Moses, The Man Of Prayer

Before Moses was the patriarchal dispensation, with the family life, and the power the fathers had, and marking it, Moses is the first man appointed to be a teacher and leader of men. In him, we find wonderful illustrations of the place and power of intercession in the servant of God.

Moses’ prayers From his first call in Egypt, Moses prayed. He asked God what he was to say to the people (Exodus 3:11-13). He told Him all his weaknesses and besought Him to be relieved of his mission ( 4:1-13). When the people reproached him that their burdens were increased, he went and told God, vs. 22, and he made known to Him all his fears (6:12). This was his first training. Out of this was born his power in prayer when, time after time, Pharaoh asked him to entreat the Lord for him, and deliverance came at Moses’ request (8:8, 9, 12, 28, 29, 30, 31; 9:28-29, 9:33; 10:17-18). Study these passages until you come under the full impression of how real a factor in Moses’ work and God’s redemption prayer was.

At the Red sea, Moses cried to God with the people and the answer came (14:15).

When the people thirsted in the wilderness, and when Amalek attacked them, it was also prayer that brought deliverance (17.4:11).

At Sinai, when Israel had made the Golden Calf, it was prayer that at once averted the threatened destruction (32:11, 32:14). It was renewed prayer that gained them restoration (32:31). It was more prayer that secured God’s presence to go with them (33:17), and once again it was prayer that brought the revelation of God’s glory (33:19). And when that had been given, it was fresh prayer that received the renewal of the covenant (34:9-10). In Deuteronomy, we have a wonderful summary of all this (9:18-20, 19:26); we see with what intensity he prayed, and how in one case it was for forty days and forty nights that he fell on his face before the Lord (9:25, 10:10).

In Numbers, we read of Moses’ prayer quenching the fire of the Lord, 11:2, and obtaining the supply of meat; 10:2, 11, of prayer healing Miriam, 12:13; and that of saving the nation when they had refused to go up to the land, 14:17-20. Prayer brought down judgment on Korah, 16:15, and when God would consume the whole congregation, prayer made atonement, 46. Prayer brought water out of the rock, 20:6, and in answer to prayer, the brazen serpent was given, 21:7. Through prayer, God’s will was made known in a case of difficulty, 27:5, and Joshua was given as Moses’ successor, 16.

Study all this until your whole heart is filled with the thought of the part prayer must play, may play in the life of a man who would be God’s servant to his fellowmen.

As we study, the parts will unite into a living whole and Moses will be to us a living model for our prayer life. We shall learn what is needed to be an intercessor. The lessons that will come to us will be such as these; I see Moses was a man given up to God, zealous, yes, jealous for God, for His honour and will.

A man, too, absolutely given up to his people, ready to sacrifice himself, if they may be saved.

A man conscious of a Divine calling to act as a mediator, to be the link, the channel of communication and of blessing, between a God in Heaven and men on Earth. A life so entirely possessed by this editorial consciousness that nothing can be more simple and natural than to expect that God will hear.

I see here God in answer to the prayers of one man saves and blesses those He has entrusted to him and does what He would not do without it. I see how the whole government of God has taken up prayer into its plan as one of its constituent parts.

I see how Heaven is filled with the life and power and blessing the Earth needs, and how the prayer of the Earth is the power to bring that blessing down.

I see above all how prayer is an index of the spiritual life, and how its power depends upon my relation to God, and the consciousness of being His representative. He entrusts His work to me, and the more simple and entire my devotion to His interests are, the more natural and certainly becomes the assurance that He hears me.

Think of the place God had in Moses’ life, as the God who had sent him, the God to whom he was wholly devoted, the God who had promised to be with him, who would and always help him when and as he prayed.

Now for the practical application: How can we learn to pray like Moses? We cannot secure this grace by an act of the will. Our first lesson must be, the sense of impotence. Then grace will work it in us, slowly and surely, if we give ourselves into its training. But though the training will be gradual, there is one thing that can be done at once, we can at once decide to give ourselves to this life and take up the right position. Do this now, take the decision, to live entirely to be a channel for God’s blessing to flow through you to the world. Take the step.

If need be, take ten minutes for deliberate thought. Accept the Divine appointment, and take up some object of intercession. Take time, say a week, and get firm hold of the elementary truths Moses’ example teaches. As a music teacher insists upon practising the scales — only practice makes perfect — set yourself to learn thoroughly and to apply the needed first lessons.