2003.1.5. Rev. Chan Young Jang

Two Prayers of Moses

Exodus 33:12-16

There was a year-end prayer meeting for the young people's group at one church. JDS who was leading the group told the group this. "Our prayers have been selfish giving attention only to ourselves. From now on, let's go beyond what we've been doing and pray for our parents, leaders, country and it's people." So began the relay of prayers. When it was one of the sisters turn, she began her prayer like this. "Dear God, I've been praying for myself for long time. Please, forgive me. Today, I will pray for my parents. You know that they had their share of hardships. What do they wish for? They are in need of a perfect son in law. Please allow them a perfect one and let their daughter live happily ever after." This episode remind us, how difficult it is to seek God's will that goes beyond one's selfish thoughts and prayers.

Today's scripture rings a similar chord. While Moses went back to the Lord on Mount Sinai, the people made an idol cast in the shape of a calf made of gold. They sacrificed burnt offerings and bowed their heads to the idol cast of gold calf to be their leader. This act was purely self-centered and selfish behavior. It might have been hard and tough to seek God's will on their endless journey. But still, they had to seek God's guidance. That was the purpose and will of God who led them to 40 year Exodus. But they wanted a god who would fulfill their own wish and thoughts. They decided to be people of gold calf who would fulfill their wish rather than becoming God's people who would live to seek God's will. In return, God's anger burns against people. In Exodus 33:3, God said "Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way." God was saying this "I told you that I would lead you to Canaan, right? All right. I will keep that promise. But looking at what you are doing makes me mad. I cannot go with you all the way. That might be the best for your sake." Different version might be, "You could go with me with a spanking now, or go alone" An interesting thought. What God said was he would stop this relationship. He would stop talking, comforting and walking hand in hand with Israelites. Now, the Israelites lost the relationship with Lord. They lost the presence of the Lordship.

We too often times forget the presence of his Lordship. What's more surprising is that we don' t realize how tragic it is to live without his Lordship. One of the reasons might be that we don't really feel the inconvenience of daily living without the presence of his Lordship. God's supply seems to be continual towards us. But what is clear is that his supply is also continual towards non-Christians as well. In Jesus' sermons on the mountains, he said he gives out the sunshine and the rain equally to the righteous and non righteous. We call this universal grace in theological term. God gives this universal grace to everybody. Grace upon those who works hard. Soybean seed will produce soybeans and red bean seed will produce red beans. When the universal grace continues and when we stay in this state of universal grace for a long time, we don't feel the importance of God's grace and of our fellowship with God. We slowly become self-centered even though we attend the church. We live forgetting how important his Lordship is and we live forgetting how important it is to have fellowship with God. How do you define Christians? We are not the ones to be satisfied with living under the universal grace. We are the "God's people" that have special relationships or special fellowships with God because we are the Christians.

When the Israelites heard distressing words, they were devastated. They were frightened when they heard God saying he will not go with them to the land flowing with milk and honey. They begin to mourn.

Last 2002.12.31, our family gathered together to give thanks to God. I asked my son in order to explain the importance of each member of the family. "Ha young, if your mother is not here, how would we live?" He answered in half Korean and half English. "If Um Ma dies, U Ri die too!" That was the answer. And as soon as he answered that he said "Now, let's eat pizza, hamburger and donuts, o.k?" It was childish answer to the childish question. Answer used to be just "U Ri die." Now, the answer was even if mother dies, he would go on with pizza and hamburgers. Do you know what I immediately said after that? "No, I can't go on with just pizza and hamburgers. I need your mother to cook me Korean food. I can't live without your mother." What an immature answer to immature question. I felt sorry for putting my wife's existence merely on cooking me a Korean food. When my wife exited the room, I told my son, "Next time, just say you can't live without mommy. Then everything will be o.k." To that he answered, "Daddy, let's just order take out. We can eat at home."

Who was God to Israelites? How did the Israelites react to grace without God's presence? In Exodus 33:4, "When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn and no one put on any ornaments." They were distressed. They repented. Their leader, Moses, went to the Lord. Today's scripture is what he prayed at that moment. The new year 2003 is here. We are now standing at the time that nobody has ever experienced. I read the column in the newspaper which described 2002 as the card game. "2002 was like the person with three bad dealing cards. They all started with the letter F. Fear. Fall. Fatality. In order to overcome this bad situation, this person carefully turned his joker card. Instead of anew, he got the anxiety card. With a new year coming, what is our hope, what is our joker card? It's neither the joker card nor the hope card. We knew we had anxiety card all along, we just didn't say it."

That's right. Even though we don't say it, we know that we are living in the world of confusion and anxiety. If we think that this anxiety stems from political, economic and war issues, we might never get rid of it. Today's technology and advancement present a lot of suggestions. When and how to. But the Bible shows how and when this anxiety started. That is when Adam first left God. When God asked Adam where he was, he answered "Lord! I was afraid because I was naked, and so I hid." What is the root of this fear? What are we afraid of? It's not the political, economic and war issues. It is the life without God. It is leading a life without God's guidance. When God is with us, we are not afraid. When God is with us, we are not scared. It ends when we lose the fellowship with God. It ends when we lose the relationship with God. When we are cut off from God, we lose everything. When we find God, we find everything. That is why Moses started praying for the Israelites before God. Moses sought the favor of the Lord with repentance. Moses sought the presence of the Lord for the Israelites with prayer." How can I lead these people to Canaan without you, Lord? I beg you to restore the Lordship with the people, so that I can complete this journey."

