Would You Intercede...Again?!
By Rev. William Dohle
If God took you aside and told you he was going to destroy America but save you and your family...what would you do??
Would you go along with God's plan? (After all, he is God after all!)
Would you negotiate with God? (Come on, God, do I have to bring ALL my family?)
Or... perhaps... just perhaps now...
Would you argue with God to save the whole lot of them??
And if God came to you a second time? Would you do the same? Would you have the guts to stand up to God if God made the same offer again? Or as many times as God offered it to you?
That's what happened to Moses...in the middle of the desert in fact! The people of Israel have complained one too many times and God is sick of it! God offers Moses a way out. God will destroy the people and raise up Moses as a new nation.
God's already made the offer once. The first time was at Sinai when the people made the Golden Calf and began worshiping it instead of God. There God's anger rained down upon them...but Moses intervened.
Now in the wilderness, the same thing happens. Here God appears in front of the tent of meeting and tells Moses, "How long will this people despise me? And how long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? I will strike them with pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they."(Num. 14:11-12)
Now what would you say to that? Yes? Go ahead, God? Maybe I was wrong to save them on the Mountain, God? Let's talk details, God, about this nation you're going to make of me?
I know many Christians in our world who would shake the dust off their feet, wash their hands of the whole mess, and say, "Go for it, God! I've been waiting for you to intervene like this for awhile!" Maybe not the first time God offers, but certainly the second time. I admit, I too have been tempted to wash my hands of the mess of the community of faith before. When people fight, when arguments arise, and when we wonder where God is in the messiness of life, then we too may want to give up.
But Moses doesn't. Moses, the righteous man of God, shows us what righteous men and women do. What do the righteous do? They stand up for the people, even against God himself! Even when the people are complaining against you and abusing you, Moses still stands up for them. Moses does it in two ways. First...he appeals to God's self-image.
"Now if you kill this people all at one time, then the nations who have heard about you will say, 'It is because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land he swore to give them that he has slaughtered them in the wilderness."(Num. 14:15)What is Moses saying here? "What will they say about you in Egypt? What kind of God are you showing yourself to be?" In other words, Moses is appealing to who God wants to be. But who is that, you ask? Who is God? Well... Moses needs to remind God here of who God is too.
"And now, therefore, let the power of the Lord be great in the way that you promised when you spoke, saying, 'The Lord is slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression...Forgive the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have pardoned this people, from Egypt until now.'"(Num. 14:18-19)Reminding God of who God is, Moses appeals to the promises God has made. Promises on which he and the people stand. These promises tell them that God is not a God of wrath and anger, a God who strikes out at people for no good reason, but this God is a God who forgives, who is slow to anger and has steadfast love and faithfulness. This God is ready to relinquish in punishing. This God is good!
If we believe in this God, if we truly believe that God is this good, than we are not compelled to do the same? Are we not compelled to appeal to God on our people's behalf and intercede for them?
In our world today, we are polarized. Republicans against Democrats against Libertarians against Catholics against Protestants against Muslims against Jews against Palestinians against...ahh! The list goes on and on. Jump on Facebook sometime and read how many polarizing shares you get. People so desperately want us to agree with them too. "Share if you love Jesus..."... "Like if you think like I do..."..."Share and Like if you hate Obama!" Many of these posts and much of the media that is produced, isn't loving or forgiving the other side. It is mean and bitter and cruel, especially to those we disagree with.
What if we took a cue from Moses here? Instead of condemning the world, why not intercede on its behalf? God is good and gracious and merciful and slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love...and everything he promises to be. Shouldn't we, God's followers, be the same?
God of life, give us boldness to stand up, even to you, just as Moses did, for your people. Give us hearts of grace that we may give ourselves this way, even as Jesus did for us. Amen.
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