Moses said to God: ‘If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favour with you’ (Exodus 33:13 NIVUK). Israel was in a crisis that threatened their relationship with God, but Moses didn’t pray, ‘Lord, please resolve it for me’. Instead he prayed, ‘Teach me Your ways so I may know You.’ He wanted more than just information about God, he wanted intimacy with Him: to know His heart and mind – how He thought and felt about the situation. Knowing God and having His favour would bring all the other things he needed, including a solution to the crisis. And God gave him what he asked for. ‘He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel.’ God responded to Moses’ request, saying, ‘My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest’ (Exodus 33:14 NIV). In the Hebrew text ‘you’ is singular. God promised to accompany Moses and give rest only to him. But this wasn’t enough for Moses. His prayer went beyond his own concerns: ‘If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here’ (v. 15 NIV). Are our prayers bigger than ourselves and our own needs? The Bible says, ‘For God so loved the world’ (John 3:16 NIV). Do we love the world too? Do we care that people are struggling and need God? Do we have a heart for people who don’t yet know Jesus? Are we willing to make sure our prayers don’t always focus on our own needs but that they focus on our family, our town, and the world?

What Now?

Use the acronym JOY to guide your prayer time. Thank Jesus for Who He is and what He’s done. Then pray for others. And lastly, pray for yourself.