We are starting a time of prayer and fasting today. Seeking God and asking him to work. Question: If you were able to bend the ear of God to accommodate your requests what would you ask for?
Many examples of people who get the opportunity for a wish or prayer to be granted, and their request is squandered on silly things.
Aladdin, the fictional story where a poor scrapping young man finds a genie and asks to become a prince to gain the favor of a young lady. His request is granted but his new status only exacerbates his sense of inadequacy and lack of character.
In Greek mythology, King Midas of Phrygia was granted a wish by the god Dionysus. Midas does not ask for wisdom, justice, or the good of his people. Instead, he asks that everything he touches turn to gold. At first, the wish feels like triumph. Objects shimmer at his fingertips. Power appears limitless. But the blessing immediately reveals its emptiness. Food becomes inedible. Water becomes metal. Worst of all, when Midas embraces his daughter, she turns to gold in his arms. The request exposes Midas’s own failure: he confused wealth for life and joy. What he desired most becomes what isolates him most.
Another, off the beaten path, is Willy Wonka’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in which five children get a rare golden ticket to access his special chocolate factory. All the kids display great flaws as they squander their opportunity. Augustus Gloop cannot stop consuming chocolate and falls in. Veruca Salt assumes access means control—she demands what she wants and is removed for entitlement without gratitude. Violet Beauregarde uses access to prove superiority—she refuses instruction and swells with pride without listening.
Each child ignores warnings and boundaries, assuming access equals entitlement. One by one, they are removed—not because they lack opportunity, but because they lack humility and self-control. The factory does not corrupt them; it reveals what is already there.
Prayer reveals our hearts. It reveals our longings. Prayer takes us to the intimate place where it's only us and God; and our fears, longings, aspirations, the essence of who we are, is laid bare. What should we ask for?
Moses is an example of prayer. He is an example of praying for greater things. He is also a mediator who God gains God’s favor and uses that opportunity to intercede for the greatest good of others.
- The Crisis
This chapter follows the golden calf incident of the exodus. God rescued his people from slavery in Egypt by sending Moses to oppose Pharaoh with signs and wonders, and lead the people out of Egypt and into the promised land. The people saw Pharaoh and the Egyptians plundered and destroyed. They saw God’s miracles, deliverance, provision in the desert, and then Moses ascended the mountain to receive the law.
Moses is there 40 days and nights, and when he returns he finds the people have created an idol and are worshipping that idol. Moses throws the commandments down in anger, rebukes the people. God brings judgment on the people, plagues and death. It is an embarrassing moment in Israel's history. There are consequences.
3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”
God tells them he will not be with them. His holiness is so great. They cannot be in his presence. He cannot overlook their sins.
Stiff necks. Probably an agricultural term for a stubborn ox. Oxes would grow strong necklaces and when the workers pulled on the reigns the ox would not budge. God is trying to get their attention, guide them, but their necks are stone cold hard to him. They do not budge or listen to him.
Today- my way or the highway. Uncoachable. Digging in your heels.
Consequences to actions. God withdraws from the people. All the directions given on the tabernacle and altar was on that basis that God would be with and among his people. This is a massive game changer from the direction they have been going.
**His presence is a gift and not a guarantee.** Some people think they can act anyway they want and everyone is supposed to affirm them, like them, celebrate them. That is not the case. Don't presume God is pleased with everything you do. God has pulled away from his people.
V4 It is a disastrous word. All they hoped for while in Egypt and all along the way is now lost. Imagine what it would feel like to lose something so great. What is the promised land without the presence of God?
The people blew it. Lost. messed up. Game over. Failure. All is lost.
- The Prayer
In this situation Moses speaks with God. That is what prayer is. We converse with him. We know him. We talk with him.
Moses Speaks to God.
12 Moses said to the LORD, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’
The first thing Moses prays is prayer for God to clarify what is going on. He is respectful. He is submissive. He is honest on what he needs and what he feels.
Prayer is not performance—it is conversation.
Not manipulation—but appeal.
Not bargaining for a deal—but clinging to promise and relationship.
It’s not reciting a recipe but engaging with a person.
