Moses' Humility

      Numbers 12:3 says, “Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all the men who were on the face of the earth” (NKJV). What an odd statement for Moses to write. However, when we study Moses’ prayers, I believe we will see exactly how true this statement was.

      In Exodus 32:10, because of the golden calf God said, “Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation.”

      In Numbers 14:12, when Israel refused to enter the Promised Land because of the ten faithless spies, God told Moses, “I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”

      What a promise given to Moses. Think of the great glory and honor God offered him. Not only could he be a leader of God’s people, he could be the father of God’s people. He could be revered throughout history along with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as a great leader and a patriarch.

      Put yourself in Moses’ shoes. What would you have done? I am afraid I might have responded, “Where exactly were you wanting me to stand, Lord?” But not Moses.

      Moses saw what was at stake if he looked out for his own glory. If he was glorified, then God would be defamed.

      Notice Moses’ prayer in Exodus 32:12, “Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, ‘He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’?”

      Consider his prayer in Numbers 14:13-19. “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.’”

      Do you see Moses’ overriding concern? Despite the double offer to glorify Moses. Moses’ fundamental desire was that God be glorified. Amazingly enough, his concern that God be glorified was so great, in Exodus 32:32, he was willing to be blotted out from God’s book in order to preserve Israel.

      That is humility. This is the crux of effective prayer. All too often, we view prayer as the means by which we attempt to bend God to our will. Instead, it is the means by which we bend to His will and invite Him to accomplish His work through us.

      Only when we are primarily concerned about God’s glory will our prayers impact God. May we learn to humble ourselves as Moses did. May we learn to seek God’s glory above all else.

Edwin L. Crozier