“The LORD spoke unto Moses saying, Go in, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, that he let the children of Israel go out of the land.” Ex. 6:11. And Moses spoke before the LORD, “The children of Israel have not hearkened unto me; how then shall Pharaoh hear me who am of uncircumcised lips.” v.12. Closed lips, slow speech, slow tongue, Ex. 4:10; excuses, excuses, excuses. Or was he still carrying his burden of sin from murdering that Egyptian 40 years earlier? He did have a speech impediment because Aaron became his spokesman and this dialog goes back and forth for a while and finally in Ex. 7:6 they obey, “And Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded them, so did they.” Sometimes it takes awhile and some personal dialog with God in prayer to convince us that His way is the best way and the only way. Then sometimes God just has to command us v.13, “And the LORD spoke unto Moses and unto Aaron and gave them a charge (sawah – command) … to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt.”

There is a lot of close personal prayer dialog in Exodus, quite a contrast to Genesis where God did most of the talking. Moses is not being irreverent he just has a very close relationship with the LORD. Our prayer life should be on an intimate level with Jehovah and we should be experiencing personal, intimate (yada) with Him.  Prayer should be a two way conversation and if it is not, there is a problem and you need to fix it immediately and it’s on your end of the line. One of the major problems with our prayer lives is that we do all the talking and God does all the listening or tolerating or most of it anyway. We need to pray, “Lord, teach us to listen, when we pray.” The Older Testament is a book of recorded conversations between God and man or man and God. The expression, “The LORD said,” or “God spoke,” etc, occur no less than 1900 times in the O.T.

Prayer is a direct address to God, it is an approach to the living God and He desires us to enter into intercourse with Him often. In Ex. 6:12, Moses asks God how Pharaoh will heed his speech when his own people won’t? However, in chapter 7 God reassures Moses he will, God is always there to fulfill His promises, His will and His Word. God said, “I have made you a god (elohim – Ex. 4:16) to Pharaoh; and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.” Oh my friend, if we will just ask God what He wants or what He is doing, He will show us. His perfect will is no secret, Rom. 12:1-2; Eph. 5:17; Obedience, let me repeat it; Obedience, is the key to His perfect will! “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me!” You have the sovereignty of God and the free will of man in the same verse. Isa. 6:8. Isaiah was privy to a conversation between the Lord, Adonai and the LORD Jehovah and the Holy Spirit, the Ruach ha Kodesh, and he stepped forward and said, (Hin-neh Sha-lach) Behold me, sow me, spread me, send me, stretch me, scatter me; and the Lord said, GO! “Behold, to obey is better then sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams.” I Sam. 15:22.

God always chooses to authenticate His men, in Moses’ case it was by miracles but that is not always the case but He always authenticates His men, always. Especially His men of prayer like Mueller, Taylor, Moody, Spurgeon, etc. Now the magicians could imitate but never duplicate God’s miracles, in fact they could never counter or stop any of the plagues either. The blood, the frogs, the lice were already coming when they supposedly made more come. Counterfeits, spiritual counterfeits, the world is full of them today especially in the church and even in the fundamental ones. Moses was a man of prayer, 80 years old and just beginning to serve God. he spent forty years on the back side of the desert learning how to pray, I wish we all could attend (D.P.I.) “Desert Prayer Institute” before entering into His service. Why is it we fight Him so long and so hard, why not go to Him right now and enter into that two way street of sweet intercessory prayer and obey Him, His will, His way and His Word! I’m sure there is someone in your life right now that could use a little prayer. So, find a quiet place, take a knee and spend some time with God. “LORD, teach us to pray, teach us to listen, teach us to obey!” Amen.

“Portraits of Prayer in Exodus” – ‘Prayer Dialogue – Ex. 6:11’