Moses: The Great Intercessor
James R. Davis

We have heard the worn out phrase, "The American Way." But what is "the American way".  Basically "the American way" is for people to do for themselves. We do this by working hard to capitalize on, and even create, opportunity. We expect people to do for themselves rather than ask or expect someone to help them to do it. We want people to become self-reliant, independent, and self-sufficient. You should pull yourself up by your own bootstraps rather than accepting a helping hand from someone else.

We pride ourselves in rugged individualism. We envision ourselves as a Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone, or a John Wayne. But actually life doesn't work very well as an individualist. The reason it doesn't work very well is because God said, " . . . it is not good that man should be alone." We need people; people need us.

Our prayers sometimes are an effort to get God to change a person's circumstances so that they might be able to continue to help themselves. This may be a selfish prayer on our part in that if they remain a rugged individualist then we want have to reach out to them. We have invented all sorts of philosophies so that people can continue to help themselves.

What the Christian world does is of little consequence and significance unless we are willing to give people a hand to help them out of the pit. I have heard that in some neighborhoods a red hand is placed in a window in a house to be visible to children passing by. The red hand means that it is a place where a child can find help when in trouble. Maybe we need to start placing red hands on top of our church building instead of crosses.

In a world that encourages us to "reach out and touch someone" there are a precious few reaching out to touch someone. Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28) Here Jesus didn't invite people who have it all together. He invited the weary and the burdened. Those having a hard time of it. Sometimes we wish that Jesus hadn't sent invitations to those folks. People who aren't totally self-reliant don't fit into the church very well.

You have seen a news reel on third world countries where a farmer is plowing with one single ox with a single yoke. I think Jesus wants us to trade in our single yoke for a double yoke so he can step in beside us. The reason a Christian's burden seems light is because Jesus is in the yoke right beside us interceding carrying most of the load. The law of synergism also kicks in when two are yoked together. Two horses teamed together can pull four times as much as one horse pulling alone.

We Need Practical Intercessors

We need intercessory prayer for those who are lost those who are struggling with difficult circumstances, we need intercessory prayer for our own personal lives and we need intercessory prayer for the work of the Lord. Paul says, "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints . . . " (Ephesians 6:18) Paul asked the brethren at Colossae to "Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving; Withal praying also for us that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds . . . (Colossians 4:2-3)

Interceding on the behalf of others in prayer is great but stepping out and laying our lives on the line for others is the greatest act of intercession. But we also need practical intercessors. Prayer can amount to nothing more than saying, "I hope you are 'warmed and filled' but I hope that somebody else does the warming and filling or I hope that God will enable you to warm and fill yourself." (James 2:16)

When Paul was desirous of intercessory  prayers he was out there laying his life on the line interceding for the lost. He was praying that doors might be opened that he might have more opportunities to lay his life on the line. At the present he was in jail while interceding for them. I am afraid that if we are not willing to make a difference with our lives our prayers want avail much. Agabus came to Paul in Caeserea prophesying that Paul would be bound and imprisoned if he went to Jerusalem to preach the gospel. They were weeping with him not to go. "Then Paul answered, "Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." (Acts 21:13)

We prefer for God to change a person's circumstances rather than having to intervene in a personal way. So we pray intercessory prayers. When we are called upon to intervene, we feel like Moses who says to God "Who am I that I should go? I have plenty of reasons for not going. I tried once and failed. I don't command a powerful presence. I speak with a funny lisp." After all that is why we hired a preacher, let him do it.

Once an elder told a preacher that as an elder he couldn't tell the congregation what he was asking the preacher to tell the congregation because as an elder he had to live with the congregation. He saw the preacher as expendable but never did he realize that he himself wasn't willing to " . . . spend and be spent." His work as an elder was very ineffective. The great apostle Paul said, "So I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well. If I love you more, will you love me less?" (2 Corinthians 12:15)

Leaders must realize that working with God's people requires laying our lives on the line not just when there is credit to be had but when there is blame to be shared. As long as we remain in a self-protective mindset God will never be able to accomplish what he would otherwise.

Of course there are many members and preachers who feel the same way the elder felt. This is done in the area of evangelism, inviting others to church, taking care of the needy and in encouraging the discouraged. How can we ask for God's help when we are unwilling to expend our own energies with a helping hand.

