Exodus 32:11-14 – Interceding effectively

Exodus 32:14 says, “So the Lord changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people.” This gives the idea that God, like us human, does not know the future. This is made difficult by how this verse is translated in the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible. In the KJV it reads, “And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.” Does God need to repent? Of course not. For our all-knowing, all-seeing God can see the end from the beginning. He certainly knows all this would happen. Besides, we are told in Numbers 23:19 that “God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?” So, we return to the question, why then does this verse say that God repented and changed His mind? This verse reveals to us that even in the face of wrath and anger, God was showing grace. He could have just annihilated the Israelites for their disobedience but He chose grace. He also knew the heart of Moses. He was sure that he would intercede for the people. And Moses did pray for the people. We can say that when God made known to Moses the condition back in the camp of Israel, He was inviting Moses to pray. In the same way, when God makes known the condition of the world to us, His purpose is to get us to pray. Remember, God will never make known anything to us just to satisfy our curiosity.     

God made Moses a tempting offer. He was in effect saying to Moses to let Him destroy everyone in the camp and in their place make him into a great nation. He was offered a role like He gave to Abraham. The offer God made was to test Moses’ character and he proved God’s estimation of him. He could have ambitiously seized on the opportunity God had given but he didn’t. Instead, he pled and interceded for the people of Israel. This is the mark of a great man. He chose God’s greater glory than his petty ambition. And His prayer is telling. It shows us that as God, how much Moses loved the people, despite the many headaches and heartaches they brought to him. He truly loved the people of God. This is a quality every man of God called to serve His people must seek to cultivate. It is the one thing that motivates a leader to pray for the people he leads.

Notice here that in his prayer, Moses had God’s interest in his heart. He did not want God’s name to be discredited. He didn’t want the Egyptians to think that God did not or could not keep His promise, that’s why He destroyed the people. Besides, he reminded God of the promises that He had made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He was reminding God of the investment He had already made on the patriarchs and suggesting that He should not squander it now. Moses was reminding God of the very promise He had made to the people right at the onset. He was reminding God of what He said to the people in Exodus 20:2 - “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt” He had saved them out of Egypt so He should protect them and save them to the very end.

Here are some key thoughts we take away from these four verses. Firstly, God does not change. He will never renege on His promise. Secondly, what He reveals to us is not to satisfy our curiosity but for the purpose of getting us to pray. Thirdly, when we pray, always have God’s greater glory as our priority. Fourthly, as people who pray, let us seek to cultivate a tender heart towards the people of God, no matter how trying they can be.