The Power of Persistent Prayer

William Wilbeforce was a British reformer whose tireless work ultimately resulted in the abolition of the slave trade in Britain. As a member of parliament, he met with men like William Temple to gather and pray for three hours together before critical meetings and debate in parliament. These meetings would then, more often than not, result in God-glorifying outcomes. The men who met were always quick to give credit to the Lord as the one who was pleased to answer the prayer. When he was once confronted by an agnostic who simply chalked these answered prayers up to coincidence, William Temple responded with “well, when I pray, these coincidences happen. When I don’t, they don’t!”

How God moves to answer prayer is a mystery to us, and yet we know He answers prayer! This passage can be a great help to us as we consider how both God’s sovereignty and providence, as well as the Christian’s confidence in the power of prayer, can both be true. One of my favorite books asks the question simply: “If God already knows, why pray?

To study this passage rightly, I want us to begin at the end, and then work our way down. Let’s start by reading together one more time Exodus 2:23-25

Exodus 2:23–25 (ESV)

During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.

And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.

How can we stay persistent in our prayer? Exodus 2 pulls the curtain back for us in some encouraging ways, so that we can see a little more about how God’s providence uses prayer. As God moves in Exodus 2, we can see three great reminders of why we should pray and not lose heart.

1. God’s way is hidden (1-10)

There is just no way we can know even a sliver of what God is doing. The best chance we ever have of really knowing all that the Lord was up to is when we look back and examine how a prayer was answered, because it is then that we see all these little steps that God orchestrated to answer it. A passage like this, where Moses, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is looking back at all that God was doing, is like a 30,000 foot view of the providence of God. And it starts with God thwarting Pharoah, one more time.

In the midst of sons being killed, a son is born (Exodus 2:1-4)

Exodus 2:1–4 (ESV)

Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months.

When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank.

And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him.

We saw last week that Pharoah has decided to destroy Israel by destroying her sons. In God’s good plan, He is now using Israel’s daughters to thwart Pharoah.

She saw that he was a “Good child” - this little statement doesn’t sound like much, but it ensures that chapter 2 begins in a way that is very similar to chapter 1. You may remember in chapter 1 we saw the Israelites being fruitful and multiplying in Egypt, and we talked about how that connected us to the beginning of Genesis. Now this little phrase does the same thing. Moses’ mother saw that the child was literally “good.” do you remember what God saw at the end of every day of His creative work? That it was good. Moses’ parents see the creative work of God’s plan as Moses is born, and so they declare it good, just as God did in Genesis 1.

So, they kept the baby a secret for as long as they could, but there comes a point when you just can’t hide a baby anymore, especially when you consider that Moses’ older brother Aaron and older sister Miriam were both children at this time. At some point, people just find out. So, Moses’ mother Jochebed makes a bold move to ensure her sons’ life. She makes a little ark, the word that’s used here is literally ark, and sends him down the river!

young Miriam is standing at a distance to see what happens. And now we get to verse 5. Exodus 2:5-6

Exodus 2:5–6 (ESV)

Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it.

When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”

t’s another one of those “it just so happens” moments in the Word. Wouldn’t you know it? Just as the baby is floating down the river, Pharaoh’s own daughter comes down to the water? Well, how about that? She opens the basket, sees baby Moses, hears him crying, and a little baby’s tears become God’s first weapon in His war against Pharaoh, because his daughter is apparently not like him at all. She feels pity for Moses. Now, this would have been enough for Jochebed’s heart to leap for joy, because the desire of a mother’s heart in that situation would be to make sure that her baby is cared for, but watch this! Exodus 2:7-10

Exodus 2:7–10 (ESV)

Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.”

So the girl went and called the child’s mother. And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.”

So the woman took the child and nursed him. When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son.

She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

Miriam comes up with a plan, and speaks to Pharaoh’s daughter about it, and the next thing you know the mother who gave her child to the Lord, trusting His care for him, gets him back and gets to raise him for a good while here.

Pharaoh’s daughter has Jochebed serve as her own son’s nurse, and then you read in verse 10 that she brought him to the palace. This is a very short summary, but typically the way this would have worked was that Moses would have grown up among his own people until about 9 or 10 or so, and then he went to the palace to be trained, raised, and educated by the Egyptians.

This came out very, very differently than we would have expected! The act of faith by Moses’ parents has been honored by God, and God’s plan is now in full effect.

Now wait a second, the text doesn’t say anything about this being an act of faith, how do we know that it is? Well, that’s a great question. look at what Hebrews 11:23 says: Hebrews 11:23

Hebrews 11:23 ESV

By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.

Now I want you to look at what just happened here, and the picture it paints for us:

In the midst of death, God brings life - all Pharoah wanted was to kill all the boys of Israel. And in the midst of all this death, God is bringing forth life. We can immediately think of another story like this, can’t we? Where the one who was sentenced to death ended up bringing life for all his people? Who is that? Jesus!

In the river of death, God protects life - The Nile was the set place where all the firstborn sons of Israel were to be cast to die, and from that very river, God brings Moses’ life out, and from Moses will come the freedom of Israel! Well, again, this is familiar. Can you think of someone who transformed an instrument of death into a symbol of life for His people? Yep! Jesus.