We must understand that one way Jesus takes our yokes upon him today is through the help of his people. He is calling upon us to share their yokes with them.

Warning Interceding Can Be Harmful to Your Health

The great people of God who made a difference in their world, did so, by laying their lives on the line for those God wished to save. Nowhere in the Old Testament is there a greater person who seeks with his life to intercede on the behalf of others than Moses. We find Moses at the age of 40, after being raised in the pharaoh's palace, going out to his brethren and defending them. Moses kills an Egyptian in defense of his brethren who were being mistreated. Moses goes out the next day and sees two Hebrew brethren striving with one another and seeks to rectify the situation. But one of the Hebrews reveals that he saw him kill the Egyptian. Moses thought that his Hebrew brethren would understand that he was God's instrument to intercede for them, but they did not. So Moses flees to the Land of Midian. (Acts 7:23-29)

Giving someone a helping hand can be hazardous to your health. After all it cost Jesus his life. The most dangerous call for policemen is to go to a home that is involved in domestic violence. It is the most likely place to get killed. There is something we must understand about intervening between two opposing sides. Many times the opposing sides join together and see the person interceding as a common enemy.

A life of intercession is not easy and it is very easy to "get burned."  It has been said that if a cat jumps up on a hot stove to sit down, it will never jump back upon a hot stove again. It learns its lessons well. But the trouble is, neither will it ever jump upon a cold stove. So it is with many of life's indelible lessons. It is little wonder that Moses is reluctant to intercede in Egypt. So he begins making excuses asking God to send someone else to do it.

Intercession Requires Humility

Meekness is required for those who would intercede. God says, "Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth." (Numbers 12: 3) Notice the context of this verse for it is the context that gives insight to what it means to be humble. The context gives us an example of what it takes to be an intercessor.

Numbers 12:1-15
Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. "Has the LORD spoken only through Moses?" they asked. "Hasn't he also spoken through us?" And the LORD heard this. (Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.) [Emphasis mine] At once the LORD said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, "Come out to the Tent of Meeting, all three of you." So the three of them came out. Then the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the Tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When both of them stepped forward, he said, "Listen to my words: "When a prophet of the LORD is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?" The anger of the LORD burned against them, and he left them. When the cloud lifted from above the Tent, there stood Miriam-- leprous, like snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had leprosy; and he said to Moses, "Please, my lord, do not hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed. Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother's womb with its flesh half eaten away." So Moses cried out to the LORD, "O God, please heal her!" [Emphasis mine] The LORD replied to Moses, "If her father had spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Confine her outside the camp for seven days; after that she can be brought back." So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on till she was brought back.

Moses has a heart to intercede for those in opposition to him. It may be easy to intercede for those we love unless deep down inside we believe that they should be able to fend for themselves. But to intercede on behalf of our enemies is just a little more difficult.

Moses intercedes for those who oppose him because ultimately he saw them as their own worst enemies. He could have sat back and watched them self-destruct but he couldn't find the heart to do so, so he laid his own life on the line instead. Moses realized that they were opposing their own best interest.

When Moses led the children to the Jordan River the first time they rebelled against the commandment of the Lord, they refused to believe that God would give them the land. Moses said, "You have been rebellious from the day I knew you." Rather than seeking to get even, Moses fell down before the Lord forty days and forty nights interceding for them because God wanted to destroy them on the spot. Moses prayed, "O Lord God, destroy not they people and thine inheritance, which thou has redeemed . . . remember thy servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin ... (Deuteronomy 9:23-29)

In meekness Christians must intercede for those who oppose themselves. How much more effective would our work for the Lord be if we would interceded on the behalf of those in rebellion to God? Plead that God might save them and accomplish his work through them despite their sin and their wickedness. This is difficult, especially if you get the silly ideal that they are only opposing you. We must see them opposing their own best instincts and interests.

