SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11
Scripture: Job 1:8-9

The most familiar place that we find the concept of a hedge is in the beginning of Job 1:8-9 when the Lord is dealing with satan. These verses say, “Then the Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?’ So Satan answered the Lord and said, ‘Does Job fear God for nothing?’ Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.” God put a hedge around Job and satan could not get to him. Satan had to ask God to give him access through the hedge. God hedges about His people and hedges about Godly nations. But according to Ezekiel, sin creates a gap or breach in that hedge. When Ezekiel was identifying the purpose for the prophets, the primary one was not to edify people with good words. The primary purpose was to locate breaches in the hedge of God’s protection and stand in the breach or gap. The purpose of standing in the gap is that we are helping to repair the hedge of God’s protection and safe-keeping by building a wall against evil. Only by protecting areas where there are gaps can God’s people stand in battle on the Day of the Lord, which means on the day of God’s judgment. Sin creates breaches in the hedge and it requires judgment. It is the job of the prophets to subdue the sin that is making the nation vulnerable to destruction. The job of the prophets is to teach the church that we have the assignment to subdue the kingdom of darkness. Sin opens up a nation to destruction. If we do not subdue the kingdom of darkness, when the judgment of God comes, many people in the church will fall also. We have to identify breaches in the wall of protection around our nation to call out and point to the sin for the purpose of repentance. Let’s stand in the gap like Ezekiel did!