In the household of death, God preserves life for all His people. Pharoah had every plan to destroy all Israel through murdering the little boys. Yet God protected Moses through seeing Moses have his own exodus, one that we are just beginning to explore in this chapter. Can we think of any other person in the Bible who survived the decree to kill all firstborn sons and would become the redeemer of His people? Right! Jesus!

Now, look back at Exodus 2:23

Exodus 2:23 ESV

During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.

“During those days” is intentionally vague, meaning “during this whole time!” During those days, while they were praying, God was answering. They just had no way to see how God would answer. And that is one of the many ways this passage connects us to the power of persistent prayer:

You know, we don’t have any idea what God is up to, how he is doing it, or when He is doing it. But He is always working, preparing the situation precisely in a way that fulfills His perfect will and providence.

In big things and small. So much of the Christian life is about waiting. What is our hope in the waiting, whether that’s waiting for the Lord to bring a spouse, or waiting for the Lord to bring children, or waiting for a loved one to know Him. What is our hope? That we may be asking God to do a particular thing, but that He is doing 10,000 things right now that we can’t see. He is moving in ways now that will serve to answer prayers later. There have been so many times in my life that, while I was praying for God to do something, He was already at work, I just couldn’t see how!

(If time, February 14, 2012)

But here is the thing, God has to do more than simply prepare a situation. The waiting I have experienced in my life as I waited on the Lord wasn’t simply to prepare a situation; it was to prepared me, because He has to prepare people as well.

2. God’s hand is working (11-22)

So now we fast forward a bit, to a scene in two parts:

Exodus 2:11–12 ESV

One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

So, make no mistake about it, this is no little scuffle. The word that we read as “beat” here is the root word for “destroy.” this is a severe beating that is taking place, and young Moses is a man of action. He does what many of us would do in a similar situation, he steps in to intervene, and in so doing, kills an Egyptian. There are so many different things to note about this little story that it’s almost mind blowing.

First, we see the heart of a man that God will one day use to see His people freed! The Bible here never really shows that Moses was in the wrong to do this. It isn’t a problem of fighting, it’s a problem of timing and scope. In other words, Moses longs to see his people freed, but there is just no way that’s going to happen one Egyptian at a time.

Second, there is no way that God will allow His people to be redeemed through earthly means. God, speaking to the prophet Zechariah, puts it perfectly in Zechariah 4:6

Zechariah 4:6 ESV

Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.

God’s plan of redemption has always been precisely this. Moses had to learn, just as the rest of Israel did, that it was The Lord who would redeem His people.

There had to be some part of Moses that would expect this Israelite to be thankful for the rescue! But we see a totally different response instead. Exodus 2:13-14

Exodus 2:13–14 (ESV)

When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, “Why do you strike your companion?”

He answered, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.”

There was really only two options here - either a. Moses rescued an Israelite that liked to pick fights, so he picked another fight the next day or b. the Hebrew Moses saved was a blabber mouth who went and told other Hebrews about what happened.

But this led Moses to a discovery about his people: they didn’t just need saving from Egypt, they needed saving from each other! Look at how Stephen, on the day he was being stoned, explained this situation: Acts 7:23-25

Acts 7:23–25 (ESV)

“When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian.

He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand.

There is something profound going on here. God has brought the Redeemer Moses, but the people do not recognize Him? He came to His own people, and yet His own people did not receive Him. Now, I wonder where that sounds familiar!

So, Moses is rejected, and now we learn more in Exodus 2:15

Exodus 2:15 ESV

When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well.

So, Moses flees from Pharoah to the place known as Midian. The Midianites were the sons of Midian, who was the son of Abraham by Keturah, Abraham’s second wife after Sarah died. It was a group of Midianite traders that passed by Joseph’s pit. But more substantially, the land of Midian is in the northwest Arabian peninsula, outside of the Land of Egypt. This will be significant just a few chapters from now, because Moses will make this trip in just a while, but with 600,000 Israelite men, along with their families, in tow. Most of everything here will take place very close to Mt. Sinai as well! But here, we get one more little scene here in Exodus 2:16-22

Exodus 2:16–22 (ESV)

Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. The shepherds came and drove them away,

but Moses stood up and saved them, and watered their flock. When they came home to their father Reuel, he said, “How is it that you have come home so soon today?”

They said, “An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds and even drew water for us and watered the flock.” He said to his daughters, “Then where is he? Why have you left the man?

Call him, that he may eat bread.” And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah.

She gave birth to a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.”

You may or may not remember this, but when the patriarchs needed a wife, they sat down near a well. This is how Abraham’s servant found Rebekah, and it is also the story of Jacob! So, Moses sat by the well, and apparently sees some women being harassed by male shepherds. And in a way similar to his earlier incident with the Egyptian, Moses steps in to help these ladies. And then he took it a step farther, and watered their sheep, which was opposite to what usually happened at wells, when normally the men sat as the women watered the sheep.

So they go home to their father Reuel, who we will later discovered also goes by Jethro, and they told him the story. But unlike the Hebrew tattle tale, this time Moses was rewarded for his work. And Moses is content to dwell with this guy, to marry his daughter, and to live as a shepherd.

