Tonight, I let things get the best of me. I found myself steaming and very uncomfortable with the church in general. I have discussions with God like "Why couldn't you have put me in a place where there is this amazing church that really has a heart for glorifying You and reaching Your people?" I'm usually just being dramatic and selfish. It is a process that I'm used to, which is kind of sad.
I must say, though, tonight, I was pretty ticked. It was different than before. It wasn't an anger just to be angry and to hate someone. I've been there before. It was kind of a frustration that, as a teacher, I've felt before. As a teacher, you have these students that really frustrate you for one reason: potential. You know that if they put their minds to it, if they would just stop focusing on acting out, if they just did this or that, you know that they could outshine anyone in the class. Yet, for some reason, they choose to ignore their potential. That's the kind of frustration I felt tonight. If the church would just open her eyes...If the church would just read their Bible...If the church would just get their mind off of...
I got so bothered, that I finally had to go into my room, and I was going to find a Bible verse to read about how stupid the church was in general. So I turned in my Bible to Isaiah 57. This chapter is the first of a couple of chapters that talks about how God's people aren't doing right, how the leaders are doing wrong, how they should have purer hearts. I kept reading, reminding myself piously of how I had the right idea and everyone else was wrong.
Until...
Until I came up on this verse. I read these words, and it was one of, what I call, the frying pan moments. I read these words and they jumped up at me. My pride soon turned to humility. My complaints soon stopped. My criticisms turned to tears as my heart broke for our Lord's body.
"He (God) saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor [no one to intervene on behalf of truth and right]" (Isaiah 59:16 AMP).
POW! Talk about backing up. I wonder how many times God has searched for someone to intervene on behalf of truth and right for His people? I wonder how many times He has found no one? Why, instead of complaining and feeling that frustration, do I not stand before God and ask grace for His people?
When I read those words, I felt God's peace flood my heart. I don't want to be one of the many that is ignoring God's search for an intercessor-in any area. Because of one of my passions, my mind immediately goes to orphans & widows. How many times has God not been able to find someone to intervene for them - I hate that! I want to change that.
I looked up the Hebrew background of "intercessor," and it comes from the word paga. This word means "to meet," "to encounter," "to join," and "to entreat." Literally, when we go before God on behalf of someone or something else, we are meeting God for those people/situations/things. We are encountering the complete grace of God in proxy of that person! How incredible is that! I also found it interesting that this word could also mean "to attack" and "to strike a boundary." Not only am I meeting with God for that person/situation/thing, I am attacking and setting a boundary against the enemy for that person. What power can lie in intercession!
No one else may find this as life-changing or as interesting as I do, but I could not help share what spoke to me on this night. What does it mean to you to intercede for someone?
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