Prayer is the most powerful provision we have from God, and probably the most misunderstood
and abused practice in Christianity. What gives with this passage? Does God waver in His decisions? It appears as though He was angry enough at the Jews to wipe them all out, and only the rational judgement of a man, Moses, turned Him form that course. The application of God's attributes to this scenario will clarify the matter. God is omniscient, so He knew the Jews would fail. He is infinite love, which is expressed in grace and mercy, so He is more tolerant of our misadventures than we could ever be. Add to these considerations the fact that Moses was right. Why did God deliver the Jews from their captivity in the first place if He intended to kill them all ? The Egyptians would be justified in asking what purpose The God of the Jews had for such an exercise. Is he an arbitrary God? Vengefull and cruel? Of course, God had no intention of killing the Jews ! The dialogue between He and Moses was for our benefit, and the benefit of the angelic race, who observe these procedings with intense interest. God, you see, is in the process of revealing Himself. The course of this unseen conflict will not only prove Satan wrong, but in the interim we will all see God in all His glory by His dealings with us. Since creatures cannot read the thoughts of other creatures God arranges such exchanges for the sake of enlightenment. A moron would read this passage and think God a bumbling fool, as flawed as any man, but those who "rightly divide the Word of Truth" will understand, with the help of our Mentor, The Holy Spirit, who is sent to instruct us in spiritual matters, that God staged that conversation, using language of accomodation, to teach us something of Himself. Look at it this way; A man would certainly react like God appeared to react, with indignation. That's the point, you see ! Had God actually felt the way He appeared to, would He have consulted Moses before wiping out the Jews? I hardly think so. So we are intended to see a facet of God's exceeding glory in this passage. Even though the Jews fell into a grievous transgression, and forged a golden calf to worship while Moses was on Mount Sinai, and indulged in an orgy that lasted for days, right on the heels the most spectacular deliverance of all time (the parting of the Red Sea), God showed them mercy and forgiveness. For the entire 40 years that the exodus generation spent in the desert God endured one blasphemy after another. He wouldn't even allow that generation to enter the land, but waited until they were all dead before leading their children into Israel. But even that was an act of good judgement, not spite. Those old timers would have caused schisms, in-fighting and bickering. They would have hatched conspiracy after conspiracy, as they did against Moses for four decades. We can only speculate about the outcome of their influence, and God's measures to exclude them make it pretty clear that their overweening manipulations would have been disasterous. The Jews were pitted against some very tough and well fortified enemies in those early years, and they needed every bit of energy and concentration on the task at hand to emerge victorious. Even then they had some very close brushes with disaster, so apprently the added distractions of their rebellious ancestors may have even led to the failure of the Israelites to win their battles and put down roots in the land we call Israel today. This is a lengthy example, but it serves to make the point that prayer isn't just chatting with God, it has a very specific and potentially powerful use. In effect, prayer is the condemnation of the devil in the mouths of his underlings. What more humiliating defeat could so arrogant a creature suffer? Here he is with every possible advantage, and yet these dumb butt bipeds doggedly navigate the maze of his schemes and snares to learn the Word of God and pronounce, out of their own mouths, using their own inferior mentality, the very words that will seal his doom, or I should say, have already sealed his doom. We can see, in this, the brilliant irony of this drama we are a part of, no? There are two categories of prayer; Petition and Intercession. Petition is a request for self, the solution to a problem or asking for blessing in some situation. Intercession is praying for others, for our nation, for friends and loved ones, believers in Communist nations, and so forth. There are four possible answers to prayer in two separate venues; Desire and Intent; To illustrate let's use a simple prayer; "Heavenly Father, my bills are piling up and I'm broke. Would you arrange a raise for me so I can pay them?" In this prayer the desire is a raise, the intent is paying the bills. Positive Desire - Positive Intent .........(yes to both). Positive Desire - Negative Intent ......... (you get the raise, but not enouth to pay the bills). Negative Desire - Positive Intent ......... (no raise, but God sends a windfall for the bills). Negative Desire - Negative Intent ......... (no to both). Please note that even a negative-negative is an answer, it's just not the one we prefer. But as we grow in the knowledge of our Lord we come to understand that when he refuses us a petition there is a good reason. A perfect reason. Remember, prayer is the expression of God's will!, or so it is supposed to be. In the case of a "double denial" we may have a situation where a raise would interfere with God's plan in some manner, and He intends for the bills to go unpaid for a good reason as well. The possibilities are endless, but suppose that God has a wonderful objective for you in life, like say, He wants to move you to the point where you will have the opportunity to do something you would love to do, like writing. Before He can get you there, though, there is some rough ground to cover. You have to lose your job, get laid off, or perhaps you will be the victim of an injustice. This is where faith comes in ! We can never lose sight of the fact that God wants the highest and best for us, but getting us there will take us down a crooked path, certainly not the road we would travel, given the choice. Joseph is my favorite Old Testement hero for this rationale. He was thrown into a pit, sold into slavery, unjustly accused of a crime and incarcerated in prison for two years. Needless to say, these circumstances are not those we would pick for ourselves, if we had any say in the matter! But God had a fantastic future for Joseph. He would become the most powerful man on earth, second only to the Pharoah himself. At any time along the way Joseph could have bolted and missed out on God's will for his life, but he stayed the course, kept faith, and came to God's ultimate destiny for him. There is also a precribed format for prayer, a protocol. We can ascertain this fact from observing the prayers of the Apostles, and even Jesus Christ and The Holy Spirit. Unless we follow this protocol precisely, our prayers are worthless. We pray; Addressed to The Father In the power of The Holy Spirit (filling) In the name of The Son The sequence of our requests should be; Thanksgiving Intercession Petition We pray to The Father, in the name of The Son;; "Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;" (Eph 5:20) Prayer requires the filling of The Spirit; "But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit," (Jude 1:20) Prayers for healing and forgiveness; "And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another [apologize], and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." (Jam 5:15-16) Prayer for natural phenomena; "And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit." (Jam 5:18) Effective prayer requires Bible doctrine in the soul; " For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil, But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word." (1 Pet 3:12, Acts 6:4) Sanctifying a meal prevents illness; "For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer." " (1 Tim 4:4-5) We should pray for God's forgiveness of others; "At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge." (2 Tim 4:16) Praying for forgiveness of others brings you forgiveness.; "And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have oughta against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses." (Mark 11:25) The Holy Spirit prays for us.; "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." (Rom 8:26) |