Next Sunday I am preaching on Moses and intercession. The main text I am starting from is Exodus 32-33.

Moses has taken too long on the mountain, in the opinion of the Israelites. (They were in slavery 400 years and Moses is taking a few days. Go figure.) They quickly turn to worshiping a golden calf they forged out of the gold they had taken from Egypt.

God’s anger burned and he wanted to wipe out Israel and start over with Moses. Moses gives us a powerful picture of intercession over and over. As the leader of Israel, I’m convinced he may have spent more time on his face than on his feet. Israel needed a lot of intercession!

God relents from destroying them, but then Moses meets up with Aaron to get an explanation. Aaron offers one of the lamest excuses I think I could ever hear from a leader. He’s been left in charge and he has allowed the people to go right back into the slavery of idolatry.

His excuse: “They gave me all this gold, I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”

One passage gives us powerful examples of what is right and what is really wrong. Moses is the picture of powerful intercession. When he goes back up the mountain to intercede, he simply tells God, “If you don’t forgive their sins, then blot me out from your book as well!” He lays it on the line.

Aaron, on the other hand, simply passed the buck. He wasn’t going to be left standing without a chair when the music stopped. He blamed the people. He blamed the gold. He blamed the fire. He blamed everything but himself. Leadership takes responsibility and owns up to the disasters as well as owns the victories.

Moses is the picture of intercession I will be looking at this week.