Standing in the Gap

Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been
as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. (Isaiah 1:9)

          I received a troubling e-mail from our denominational news agency the other day: at this year’s General Assembly, we will have to deal with an overture from Philadelphia Presbytery concerning the role of women as deacons. The e-mail troubled me because God’s Word is clear in limiting the spiritual office of deacon to the male sex. That’s not because men are any better or more gifted than women; it’s simply because this is the order Jesus has placed in the church for which he gave his life.

          We don’t need to abandon the plain teaching of Scripture. You and I don’t need women deacons.

          But we desperately need women to stand in the gap left by spiritually unfaithful men.

          This Mother’s Day, as we study the first chapter of the book of Ruth, our focus won’t fall on the touching relationship between Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth. In fact, their relationship isn’t the main point of the account.

          The point of this book is that God is faithful to preserve a remnant of believers in Christ for Himself even when most of His people have abandoned Him. As we see from Ruth and Naomi’s lives, the Lord employs unlikely believers to spread His gospel and to do the work of the church.

          Men, you and I need to repent of our spiritual abandonment of Christ.

          Women, we need you to stand in the gap and be used of Christ.

          First, observe that God’s faithful mercy to – and through – these women came during the bleakest of times.

          If you’re going to understand the account of Naomi and Ruth, you first have to understand the times in which they lived. The author of Ruth tells us these events took place during the times of the Judges, and if you’ll look at the verse prior to Ruth 1:1 (the last verse of Judges), you’ll see that everyone in Israel during those days did what he thought was right. Judges even says there “was no king in Israel in those days.” Oh, there was a King in Israel: the Lord God Almighty! But the rebellious and spiritually dead Israelites foolishly refused to honor God as their King and to conform to His perfect Word.

          This era also featured very little male spiritual leadership. Ruth 1:1 informs us that there was a famine in the land of Judah, which the Lord had promised to send in judgment if His people turned from following Him. But instead of having men stand up and, as St. Paul commands in Ephesians 5, lead their wives and families back to the Lord, the men simply ran from God. In verse 2 we learn the name of Naomi’s husband – Elimelech – which is significant, because in Scripture a person’s name stood for his character. “Elimelech” means “my God is King;” but the very fact that Elimelech led his family away from the place in which God had promised to dwell with and bless His people revealed that Elimelech was his own god and king. He wanted to fill his belly more than he wanted to return to the Source of all blessing, the Lord.

          Elimelech’s example of spiritual infidelity to God was typical of the times, but it also had a profoundly disastrous effect on his two sons. Twice we’re told they left Bethlehem-Judah, so it is no surprise that even after their father’s apparently untimely death – probably a judgment from the Lord on Elimelech’s sin – the boys remained in Moab among the Gentiles. They even violated God’s law further by taking wives to themselves from the Moabites. This family had made peace with heathendom, and the Lord showed His rightful displeasure by allowing the sons, Mahlon and Chilion, to die early as did their father.

          Famine. Death. Women left without any apparent hope. Spiritual indifference to the Lord. The first five verses of the book of Ruth leave no doubt as to what happens when everyone – especially people who claim to follow the Lord – rejects His kingship and does what is right in his own eyes.

          How closely those days resemble Leakesville in 2008!

          To use a fancy term, philosophers tell us you and I now live in the age of “postmodernism.” This essentially means that most folks don’t believe there is such a thing as absolute truth. What “works” for you – Christianity – might not “work” for me, and vice versa. And who are you to criticize my way of thinking and living?! In independent America, each of you does what seems right and pleasurable in his own eyes. We, not the Lord Jesus Christ, are king.

          There is also a famine in terms of male spiritual leadership in our country and in the church. Look around: how many men do you see among us today? Men, do you have daily devotions with your wives and families? Or are you too busy working to spend time at home, or even over the phone if you work off, reading Scripture and praying with your wives? Can you not pick up a daily devotional, which we offer at both doors of the church, and read it with your family? And do you keep a close watch on your spiritual lives?