Moses is concerned with his ability to execute what God has called him to do. God said go. Who is going with me? You said you were going and now you are not going. You said you would send your angel and now he is not going. What am I to do? I need help, Lord. I need clarity. Don't leave me alone. This is an honest admission of his needs for what God calls him to do.
- Moses Prays to know God more.
If I have found favor then let me know you in order to find favor. Moses loves God and wants to know him more. Doesn't just want stuff from God but wants God.
13 Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.”
If received favor then ask for riches. He wants to walk in God’s favor, not just receive a one time commendation.
Many think of God like a hall monitor, just need to do the right thing so don’t get caught. But when you know God and love him, you want to please him all the time. That's character! Obeying from the heart.
- Moses Prays God’s Word.
Moses is responding to God based on what God has said to him.
Moses is praying over God’s promises. Moses leverages these in prayer. Wait a minute God, you said that I have found favor, if so then show me your ways. Show me who is going with people.
He reminds God this is your people. “I have seen the affliction of my people…” (Exo 3:7). They are your people. Don’t leave them. Don’t abandon them.
As I prepared for this message, and reflected on this, I think my drop in prayer and asking God to work is because I am petitioning God based on my performance. Well look at all these things that I have done or haven’t gotten right. I know. I need to clean things up and then I will have the right to come ask you for something. That is not what Moses does. He knows what God has said. He is petitioning God based on what God’s character and words.
Moses got mad at the people and slammed the ten commandments down. It took 40 days to get these and just like that it is over. Could mention other shortcomings like not striking the rock, like trying to do too much for his people and wearing himself out. All those failures, but Moses has listened to God’s word.
If you want to rekindle your prayer life, start praying and working through what God has said and promised to you. Confess your sins. Ask him for what he promises!
- Moses prays for the presence of God.
14 And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.
This is interesting. Moses here prays for God’s presence to go with him. But God had just said he would go. So was MOses not paying attention? When God said, “I will go with you” it was in the singular. God would go with Moses, but not the people. Moses refuses a private blessing that leaves the community behind.
Moses wants it to be clear, for him and the people, that God is with them and his favor rests on them.
Think about what is going on here. God has just said, “Moses, I promised you the land. And I am going to be faithful to that promise. But I am not going to go with you. You can have the promised land, but I wont be there.” How many people would be satisfied with that!
This is contrary to what so many people want. Wait, God, you're going to give me the dream and not be with me. I'm good with that. I got the promotion. I got the girl. I got the McMansion. This is what people do when they pray the sinner's prayer. Pray to receive Jesus and I get to go to heaven. Great. Lock it in and then do whatever I want. They have missed the whole point.
They want the benefits of God but do not care about having God Himself.
God’s presence is the whole reason they were going. That is what they most wanted. To regain what was lost in Eden. To regain what they were created for.
**Success without God is not success. Success without God is failure. Gain the whole world and forfeit your soul.**
Moses wants more of God!
Moses says no to that. If you are not going to be there we will just stay right here. Moses is in the middle of the dessert. They have been wondering around for several months. They are hot, living in tents, the menu is the same every day. There are a lot of things I could ask God for!!
He wants God’s presence. If he has God’s presence, if God is with him, he can make it through anything, and so can his people.
- Moses prays for God’s people.
**It’s not the promised land if God is not there. Its not the promised land if God’s people are not there.** God is praying for the spiritual needs of the people. Doesn’t pray they would be better people, have better strategy. He wants God present with his people. God grants the request. Do we pray sacrificially for God’s people? Do we just pray for our own well being?
**Moses refuses a private blessing that leaves the community disadvantaged.**
Got his airplane ticket, what is he waiting for?
Moses gets a backstage pass and instead of indulging himself he is using his privileges for the good of other people. So different than what you would expect. We live in a time where we keep seeing political figures who have negotiated backstage deals for themsleves. Should be doing whats best for the nation and people, but we are going in debt and their networth sky rockets. Moses doesnt want to go if God’s presence doesnt go with him and also with the people.
This is their greatest need. This is what will distinguish them from everyone else.
