Whispers of Grace
Walking with God is filled with mountaintops and valleys. Join passionate yet flawed Jesus-lover and mother of four Julie Colbeth as she delves into the Scriptures with a refreshingly honest perspective that will bring hope and encouragement to your day.
Whispers of Grace
Golden Calf - Part 3 of 4: The Power of Intercession
The Life of Moses- Episode #27 🙏🏽 Unlock the profound power of intercession as we journey through the lives of Moses and George Mueller, two remarkable figures whose prayers changed the course of history. Ever wondered what it means to truly stand in the gap for others? This episode of Whispers of Grace promises to enlighten and inspire you with the stories of these faith giants. Moses's encounter with God on Mount Sinai, amid the chaos of the Golden Calf incident, is a testament to the strength found in humility and the transformative power of fervent prayer. Witness how his devotion to God’s glory over personal gain reshaped the destiny of a nation and set a benchmark for genuine servant leadership.
We also reflect on the unwavering faith of George Mueller, whose relentless prayers for the conversion of five friends spanned decades, proving the miraculous partnership between steadfast faith and divine intervention. Through the earnest stories of intercession, we explore the roles of Jesus and the Holy Spirit as our ultimate Intercessors, bridging the divide between humanity and the divine with indescribable love. This episode encourages us to embrace the call to intercede, highlighting the courage and humility required to be a bridge for others while reinforcing the importance of perseverance and faith in the unseen outcomes of prayer. Join us as we uncover the lessons from these spiritual pioneers and discover how their legacies continue to inspire and challenge us today.
Kia ora, and welcome to Whispers of Grace, a place for women to be encouraged by God's holy word. I'm your host, julie Colbeth, and I am overjoyed to dig into the Bible with you today. Hello everyone, and welcome back to Whispers of Grace. This is episode three in our three-part series of the Golden Calf Account. It has taken us three episodes because this is such a rich, amazing text and there's so many things that I saw in here that I wanted to pull out. So this episode we are going to focus on another aspect of the Golden Calf Account in Exodus, chapter 32. We're going to look at Moses's role and interaction with God and the relationship that this man had with God and the beautiful mystery of intercession, because that's a lot of what we see in this chapter is Moses interceding for the people? So to get us started, I'm going to read a testimony from the life of a man named George Mueller. If you're not familiar with him, he was a German man that was born in 1805. He was a Christian evangelist and a preacher, but he was mostly known for his work with orphans in Bristol, england. In his lifetime he cared for over 10,000 orphans. That's a lot of what he's known and remembered for. But he was one of the greatest men of prayer known to history. He had this amazing understanding of prayer and he has some of his prayers recorded. They are just radical and faith drenched. He was a man that felt excited by challenges and deficiencies because he understood that when there was lack, god was going to show up. So he actually was excited when things fell apart because he expected God to move, and he did, over and over again in this man's life. If you haven't read anything about him, I encourage you to pick up a biography, read some of his quotations, to read about his life. Because it is so encouraging to hear about this man's life. I'm going to read to you a little testimony from his life.
Julie:In November 1844, I began to pray for the conversion of five individuals. I prayed every day, without a single intermission, whether sick or in health, on the land, on the sea and whatever the pressures of my engagements might be. Eighteen months elapsed before the first of the five was converted. I thanked God and prayed on for the others. Five years elapsed and then the second was converted. I thanked God for the second and prayed on for the other three, day by day. I then the second was converted. I thanked God for the second and prayed on for the other three, day by day. I continued to pray for them and six years passed before the third was converted. I thanked God for the three and went on praying for the other two. These two remained unconverted. Thirty-six years later, he wrote that the other two, who were sons of Mueller's friends, were still not converted. He wrote but I hope in God, I pray on and I look for the answer. They are not converted yet, but they will be. In 1897, 52 years after he began to pray daily without interruption for these two men, they were finally converted, but not until after Mueller died.
Julie:Mueller understood what Luke meant when he introduced a parable that Jesus told about prayer, saying then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. That's from Luke 18. And this is the way it was with George Mueller, over and over and over again. This incredible faith and this relationship with God, where he could intercede on behalf of other people and God moved in amazing ways. Thinking about this relationship that Mueller had with God, it just causes me to contemplate the beauty and perfection and glory of God. He's so huge and unfathomable, and yet he allows us to come close to him, to have fellowship and to have access to his heart and to interact with his plans. Now, that is just. It's wild to think that the God who created the world is willing to partner with us, to allow us to intercede for his will to be done. It is a mystery for sure to think that God allows us and invites us to intercede. If you're not familiar with this word, intercession it just means to stand in the gap for someone else, to give of your own personal time and energy to plead the cause of another person, to pour yourself out on behalf of someone else, to pray for them. An intercession is the very heart of God. It is exactly what Christ did when he stood in our place and ransomed us from sin and death. He interceded for every sinner.
