DISCUSSION
If you are reading this post, I would assume you are no stranger to prayer. Our prayers consist of many different things; expressions of gratitude, petitions for forgiveness and pleas for things we would like God to consider. However, I wonder how many of us pray for mercy? I don’t mean crying out to God to be merciful to us, but to show mercy on others that are guilty and deserve punishment. In Deuteronomy 8-10, that is exactly what we see from Moses. In Exodus 9, Moses is recounting the incident with the Golden Calf. He is aware of this extreme form of wickedness that the people had done. He is also fully aware that God had become so angry, He thought to destroy the entire nation and save Moses alone. It was then we see something different within the prayer of Moses:
“ “So I lay prostrate before the LORD for these forty days and forty nights, because the LORD had said he would destroy you. And I prayed to the LORD, ‘O Lord GOD, do not destroy your people and your heritage, whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not regard the stubbornness of this people, or their wickedness or their sin, lest the land from which you brought us say, “Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land that he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.” For they are your people and your heritage, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.” -Deuteronomy 9:25-29
As you pray today, make a special note to pray for someone who has acted wickedly in the eyes of God. Pray for that person that has committed a horrible and indecent act that is worthy of a severe punishment. Pray that God would be merciful on their soul (yes that is what I said), pray that God will give them mercy and not justice. Because remember, all sin is a transgression against God and we all deserve to be punished. Yet someone took the time to act as a mediator for us to ask the Father to show us mercy. Maybe this example of Moses’ prayer was a way to show us exactly what Jesus continues to do for us today.
Prayer Requests:________________________________________________________________