"And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none." The walls surrounding a city were its main lines of defense in ancient times. A breach or gap in the wall around a city had to be closely guarded as a possible entrance point by an enemy until the breach could be repaired. Ezekiel used this wall of defense metaphor to identify two characteristics of godly leadership. Godly leaders are persons who will "build up the wall" and "stand in the breach." Ezekiel listed the evil done by the leadership in Israel at the time to cause this moral decline: faithlessness, sacrilege, irreverence, apostasy, extortion, greed, and injustice (vs. 24-29). Instead of helping God's people, the leaders were taking advantage of them. God is, therefore, searching for people who can provide godly, principled leadership, then and now, to protect and defend His people and His name. God is searching for men and women who will "build up the wall" and by their example of faithfulness and righteousness repair the moral damage by confronting evil by speaking up for God and His goodness. God is also searching for godly men and women to "stand in the breach" and make intercession for a lost and dying generation through prayer and proclamation of God's salvation. Are you ready and willing to be the kind of leader that God is searching for?