Julie:Hebrews 7.25 tells us that Jesus, as our high priest, lives to make intercession for us. Now, this is something that I've mentioned before on the podcast, because it blows my mind to think that Jesus is your intercessor. It says that he is continually praying for you and he is the bridge between God and man. Isaiah 53, 12 tells us that Jesus poured his soul out onto death and was numbered with the transgressors and bore the sins of many so that he could make intercession for sinners. This was the heart of Jesus's mission was to take our place, to intercede for us. Now, romans 8 26 shows us that the Holy Spirit also makes intercession for the saints, according to the will of God. It says that when we don't know how or what to pray, the Holy Spirit actually steps in and fills the gap and prays for us. So the Bible tells us that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are intercessors and they are motivated by love, and God, the Father, is the one that sent the Son to intercede. So this topic that we're talking about is something that is so dear to the heart of God.
Julie:So now I want to focus on our man, moses, and study his interaction with God at Mount Sinai and his method and heart for interceding for this stubborn and sinful nation of Israel. So just a real quick recap. We're at Mount Sinai. Moses went up to the top of the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments. The Israelites down in the valley get weary of waiting and they create a golden calf. They bow down and worship the calf and say that this is the God that freed us from Egypt and just like that, they become idolaters and turn away.
Julie:So then we pick up the story in Exodus, chapter 32, verse 7. It says Exodus, chapter 32, verse 7. It says and the Lord said to Moses Go, get down, for your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf and worshipped it and sacrificed to it and said this is your God, o Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt. And the Lord said to Moses I have seen this people and indeed it is a stiff-necked people. Now, therefore, let me alone that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them and I will make of you a great nation. And then Moses pleaded with the Lord God and said Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you've brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak and say he brought them out to harm them and to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from your fierce wrath and relent from this harm to your people. Remember Abraham, isaac and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self and said to them I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants and they shall inherit it forever. So the Lord relented from the harm which he said that he would do to his people.
Julie:Now we've looked at many different aspects of this account. The past two episodes we focused on the sinfulness of idolatry in part one and in part two we looked at the posture and identity of God as jealous and how beautiful and biblical that is. But now I want to focus on Moses as intercessor. The first thing that I notice as I read through this prayer and Moses's posture is that he knew who he was. He knew that he was called to be a humble servant leader. He's often recorded as falling on his face before the crowds. They would come and they would bring all of their accusations against him and often threatened to kill him, and Moses would fall on his face in humility. He was known as the most humble man in all of the earth.
Julie:God spent 40 years helping Moses to understand how small he was. In the grand scheme of things, god did so much in his heart and when he rose him up as a leader, this man knew what he could do and what he couldn't do. The other thing is that Moses knew his God because God had appeared to him not only in the burning bush but here on the mountain. They've just spent 40 days together in fellowship. He's getting to know him and God is correcting Moses and Moses is having fellowship with him. So Moses is very tuned in to the heart of God, to his methods, to his plans, because he has shared this intimate fellowship. So this is deep understanding that Moses had of himself and his role and his God's heart. This perfectly aligns him to intercede powerfully for the nation of Israel. Because when he comes to God, moses isn't coming for himself, to make himself look grand or fabulous, but he's coming for Israel because he wants Israel to glorify God. Moses understood that all of this was not about him, how he looked as a leader, but it was about the glory of God.
Julie:Verse 11, it shows us this posture of Moses's heart. It says that he pleaded with the Lord. He didn't come before God and demand. I've heard people pray these prayers where it's almost like they're in charge of God and they feel that they can move the hand of God and they demand things of him. That is not the posture of Moses' heart here at all. It says that he pleaded with the Lord because, again, he knew his place as a creation talking to his creator. And when he pleads before the Lord, he is focused on God's reputation among the foreign nations. That's what he says, right? We just read it. And then after that he speaks God's great deeds and his heart for Israel back to him. He calls on the great and matchless grace of God to show itself once again in the midst of Israel's foolishness.
Julie:When we come to God to intercede for others, is it in a humble fashion? Do we remember who we are talking to? Do we fall on our face in worship and acknowledge his supreme power and wisdom, or do we get focused on our own issues and forget who we're really talking to? We get distracted. We get so easily focused on just what we're thinking and what's in front of us that it's easy to forget who we're talking to. Now we have access to the throne of grace. This is a gift, and scripture does tell us to come boldly to the throne of grace.
Julie:But we must come humbly, like Moses did as well. He understood his relationship For you, it's a daughter to a father. It's as a creation to our creator. It's as a bride to a husband. It's as a bondservant to a master. There's so many layers of our relationship with God, but if we can remember who he is and what he's done, it will help us to come as humble intercessors.
