Daily Thought

Under the strain of his distress over the people’s sinful ways, Moses implored God not to let the heathen have excuse for denying his great omnipotent power.

The Sin of Rejection. Israel looked on their situation in the wilderness as hopeless. The people thought the sword will devour them, their wives, and their little ones. Wailing by day and weeping by night, they vented their feelings on Moses and Aaron. They claimed it would be better to die a natural death in the wilderness, and said ‘Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt’, v. 4. The unbelieving words of this self-sufficient people were a vote of no confidence in the promises of God. Jehovah’s intervention in redemption was meaningless to them. In blatant unbelief they refused to believe God was offering them a good land, with help to get them into it.

The People’s Appeal. Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb knew that the nation had sealed its doom by voting to make a return to Egypt. Moses and Aaron fell on their faces. Joshua and Caleb rent their clothes, and made a last appeal to the people. The appeal went unheeded. The people, worked up into a frenzy, called for their stoning to death. The glory of the Lord appeared. God, provoked beyond the limit of His forbearance, declared He would slay the rebellious people. He would disinherit them and make of Moses a greater and mightier nation.

Moses’ Appeal. The moment was critical. Moses appealed to God. The nations will misinterpret His actions. They knew God was dwelling in the midst of the people. To destroy them would be an admission He was not able to bring these people into the land. Moses prayed that they have no excuse for denying God’s omnipotence. Then he implored God to manifest His power, ‘Let the power of my Lord be great’. His power to judge iniquity was already in evidence. Moses interceded for a show of Jehovah’s great power to forgive, ‘Pardon I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people’, v. 19.

What a tremendous privilege prayer is - to plead with God for Him to display His great power to pardon and forgive His people’s sin. Prayer in these circumstances expresses how we value each other even in times of failure.