Standing in the Gap

Border Wall between Jerusalem and Bethlehem

“Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body,” (Heb. 13:3) Reverand Nihad Salman of Immanuel Church in Bethlehem preached the words as he reflected on the suffering of his Arab brothers in the Gaza Strip this horrific week.

The night is feared in Gaza. Children, woman and men are terrified each night they go to bed. Israel forces and Hamas have ruthlessly traded missiles more severely in this latest progression of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Netanyahu, Israel Prime minister aims to create silence from the Hamas terrorist organization. Hamas acts on their own accord based on corrupt religious beliefs deemed for domination. Israeli citizens and Palestinian citizens, however, are innocent bystanders.
In the past two weeks it has been very apparent who the dominate force in the fight is and who the oppressed people group are. As Gazan families gather under the bed or in a corner of their home to sleep at night, they wake up to the sounds of missiles landing down the street, or worst case scenario, in their homes. When they rise in the morning, they see more of their land in rubble and ashes and hear about the nightly casualties of friends, neighbors and family. There has been 165 deaths in the Gaza strip in the recent escalation. There have been 0 Israeli deaths.

Living in the West Bank, knowing this devastation is kilometers away, we hear missile sirens, we wake up to more and more tragic news, we see the smoke from our rooftops… but what do we do with that?

As believers in Jesus, we stood together in service this morning asking this challenging question. ‘What do we do with the all the bad news we hear?’ An easy solution is to grow a hard heart, a heart that doesn’t let these horrifying images penetrate too deep. We can act as if it is not there and treat it as if it is normal to see bloodshed, tears, fire and destruction. Or we can do the opposite.

When we ask God what is required of us, he said, “I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn't have to destroy the land, but I found no one.”

He found no one. I don’t want to turn around twenty years from now and look at the devastating casualties and destruction of this land and desperately wish we stood in the gap a little more. I don’t want to get to the throne of our King and see Him shake his head in disapproval for the responsibility we let slip through our fingertips.

He called us to Love. Love, he said, is the greatest. He said to carry the burdens of our brothers, he said to ‘Remember those who are in prison, as though we are in prison with them’. Gazan citizens cannot leave the Gaza Strip. They cannot come, they cannot go. What is fed to them, comes from the hand that is brutally trying to destroy them. The water they drink is altered and controlled by those who now control whether they live or die. Before they are attacked, their allotted electricity is shut off… so they cannot see where to run, where to hide, where to find someone they love. They are the prisoners.

So, what is required of us? We are required to love beyond a passing prayer. We are asked to place our feet in their shoes, to feel the devastation of their loss, their fear, their pain.

Because of Jesus Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are able to face the atrocities’ in life. If our faith is only alive during the good times, then we are denying the sovereignty of the God we follow through the hard times.

Maybe what He is waiting for is our hearts, to step up and to care. He said clearly- He waited for someone to step in so that He would NOT have to destroy the land. Maybe it is time for us to care as if we ourselves are under bondage.

For Gazans, the situation is dire and escalation is costly. For the underdogs, the oppressed, the one without a leg in the fight…Why don’t we stand in the gap and pray as if it is our own children, mothers and fathers on the line?
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Old City, Bethlehem