The faith of Moses
To be classified as someone with ‘extraordinary faith’, is to be someone who has deeper hopeful expectations for greater things in Jesus Christ. Someone that comes to mind when we think of ‘extraordinary faith’ is Moses. An untrained leader of the people, Moses went from a stuttering, adopted son of a Pharaoh turned shepherd for his father in law, to a fearless and faithful leader of a whole nation. Not many could have the faith of Moses.
Yet Pastor Febby explained how we could work towards this extraordinary faith… if we can follow Moses prayer in Exodus 33:7-23. Prior to this prayer, Moses had experienced much tribulation. He had gone to Mount Sinai for a while and the Israelites, assuming they were abandoned, rioted for a new god; one made of gold in the shape of a calf. What followed was a bloody massacre of all the false followers, leaving only Moses and the Levite descendants (Exodus 32). Yet after this tragedy, Moses spoke to God, as if speaking, “with his friend (Exodus 33:11),” and asked for these three things.
The Lord’s direction / “Teach me Your ways” (v12-13)
Moses first asked that the Lord teach him His ways, saying “so I may know You and find favour with You.” Not many of us would pray this way. In fact, some of us are still getting it so wrong asking for things that we want. But Moses is showing us to ask for God’s way, not our own; Moses is asking God to teach him the culture of Heaven and absorbing as much as God would reveal to him. This first request is something we should be reciting on the daily; submitting our strongholds, bad habits, wrong attitudes to God and asking Him to take us to the next level of faith.
2. The Lord’s presence / “Guarantee me Your presence” (v14-15)
Moses second request is for the Lord’s presence; His guidance, help and companionship. This is a bold request for only a few verses before, the Lord has warned that He would not go with the Israelites (Ex 3:5). But after Moses plea, God has “changed” His mind and granted Moses this request. Like a friend, the Lord hears Moses second request and says, “My Presence will go with you and I will give you rest.” If we hunger and ask for the Lord’s presence, we would also be able to experience God’s eternal rest. Yet pride, lust of the eyes and greed are all forces that the devil uses to take our focus away from God. We need to be firm and know that having God’s presence is more important than anything else, like Moses knew.
3. The Lord’s glory to be shown / “Show me Your glory” (v18-19)
Glory is the sum of a person’s worth, or even a country or team. But the word ‘glory’ has a strong tie to Christianity. We often talk about the glory of God and might even ask that we do things for the sake of the glory of God. The glory of God is difficult to describe; some consider it God’s manifestation. From this passage, we see that God reacted to Moses third request and indeed shows just a sliver of His glory; that is some of His many, many characteristics, like his goodness, mercy and compassion. However you would describe the glory of God, we must also ask that God’s glory is revealed to us anew everyday.
So, we commission you to pray like Moses did, asking for these three things to ensure the growth of your faith.
Dear Heavenly Father,
You are Father to so many faithful figures in the Bible and you even call us sons and daughters. Thank You for considering us as Your children. I pray that I would look to You like Moses did, asking for the things that You would want for me. Help me put away pride, lust and greed and seek first Your ways, Your presence and Your glory.
In Jesus’ name I pray,
Amen.