Julie:And when we come humbly, do we come to glorify and magnify God or ourselves? Because the Pharisees love to pray these lengthy prayers, loud and on the street corner for everyone to hear, so people would think that they were so holy. Is our prayer to make ourselves look pious or to fulfill some check mark in our heart? Because here Moses was seeking God's honor and his glory before the nations. His highest priority in this recorded prayer is that God would be glorified among the heathen. His heart was right and in this prayer that Moses makes, he also speaks the goodness and the promises of God back to him, which is something that God loves.
Julie:As you read through the Psalms, it's one of my favorite places when you hear the authors of the Psalms recite back to God their history and his promises and plead based on those promises. And Moses here. He calls on God to keep his word and he asks for yet more astounding grace to cover yet another wicked trespass. Why? To prove yet again that God was massive in grace and would keep his covenant. Because of who he is? Not based on Israel's faithfulness, but based on the faithfulness of God. But based on the faithfulness of God, moses pleads his case based on the character and the identity of God that is revealed through redemption. Have you ever thought about what the core of God is? It is grace and mercy. This is what pours out of God. Think of it.
Julie:When Jesus was on this earth, he moved towards the defiled. He moved towards the compromised, towards the weak and the degraded and the destitute. He was always moving towards sinners who were in their sin. That was where Jesus was most comfortable. That was where his heart pulled him, because he wanted to offer grace and mercy to these sheep without a shepherd. He saw the sin as an effect of the fact that they were lost. They didn't know God and his heart broke for them.
Julie:In John, chapter 6, verse 37, jesus says the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out. That is the heart of Jesus. He wants us to come to him, and when we come humbly to God, he promises to not cast us aside, because the very heart of God is redemption through grace. And this is what Moses is tapping into here. Even through all the dark days of the prophets and Israel's captivities and all of their history up and down, god is always looking for humble repentance and true belief, and when he punishes them, it's to repair their broken relationship. So God wanted Moses to interact and to intercede for his beloved people, because it was in line with his will and expressed in his very nature. This is God's heart for Israel and this is God's heart for you, cole. A Bible commentator said it this way we are not to think of Moses as altering God's purpose, but as carrying it out. Moses was never more like God than in such moments, for he shared God's mind and loving purpose. That was the key to the successful intercession. Moses was never more like God than in such moments, for he shared God's mind and his loving purpose, and I love this conclusion that Cole brings out because it's fleshed out all through the scriptures.
Julie:The Bible describes God's yearning to offer grace and forgiveness. It reminded me of Jesus in Matthew 23, verse 37, when he says O Jerusalem, jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those that are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. This is God's heart for us. God wants to gather those that are lost. He wants to bring redemption and forgiveness and grace. Do you believe that this is God's heart for you, or do you feel like he's just some angry God in the sky that has a big stick waiting to smack you when you mess up? Because that is not a proper understanding of God's heart. So keep this in mind as we just enter back into our text here in Exodus 32.
Julie:So after Moses pours his heart out, speaks God's word back to him and taps in to God's greatest desire, which is to offer forgiveness and grace. It says in verse 11,. So the Lord relented from the harm which he said that he would do to his people. So that word relented in Hebrew actually means to sigh or to breathe strongly. So the implication in that word relented is to pity or to be comforted, to sigh or to breathe strongly, to kind of be turned aside from what he was looking to do, because God set aside his initial judgment and he was comforted by the reflection of his heart that Moses presented. So Israel would still be punished for their sin, but now they wouldn't be completely wiped out because God chose to allow Moses to enter in to this process. And it's interesting because God could have actually wiped Israel out completely and restarted this whole thing with Moses and he would have still fulfilled the promises to Abraham, isaac and Jacob. But when God said to Moses let me alone that my wrath may burn hot against them, moses didn't walk away. Think of that. God tells Moses let me alone that my wrath may burn hot against them. And Moses doesn't walk away. In that moment he could have been free of these faithless complaining people, but he chose to stand in the gap for them. That just shows how much he's reflecting God's heart.
Julie:In the section, moses could have been respected and revered as the new patriarch of God's chosen people. But Moses stands his ground and he chooses to intercede. He doesn't step aside and say, oh, god will do what God will do. I have no role here, I can't change your mind, so go ahead. God unleash your wrath. He steps in. He steps in between God and his people and puts himself straight in the way of the wrath of God. Moses steps in and participates. He fellowships deeply with God and he reflects God's heart back to him in the way that he intercedes. Moses is so centered and anchored in the grace of God and because of this he finds clarity and persistence. This is such a prayer of mine for all of us that we would find this same clarity and persistence, because we're spending time with God and we can touch his heart and understand what his will is. And the bravery that this man showed to step in and intercede would be ours, because we would be sure of who our God is. Now. Moses was not the first person to step in and intercede.
