You can hardly be closer to the heart of Christ than when you plead God’s mercy for someone else.
We can’t rush past the intercessory prayer of Moses (Num 14:13-19)! The man of God speaks so kindly of the Israelites because they have been such supportive friends to him during the journey from Egypt, correct? No, they have been anything but that, endlessly criticizing him, ignoring his warnings, doubting his wisdom, and threatening to stone him. But he is going to do what so many of God’s special people have done through the ages. As Jesus put it, “Bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you” (Lk 6:28). The kind of intercession known as advocacy has its best example in the Lord Jesus’ prayer for His own in John 17. He might have said something like this: “Father, You know how Peter usually says the wrong thing, James and John are ready to call down fire on those who reject us, and Thomas doesn’t believe Me.” Instead He says, “The men whom You have given Me…have kept Your word.…They have received them,…and they have believed that You sent Me” (vv 6-8). And so on! So here in Numbers 14, Moses prays for Israel, not as wonderful in themselves—they weren’t—but as associated with the wonders of God. “You, Lord, are among these people;…You, Lord, are seen face to face and Your cloud stands above them, and You go before them…” (v 14). Then, in a brilliant stroke of grace, he prays, “Pardon the iniquity of this people, I pray, according to the greatness of Your mercy, just as You have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now” (v 19). Keep on doing what You always do, Lord: as You have so many times before, please forgive them again. May the Lord help us to learn the art of advocacy, putting God’s often weak and failing people in the best light—the light of God’s glory and grace!