On Sundays, we’re studying the prayer life of Moses. I thought this story was a good one for us
all. In this passage, Moses is
recounting the days in the desert at
Deuteronomy 9
9 "When I went up to the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the LORD had made with you, then I remained on the mountain forty days and nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water.
10 "The LORD
gave me the two tablets of stone written by the finger of God; and on them were
all the words which the LORD had spoken with you at the mountain from the midst
of the fire on the day of the assembly.
11
"It came about at the end of forty days and nights that the LORD gave me
the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.
12 "Then the
LORD said to me, "Arise, go down from here quickly, for your people whom
you brought out of
13 "The LORD
spoke further to me, saying, "I have seen this people, and indeed, it is a
stubborn people.
14 "Let Me
alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I
will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.'
Moses is shocked!
They are doing WHAT? After
everything I’ve taught them? So Moses has to go down and look for himself.
15 "So I turned
and came down from the mountain while the mountain was burning with fire, (fire represents the judgment of God – He
was getting ready to follow through on what He said in verse 14 – destroy them) and the two tablets of the covenant were
in my two hands.
16 "And I saw
that you had indeed sinned against the LORD your God. You had made for
yourselves a molten calf; you had turned aside quickly from the way which the
LORD had commanded you.
17 "I took hold
of the two tablets and threw them from my hands and smashed them before your
eyes.
18 "I fell down
before the LORD, (He prays) as at the first, forty days and nights; I
neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin which you had
committed in doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD to provoke Him to
anger.
Notice Moses doesn’t go down and scream at the people, or try to get them to straighten up. He goes straight to God in prayer, interceding for the Israelites.
19 "For I was
afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which the LORD was wrathful
against you in order to destroy you, but the LORD listened to me that time
also.
20 "The LORD was
angry enough with Aaron to destroy him; so I also prayed for Aaron at the
same time.
Moses basically stands in the way of God destroying the people! God was getting ready to destroy the
Israelites, but the Lord LISTENED TO HIM!
Can prayer change things? Of
course it can! It did here!
We can learn a lot from the prayer Moses made:
25 "So I fell
down before the LORD the forty days and nights, which I did because the LORD
had said He would destroy you.
26 "I prayed to
the LORD and said, "O Lord GOD, do not destroy Your
people, even Your inheritance, whom You have redeemed through Your greatness,
whom You have brought out of
27 "Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not look at the
stubbornness of this people or at their wickedness or their sin.
Now look how Moses builds a case with God. He reminds God (imagine that!) of the promises that He had made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now look what else he says:
28 "Otherwise
the land from which You brought us (
29 "Yet they are Your people, even Your
inheritance, whom You have brought out by Your great power and Your
outstretched arm.'
Look how Moses builds his case. If God destroys the people, everyone in
This prayer is a demonstration of Moses’ love for God. That’s what all prayer should be! How do we pray like that? PRACTICE! The only way to learn to pray is to pray.