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Awesome Prayers For Mercy
hillsbororiver:
Genesis 18
17 And Jehovah said, Shall I hide from Abraham that which I do; (Why not, hasn't He hidden His plan and purpose from 99.999999 % of all who have ever lived?)
18 seeing that Abraham had surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? (How many in Christianity and the world really believe this?)
19 For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of Jehovah, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that Jehovah may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.
20 And Jehovah said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; (As are the sins of all the world, believers and non believers alike)
21 I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.
22 And the men turned from thence, and went toward Sodom (Sound familiar?): but Abraham stood yet before Jehovah. (Not a follower of men....)
23 And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou consume the righteous with the wicked? (Good question Abraham)
24 Peradventure there are fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?
25 That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, that so the righteous should be as the wicked; that be far from thee: shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? (How many of us and how often do we think like Abraham?)
26 And Jehovah said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sake.
27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, who am but dust and ashes: (Yes, this is true but we are valuable enough to have been ransomed by the Son of God!)
28 peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, I will not destroy it, if I find there forty and five.
29 And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for the forty's sake.
30 And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.
31 And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for the twenty's sake.
32 And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for the ten's sake. (You are on a roll there Abraham, not even God will object or condemn your faith and merciful pleading)
33 And Jehovah went his way, as soon as he had left off communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place. (We all know it did not exactly turn out real well except for Lot but we all know the value in God's eyes of even one saved, aren't we all "saved" one at a time, in our own season, at His pleasure?)
Exodus 32
7 And Jehovah spake unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, that thou broughtest up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: (Haven't we all?)
8 they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed unto it, and said, These are thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. (It is a hard thing to discard our old idols)
9 And Jehovah said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: (Is He talking about me?)
10 now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. (Uh oh, I might be in real trouble here)
11 And Moses besought Jehovah his God, and said, Jehovah, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, that thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? (Go Moses!)
12 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, saying, For evil did he bring them forth, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.
13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever. (On a roll, just like Abraham!)
14 And Jehovah repented of the evil which he said he would do unto his people. (Amen)
Numbers 14
11 And Jehovah said unto Moses, How long will this people despise me? and how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have wrought among them? (How many times have we ourselves asked this question, how many times have we ourselves failed as well?)
12 I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a nation greater and mightier than they.
13 And Moses said unto Jehovah, Then the Egyptians will hear it; for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;
14 and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that thou Jehovah art in the midst of this people; for thou Jehovah art seen face to face, and thy cloud standeth over them, and thou goest before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night.
15 Now if thou shalt kill this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying,
16 Because Jehovah was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness. (And this is still being said to this day)
17 And now, I pray thee, let the power of the Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying,
18 Jehovah is slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation.
19 Pardon, I pray thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy lovingkindness, and according as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now. (Are we consistently praying this prayer?)
20 And Jehovah said, I have pardoned according to thy word: (Amen! How awesome are the prayers for mercy heard and answered!)
Peace,
Joe
P.S. There are many, many examples of the men of old giving us an example of how we should compassionately view our brethren, and they have not even been given the same promise as we have been blessed with and perhaps chosen to receive.
ez2u:
This is a good post Joe it made me think about life and the questions I have ask about to the Lord. Even though Abraham was cunning in his question his object was mercy.
peggy
hillsbororiver:
Hi Peggy,
Thanks for responding, for some reason I was struck by how these prayers were for all the people rather than just for themselves and/or their immediate flesh and blood families and friends.
Here is another OT example of unselfish prayer, this time from Solomon;
1Kings 8
33 When thy people Israel are smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee; if they turn again to thee, and confess thy name, and pray and make supplication unto thee in this house:
34 then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest unto their fathers.
35 When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou dost afflict them:
36 then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou teachest them the good way wherein they should walk; and send rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance.
37 If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting or mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be;
38 what prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, who shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house:
39 then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and forgive, and do, and render unto every man according to all his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men;)
40 that they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.
41 Moreover concerning the foreigner, that is not of thy people Israel, when he shall come out of a far country for thy name's sake;
42 (for they shall hear of thy great name, and of thy mighty hand, and of thine outstretched arm); when he shall come and pray toward this house;
43 hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and do according to all that the foreigner calleth to thee for; that all the peoples of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as doth thy people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by my name.
44 If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatsoever way thou shalt send them, and they pray unto Jehovah toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I have built for thy name;
45 then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.
46 If they sin against thee (for there is no man that sinneth not), and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive unto the land of the enemy, far off or near;
47 yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captive, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have dealt wickedly;
48 if they return unto thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name:
49 then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling-place, and maintain their cause;
50 and forgive thy people who have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee; and give them compassion before those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them;
51 (for they are thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron);
52 that thine eyes may be open unto the supplication of thy servant, and unto the supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken unto them whensoever they cry unto thee.
53 For thou didst separate them from among all the peoples of the earth, to be thine inheritance, as thou spakest by Moses thy servant, when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord Jehovah.
I know in my own heart I have really done little praying for the multitudes in the churches or the world unless they were in my circle, these examples have convicted me of my lack of compassion and how much I need the Lord to strengthen me in this (and many other things as well).
Peace,
Joe
dogcombat:
How true Joe,
Our carnal "old man" is a beast that won't die by our doing, but by the righteousness of God. To say lately that things have been HARD for me, would be an understatement. This episode serves to show ME how much I DON'T trust God to provide for me. I end up falling into those selfish praying habits, (I won't repeat them here) that put my focus on my problems rather than my Lord. May God continue to enlighten you and other respondants on this thread.
Ches
hillsbororiver:
Hi Ches,
Thanks for your addition here, I could not agree more with what you shared, it seems the more God reveals Himself to us the distressing consequence that comes with it is a clearer image of our own wretchedness. Self justification just doesn't work like it used to! ;)
I used to be incredulous about Paul writing of his own "wretched" state, to me it seemed almost like he was speaking with a false humility, I mean look at how he lived his life once he began "working his own salvation" and all the tribulation(s) he endured as well as living like a nomad. I used to wonder about how he could keep the faith through all these things yet still claim he was a wretched man, it took some time and wisdom from God to see it was not Paul doing it, it was the Spirit of Christ within him doing it, yes Paul experienced it first hand but his strength was not his own. It is the same thing with us.
Looking at how some of the OT prophets and NT saints pleased God it seems to be all about mercy for others and praise for the goodness which is God and very little to do with whether they themselves were granted special favors or relief from trials and tribulations.
Peace,
Joe
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