Appealing to God's Own Nature
How Moses' prayer sets an example for us when we pray for ourselves or others
But Moses said to the LORD,
In Numbers 14, The LORD had just told him that he would strike the people of Israel with a plague and destroy them (because they again refused to believe God).
And Moses gets between God and the People (verse 13).
This is intercession. Moses reminds God what he has done and what he has said about taking them from Egypt, going before them to the land he swore to give them.
So now I pray (verse 17) may the power of my Lord be magnified, just as You have declared…
Moses repeats the Lord’s own character description of Himself (Exodus 34:6-7) back to him. He declares that the LORD is slow to anger, abounds in loving devotion, and forgives iniquity and transgression.
Moses turns that promise into a prayer:
Because you are patient, he says, loving, and forgiving, please pardon the sins of this people—in keeping with the greatness of your steadfast love.
His appeal is not based on anything but the greatness of God’s mercy—not their repentance, or faith, or sacrifices. It is the belief in God’s own nature. God’s past is the promise of today, for Moses says as you have forgiven them since they left Egypt until now.
It is the same when we ask from His Word. He has said this and promised that, and based on who he is and what he has done, we go before him and ask that he do again what his Word says, to act in keeping with it.
This is how we pray, for ourselves and for others.
In simple terms, Moses was vouching for the Israelites and asking God to forgive them based on His own character and past actions.
Moses' prayer provides us an example for when we pray for ourselves or others.
We can approach God with confidence, reminding Him of His promises and character as revealed in His Word, and asking Him to act in accordance with His nature.
This type of prayer is not based on our own merits, but on the greatness of God's mercy and love.
For Further Reading
What Is Intercession? To intercede is to pray on behalf of another, to go between, or advocate for someone. Here are two quick examples of intercession, both from Mark:
In the seventh chapter, we see the Savior in the region of Decapolis (v. 31). In the next verse, they brought to Him [one who was deaf] and they implored Him to lay His hand on him.
These folks implored - that is asked fervently, begged perhaps - for the Lord to do something only He could do.
This Imploring is Intercession, a standing in between
Prayer and the Word of God. Where is your Bible when you pray? Do you Bible read, and then also pray? It is quite difficult to pray according to the will of God without having spent time learning of it from the book of God. Here we learn that prayer and the Bible are as one, and of the necessity of praying from the Word of God, from Edward M Bounds…