How many times have you heard an unbeliever make a comment that goes something like this:
“If God is so good and loving, why is there suffering?”
The question is legitimate, but it may contain an assumption worth examining. When suffering occurs, we normally ask only what God could have done to prevent it. We rarely ask whether He had positioned anyone on earth to intervene.
This does not mean every tragedy is punishment for a person's individual sin. Scripture gives us righteous people who suffer, innocent children who suffer from the actions of others, natural disasters, persecution, and consequences that spread far beyond the person who initiated them. We live in a fallen world in which sin produces consequences that rarely remain neatly contained.
So this article will not attempt to answer every question concerning suffering. Instead, I want to ask one much more uncomfortable question:
When destruction approaches, has Abba already positioned someone with access to Him who is supposed to stand in the gap?
To answer that question, we need to understand what Scripture means by access, assignment, and authority -- and the golden calf gives us a remarkable place to begin.
Israel had barely entered covenant with YHVH when the nation turned aside.
While Moses remained on the mountain, the people gathered around Aharon and demanded a god they could see. Gold was collected, the calf was formed, sacrifices were offered, and Israel celebrated before something their own hands had made. The people YHVH had just delivered from Egypt were now importing Egypt into their worship.
The response of YHVH was severe.
He told Moses:
Exodus 32:9 “I have been watching these people; and you can see how stiff-necked they are. 10 Now, leave me alone, so that my anger can blaze against them, and I can put an end to them!”
Israel had placed itself under judgment.
But Moses did something remarkable. He refused to stand aside. He appealed to YHVH's reputation among the nations. He appealed to His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Isra'el. Moses stood between the guilty and the consequence their rebellion had produced.
And YHVH relented from destroying the nation.
Later we discover that Moses's intercession was even more personal than Exodus initially tells us. Aharon had not simply been standing nearby when Israel sinned. He had participated. He collected the gold, fashioned the calf, built its altar, and announced its festival.
Deuteronomy tells us:
Deuteronomy 9:20 “YHVH was very angry with Aharon, angry enough to destroy him; and I prayed for Aharon too at the same time.”
Aharon deserved judgment. But somebody prayed for him. His future changed because someone who had access to YHVH used that access on his behalf. Notice what changed the situation:
Aharon did not suddenly become innocent.
Judgment was not imaginary.
But someone with standing before YHVH entered the situation.
This is intercession.
It is more than asking God to make someone's circumstances easier. Intercession is stepping into the space between sin and its consequence, appealing to the mercy, covenant, purposes, and character of YHVH for someone who may not even realize the danger they are in.
Moses saw what was coming and refused to remain passive.
Yeshua has now accomplished something even greater. Through His death and resurrection, He defeated the powers that held humanity in bondage and declared:
Matthew 28:18 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
Yeshua's declaration that “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” is immediately followed by a commission: “Therefore, go...” Authority remains His, but His representatives are sent to act in His name.
This distinction matters. We do not possess independent spiritual authority. We exercise delegated authority under the King.
An ambassador speaks because the king sent him.
A priest approaches because YHVH granted him access.
Paul describes us as ambassadors for Messiah, through whom God makes His appeal to the world (2 Corinthians 5:20). Peter calls believers a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9).
The ambassador carries the King's authority outward.
The priest carries people before the King.
Those descriptions carry responsibility. Authority is not merely something we possess; it is something we are expected to steward on behalf of others.
That means our access to Abba was never intended to terminate with us. We were brought near so that we could stand before Him for those who are still far away.
But we need to be clear about what this authority means. Authority in the Kingdom is not control.
Moses could not force YHVH to do his will. He could not force Israel to repent, and he could not remove every consequence of their rebellion. His authority was the authority to stand. He had access. He had relationship. He had assignment. And therefore, he had responsibility to appeal.
That is the kind of authority I am talking about.
As mentioned before, one of the most common questions asked about suffering is:
“Why would God allow this to happen?”
Sometimes that is the right question. But perhaps believers should also be willing to ask another:
“Who was supposed to be interceding?”
When Moses stood on Sinai, YHVH did not lack the power to spare Israel. Yet the narrative deliberately gives us Moses standing in the gap, pleading for the people, and affecting what happens next.
That should make us uncomfortable.
Because believers frequently watch destruction approach someone's life while assuming that intervention is exclusively God's responsibility.
We observe.
We discuss.
We sympathize.
Sometimes we even judge.
But do we intercede?
Sin has consequences, and people can open doors to destruction they do not yet recognize. At other times suffering comes through the choices of others, persecution, loss, or simply life in a fallen creation. Whatever its source, crisis often reveals danger that was previously hidden -- and sometimes Abba allows someone nearby to see it before the person in danger does.