2 Timothy 2:24-26
And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

Moses Interceded for Those Who Had Impure Motives

The amazing thing about Moses was that he never hesitated to intercede even for his enemies.  When the plague of frogs came upon Egypt, the pharaoh came to Moses and said, "Pray to the Lord to take the frogs away from me and my people, and I will let your people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord." Moses didn't hesitate to petition God on his behalf even though he knew the insincerity of the Pharaoh's heart. Later during the plague of hail the Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, "I have sinned . . . the Lord is in the right, and I and my people are wrong. Pray to the Lord, for we have had enough thunder and hail." Moses knew that all he wanted was a change in circumstance, but Moses interceded anyway. As soon as the thunder and hail stopped Pharaoh sinned again. (Exodus 10:27-35)

In Numbers 16 Korah, Dathan and Abiram rebelled against Moses saying, "Who set you as a prince over us?" (v. 3) They accused Moses of bringing them out of Egypt, which flowed with milk and honey into a desert to kill them. Moses became angry and prayed to the Lord asking him not to accept their offerings. So God came in judgment against the Israelites. Moses and Aaron fell face down and cried out, "O God, God of the spirits of all mankind, will you be angry with the entire assembly when only one man sins?" (v. 22) So God punishes only Korah, Dathan and Abiram. The earth opens up and swallows only those who led the rebellion. But immediately following this incident the children of Israel continued to rebel against Moses and Aaron. They gathered the next day and said to Moses and Aaron saying, "You have killed the Lord's people." (v. 41)

Numbers 16:42-50
But when the assembly gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron and turned toward the Tent of Meeting, suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the LORD appeared. Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the Tent of Meeting, and the LORD said to Moses, "Get away from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once." And they fell facedown. Then Moses said to Aaron, "Take your censer and put incense in it, along with fire from the altar, and hurry to the assembly to make atonement for them. Wrath has come out from the LORD; the plague has started." So Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the midst of the assembly. The plague had already started among the people, but Aaron offered the incense and made atonement for them. He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped. But 14,700 people died from the plague, in addition to those who had died because of Korah. Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, for the plague had stopped.

There is no greater way to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice than to lay our lives on the line for those who are in opposition to themselves, in opposition to us and most of all in opposition to God.

Matthew 5:41-48
If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Moses was living by these precepts 1500 years before Christ spoke them. They are eternal principles.

Intercessors Pay A Personal Price

When Moses flees to Midian he marries a Midianite woman. He has two sons in Midian. When Moses returns to Egypt he caries his family with him. His wife and two sons are wondering in the wilderness with him. A preacher said, "I wouldn't want to work in that field because I wouldn't want to expose my family to those difficulties." Moses takes his family with him. They are suffering with the Hebrews in the 40-year journey. There was a personal price that Moses was willing to pay.

Personal involvement is essential and always involves adapting our ways and schedules to fit into other's needs. It is through this kind of intercession on the part of God's people that saves the world. Paul wrote, "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interest of others." (Philippians 2:3-40

Interceding for others has to do with caring about them. It has to do with helping others succeed in life. To do that you have to curb your own selfish desires and competitive tendencies. You must give your energies to helping others. Moses was a marvellous example.

Conclusion:

I ran across a poem entitled "The Pit" by Kenneth Philkens. I don't know in what publication it appeared originally. But the poem is indicative of how we feel about the problems of others.
A man fell into a pit and he couldn't get out.
A Subjective Person came along and said: "I feel for you down there."
An Objective Person came along and said: "It's logical that someone would fall down there."
A Christian Scientist came along and said: "You only think that you are in the pit."
A Charismatic Triumphalist came along and said: "Just confess you are not in the pit."
A Pharisee said: "Only a bad person would fall in a pit."
A Fundamentalist said: "You deserve your pit."
Buddha said: "Your pit is only a state of the mind."
A Hindu said: "Your pit is for purging you and making you more perfect."
Confucius said: "If you would have listened to me, you would never have fallen into that pit."
A New Ager said: "Maybe you should network with some other pit dwellers."
An Evolutionist said: "You are a rejected mutant destined to be removed from the evolutionary cycle. You are going to die in the pit so you do not produce inferior pit-falling offspring."
A Self-Pitying Person said: "You haven't seen anything until you've seen my pit."
A News Reporter said: "Could I have the exclusive story on your pit?"
A Realist said, "That's a pit."
An Idealist said: "The world shouldn't have pits."
An Optimsit said: "Things could be worse."
A Pessimist said: "Things will get worse."
Jesus, seeing the man, took him by the hand and lifted him out of the pit.