Most of my 50 years in ministry are filled with fond memories. However, there were times when leaders and congregation members became angry with me. Some of that criticism was deserved, while other times, I was simply caught in an unwinnable situation.
I can relate to the problems Moses, Aaron, and others faced when the congregation turned against them. However, I have never experienced people picking up stones to end my life, as these great leaders of God did (Numbers 14:10).
During challenging times in the church, the best thing we can do is pray together. Arguing and trying to convince each other that we are right usually doesn’t work. However, when we submit to the Lord, He provides the direction we need.
One lesson we can learn from Moses is his unwavering reliance on prayer; whenever he faced a challenging situation with his people, he consistently turned to God for guidance and support.
Notice the conversational language between God and Moses. This is the kind of intimacy that God gives His partners in the ministry.
And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?
I will strike them with pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they” (Numbers 14:11-12).
God’s vulnerability with Moses is striking. The Creator of the universe reveals His frustration because His people, having seen many signs of His presence, still don’t take Him seriously.
In verse 11, “despise” means to think lightly of someone, not to hate. Our lack of trust in God and thinking lightly of Him can create a similar feeling in Him as described in these verses.
Moses’ Bold Prayer
Moses’s prayer life encourages us to cultivate a conversational relationship with God.
I first encountered this concept through Dallas Willard’s small book, Hearing God, which I read in the 1980s. It changed my understanding of engaging with God.
Willard emphasized that a personal relationship with the Lord necessitates a genuine give-and-take conversation. Moses himself exemplified this by responding to God’s words with both boldness and a conversational ease.
He first reminded God – as if God needs reminding of anything – of the impact of His actions on the Egyptians.
But Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for in your might you brought up this people from among them, and they will tell the inhabitants of this land.
They have heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this people, for you, O Lord, are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them and you go in front of them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.
Now if you kill this people as one, then the nations who have heard about you will say, ‘It is because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land he swore to give them that he has slaughtered them in the wilderness.’” (Numbers 14:13-16).
The Exodus marked more than just the defeat of the Egyptian army; it was also a decisive defeat of the many gods worshiped by the Egyptians. The Hebrew God demonstrated His superior power over everything in Egypt, including their deities.
Moses believed that if God destroyed the rebellious Israelites, the Egyptians would conclude that their gods remained powerful. They might also assume that God was unable to fulfill His promise to bring His people into the promised land.
After the incident with the Golden Calf, God met with Moses. During this encounter, He revealed His essential character and provided Moses with a replacement for the Ten Commandments that Moses had previously broken (Exodus 34).
Moses used God’s character that He had revealed in his appeal for mercy on God’s rebellious children.
“And now, therefore, let the power of the Lord be great in the way that you promised when you spoke, saying,
‘The Lord is slow to anger
and abounding in steadfast love,
forgiving iniquity and transgression,
but by no means clearing the guilty,
visiting the iniquity of the parents
upon the children
to the third and the fourth generation.’
“Forgive the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have pardoned this people, from Egypt even until now” (Numbers 14:17-19).
The Bible and Prayer
It’s hard for me to pray without my Bible. I use it to fill my mind with God’s ideas rather than my own desires. The Bible corrects my flawed thinking and, I hope, provides me with God’s thoughts.
While my prayers aren’t always accurate, we can see how Moses was perfectly aligned with God’s character in this prayer for Israel.
I believe God didn’t need Moses’ intercession to love His people; Jesus’ cross clearly demonstrates God’s immense love. However, God desires to work with His people, which necessitated a conversational relationship between Moses and Him.
The same applies to us. God doesn’t need us to tell Him what’s happening in the world, but He wants us to share it with Him.
It is our honor, privilege, and responsibility to imitate Moses, Paul, and especially Jesus in prayer.
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed this passage on YouTube today.
Real Voices 