"That Don't Fit"

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"And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none." Ezekiel 22:30. Oh what a truly sad verse of scripture. The Lord looked down upon His people and He saw that the people and the prophets and the princes and even the priests were corrupt. He looked for a man who wasn't corrupt, who would stand in the gap for the land and He found none. That's so sad, "but I found none."

Last week, my wife bought a puzzle for our daughter and as they opened it and began to put it together I heard my wife say, "This could build patience." When I heard that I said, "It's a lot like life isn't it?". As I thought about that, I thought about how that life is really like a puzzle in many ways. Later on in the week as they were still trying to fit the puzzle pieces together, I heard my wife say, "This is hard." Again, a lot like life.

Burger King used to have a commercial in which they spoke of a piece of hamburger meat that was too small for the bun. And they made the statement, "That don't fit." Well, just a couple of days ago as my wife and daughter were still trying to put the puzzle together, I heard my wife make the statement, "That don't fit." Friends, all these statements referring to that puzzle could also be made to describe the life of man. As I heard all those statements and as I thought about how that puzzle is so much like life, The Lord put that verse of scripture found in Ezekiel and this little article upon my heart. Life truly is a lot like the puzzle and it is my desire and my prayer that the Lord will use this little article as a very real blessing to all those who will read it.

A hard puzzle, and indeed life has the potential of building patience in those who are involved in either putting it together or living it. Sadly though, that same puzzle or that same life also has the potential of causing frustration and despair. So many times when people decide to put together a really hard puzzle, they don't realize just how hard that puzzle is going to be. Somewhere in the process of putting it together, they become frustrated and they just give up. Sometimes they just let it sit there unfinished and sometimes they become so frustrated that they set out to destroy it and just tear it all apart.

It's so sad, but people sometimes become frustrated when they realize just how hard life can be. Sometimes they just give up and become as the puzzle, "unfinished" and they just let their life sit there. They just live from day to day hopelessly, simply existing. This truly is a sad situatation, but even worse than that, there are some who become so frustrated with the challenges and the difficulties of life that they set out to destroy their life. Just wanting to end it all.

Should we look down on these people and make their life even more complicated and miserable? Or should we care enough for these people to try and help them? I think the answer is obvious.

Searching for the answers in a world like ours could be most difficult, but the answers are not found in this world. The answers are found in God and God alone. When searching for the answer to any of life's problems, the first place we should look is in His Word. And when searching for answers concerning patience, God has given us the perfect example in Job.

Of all the attributes of God's man Job, his patience was his most notable. In the Book of Job we read, "Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground; Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward." Job 5:6-7. These two verses of scripture should help us to see and to know that we all have trouble. And though it may sometimes seem that we are having all the trouble, that simply is not true.

We all have trouble and it's how we respond to or deal with that trouble that determines whether or not this puzzle will build patience or destroy us. The answer is found in the next couple of verses where we read, "I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause: Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number;" Job 5:8-9. My friend, God has the answer, because God is the answer. Without Him we can do nothing and the more challenging our life seems to become, the more we need Him. Yes, just like the statement my wife made about the puzzle when she said, "This is hard", life too can be hard. But we must not give up. We must seek unto God, and unto God we must commit our cause.

"That don't fit". Friends, the world is out there trying to put together a puzzle called life and the pieces don't fit. Besides being totally frustrating, it is truly impossible for the world to ever get their puzzle put together, because it is defective. The pieces will never fit and they will go through life struggling with this piece and that piece. They will make mistake after mistake trying to form the pieces to where they will seemingly come together. And when it's all over, they will find that all along there has been a piece missing.

The pieces don't fit because they are defective because of sin that all men are born unto. A person can go through life trying to make the pieces fit and may even get some of them to appear to go together. But they will never get it completed.

Last night I looked at the puzzle my wife and daughter have so diligently worked on and it truly is starting to look good. As yet they have not finished it, but it's about 90% complete. A lot of people's lives are that way and even more so. Oh how tragic it would be if my wife and daughter spent all that time and effort putting that puzzle together only to find at the end that there is a piece missing. The world will realize this tragedy someday as they reach the end of their lives and see that the piece that was missing is Jesus Christ. In every puzzle of life there is a gap and that gap can only be filled by Jesus. Without Him, the puzzle will never be complete and there will always be a gap.

The gap that I just mentioned can only be filled by Jesus Christ, but there are other gaps and the Lord is looking for someone to stand in those gaps. Will He look for a man to stand in the gap and say, "I found none."? My preacher has been ill for a while now and there have been those in our church who have stood in the gap and filled in for him. This is the kind of person the Lord is looking for and that He will use.

I heard about an instance in our church where all the usual ushers had to be out for one reason or another and those who were there seemed hesitant to stand in the gap. And when it comes to praying in the church, it is very limited as to those who are not ashamed to approach God's throne of grace. There too, is a very large gap that the Lord is looking to see who will stand in. Will He find none?

Friends, it is truly sad that there are so few people who are willing to be used of the Lord to stand in these gaps, but there is yet another gap that the Lord is looking for someone to stand in that is not only sad, but also very tragic. In this article, I have used the puzzle to describe the life of man and the gap left by not having Jesus in their lives. People are dying and going to hell every day because they don't have Jesus Christ in their hearts and lives. They are trying to fit the pieces of their lives together and they lose out because they don't have the main piece.

A lady who the Lord so graciously used me to lead to Jesus came to me a couple of nights ago and asked me to speak to a man about his soul. She had already been talking to him and she was truly concerned about him. She said that I knew more about the Bible than she did and she wanted me to speak with him. Now, I was truly proud of how that this lady has grown and was willing to be used of the Lord. I told her that all she had to know was what Jesus had done for her, but that I would be more than happy to speak with this man.

The man was not on our shift, but had come in early, so I didn't get to speak to him that night. The next night, which was the morning of my mine and my wife's 10th wedding anniversary, (just thought I'd throw that in), I told the lady that I wanted to speak with that man when she saw him. I had already been praying about this and I just had a feeling that the Lord was going to save him.

When the man came by our machine, I could see her talking to him and pointing toward me. The man came over to where I was and I introduced myself to him and told him that I wanted to speak to him about his soul. When I asked him if he knew that if he died that night he would go to heaven his reply was, "No." When I asked him if he knew why he would not go to heaven, he began telling me all the things he should be doing that he wasn't doing and the things he did that he shouldn't do. I stopped him and told him that none of those things, though they were sins, were what was going to keep him out of heaven, but that it was his refusal to accept Jesus Christ into his heart and life. I told the man about Jesus and before I could even finish he wanted to be saved.

Friends, that wasn't me calling this man to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, but it was the Holy Spirit and it was the Gospel of Christ. I was only standing in the gap. Romans 1:16 says, "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." Now, who's gonna stand in the gap and tell the world about Jesus? Do you know Him as your personal Saviour? If you don't, you will never get the puzzle of your life put together without Him and I beg of you to accept Him now. If you do know Him, are you willing to be used by Him to stand in the gap and tell others about Him?