Prayers of repentance recorded in the Bible:
Today, we are going to look at the intercession of Moses on the behalf of Israel. If you recall, there was an ongoing struggle between God and Moses when it came to the complaining, murmuring, stiff necked and disobedient nation.
On this occasion, God’s anger was waxing hot as Israel corrupted itself with abject idolatry. They, with Aaron’s aid, crafted a golden calf and proudly announced, “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 32:4) God threatened to consume them and from Moses rebuild another nation.
Moses, perhaps flattered by the offer, did not take the deal. Instead, he offered this prayer:
Then Moses pleaded with the Lord his God, and said: “Lord, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, ‘He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ” So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people (Exodus 32:11-14).
If you are not aware, America has corrupted itself with abject idolatry. Like Israel of old, we have gone a whoring after other gods. Though God is long suffering and extremely patient, His justice will not sleep forever. We have shed much innocent blood and defiled ourselves with sexual immorality on a grand scale.
Moreover, God’s Word declares, “For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required” (Luke 12:48). America has been the recipient of God’s choicest bounty. He truly shed His grace on us. We have prospered like no other nation on the planet, including Old Testament Israel. And what have we done?
Like the Prodigal, we have consumed all these blessing upon our lusts and look at the state of our nation. The proverbial chickens have come home to roost. How should we respond to the challenge. Perhaps, this prayer by Moses can reveal how important prayers of intercession truly are in our current distress.
