No. 2.
PRAYER holds a very important place in Scripture, much more so than is generally felt. None will deny its value, yet how often does our want of confidence in God’s readiness to hear, appear in times of sorrow and difficulty. We sometimes run from one broken cistern to another, forget a throne of grace, and that “with God all things are possible.” How often do we call forth the Lord’s rebuke, “O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?”
I shall refer to some leading examples of prayer, hoping to encourage the faith of God’s people, and to show the great necessity there is for it at all times, as being the medium through which so much blessing flows. I begin with the Exodus of Israel. The blood of the victim brought them out of Egypt. Through the prayers of Moses they were sustained in the wilderness, guarded against danger, and the constant recipients of blessing from the hand of God. He gave to Israel, on many occasions, the most distinct testimony that He would be inquired of, and that He was a prayer-hearing God. The blood had given them a place in the presence of God, and they must now, in the blessedness of their standing, by prayer, draw from God supplies for all their need. He established a testimony in Jacob....that the children which should be born might set their hope in God (Psa. 78:5-75For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: 6That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: 7That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: (Psalm 78:5‑7)).
A servant of Christ should expect frequent trial in His service. God only can sustain him: he must daily come to Him for supplies, both for his own need and that of the people whom he serves and cares for. Israel had scarcely left Egypt when they began to murmur against Moses and Aaron. The very persons who under God, had wrought their deliverance were now the objects of their complaint. These murmurings lasted the forty years’ pilgrimage; no matter how plainly God stood with His servants, and judged Israel for their complaints, spite of all, they still murmured. Paul, in his day, had to experience the same ingratitude. Prayer was the resort of both Moses and Paul. They, with their blessed Master could say, “For my love they are my adversaries, but I give myself unto prayer (See Exodus 16, 17) Trials from within are more difficult to meet and to bear, than those from without. Moses overcame both by prayer. Let us trace this. “Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said unto Joshua, choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand” (Ex. 17:8, 98Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. 9And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. (Exodus 17:8‑9)). Aaron and Hur accompanied Moses. “But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword” (Ex. 17:12, 1312But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. (Exodus 17:12‑13)). How truly interesting and important is this narrative. As the battle was the Lord’s, so was the victory. He heard and answered the cry of Moses, a memorial of Amalek’s final overthrow was written, and an altar to God was built, with this blessed inscription― “Jehovah Nissi” ―The Lord my banner. What a banner! How far better than our empty cisterns and arms of flesh! Surely our bow will abide in strength, when our confidence rests undisturbed in the mighty God of Jacob!
The next great scene in Israel’s history is the giving of the Law, and then the setting up of the Tabernacle. Moses was forty days in the Mount, neither eating bread nor drinking water, receiving instructions from God. He descends from the Mount full of glory and honor; but as glory and honor abound, so also do sorrow and trial in relation to the flock of God, not from without so much as from within. Aaron, who had been joined to Moses in the work of the Lord, and in the service of Israel’s redemption, his spokesman to Pharaoh, and one who had upheld his hands in Israel’s conflict with Amalek, had left the holy Mount, made a golden calf, and led all Israel to worship it. The same person who had been instrumental in causing all Israel to believe the Word of the Lord, to bow their heads and worship Jehovah (Ex. 4:29, 3129And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel: (Exodus 4:29)
31And the people believed: and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped. (Exodus 4:31)), now leads the people to the worship of the golden calf. What a serious lesson! “To which of the saints wilt thou turn?” is the divine inquiry; and surely this period of Israel’s history gives a solemn emphasis to the injunction, “Put not your trust in princes.” Such, however, was the mournful scene that Moses was called to witness, when he descended from the holy Mount full of glory and blessing. And what was to be done? He could not go on as God’s dispenser of blessing to the people, but he gives himself unto prayer, and he prevailed: “Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the Lord: peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin” (Ex. 32:3030And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the Lord; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin. (Exodus 32:30)). “And I fell down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your sins which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, wherewith the Lord was wroth against you to destroy you. But the Lord hearkened unto me at that time also. And the Lord was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him: and I prayed for Aaron also the same time” (Deut. 9:18-2018And I fell down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your sins which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. 19For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, wherewith the Lord was wroth against you to destroy you. But the Lord hearkened unto me at that time also. 20And the Lord was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him: and I prayed for Aaron also the same time. (Deuteronomy 9:18‑20)). His forty days’ fasting and prayer were the means of saving Aaron and Israel from being destroyed. What grace and power we have seen in this man of God! We only want the like faith in these days to revive the whole Church of God. He did not seek his own things. God’s glory and the salvation of His people lay nearer his heart than any personal consideration. His self-denial was very remarkable “Moses said unto the Lord, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if Thou wilt forgive their sin―; and if not, blot me, I pray Thee, out of Thy book which Thou hast written” (Ex. 32:31, 3231And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. 32Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. (Exodus 32:31‑32)).
The ark was scarcely set forward on its journey when the people again complained, and displeased the Lord. The fire of the Lord burned among them, and consumed them in the uttermost parts of the camp. Moses prayed unto the Lord, and the fire was quenched (Num. 11:22And the people cried unto Moses; and when Moses prayed unto the Lord, the fire was quenched. (Numbers 11:2)).
On the borders of the land, at the end of their forty years’ pilgrimage, the people again complain. The brazen serpent was the answer to the prayer of Moses. Blessed answer! proclaimed to Nicodemus, and ratified on Calvary by the blood of the Son of God! “The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that He take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live” (Num. 21:6-86And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. 7Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. 8And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. (Numbers 21:6‑8)).
I have only traced a few leading features in Israel’s history in connection with prayer, and the blessings resulting therefrom. Its instruction to us is very important. Moses was a constant intercessor on behalf of the people of the Lord; and, through prayer and faith, we find that Amalek is overcome at Rephidim; Aaron and many of the people whom he had turned aside are saved from destruction: at Taberah the fire is quenched; on the borders of the land the bite of the fiery serpent is healed, &c. &c.
The glory of God in His people was dearer to Moses than all beside. He could have found many a reason, on the occasions referred to, to abandon them, had he a mind to do so, but he chose a more excellent way, and so proved a saviour to Israel, and their true shepherd, under God. He met Satan, both within and without, and came off triumphantly by the power of believing prayer. The victory over Amalek was to stand for an everlasting memorial of his overthrow, and, in type of all the enemies of Israel. But as we have before noticed, as blessings came on Moses from the hand of God, so did trial follow from the people; his refuge was in God, by prayer. How blessed to have a throne of grace to go to in every time of need! O for that spirit of grace and supplication which brings down from the courts above an olive branch of peace, proclaiming the deliverance of the true Israel of God!