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Introduction:
Most Christians today, myself included, struggle with the basic
habits of Christianity such as assembling or Bible study. Perhaps
some of our greatest struggles are with prayer. In I
Thessalonians 5:17, Paul said we must pray without
ceasing. We look at the prayers in the Bible and see the amazing
things God did and wonder how we can have successful prayer lives
like that. One such instance revolves around the prayers of Moses
in Exodus
32:11-13, 31-32 and Numbers 14:13-19. While these
prayers surround two events (the golden calf and the refusal to
enter the Promised Land) both involve the same issue. The only
thing that stood between Israel and destruction was Moses, who
interceded so “the Lord changed His mind about the harm which He
said he would do to His people” (Exodus
32:14). How can we pray like that? The answer is not on
God’s end of the prayer stick. It is on ours. If we want our
prayers to be as successful as Moses’, then we must pray as he
prayed. Discussion: I.
Moses prayed humbly. A.
Numbers
12:3
says Moses was the most humble man on earth. That humility is best
seen in these prayers. Philippians
2:3-4 explains humility means putting aside selfishness
and empty conceit and viewing others as more important than self,
seeking their interests first. B.
Examine Moses’ prayers in Exodus
32:11-13, 31-32 and Numbers 14:13-19. None of these
prayers furthered Moses’ agenda. In fact, they did the exact
opposite. God’s initial plan was to destroy Israel and make a
greater and mightier nation out of Moses (Exodus
32:10; Numbers 14:12). What an opportunity for Moses. Yet
he did not capitalize on God’s anger to further his own place in
history. Instead, he used his prayer to further the interests of
the Israelites and God. We delve into Moses’ humility even more
with our next two points. II.
Moses prayed for others more than himself. A.
After Moses dealt with the golden calf, he said, “I am
going up to the Lord, perhaps I can make atonement for your sin”
(Exodus
32:30). What is amazing is that Moses did not just pray,
“God forgive their sin.” He prayed, “But now, if You will,
forgive their sin—and if not please blot me out from Your book
which You have written” (Exodus
32:32). B.
Consider the sheer magnitude of that statement. Moses was
saying he would rather be blotted out for Israel’s sin, than
Israel be blotted out for it. I can hardly fathom that. We often
get upset about all the things people get away with through
God’s forgiveness. Moses was praying that God would let it go
and, if necessary let him be the sacrifice to purchase their
forgiveness. C.
Keep in mind for whom Moses was doing this. This was the
people who had made him so angry that he cast down the tablets of
the Law God had just given him and broke them in the sight of the
people (Exodus
32:19). In Numbers
14:10, the people had been preparing to stone Moses. Yet
he prayed for them. That is humility. When we pray whose agenda
most concerns us? III.
Moses prayed for God’s will and glory, not his own. A.
Exodus
32:12
and Numbers
14:13-16
demonstrate the heart of Moses’ humility. More than concern for
himself, more than concern for his brethren, Moses’ prayer was
driven by his concern for God and His glory. What would the pagan
nations say if the people of Israel died in a day on their way
from Egypt to Canaan? They would not assume the people had angered
Jehovah. They would assume Jehovah was unable to do what He
promised. B.
I find it hard to believe God had not already thought of
what these foreign nations would think. I believe the heart of
these narratives is not so much about God supposedly changing His
mind, but about Moses bending to God’s will. Instead of thinking
about the glory he could receive as father of the nation, Moses
thought about the glory that would be taken from God. C.
The problem is we all too often view prayer as the means by
which we try to bend God to our will. That is not the function of
prayer. Prayer’s function is to lead us to bend ourselves to
God’s will. In reality, the heart of successful prayer is to be
found in this one point. There is one way and one way alone to
always have all of your prayers granted. Discover God’s will and
glory and pray for that. God will always grant those requests. IV.
Moses prayed from a holy life. A.
Though not explicitly stated, Exodus
32:32 demonstrates that Moses’ prayer stemmed from holy
living. Certainly he was not sinless, but he had to have some
basis on which to believe his being blotted out of God’s book
would mean something. Certainly, Aaron could not make a prayer
like this; he had been just as involved in the sin as the rest of
Israel. B.
Of course, Moses could not be the sinless sacrifice that
Jesus would become. However, he was a man who had lived in
holiness, who had lived according to God’s will. Moses was not
living however he wanted during the day and then offering a quick
goodnight prayer to save his soul if he died in his sleep. Moses
lived a life that allowed him to pray. C.
I am not suggesting we must be perfect to pray. Certainly,
confession will always be a part of our prayers (cf. I
John 1:9; Luke 18:13). However, we must recognize that if
we are harboring sin in our hearts, our prayers do not get past
the ceiling (Isaiah
59:1-14). V.
Moses prayed based on God’s word. A.
When Moses prayed in Exodus
32:13, he could pray with faith that God would grant his
request because he knew the promises God had made to Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob. When Moses quoted these promises, he was not just
speaking of these two specific promises; he was referencing all
the promises God had made to his forefathers. All those promises,
specifically the ones made to the 12 sons of Jacob in Genesis
49, could not be fulfilled if God started over with Moses.
Moses’ prayer was successful because it was based on God’s own
word. B.
Interestingly, in Number
14:17-18, Moses based his request on the word of the Lord
revealed to him following the Golden Calf incident in Exodus
34:6-7. Nevertheless, Moses could pray with faith because
it was not just a whimsical request, but a request grounded
solidly in God’s word. C.
When we pray, do we consider God’s word? How much more
effective our prayers would be if we would actually go to the
scriptures first and find the promises of God and pray for those. VI.
Moses prayed as a priority. A.
Moses recounted both of these situations in Deuteronomy
9. According to Deuteronomy
9:18, 25, Moses prayed and neither ate bread nor drank
water. These prayers were so important to him that he did not even
eat. Since a man cannot survive for 40 days without drinking
anything, I believe God must have miraculously sustained Moses.
However, the point remains the same. These prayers were so
important to Moses that he placed them even above eating. B.
Are there any circumstances for us in which prayer is that
important? Would we ever forego eating and drinking in order to
pray? While fasting is not a requirement for every prayer, the
general principle remains the same. For our prayer to be
successful, prayer must be a priority. VII.
Moses prayed persistently. A.
In Deuteronomy
9:18, 25, not only did Moses fast and pray, but he did so
for 40 days. I am really amazed at these statements. We would
never get that idea from what was revealed in Exodus
32 or Numbers 14. In those verses, Moses simply
summarized his 40 day prayer. Think about what that means. For
forty days, Moses basically prayed the same thing over and over
and over again. I am sure he worded it in different ways. I am
sure he took different approaches. I am sure he added argument on
top of argument. However, for 40 days he basically said nothing
more than “Please forgive these obstinate and stubborn
people.” B.
Again, I ask, is there anything so important to us that we
would pray like that? One of the greatest complaints I ever hear
about church prayer meetings is how repetitive they are. However,
some things are so important they need to be repeated and
persisted in prayer. What would have happened if Moses had quit
praying on day 39? Who knows, but God did not respond until day 40
in both of these instances. If we want successful prayer lives, we
have to learn to be persistent in prayer. Conclusion: None of these aspects of prayer are easy. They all take a great deal of work and discipline. However, they do cut to the heart of what is successful praying. When we pray as Moses did, I am convinced we will begin to see the power of God working in our lives and in response to our prayers. But I am also convinced it will only happen when we learn to pray as Moses did.
Glory
to God in the church by Christ Jesus
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