In the meantime, he has a son named Gershom. Remember how I said Hebrew names always tell a story? Gershom means “A stranger there.” Why would he name his son this? It is a word picture, of a Moses who isn’t with his own people, and doesn’t feel at home in the land of his birth.

And then, he is there for forty years. A shepherd. God is having Israel go out in the exact opposite way He sent them in. Joseph was a shepherd who became a prince, and so led Israel into Egypt. Moses is a prince who became a shepherd, so that he could lead them out.

Now, take a look at the story so far: a baby, born at just the right time, protected from those who would want to kill him, who goes out to the wilderness to prepare for his ministry. As a baby, Moses went to the Nile, the place of death, and came out bringing life for all His people. This whole story so far seems very much like a story we are much more familiar with, doesn’t it?

Now, here is the part that we have to keep in mind. Stephen in Acts 7 tells us that the story that we read about in verse 10, of him killing the Egyptian, took place when Moses was forty years old. Then, Moses goes out to Midian and lives for another forty years. Now, just real quick, is anybody in this room actually older than 80?

So get this. For forty years, God is preparing Moses to go to Midian, to spend another 40 years preparing him to go back to Egypt and be His instrument to free the people from slavery. That’s 80 years of preparation.

As an aside, I have found two things to be true here. First, isn’t it funny how we don’t like to wait 6 months for something, much less 80 years, and yet our faith is totally dependent upon a God who makes not only Moses wait, but a whole nation of people wait in slavery? Friend, waiting is the work. We live in obedience while we wait for God to do His work in His time.

Second, when I hear this my temptation is to say “well yeah, but those are Bible characters; I’m not Moses!” To which I say, that is true, I can confirm that you are not. However, the point of God using people, humans in the Bible is to show the ways in which they are like us, not unlike us. God is the hero in the story, and we are to look at these lives, as we read in 1 Cor. 10:11

1 Corinthians 10:11 ESV

Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.

waiting is a consistent part of our prayer life. We must be patient. We must wait expectantly. God has promised that He will answer prayer in the way that is best and in the time that is best. our work is to trust, like we said last week, and to wait, like we said this week.

God’s work to prepare people is a slow process. It doesn’t happen overnight, and it involves suffering, mistakes, difficulties, poor decisions, hardships - all those things are what goes into God preparing a person. Sometimes, when we are praying we are waiting as God does these things in us. Other times, we are praying as He does these things in other people. Either way, it takes time for God to work in people. As we pray, we must be especially aware of these.

Now, we are ready to look back at the end of this chapter. We can’t always see what He is up to, and we don’t always know how he is preparing us, but the certainty of our hope in prayer is not in those things. It is in one thing: He hears us.

3. But God’s ear is open (23-25)

Now, look again at Exodus 2:23-25

Exodus 2:23–25 (ESV)

During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.

And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.

This is a summary of 80 years or so of slavery. The people, over time, cried out to God for help. And we see four things that happened:

First, God heard their groaning. He felt with His people the wrong that Egypt was doing to them, and it mattered to Him.

Second, God remembered His covenant. This doesn’t mean that somehow God had forgotten the covenant and went “oh yeah! I made a covenant.” It means that God had never forgotten, but that now was the right time to activate the next step in the covenant.

Third, God saw His people. The way they are being enslaved, the way they are being wronged and, for that matter, the way they wrong each other, all happen under the watchful gaze of God. Every wrong committed was committed before the face of a God who will execute judgement.

Finally, God knew. I absolutely love how this ends. God knows. We may not feel like He knows, but God knows. This is a much more personal word than some sort of intellectual knowledge. This is a deeper knowledge than that. God knew what had happened, He knows what was happening, and He knows what will happen.

Sometimes, we have to stop and remind ourselves that God knows far more about our requests than we do. God knows what the desires of our hearts are. And He is acting and orchestrating a plan that will bring about our good and His glory.

And that is the truly amazing part about this! While the people are crying out to God, God is already at work to answer the prayer. They weren’t even aware of the baby in the basket, but God was preparing their leader. They didn’t know that their shepherd was out tending sheep in Midian, but Moses was being shaped and cultivated the whole time.

Think about how incredible the privilege of prayer is, friends. While we pray, God has likely already been orchestrating events unseen to bring about answers to those prayers. Prayer is so baked into God’s providence that it fits seamlessly into His handiwork as He glorifies His name.

For us, this meant while we were praying for God to give us a child, my wife was pregnant.

While you are praying for that family member to be freed, God is already at work.

While you are praying for clarity, God is making the path straight.

While you are groaning under the weight of suffering, God hears, and knows and remembers, and sees. And He is working.

So pray friend, and never lose heart. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. As we pray, God is shaping circumstances, and shaping people, in a way that accomplishes His divine will.

Gospel: . All this talk of prayer is meaningless if you haven’t been reconciled to God. Prayer, and the answer of prayer, is a gift reserved for the children of God. So step one for some is to be reconciled to Him!

Benediction: Hebrews 4:16

Hebrews 4:16 ESV

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.