The Great Movements of God Have Their Origin, Energy and Shape by the Prayers of Men

Prayer has directly to deal with God. Other ends, collateral and incidental, are secured by prayer, but mainly, almost solely, prayer has to deal with God. He is pleased to order His policy, and base His action on the prayers of His saints. Prayer influences God greatly. Moses cannot do God’s great work, though God-commissioned, without praying much. Moses cannot govern God’s people and carry out the divine plans, without having his censer filled full of the incense of prayer. The work of God cannot be done without the fire and fragrance that are always burning, ascending and perfuming.

Moses’ prayers are often found easing the terrible blow of God’s wrath. There are four times were the prayers of Moses solicited by Pharaoh to relieve him of the fearful stroke of God’s wrath. “Entreat the Lord,” most earnestly begged Pharaoh of Moses, while the disgusting frogs were upon him. And “Moses cried unto the Lord because of the frogs which God had brought against the land of Egypt, and the Lord did according to the word of Moses.” When the grievous plague of flies had corrupted the whole land, Pharaoh again pitifully cried out to Moses, “Entreat for me.” Moses went out from Pharaoh and pleaded with the Lord, and the Lord again did according to the word of Moses. The mighty thundering and hail in their alarming and destructive fury extorted from this wicked king the very same earnest appeal to Moses, “Entreat the Lord.” And Moses went out from the city where he could be in privacy, and alone with Almighty God, he “spread abroad his hands unto the Lord, and the thundering and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured out upon the earth.”

Though Moses was the man of law, yet with him prayer claims its mighty force. With him, as in the more spiritual dispensation, it could have been said, “My house is the house of prayer.”

Moses accepts at its full face value the foundation principle of praying that prayer has to do with God. With Abraham we saw this dearly and strongly pronounced. With Moses it is dearer and stronger still if possible. It declared that prayer affected God that God was influenced in His conduct by prayer, and that God hears and answers prayer even when the hearing and answering might change His conduct and reverse His action. Stronger than all other laws, and more inflexible than any other decree, is the decree, “Call upon me and I will answer you.”