Daily Devotions
Exodus
"And the LORD was very angry with Aaron and would have destroyed him; so I prayed for Aaron also at the same time." Deuteronomy 9:20
Text: Exodus 34 : 9
ANOTHER GREAT INTERCESSORY EFFORT
What had Moses really looked for when he had asked to see “God’s face”? Why did he still pursue in his efforts to behold the full glory of God when he was told that he would not survive if he really could look at the Lord in all his glory? Surely it was not just to have a momentary experience of beholding the Lord’s face? No matter how glorious that experience may have been, it would still only be but for a moment! Moses’ intention was to see if God would hear yet another plea on behalf of Israel! Till God had fully forgiven, and till He expressed it in a fully restored relationship with the nation, Moses would keep interceding.
“Then he said, ‘If now I have found grace in Your sight,
O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though
we are a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin,
and take us for Your inheritance.'”
EXODUS 34:9
1. “If I have found grace in Your sight”
This was what Moses had hoped for- that he would find special grace from the Lord. This glorious grace was shown to Moses in this manifestation of the Lord!
2. “Let my Lord, I pray, go among us even though we are a stiff-necked people”
Here was an additional statement in Moses’ plea! Would the Lord still go among them, if Israel continued to be “a stiff-necked people”? Moses desired this special manifestation of the Lord so that he might be able to put this plea before Him!
3. “Pardon our iniquity and our sin”
Moses banked on the most recent proclamation of the Lord! He had declared Himself to be “merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and sin…” Moses now pleaded with renewed energy and hope that God would somehow pardon the iniquity and sin of Israel! They had shown remorse and repentance for their sin!
4. “And take us for Your inheritance”
Moses looked beyond pardon and forgiveness of sin- always! With great earnestness Moses pleaded that God would look at Israel as His “inheritance”! That was some plea!
FOR THE NOBLEST OF REASONS
Moses had asked to behold the full glory of God for just one purpose! It was not for selfish, personal gratification that he sought to behold the glory of God! He desired to know that he was in God’s favor and grace! Only after he had that fact established did he dare to make what must have been the most complex intercessory prayer effort of his entire life! So much was at stake! His heart must know only the noblest of reasons!