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May 29, 2011

The Prayer Life of Moses

Exodus 33:13

Part Fourteen

Let Me Know Your Ways

“Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight.  Consider too, that this nation is Your people.”

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Eternal Life

Moses has spent considerable time with God in prayer.  From the burning bush, to the mountain top with God, and from the bitter waters at Marah, to the bitter sight of the golden calf, Moses has prayed for the people of Israel.  I would have thought Moses knew Yahweh well by this time.  Moses, however, had an insatiable thirst to drink more deeply from the well of the knowledge of God.  Moses wanted to know the ways of God, so He might find favor in the sight of God.

       An Obstinate People.  After the golden calf incident, Yahweh told Moses that He would no longer be with them, because He might destroy them on the way to the promised land.  Yahweh told Moses to relay to the people that they must put off their ornaments from them, so that Yahweh would know what He would do with them.  So the people stripped themselves of their ornaments from Mount Horeb forward (Exodus 33:1-6).  Moses became very concerned that Yahweh would no longer be leading the people directly, and meeting personally with Moses in the tent of meeting.  Moses prayed to Yahweh that He would disclose the new arrangement.  Moses again prayed back to Yahweh the promises of Yahweh (Exodus 33:7-13).

      Let Me Know Your Ways.  Moses clearly understood that only God could disclose the ways of God to Moses.  Moses knew that trying to know the ways of God were utterly beyond him.  Only by God teaching and showing Moses His ways would Moses ever know them.  Furthermore, Moses sought to know the ways of God so that he might know God better and find favor before God (Exodus 33:12-13).  Remember, that by this time, Moses had spent a lot of time with Yahweh, but still longed to know Him better and better.  Moses had developed a very close relationship with the living God.

     My Presence Will Go with You.  Moses had come to depend upon the personal presence of Yahweh and his personal, prayerful communion with the living God.  This close relationship became more and more important to Moses.  Moses had already decided if the presence of the LORD did not go with him and the people, then Moses did not want God to lead them away from there (Exodus 33:14-15).  Until each of us reaches the point in our lives that we are unwilling to take another step without the presence of God directing our lives, we have not reached the point Moses described here.  Moses knew that without God’s leading and presence, he could do nothing (compare John 15:5).  With the presence of the LORD leading them, the people of God are distinguished from every other nation on earth (Exodus 33:16).  As Christians, with God leading us, our lives should be distinguished as the people of God.

       So we learn more about the prayer life of Moses.

       ●  Prayer means that we spend time with God listening to Him, getting to know Him, meditating upon Him, and talking with Him.  We want to know Him.

       ●  Prayer means that we get to know God by knowing His ways.  We only learn His ways as He teaches them to us.  Without God helping us, we would never know Him or His ways.  God has revealed Himself through the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the illumination of the Holy Spirit, we come to know God and His ways.

       ●  Prayer means that we talk with God about His presence in our lives.  Like Moses, we should never be willing to leave God’s presence, or go anywhere else without Him.   

Application for Today

        As I ponder my ways today, I want to learn more about God’s ways.  I want to spend time learning from Him, reading His word, meditating upon it, and praying to learn more. I do not want to take a single step without knowing the Lord Jesus is leading me.  Are you listening to God in prayer to learn His ways so that you may know Him better and live in His favor today?

 

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