And somewhere nearby, Abba often has someone who can see. Sometimes seeing is itself part of the assignment.
Not everything you become aware of belongs to your domain. But when a person, burden, crisis, or situation repeatedly enters your life, especially where relationship or responsibility already exists, you should at least ask:
“Abba, am I seeing this because You want me to stand here?”
Perhaps you know because you are supposed to pray.
Perhaps you witnessed it because you were supposed to stand in the gap.
Perhaps their crisis entered your field of vision because YHVH has placed them within your domain of intercession.
We are not responsible for everything happening everywhere.
Even Yeshua, during His earthly ministry, operated according to the assignments given by His Father. Authority is always connected to assignment.
Every believer has people and places entrusted to them. For lack of a better word, I will call this your domain -- the sphere of relationships, responsibilities, and assignments YHVH has entrusted to you.
Your spouse.
Your children.
Your family.
Your congregation.
Your students.
Your employees.
Your neighborhood.
Your community.
The people YHVH repeatedly brings across your path.
Your domain is not determined by whom you can control. It is revealed by whom you have been given responsibility to love, serve, lead, protect, teach, influence, or repeatedly carry before Abba.
Scripture shows this responsibility taking several recognizable forms. There is a household domain, such as Job interceding for his children. There is a relational domain, such as Moses for Aharon or Stephen for those killing him. There is a leadership or office domain, such as Moses and Samuel standing for Israel or elders praying for a congregation. And there is a Kingdom-assignment domain, such as Daniel carrying Jerusalem before YHVH, Esther using the position given to her for her people, or Paul continually praying for the congregations entrusted to him.
You do not need authority everywhere. You need to recognize where Abba has already given you relationship, responsibility, access, or assignment. That is where you begin.
Samuel understood this responsibility so seriously that after Israel sinned by demanding a king, he told them:
1 Samuel 12:23 Far be it from me that I should sin against YHVH by ceasing to pray for you.
Notice what Samuel calls sin. Israel's sin had already been established. Samuel says that his own failure to pray for the people entrusted to him would be sin. Their rebellion did not release him from his assignment. If anything, their rebellion made his responsibility to intercede more urgent.
That should cause each of us to ask two questions:
What has Abba placed within my sphere of responsibility?
Am I actually exercising the authority Yeshua secured within that sphere?
We cannot force repentance upon another person. We cannot override someone's will. We cannot promise that every consequence of sin will disappear because we prayed.
Moses himself did not eliminate every consequence of Israel's rebellion.
Three thousand died.
A plague came upon the camp.
There were consequences.
But the nation was not destroyed.
And Aharon lived.
Intercession did not make sin meaningless. It changed what judgment was permitted to accomplish.
That distinction matters.
What if suffering is not merely something to escape? What if somewhere within nearly every crisis lies an opportunity for salvation?
This does not mean YHVH caused every crisis so that someone could be saved through it. It means that no crisis is beyond His redemptive reach. What the Adversary intends for destruction, what human sin produces, and what a fallen creation brings can still become a place where mercy enters.
And very often, mercy enters through a person.
A family member sees.
A friend sees.
A neighbor sees.
A believer sees.
So as mentioned before, perhaps the question is not merely, “Why is this happening?”
Perhaps it is: “Who has been positioned to bring YHVH into what is happening?”
The priest sees suffering differently from the spectator.
The spectator says, “That is terrible.”
The priest says, “Where do I stand?”
The spectator asks, “Why doesn't God do something?”
The priest asks, “Abba, what have You authorized me to do?”
The spectator waits for Heaven to move.
The priest enters the presence of YHVH and begins appealing for mercy, repentance, deliverance, revelation, and restoration.
That is what Moses did.
But there is another part of this story that I find remarkable.
At the golden calf, Aharon was the man who needed an intercessor. YHVH intended to destroy him, but Moses prayed for him, and Aharon lived.
Later, after Korah's rebellion, judgment again broke out in the camp. This time Moses told Aharon to take his censer, put fire and incense in it, and run into the congregation to make atonement for them.
Numbers 16:48 gives us an incredible picture:
“He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.”
Think about that progression. The man who once survived because somebody stood in the gap for him had become the priest standing in the gap for somebody else.
That is the progression of priesthood. Someone stood for us. Yeshua brought us near. And now that access is supposed to produce something in us:
We become people willing to stand for others.
There is a frightening statement in Ezekiel:
Ezekiel 22:30 “I sought for a man among them who could build a barricade or stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one.”
The tragedy was not merely that judgment was coming.