**God’s presence is what defined his people.** It distinguished them from everyone else. **It was not the land but the relationship.** HIs people were to have life without hardship, or never die, or exempt from difficulty. It was that God was with them- hope, purpose, strength. Are we praying this for people. Is eternity any different because of our prayer and fasting?? Have we so bought into the values of the world that the greatest thing we can pray is for health and wealth.
You can have everything you imagine: career, success, kids, family, house, school, accolades, and not have the presence of God. Perhaps our lack of experiencing the presence of God is because we are not even asking for it. You can bloom in the desert. You can bear fruit in the drought. You can flourish even in poverty. On the flip side,
With God we can do anything, make it through anything, overcome anything. Do our prayers show that we want more of God or just more stuff from God. This adversity transformed Moses. He came to know more of God. We came to understand more of Moses too, what is important.
- Moses prays to see God’s Glory.
Moses continues his earth shattering prayer. He is on a role, God has heard him, so he then asks for something else. The proverbial find a gennie bottle and you get three wishes. Ok Moses, you blew the first by seeking to know God, then you pray for God to be with other people, and now you get your final prayer. What will it be??
18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”
Moses asks to see God’s glory??? Come on man. That is not even something you take home. Can’t show it to others. What??
Glory is an attribute of God. It is part of who he is. It is his splendor, his radiance, his brilliance.
Let me tell you why this is important. We all are attracted to glory. We want to live for what matters. We want to celebrate and be celebrated. That is what glory is.
“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.” CS Lewis.
Moses wants to see it. Know he is going after the real thing and not the cheap imitation. Once you see the real you don't want the fake.
No cheap imitations. No foolsgold. No knockoff brands.
Moses wants affirmation that he has found favor with God and God will be with them. He also wants assurance of what he is living for. He wants a glimpse of what is to come. Presence with God means participation in his glory. That is what Moses is longing for.
Moses gave up the treasures of Egypt for the reproach of Christ. He considered it as greater wealth. Heb 11:25-26
I think this is a prayer something akin to, God help me to see that what I am living for is really what I believe it to be. Remind me.
Weight of glory beyond all comparison. By faith we live for this.
Being reminder he has the greater, and with that he can let the lesser go.
We should pray to see God’s glory. His glory in creation and the beautiful sunsets, fall days. We should see his glory in the beauty of the world. But we also need to pray to see his glory that shines to us in the face of Jesus Christ. This is the glory that truly changes us.
- The Blessing
19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’
God accommodates Moses' requests. He shows favor to Moses. He agrees to go with them. He also shows Moses his glory.
Goodness. Ṭov connotes more the sense of “[the] best” (Gen 24:10) or in the case of something visible, “loveliness/splendor” (Hos 10:11) so that the translation could actually read, “I will cause my full splendor to pass in front of you.”
What God would then be promising Moses accordingly would be a chance to sense God’s glory visually—to see something so splendid to behold—the best thing he could possibly see as a human—that he would know without a doubt that it represented/manifest God’s presence passing before him.
God permits Moses a glimpse of him, not the oncoming freight of his glory, but the fading away glimpse of him. To know great and powerful just went by, the magnitude of it. Semi’s will shake the ground. What would it have felt like to be near the glory of God.
God responds to prayer, particularly when what we are asking is in line with his desire for us. God hears our prayer of confession.
**Presence is about transformation rather than destination. It is relational and dynamic.** God shows Moses his ways. Allows him to know and see him.
He doesn't change Moses' assignment. Moses is still in the desert. Moses is still leading a stiffnecked people. Moses has a difficult job. But God is with him, and revealing himself to Moses. Showing glimpses of his glory and goodness, not the fullness of it.
Moses anticipates another one who will intercede for his people, who will sacrifice his own well being for that of the people, and who will provide access to the presence and glory of God. This is what Jesus Christ does. God in the flesh, and he protects us from the holiness of God, by lovingly offering his life for us. He gives us access to his throne of grace, but we must make sure ….
Discussion Questions
- What does Moses pray for? How is this different from what we often pray for?
- What do Moses and the people most need? Why is God’s presence so important?
- How does God respond to Moses' various requests?
- How does Moses' prayer with God change what you pray for? Who could you share that with?
