When Moses Prayed, God Listened

“When Moses Spoke God Listened”

Introduction:

You probably remember the old financial services company called E.F Hutton. You probably more remember the commercials and their famous slogan, “when E.F. Hutton speaks, people listen”. Maybe you remember the old commercials. The setting of the commercials was typically a busy restaurant or other public place. Two people would be talking concerning financial matters, and one would repeat something his broker had said concerning a certain investment. The second person would say, “Well my broker is E.F. Hutton, and E.F. Hutton says…” At that point in the commercial every person that was once so busy comes to a screeching halt to hear what the man was about to say.

I heard a story once of a business group who had quarterly meetings to review any changes that needed to be made or anything that needed to be done to advance the company. One young man in the room suggested that they move into a new building now that they could afford that. Everybody shrugged the young boy off, then the next meeting an older man who was well respected suggested that the company buy a new building; everybody thought that was the greatest idea they had ever heard and acted as if it was a completely new idea. The reason for that is that some people have such a great influence that when they speak people listen. I could stand up here and speak to you for hours about a subject, I could tell you what you needed to do and why and it could go in one ear and out the other, but you put a person with influence up here and let him tell you the same thing in the same way and you will listen.

I believe this was the case with Moses. Moses is a central figure in the Old Testament. He is perhaps one of the most known Bible characters, and his influence was great and long lasting.

Moses had a great list of credentials a mile long. His résumé would have been outstanding. He spent years in Egypt studying the cultures of the world. He was very high up politically in Egypt and he was not even an Egyptian. Moses led the people is Israel out of bondage in Egypt, and the list goes on and on regarding Moses’ accomplishment. Above all those accomplishments and credentials the thing that sticks out the most to me was that Moses was a man of prayer. Not only was he a man of prayer, but God heard his prayer requests.

When Aaron and Miriam opposed Moses’ leadership and God struck Miriam, Moses’ sister with leprosy Moses prayed for he to be healed and the Lord healed her.

When the Israelites complained about the Manna that the Lord had given them the Lord sent fire that destroyed the outskirts of their camp, Moses prayed and the fire stopped.

When the Israelites asked the Lord for a leader to lead them back to Egypt the Lord got angry and was going to strike down the Israelites, Moses fell down before the Lord and prayed and God relented.

When the snakes were bighting and killing the Israelites Moses prayed and the Lord made way for them to be healed.

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai and the Israelites were worshipping a golden calf the Lord became angry and said he would start over with just Moses, Moses prayed and the Lord changed His mind.

When Moses prayed God listened.

What made Moses so special in the eyes of the Lord that He heard and answered Moses’ prayers so often? Sometimes prayer can be a frustrating thing because you feel that you are not getting anywhere, and it is easy to become frustrated with God when he does not respond the way in which we would like for Him to. I do not think that in our life we will see every prayer we see answered the way in which we like, but I do think that we can have a more effective prayer life, and that God will answer our prayers sooner if we would first make sure that we are right in the eyes of the Lord.

The reason that God heard and answered Moses’ prayers was because he was a godly man.

Text: Deuteronomy 9:16-26

I. Moses Listened to God

I believe that there are many good reasons why God listened so well, but I believe the main reason why God listened to Moses and answered his prayers was because their relationship was two sided. The truth of the matter is that the reason why God listened to Moses is because Moses first listened to God. Moses was an obedient man and he listened to God and obeyed Him. Moses and God have a great relationship; in fact there are not many other people besides Moses that God communicated in the way in which God did. We know that Moses and God had such communication that God spoke to Moses face to face.