January 21, 2021 (Thursday)
Moses did not ask for the job of leading the children of Israel to the Promised Land. One day as he shepherded his flock, suddenly a bush burned but was not consumed, and God spoke to Moses from the burning bush. God called Moses to do His work, but Moses resisted and made excuses, finally surrendering to the will of God for his life as leader of God’s people.
It was a hard job from the beginning as Moses encountered resistance from the Pharaoh, but God intervened with a series of plagues culminating with the deaths of the firstborn in every Egyptian household. As the nation grieved their loss, Moses led the people out of Egypt.
For 40 years, he led the people of God. He was a man of prayer and the Bible describes his constant conversation with God as being like two friends talking with each other (Exodus 33:11).
The people were led to the Promised Land, but they refused to enter. They therefore were compelled to wander in the desert for 40 years. Moses led them every step of the way, and prayed for them as they disobeyed God time and again. The prayer that most people think of when they think of Moses was the one He offered to God in desperation: “If you cannot forgive the sin of this people, then blot me out of your book.” That prayer reminds us of the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 9:3: “I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh.” These prayers of Moses and Paul show us the ultimate intercessory prayer.
RISE UP O MEN OF GOD
Words, William P. Merrill
Music, William H. Walter
1911
Rise up, O men of God!
Have done with lesser things.
Give heart and mind and soul and strength
To serve the King of kings.
Rise up, O men of God!
The kingdom tarries long.
Bring in the day of brotherhood
And end the night of wrong.
Rise up, O men of God!
The church for you doth wait,
her strength unequal to her task;
Rise up, and make her great!
Lift high the cross of Christ!
Tread where his feet have trod.
As brothers of the Son of Man,
Rise up, O men of God!
Performance by Charles Elmer Szabo