Julie:Before this, all the way back in Genesis, chapter 18, we see Abraham interceding for his nephew, lot. Do you remember? Lot's family moved into Sodom and Gomorrah and Abraham found out that God was planning to wipe it out. And Abraham intercedes In Genesis 18, he says God, god, would you destroy the righteous with the wicked? And then he goes through this scene where he says if there were just 45 righteous, and then down to 40, and down to 30, down to 20 down to 10. Finally, abraham says, god, if there are 10 righteous, would you destroy the city? And God says no, for the sake of 10 righteous I would save it. And because of this intercession of Abraham, angels are actually sent in to Sodom and Gomorrah to rescue Lot and his family and pull them out of Sodom and Gomorrah before it is destroyed. So again, abraham, understanding the heart of God, not desiring to destroy the righteous with the wicked, intercedes on behalf of his family and God adjusts his plans based on Abraham's intercession.
Julie:Now there are several times all throughout the scripture where we see people interceding one for another. One of my favorites is in Amos, chapter 7, and it recounts a similar event God revealing his judgment to Amos and Amos interceding on Israel's behalf. And again we read that God relented of the plans that he had laid out because of the intercession of Amos. Another instance is in Ezekiel, chapter 22. It gives us a unique and a valuable look at God's heart. We have a similar situation where Israel is being judged and she is suffering for her sins, but in verse 30, this is what God says. So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land that I should not destroy it. But I found no one.
Julie:In this verse we read that God is looking for a righteous person. For a righteous person, it says, who will stand in the gap and make a wall on behalf of the land so he wouldn't destroy it. God is looking for righteous people who share his heart to intercede. And it's funny because through this we understand it's not about the one that's praying, but it's about the one who's working, and it's about his heart being reflected in the person that's praying. And we are invited into this delicate dance with the divine and God. He's not a genie in a bottle that exists just to make your life easy and blessed. He is so much more. God is so powerful and yet he's approachable. He's uncompromising in truth and yet he's full of grace and compassion. This deep and unfathomable relationship is so nuanced, but it's also simple and outrageously sweet and amazing. God's character is revealed to us and the best thing we can do is get to know him so we can reflect that character of God back to him, because we're invited into this mystery of prayer, and it is a holy calling.
Julie:God so desires praying mothers and grandmothers and friends and strangers and prophets and paupers. He needs Hannah's. He needs Jocobeds with faith to place their baby in a basket that's covered in prayer. He desires the Lois's and the Eunice's, this powerhouse of prayer that supported Timothy in his life. God desires friends with enough faith to take the roof off of a house in order to get their crippled friend to Jesus. My friends, jesus wants you, he wants us to come before him and plead the cause of others, to stand in the gap, to make a wall.
Julie:2 Chronicles 16.9 says this the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to him. I know that our deepest heart's prayer is to be somebody that stands in the gap, to put our hand up and say here I am, lord, send me when his eyes are searching the earth, looking for someone whose heart is loyal to him. I want that to be me. I want that to be you. I want to be women that stand in the gap, that are willing to be the bridge, even though it costs us. I'm so encouraged as I look at Moses in his stance here, the bravery that he showed to stand in front of God and intercede, and yet the humility that he had throughout his whole life to fall on his face when he was accused. But when it came to standing up for Israel, when it came to standing up for righteousness, for grace and compassion, he was that man. I pray that we have a heart like that, that is brave as a lion and so humble at the same time, that we would know who we are, that we would know our God. You are valuable, you are important. God wants to partner with you in his plan for people's lives. He wants you to be a part. You matter. Your voice matters, your prayers matter. Your time with him matters.
Julie:I want to leave you with a George Mueller quote that I absolutely love about prayer. It says this it's not enough for the believer to begin to pray, nor to pray correctly, nor is it enough to continue for a time to pray. We must patiently, believingly, continue in prayer until we obtain an answer. Further, we have not only to continue in prayer until the end, but we have also to believe that God does hear us and will answer our prayers. Most frequently, we fail in not continuing in prayer until the blessing is obtained and in not expecting the blessing.
Julie:Those who are disciples of the Lord Jesus should labor with all of their might in the work of God, as if everything depended upon their own endeavor. Yet, having done so, they should not in the least trust in their labor and efforts, nor in the means that they use for the spread of the truth, but trust in God, alone, alone. And they should, with all earnestness, seek the blessing of God in persevering, patient and believing prayer. Here's the great secret of success, my Christian reader. Work with all of your might, but never trust in your work. Pray with all of your might for the blessing in God, but work at the same time with all diligence, with all patience and with all perseverance. Pray and work, work and pray and still again, pray and then work, and so on all the days of our life, and the result will surely be abundant blessing. Whether you see much fruit or little fruit, such kind of service will be blessed.
