12/19/2008

Moses led the people through his conversation with God

The prophet Moses also had continual conversations with God when he led the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan, the land flowing with milk and honey. For it was impossible for him to lead such a great number of people to Canaan without God's help.
The Red Sea lay before them, and the Egyptian army was right behind them. At this desperate moment, Moses earnestly cried out to God, "Lord, what shall I do? I've been trying to lead Your people according to Your will. But now the Red Sea blocks our path in front of us. Please open the way before us." Then God immediately answered his prayer.
Ex 14:15-18 『Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. … "』
Moses did as God had told him. As he followed God's direction, the Red Sea was divided so that about 600,000 men and all the women and children could go through the sea on dry ground. God Himself did everything that He had planned. Moses needed only to hear God speaking to him through prayer and follow His instruction. After the Exodus, Moses continued his conversation with God so that he could cope with all the crisis situations in the desert.
Nu 11:1-2 『Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the LORD, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the LORD burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the LORD and the fire died down.』
Nu 21:4-9 『 … they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!" Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. … So Moses prayed for the people. The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.』
Whenever calamities befell the people as the result of their sins, Moses mediated between God and the people. He prostrated himself in prayer and asked God to forgive their foolishness and rebellion and to guide him to the right path. God answered all his prayers and led him.
Moses intently focused on his conversation with God in order to lead one nation, Israel, to Canaan. Now, we are to lead all nations into the kingdom of heaven in obedience to the will of God. We should talk to God more frequently. What happens when we try to fulfill the great work of the gospel ministry without God's help? We will soon become frustrated and give up, being limited in our ability. However, if we have continual conversations with God, all doors will be opened for us.

2 comments:

Tiamo said...

Amen!!

Elice said...

Amen!!^^ Through conversation with God, we can get God's blessing.