Be An Intercessor

Exodus 32:7-14

How quickly some people forget things, important things, such as significant events or crucial lessons one should learn.  Consider people who so quickly forget the kindness and help that others have given them, or the person who continues to make the same disastrous mistakes in their life over and over again.  In our reading today from God’s Word we see how the people of Israel quickly forgot the many wonders and miracles the Lord had shown them, fell into sin, and how the intercession of Moses spared their lives.

The setting of our passage in Exodus is at the base of Mt. Sinai where the people of Israel had gathered, while Moses went up upon the mountain in communion with God, receiving the Ten Commandments and the Law.  Only a few short weeks before this, the Lord God had delivered them from slavery in Egypt. God had shown His power and love for the people by judging the Egyptians with the ten plagues, and then parting the Red Sea when He brought them out of captivity.  They had all witnessed these miraculous events. Yet now they were sitting at the base of Mt. Sinai, getting impatient for Moses to return. What did they do? They decided to make an idol, a golden calf, and began to worship that.

How quickly they forgot the Lord God, who such a short while ago had brought them such a great deliverance!  The people of Israel chose to worship something that their own hands had made, rather than the eternal God of the universe.  They chose to worship something that had no power. They chose a relationship with a lifeless object over God. Didn’t it occur to them that only the day before, this golden calf didn’t exist, that they had fashioned it with their own hands?  How could this idol have delivered them from Egypt? Do we ever do something similar by putting some material object or person on the throne of our heart, where only the Lord God belongs? When we do that we, too, grossly dishonor God. We should never turn to something that will one day be destroyed, and put that first and foremost in our lives.  These things cannot help us when we are in need. Instead, choose the everlasting God.

When God saw that the people had so quickly fallen into idolatry He wanted to destroy the whole nation (vs. 9-10).  God told Moses that He would raise up a great nation from him. What did Moses do then? This would be his great moment, a nation coming from his descendants.  Instead of jumping at this chance, Moses chose to pray for the people, to intercede for them to God (vs. 11-13). Moses reminded God (who doesn’t need to be reminded, as He never forgets) of His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Because of Moses’ prayers, God relented of His anger and showed mercy on them (vs. 14).  God did not change His mind like humans do. He changed His behavior to be consistent with His nature.  When God wanted to destroy the people, He was acting consistently with His justice. When Moses interceded, God relented in order to act consistently with His mercy.  God often tells people that if they change their ways He will not condemn them. When Moses preached to the people against their sin and the golden calf idol, most of the people repented.  Thus God relented of His punishment, as He promised that He would.

Our Scripture passage today shows how powerful, important, and life-changing intercession can be (James 5:16).  Frequently Moses stepped into the breach, interceding for the people of Israel, sparing them from the judgment they rightly deserved from the Lord.  Many times throughout the Bible we see powerful intercessors - Abraham, Samuel, Jeremiah, Daniel, Paul, to name a few. That is something that God wants us to do, as well.  He wishes for people to step in and be an intercessor for others, no matter how seriously into sin they may have fallen. Be a Moses, and intercede on behalf of others, that they would repent.  As we faithfully intercede, God may have mercy on them, as He did on the unfaithful Israelites.