Moses the man of God

Few exemplify an intercessor like Moses.  So much could be addressed concerning this servant of God who led a nation and walked with God.

One could talk about how:

Prayer opens a path where there is no path (Exodus 14)

Prayer opens the door for God’s supernatural provision in time of need (Exodus 16)

Prayer opens the door for God’s help in fighting against our (spiritual) enemies (Exodus 17:9-15).

                  Prayer opens our hearts to receive revelation from God (Exodus 19, 20)

Prayer opens the way to receive grace and strength in the midst of trials and temptations (Numbers 11:1-16)

Prayer opens the way for us to see more of God’s glory (Exodus 33)

It would also be good to meditate on the only Psalm attributed to Moses to see his heart in prayer, Psalm 90.  One thing one will quickly notice is the constant focus on the brevity of life. Moses, through his intimacy with God, is brought more and more to the understanding of eternity and how our lives are but a breath here on earth.  The application is a prayer that God would teach us to number our days that we might gain a heart of wisdom (v.12).

However I want us to focus on a few verses of Moses’ prayer life in Numbers 14.

Israel has refused to obey God for the umpteenth time, and this time it has brought the Lord to being so angry He is speaking of destroying and disinheriting them.  The Lord tells Moses that instead He will make of Moses a great nation greater and mightier than they.   To think that like Moses, God has allowed us to commune with Him, and to have this relationship that He actually responds to our prayers is deeply humbling!  

We read Moses’ prayer, this prayer that has been forever etched in heaven, this prayer that God wanted the world, and the ages to see.  A prayer that brought forth destiny, and to which Israel can thank Moses for, forever.  By this prayer Moses, as Scripture reveals, stayed the judgment of God to the fullest extend that would have totally wiped them off the map, and would have been a very different history.

What did Moses pray?

1.                   We see Moses’ overwhelming focus through this prayer is his concern of God’s reputation among the nations.   “Now if you kill these people as one man, then the nations which have heard of Your fame will speak saying, ‘Because the Lord was not able to bring this people to the land which He swore to give them, therefore He killed them in the wilderness” (v.15,16).

2.                   Moses appeals to the revelation of God given him concerning God’s character.  He directly quotes what He received when asking to see God’s glory and the declaration of His character in Exodus 34:6,7 appealing specifically to His mercy and His longsuffering. 

3.                   From this place Moses asks for forgiveness for those that have sinned against God, interceding for those who will not themselves, blindly ignorant of their condition before a holy God.

I want us to see again, the confidence we have in prayer, to be heard and for our prayers to be answered, are directly connected to our understanding of God’s holy character.   From this knowledge of Who He is and place of worship comes a desire to obey, and from obedience comes a place of intimacy, and from intimacy comes a conformity to His character that causes us to pray the prayers of His heart.  We must spend time meditating on His revelation to us from His Word of Who He is that we might walk in authentic faith!  Let us apply this by even now meditating on and memorizing Exodus 34:6, 7 and praying this out!  Worshipping Him in this truth, and making this a part of prayer, as we intercede for His people, for the lost, and for our nation and the nations of the world!

We see in just two chapters later this account of Aaron standing between the living and the dead in intercession for the people (Numbers 16:41-50).  I submit to you that this is what the Lord had in mind when He said in Ezekiel 22:30, 31, “So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one. Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath: and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads, says the Lord God.”

Friend, we are called a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9), and this is our responsibility.    Let us follow the example of Moses, and be a people that will stand in the gap, and pray for those who are bringing judgment upon themselves.  This is the heart we saw in Paul (Romans 10:1), but most importantly which is in our Lord Jesus (John 17).