          The men wouldn’t do the tough work of repentance and of leading by example, and so it was up to women such as Naomi to plant spiritual seeds among her family. The Lord obviously honored Naomi’s standing in the spiritual gap, because Ruth – a Gentile – had heard the Gospel (so far as God had revealed it in the Old Testament) and responded in faith.

          Ladies, this Mother’s Day, understand that your physical capacity to bear children isn’t ultimately important (as blessed as it is to have children!). The Lord Jesus Christ is more concerned with your spiritual capacity to plant Gospel seeds in your family, even if the men have abdicated their responsibilities, even if things seem bleak and even if your family is suffering on account of sinful choices.

          We need you to stand in the gap and bear witness to the Kingship and saving power of Jesus in this dead generation. Will you?

          God’s faithful mercy, secondly, is greater than human “logic” and accomplishes His will through His servants. This means you need not fear what will happen when you do God’s will and stand in the gap.

           The Lord does not chide forever: thus He visited His people in Canaan with bread. When Naomi decided to return to Judah, her daughters-in-law wept – and promised they would follow her. Yet Naomi didn’t want the women making such a drastic decision based purely on emotion, so she encouraged them both to return to their people in Moab. If you’ll study Naomi’s words, she offers her daughters-in-law solid, logical arguments as to why they should remain in Moab: “Can I remarry? Can I have sons? Should you wait for those sons to mature? Daughters, look out for yourselves – this is my punishment to bear.”

          They again wept loudly, yet while Orpah kissed Naomi and left, Ruth stuck with Naomi. She wouldn’t leave, even after further argumentation from her mother-in-law.

          Don’t miss the point: this is not primarily an account of a daughter-in-law’s love for her mother-in-law. This is not primarily a love story. This is an account of the Spirit of God working against all human expectations to convert a pagan to the Lord. Ruth not only expresses her undying fidelity to Naomi with striking beauty – she also adopts Naomi’s God as her God and calls down the Lord’s curse on her if she failed to follow Naomi. She knew the Lord (even using the covenantal Name for God) and would follow Him at all costs, even if it meant going against human logic and making tough choices.

          Elimelech, who grew up hearing the Word of God and with all the privileges of a child of the covenant, failed to put the Lord first in his life and in that of his family. By the gracious work of the Spirit, and through seeds his wife likely planted, once-alien Ruth was redeemed from paganism and brought into the family of God. She went on to make the tough, God-centered choices her father-in-law would not. It’s not logical to the world; but the Lord God overthrows the foolishness of this world to accomplish His perfect plan.

          Where are your priorities? Do you attend church only when it’s convenient or where it’s convenient? Are you planting Gospel seeds in an arid environment, trusting that the Lord will work mightily through you?

          Each of you tends toward Elimelech. May the Lord work in you to make you a Ruth.

          Perhaps the most amazing aspect of the book of Ruth – in light of how dismally it begins – is the way it ends.

          Specifically, look at the very last word in the book. Go ahead.

          There he is: David. As in, King David, a type of Christ, a man after God’s own heart.

          Without the Holy Spirit at work to preserve a remnant of believers for the Lord’s glory, there would be no hope for you and me. There wouldn’t have been a David. But from the darkest of nights and from the driest of soils, the Lord brought forth His Son, who would redeem the faithful from our sins. And when men wouldn’t lead but instead followed their fleshly “logic,” God employed the most unlikely of vessels to reveal His strength in weakness.

          Men, look at your heart and life. Who comes first: Christ or you? Don’t think God will bless your home if you are abdicating your responsibility to be a spiritual leader. All it takes is repentance, and leading your loved ones in Scripture study and in prayer daily.

          Women, you need not be a deaconess to be a leader – to be a part of Christ’s world-transforming work around you.

When I was a child and something went wrong, I’d call out (as many of you would), “Mama, I need you!”

          Women, we need you to stand in the gap and prioritize Christ. Things might seem bleak in your world and in your family. But don’t be afraid: keep praying and planting Gospel seeds. If you need encouragement, just read the last word in this book.