Blessings to you, my brother! I pray our Good God’s peace, guidance, and protection over you as we begin this new week!Read Exodus 33:11 – 18.
This amazing passage details a dialogue between Moses and the LORD – a dialogue made possible because (vv 11) “the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend”. And because Moses had such an intimate relationship, today’s reading shows us that he was able to petition the LORD to accompany the new nation of Israel even as that nation was being established.
Moses recognized that the young nation needed God.
Now, let us consider the following prayer penned by George Washington (from Washington’s Circular Letter to the States), written in 1783 as he prepared to step down as commander of the military:
“I now make it my earnest prayer, that God would have the United States in his holy protection, that he would incline the hearts of the Citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to Government, to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in the Field, and finally, that he would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all, to do Justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, humility and pacific temper of mind, which were the Characteristicks of the Devine Author of our blessed Religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy Nation. Amen.”
George Washington, the Father of our Country, recognized that our young nation needed God.
To be truly blessed, a people, a nation, must be humble enough to recognize and confess that it needs the blessing and the Presence of the Most High God.
Last Wednesday, we talked about the importance of interceding on behalf of our country through prayer. And we looked at Daniel’s prayer in Daniel 9 as a pattern for our intercessory prayers for our despairing country. As we plead through prayer for the United States, be aware that there are now less than 100 days until our national Presidential election. And given all of the challenges now facing our great country, this election could well be one of the most important in our nation’s history. Brothers, let us begin to intercede in prayer over this upcoming election. Let us entreat the LORD to advance into office humble and God-fearing men and women, who will seek His guidance and His truth and His will for our country – we need leaders who recognize that our nation needs the One True Living God. Amen!