Gospel Reading Plan: Mark 7-8
Moses the Intercessor
Read: Exodus 32
There were several times in the wilderness wanderings of the people of
Israel where it seems that they brought God’s wrath upon themselves. In Exodus 32 we read about the Golden calf
that the Israelites made while Moses was up on the mountain. God was more than a bit annoyed at their
behaviour in fact He told Moses, “Leave
me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy
them. Then I will make you into a great
nation” (Ex. 32:10). Think about
that for a moment, what you would do if God told you that He would kill all the
Canadians except you and make you into a great nation? Would you feel pretty good about
yourself? Everyone else was destroyed
for their sinfulness but you made it! Or
would you head straight to your knees and plead for God to be merciful? Moses did just that as he prays, "Oh, what a great sin these people have
committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. But now, please forgive
their sin--but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written" (Ex.
32:31-32). Moses not only pleaded for
God to forgive the people, he actually was willing to sacrifice his own life
for their sake! God relented because of Moses’ unselfish prayer. Can we pray with such unselfishness? How often do we pray for others the way that
Moses modelled, or are our prayers just filled with our own selfish
requests? There is nothing wrong with
praying for yourself and your needs, but as Christians we must also pray for
others. If we only focus on ourselves in
prayer we can become closed off to the needs and concerns of others and our lives
can easily become self-centred. Let’s
pray that God would mature our hearts so that we can spend much time in prayer
for God’s mercy upon others.
PRAYER AND MEDITATION
- Thank the Lord for His great mercy and that He listens to the prayers of His children and desires to see all turn to Him.
- Ask the Lord to grow in your heart a love for others that will motivate you to pray for them.
- Pray that you would learn to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit in your prayer times and that your prayer times would reflect God’s desires for your life and for others.
