Persistence Through Prayer
Scripture Passage: Deuteronomy 9:22-29 (NASB)
22 “Again at Taberah and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked the Lord to wrath. 23 When the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and possess the land which I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God; you neither believed Him nor listened to His voice. 24 You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day I knew you.
25 “So I fell down before the Lord the forty days and nights, which I did because the Lord had said He would destroy you. 26 I prayed to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord God, do not destroy Your people, even Your inheritance, whom You have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 27 Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not look at the stubbornness of this people or at their wickedness or their sin. 28 Otherwise the land from which You brought us may say, “Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land which He had promised them and because He hated them He has brought them out to slay them in the wilderness.” 29 Yet they are Your people, even Your inheritance, whom You have brought out by Your great power and Your outstretched arm.’
SUMMARY
God says that He will destroy the Israelites because they keep going against His commandments and rebelling against Him. Moses falls down before the Lord for 40 days and nights and intercedes for the people. He asks God not to destroy the Israelites and reminds Him that they are His inheritance and that they have been redeemed through Him.
MEDITATION & REFLECTION
Moses had a lot of persistence to keep praying for Israel multiple times after each of their rebellious acts. The Israelites kept turning away from God even when He had shown them His power and they kept building and worshiping man-made idols. I wonder if I have the dedication and perseverance to believe in something so much that I keep asking God for it. Moses could endure all the betrayal, only because he knew what the people meant to God and that they were loved by Him. Moses based his prayers for the Israelites on truths he knew were from God, not his own wisdom. This makes me reflect on my own prayers and whether I pray and ask God based on His promises and if my own prayer life is as committed as Moses'.
APPLICATION
I often pray for the things I want and the desires of my heart, but Moses prayed according to God's will for His people, not his own will. To everyone else, it might have made sense that God would destroy the Israelites for their lack of loyalty and love towards God, but through Moses' prayer to spare the Israelites, Moses helped show God's mercy and grace to the unbelievers watching from the outside. Prayer is so powerful, because it shows God's will not only in the lives of the ones praying, but it also reveals God's character to the watching world.
PRAYER
Dear God,
Help me to become consistent in my prayer life and enjoy spending time getting to know You and deepening my relationship with You. Help me to not become tired of praying for the same issues, but know that Your promises will prevail in the end. I pray for the strength and commitment to not give up, and that I will also come to know Your heart for me and for others in my life. Amen.
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