The tragedy was that the gap was empty.
No one stood there.
But you can.
Through Yeshua, we have been brought near. We have been given access to Abba. We have been made ambassadors. We have been called a royal priesthood.
These are not merely titles of privilege. They are assignments.
There are people within your domain whose lives may presently be moving toward consequences they cannot yet see. You may not be able to make their decisions for them. But you can stand before Abba for them.
You can ask for mercy.
You can ask Him to expose deception.
You can ask Him to interrupt destructive plans.
You can ask Him to create opportunities for repentance.
You can ask Him to send witnesses.
You can ask Him to restrain what would destroy them long enough for them to turn.
You can appeal to the blood of Yeshua, the character of YHVH, and His desire that people come to repentance.
The question may not be whether Abba is willing to intervene. The question may be whether His priests are willing to stand in the place from which intervention is requested.
Moses stood there for Israel. Moses stood there for Aharon. Yeshua stands there for us.
Now the Body has been made His priesthood. And as someone in a covenant relationship, Yeshua stands in the gap for you. But there may very well be other believers in that gap for you as well.
So whose gap has been entrusted to you? If you think it is no one, look again. Aside from one perfect Man, Scripture is full of broken, regular people like you and me who took on the role of intercessor -- people willing to stand between the sinner and judgment and plead.
The Appendix gives several examples. As you read through them, notice the pattern: relationship or assignment brings awareness; awareness creates responsibility; and responsibility gives us a place from which to intercede.
Sometimes the outcome changes.
By this point, the pattern should be clear: relationship or assignment gives us a place to stand, but it does not make us sovereign. Our task is not to control the person or dictate the outcome. Our task is to faithfully occupy the place Abba has entrusted to us.
These domains establish responsibility, not sovereignty. Moses could plead, but he could not erase every consequence. David could fast, but his child still died. Yeshua prayed for Peter, but Peter still fell.
So do not confuse standing with controlling. Our authority is authorized access and responsibility to petition, resist, bless, forgive, proclaim, and stand in the gap. We cannot force YHVH to move according to our will, and we cannot override another person's will.
We are not sovereign over our domain, but we are accountable for what we do with the access Yeshua has given us within it. Kingdom authority is not primarily the authority to stand over people. It is the authority to stand before Abba for them.
This brings us back to the empty gap. Scripture repeatedly shows ordinary people recognizing the sphere entrusted to them and refusing to remain passive. They prayed. They pleaded. They stood. And sometimes the outcome changed.
So do not begin by trying to carry the whole world. Begin with the people Abba has already placed in front of you. Name them. Your spouse. Your children. A friend. Someone you lead. Someone whose struggle you have been allowed to see. Ask Abba plainly, “Is this person part of the place You have asked me to stand?”
Then intercede like a priest. Do not merely tell Abba how bad the situation is. Bring the person before Him. Ask for mercy where judgment is deserved. Ask for deception to be exposed. Ask for destructive plans to be interrupted. Ask for hearts to soften, witnesses to arrive, doors of escape to open, and enough time for repentance to occur. Ask what He wants you to see and whether there is anything He wants you to do beyond prayer.
And remain faithful without trying to become sovereign. You may not see the answer immediately. The person may still make terrible choices. Consequences may remain. Intercession does not give you control of the outcome; it gives you a place of faithful participation in what Abba may choose to do.
That is why priesthood matters. A priest is not merely someone who has been granted access to the presence of YHVH. A priest is someone who uses that access for others. We were brought near through Yeshua, not simply so that we could enjoy being near, but so that the mercy we received could move through us toward people who desperately need it.
Aharon once lived because Moses prayed for him. Later, that same Aharon ran with incense into a dying congregation and stood between the dead and the living. The one who had received mercy became a carrier of mercy.
That is our invitation as well.
There are gaps around you right now. Some are in your home. Some are in your relationships. Some are attached to the assignment Abba has placed on your life. You do not need to manufacture authority over them. You need to recognize the access, relationship, and responsibility He has already given you -- and then use it.
Before you move on from this, identify at least one person or situation within your domain and begin. Do not wait until you feel like an expert intercessor. Bring that person before Abba by name. Ask what mercy looks like in their situation. Listen. Pray. Return tomorrow if the burden remains. Keep standing until Abba releases you from the place.
The gap does not need another spectator. It needs a priest willing to stand there.
So…
Know your domain.
Take your place.
Exercise your priesthood.
And when you see the gap, stand in it.
Here are some of the strongest Biblical examples where intercession seems connected to a person’s relational, covenantal, governmental, priestly, or assigned sphere of responsibility rather than random intervention.
(See, you fit right in.)