Numbers 14:11-19,
For our meditation I want to look at something very helpful and what I believe is practical concerning our prayers. The Bible obviously has a lot to tell us and teach us about what to pray and also why to pray. We have the Lord's Prayer. We are told that we are God's children and that he hears us. And of course we have many exhortations in the Word of God to pray and to be constant in prayer. But what I want to focus on are some examples of specifically how to pray.

A few years ago, I had the privilege of hearing a few sermons in a sermon series entitled “Holy arguments to use in prayer.” The pastor was specifically focusing on praying and pleading for the Lord to save unsaved children. I thought that it would be helpful to look at some more broad examples of holy arguments that are used in scripture with which we can approach the throne of grace. In case that language of holy arguments and prayer sounds strange, I'll cite Spurgeon here, because this is something that Spurgeon also talked about and actually preached in a sermon. Spurgeon said that “We ought to fill our mouths with arguments when we're coming to the Lord in prayer.” He said, “When we come to the gate of mercy, forcible arguments are the knocks of the rapper by which the gate is opened.” And then he went on to say that “The ancient saints often argued in prayer.” So what I wanted to do was look specifically at one passage in Numbers 14 where we see Moses doing exactly this. He is using, by my count, at least four different arguments in his prayer of intercession for the people of Israel. So Numbers 14, and just by way of context, this is when Moses had just sent out the 12 spies into the Promised Land. After 40 days in the land, 10 of the spies come back and they bring a bad report and they try to discourage Israel from entering the Promised Land. Then Caleb and Joshua remind the people, “No, the Lord has promised we are able to enter it with his help. He is with us.” In response, the people of Israel are getting ready to stone them to death when all of a sudden the glory of the Lord appears.

And this is what is recorded starting in verse 11. The Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me?” And, “How long would they not believe in me in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.” (Now see if you can notice and keep track of arguments that Moses uses here.)


Here are at least four arguments that Moses uses that are, I would say, legitimate arguments for us to use when we are pleading with the Lord in prayer, whether it's for unsaved loved ones, whether it's for other pressing needs, health concerns, etc.

The first of those is that we plead for the sake of God's name, for his glory. Spurgeon argued that this is the cheapest of the arguments that we ought to use, for the glory of God's name. In verses 13 through 16, it's very clear that Moses has a concern for God's name. He is concerned, what are other people going to think if this happens? His concern is that God's name be properly hallowed, properly revered. And the Lord Jesus, of course, teaches us to pray, “Hallowed be your name.” So this very much fits in with how we're instructed to pray elsewhere. Practical application for that when we're praying, for instance, for the salvation of lost loved ones. For example, “Would it not glorify your name, O Lord, to save so-and-so? Of course, you might be glorified equally in your justice, but would it not perhaps even more greatly glorify you if you were to save this person.”

The next argument here is pleading the promises of God. What has God promised his people before? Moses says here in verse 17, “Now please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised saying the Lord is slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression.” So Moses wants for these people who are called by God's name to be forgiven, and he's praying for their forgiveness based on a promise that God has already made to forgive them. So again, a practical application of this pleading the promises of God. Remember, what is a promise that he has given and how can that help us in prayer? One instance would be, “Lord, you have promised that when we ask and when we seek and we knock, it will be opened, that you will give us.” Now, of course, I'll make a couple of qualifications about that in just a second.

So we have argument number one, plead for the sake of God's name. Number two, plead the promises of God. Number three, plead God's character. Moses is reminding God, of course God doesn't forget, but he's citing to God, God's character, how he has revealed himself. “Lord, you are slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression.” And so again Moses is praying based on who God is and how he has revealed himself. He says in verse 19, “According to the greatness of your steadfast love, pardon the iniquity of this people.” So again, practical application in our prayers, “Lord God, you are merciful, won't you show mercy by easing the affliction of our dear brother or sister, or by saving this dear lost sinner?” We're appealing to God's character.

The last argument is plead from precedent or plead from past action of the Lord. Moses argues in verse 19 based on what God has already done. He says, “Pardon the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven this people from Egypt until now.” Moses is arguing based upon what God has already done. This can actually be a great encouragement to us, practically speaking, in our own prayers, remembering what God has done before. We see the psalmists do this all the time, “O Lord, have you not opened the eyes of the blind before?” “Has there ever been anything too hard for you? Won't you please do this?”

Argument number one, plead based on God's name. Number two, the promises of God. Number three, the character of God. And number four, precedent of God's prior actions.
Now, in closing here, I'll just note that the qualification that needs to be made is, the objective for using arguments in prayer is not simply that we're trying to tie God's arms behind his back, so to speak, so we can get what we want. Because it's not about us ultimately. As a matter of fact, (Spurgeon even says this in his sermon that I was quoting earlier) the purpose of holy arguments and prayer is, number one, to put us in our rightful place and help us to put God in his rightful place when we're praying to him. In other words, each of those arguments we just mentioned, maybe you've noticed, they have something in common, they're all about God. They're about his character, his promises, his acts, who he is. And so when we're arming ourselves, so to speak, with these arguments, we're forcing ourselves to remember, we don't have any basis in and of ourselves to plead anything before God. It's all because of him. It's all concerning his mercy, his character, what he has done in Christ. It helps us to properly acknowledge ourselves as beggars before the throne of grace. He's the king, we're the beggars.

In addition to that, it helps us to make sure that we are praying things in accordance with God's will. If we're thinking about these arguments and utilizing them in prayer, sometimes we might be convicted that we're not actually praying things that are in line with God's revealed will or things that are consistent with it. In addition to that, praying with holy arguments helps us get to better know him because what we're doing is we're wrestling with him. And as we're wrestling with him in prayer, we are being conformed into his image, we are knowing him better.

And then lastly, as Spurgeon notes, often when we're citing arguments in prayer, it helps to stir up the fervency of our own selves and the other people who are listening.
So I hope that was helpful in some way. May the Lord help us to better know him in our prayers and may he receive the glory for it.