Moving the Heart of God

Are you really able to move God's heart, or will he just do what he has always planned to do? Keep Reading...

READ
Exodus 32:14 - Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.

REFLECT
God was angry. His people had committed adultery. Over many months, God had proven to the Israelites that he was faithful, kind, patient, and powerful. He was worth following. The ten plagues, the miraculous escape from Egypt, the Red Sea parting, water out of a rock, and manna from the sky all pointed to the care of this promise-keeping God.

Moses' response to God's anger was not to run away and hide. Instead "he sought the favor of the Lord his God." Exodus 32:11 You see, God did not reveal his anger to Moses to scare him, but to let him into the inner workings of his grieving heart. Moses "reminded" God of his promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He pleaded with God to turn from his anger. And God "relented" or "changed his mind."

God gives space for us to work. As he tells us his feelings over a people or nation, he leaves space for our response. He desires relationship and a real partnership. So Moses stepped into that space and spoke God's character back to God. It's not as if God had forgotten himself. He was waiting for Moses' response.

Moses was an intercessor - one who stood in the gap between God and man. Because God is determined to work with man to accomplish his purposes on the earth, he leaves gaps for us to stand in. It is in these gaps that we speak the character of God back to God. We "remind" him of his faithfulness and all his promises. And then God responds to our intercession, as he did with Moses.

RESPOND
In a misguided attempt to protect the concept of God's sovereignty, the church has often abdicated her authority. Passionless prayers and absent evangelism describe a people who do not believe that standing in the gap will really make a difference. "God will do it anyway," some say.

And God waits... waits for his church to step into the empty space, to fill the gap, to cry out on behalf of a rebellious people without God.
He is waiting to be moved by your voice.