the gap for for seven years. This man, and many around him, thought he had reached the end of his story and was destined to remain in a shattered place. Jason had the courage to believe full restoration was possible. Recently on an early morning run Jason heard God whisper ‘breakthrough.’ Jason had no idea what it meant.

Several hours later Jason ran into this friend and heard the next installment of his story. And, guess what?! The friend had finally moved into a place of restoration! In that moment Jason understood what the word breakthrough was in reference to. It was a holy moment.

For seven long years I had watched Jason stretch out over that gap until his limbs were blue and I wondered if he’d ever experience relief. Remaining in that stretched position was exhausting and discouraging. But, now that we have the honor to see the flower coming into bloom I am so glad I didn’t pry him from that gap.

As I prepped for a final edit I thought this was simply a story of encouragement from the other side of the ‘gap’. Then, my world was rocked by two more friends who hit the mat.

Jason and I were relishing in the relief that comes at the end of a gap period. When suddenly I was faced with a choice. Do I enjoy the relief and ignore the new needs? Or do I stretch back out over the gap to cover my sisters who had hit the mat? Which would you choose?

Well, as I leaned out, ready to stretch beyond my limits, to extend out over that gap, I recognized my weariness and called upon the One who could sustain me:

Sweet Jesus, my friends are in a desperate place! In Genesis 1:7-8, you met Hagar, a hopeless Egyptian slave that no one cared about. No one except you. You met her and called her by name.

You know what it’s like to be cast out. Isaiah 53:3 says you were despised and rejected, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. You allowed yourself to be crushed for us. Because you love us. You love my friends and you know their pain.

I’m tired but they (my dear friends) are utterly exhausted. I know they trust you as their El Roi – the God who sees them – but their arms are weary and they lack the strength to cling tight. So instead they fall to the mat.

Then, as He gave me the strength to stretch back across the gap I glanced to my right and to my left. There I saw brothers and sisters who had come to stand on either side. Together we stretched and lifted. And just like the Psalms of Ascent we sang songs of hope.

Who do you need to stand in the gap for today? Who do you need to sing songs of hope for?