Good Morning Friends,
Yesterday’s lectionary explored the Lord’s prayer and the prayer of Abraham for the two cities of Sodom and Gomorrah hoping for the righteousness of Kingdom of God eventually displayed in the person of Jesus the Messiah. Today we pray for the glory of God in the hope of the great faithfulness of God to help us to see new mercies in the character of God. We consider that it is God who we have sinned against. And we consider the choices we make and try not to restrict God’s ability to be in love with us. In today’s text Moses presents us with an example of true, intercessory prayer. This is Moses’ prayer after the infamous ‘Golden Calf’ incident, when the people had committed idolatry at the foot of Mount Sinai. Here Moses demonstrates the mark of his leadership, and of all true Christian leadership. He does not just bemoan the sin of the people but takes responsibility before God on their behalf. This was a national sin on such a horrendous scale. So Moses commanded the people to ‘consecrate’ themselves to the LORD, ‘that He may bestow a blessing. Then he returned to the presence of the LORD to seek atonement for their sin. The content of Moses’ short prayer is more than extraordinary: “If thou wilt forgive their sin –; and if not, I pray thee, blot me out of thy book” . The Apostle Paul made a similar identification with his kinsmen, the people of Israel in Romans 9:3-5. Both had great passion. Do Our Zealous Intercessory Prayers Encourage A Belief We Can Change God’s Mind?
Scripture: And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people. Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain, carrying the two tablets of the covenant in his hands, tablets that were written on both sides, written on the front and on the back. The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved upon the tablets. When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.” But he said, “It is not the sound made by victors, or the sound made by losers; it is the sound of revelers that I hear.” As soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets from his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. He took the calf that they had made, burned it with fire, ground it to powder, scattered it on the water, and made the Israelites drink it. Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?” And Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn hot; you know the people, that they are bent on evil. They said to me, ‘Make us gods, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, take it off’; so they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!” On the next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. But now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin; they have made for themselves gods of gold. But now, if you will only forgive their sin—but if not, blot me out of the book that you have written.” But the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; see, my angel shall go in front of you. Nevertheless, when the day comes for punishment, I will punish them for their sin.”
Exodus 32:14-24, 30-34 (NRSV)
and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”
John 11:19-27 (NRSV)
Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”
Luke 10:38-42 (NRSV)
For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people, my kindred according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.
Romans 9:3-5 (NRSV)
Message: Now if we could pray like Moses, not just blaming people, but taking it upon our own shoulders to intercede on others behalf, wrestling in holy boldness with the Lord on their behalf, then the church might well do some amazing things for this world. Moses did this and succeeded. Martha tried and failed with her agenda but succeeded in honoring God by affirming Jesus’ Messiahship. And Paul fought the good fight too. And because we have free will we have been given the power to change and maybe to align ourselves in a way that changes others too. And maybe it is because we get fed up with ourselves and decide to follow Jesus that prompts this good thing in happening. But free will also seems to allow us to believe all sorts of crazy stuff. Some of what we believe is true and maybe some of it is not. Maybe that is why God gave us free will and gives up his own from time to time so that we might be able to learn about His ways. The chaos of our making mistakes maybe even fits into God’s plans. Friends, the great I AM that I AM, knows what would happen with the different choices we might make before we make them. We cannot not see all the permutation across time for our actions. And if that is true God does not need to change. Still we want a God not made of stone. We crave things that are new and so too it is with our relationship with God. But what I think we experience for the most part is an unchanging God in a changing world. He is our anchor and sure foundation in the storms and sins of life, and yet still we crave something new. What is missing is the change in us. It is about perspective. Sin never changes, the intention of His word never changes, the penalty for sin never changes, and the plan of salvation never changes. And yet if we see life with a purpose, if we see with a perspective and a position in God’s plan… in the middle of all this sameness we can become something fresh and new and lasting for a larger community.
And So, we are to experience something new in us as God uses us to make things right for others. As we share the reality that Jesus was made the wrong to put us right we come into the presence of His love and when we live and share the love and righteousness of Jesus, the experience is always new. When God says that He does not change, maybe it is about His nature and character. But this does not mean that He cannot change how He works with people throughout history. When we see God changing His mind, we are seeing it from a human perspective. Our intercessory prayers can be limited by a lack of intensity because of this same human viewpoint. We need to think in a new way and pray it forward for others with boldness and power.
Pray we see scripture a the story of how God intervenes in the lives of human beings in or der that we all might know more of God’s character and mercy. Pray we rejoice when considering the ways in which God cannot change…and further rejoice when considering the ways in which He does change us! Pray we substitute our anger for God’s better plan. Pray too that we not be so quick to judge by appearances and to blame others but be real leaders reflecting the truth in us. Pray we admit when we are wrong. Pray we not be afraid to tell others around us of Jesus, the way, truth and the life. Pray we believe that what God has promised that God can deliver. Pray we not misread scripture. Pray we experience the unchanging nature, character, plans, promises and love of God in a way that changes us forever. Pray we see with new eyes and with a perception that encourages our eagerness to intercede for others in a way that changes our view of God and our relationships with God and others. Pray our prayers are filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 