If you meditate deeply, Moses' prayer could be summoned in two parts. The first prayer was asking for a partner. Exodus 33:12,Moses said to the Lord, "You have been telling me,'Lead these people,'but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said,'I know you by name and you have found favor with me." In other words, "God, I understand that you cannot go with us. But this journey is hard and tough for me to take alone. Please, send me a partner. So that I know that you are with me."

Moses knew that he could not live alone. The famous English poet, John Don said this about a life. "We are not an island waiting to be rescued, we are the beings to get along as a part of a continent." We are created to live together. My brothers and sisters, what is the tragedy of today's world? The loss of relationships along with the loss of fellowship with God. Second is about this loss of relationship. In order to explain their situation, even though they were created to help each other, Adam and Eve hurt each other's feelings. Cain and Abel, their children, commit the first murder. We see ourselves not experiencing meaningful relationships even though we are among people because of our loss of relationship with God.

If you study Moses' life, he had a lot of good points. One of them was his trust. He experienced disappointments with Aaron. When he went to the Lord to get the covenant in Mt. Sinai, his brother Aaron made an idol of calf made of gold with Israelites gold. If you were betrayed by this kind of action, you might have shouted, "I will never trust a human being again." But Moses prayed for a partner for he cannot lead alone. He asked God to send another helper. According to the Bible, we lead our lives experiencing the loss of relationships. We are bound to get hurt or bound to hurt others while leading our lives. When God gladly answered Moses prayer, we know that we need a partner, a helper, brothers and sisters and neighbors in our lives. Through relationships, we can experience God's love, comfort, togetherness and presence.

Second prayer was about showing the glory of his grace. Moses requested in verse 13, "If you are please with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people." He requested again in verse 18, "Now show me your glory." Did God show his glory to Moses or not? God showed his glory. We can find the very important fact in this verse. Moses was asking God to show his glory but in result he was testing God. The Bible forbids us to test God. But today's scripture tell us that if we ask God to show his glory out of genuine heart, God readily shows his glory. If Moses, a trusted servant, who needed to see God's glory, how about us? He confessed his weaknesses in his prayer. "Dear God, I know I cannot complete this journey without you. If I do not see the power and the love that you have shown me crossing the red sea again, I cannot go on. Show me your glory again."

It is same with the parent and children. It is same with the husband and the wife. Though we love each other, if we don't validate each other from time to time, we might waste our time explaining the unnecessary misunderstanding. There was a blunt and quiet man who told his wife on their first night on honeymoon. I am a man of few words, so I will say this once and for all. I love you. And from now on, do not expect me to say it again and again. His wife must have been the wise woman. To that she replied, I have a serious problem. I am so forgetful that I need to be reminded. What did you just say? We too need from time to time, a validation like this. The validation of love. The validation of accompany. The validation of presence. That is because, we are weak. What else do we need to pray about besides this. What was God's answer to Moses' prayer?

First, the Lord replied, "My Presence will go with you." God said he would not go with them to the land flowing with milk and honey because they were a stiff necked people. But now he changed his mind. God is like that. He guides us with a concrete and precise plan where there are justice and judgement. But at the same time, he would change mind when he hears our sincere and honest prayer of repentance. And replies to us that his presence will go with us.

Secondly, the Lord replied, "I will give you rest." This verse holds the same meaning as the verse in gospel Mark when he said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." What was God's answer to Moses' prayer? First was the promise of his presence and second was the promise of rest. They might look like two different answers, but they actually are not divided answers. Through his presence, we experience rest. The peace of mind from heaven by walking with God.

As your faith deepens, as your relationship with God gets closer, God's people long for this. The longing for the experiences of God's presence. There is a book that is read worldwide for 400 years called, "The Practice of the Presence of God." The writer of this book is brother Lawrence. He is neither famous nor leader of church history. And yet, his book is like a classic textbook for those who want to experience God's presence. What is more surprising is that he did not write this book on purpose or for other use. It was just his diary found after his death. He became a monk at 55 in Carmel monastery in France in 1666. He spent 25 years there and died at the age of 80. He was a cook who worked in the hospital under this monastery. How did he become famous? Anybody who talked with him found peace of mind. Anybody who talked with him found rest and comfort. The second part of the book is written by other than brother Lawrence. He wrote that brother Lawrence always prayed this prayer before he started working. "My God. You are with me. I am now going to wash the dishes. While I do the dishes, let me experience the joy and the grace of your presence. Accept my work and through this work help me experience your love."

The next page wrote, "Brother Lawrence worked in God's presence and thus aroused our hunger for God's presence. His role model of working in God's presence brings lot more persuasive power than any other theological reasoning. Even in his busiest hours at the washing, he was thinking of God's presence. He was never in a hurry. He tried to finish work on time while maintaining peace and quiet. Midst of noise and all the bustling work, I worked as if I was attending the communion experiencing God's presence. I wash and work in the kitchen experiencing God's presence and God's love."

What does it matter whether you are doing the dishes or kitchen work, if you can feel the God's presence. Isn't it a blessing just to feel his presence through that work? We might have problems at home or at work. We might be in bad health. We might be in the midst of economic chaos. But if that is what life brings no matter what, wouldn't that be a blessing to experience peace and rest through God's presence in that? Couldn't that be a blessing?

This is the morning of our first worship in 2003. Why don't we say the same prayer that Moses said? Why don't we confess our weakness in sincere heart? "Lord, I am tired and burdened. Allow me a helper to comfort and work together in my journey of life. Let my children meet your people and grant them wisdom to find the right way in their journey. Send your people to guide ways to build business like God's business!"

God, show me that you are with me in this lonely and insecure journey of life. Show me that you are with me always. Let me live a life with joy experiencing your presence always. Amen.