One of the fundamental questions we may have about our relationship with God is; if God is perfect and cannot change, how does our prayer impact him? The immediate answer may seem like no, our prayer cannot change God or his mind. However, it appears that Moses convinces God not to do something. Could that mean God changes his mind? We know that God doesn’t change, yet God listens to Moses’ prayer and changes what he was planning to do. How can both be true? I would posit it is a mystery. Secondly, we intercede on the people’s behalf. It is hard to say how this works, but God does hear and answer our prayers. We find this example in scripture.
In our first reading, we find the example of God listening and responding to Moses’ prayer for his people. God was angry with his people, and he was determined to destroy the people and start a new nation under Moses. Moses responded by saying, “Why, O LORD, should your wrath blaze up against your own people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with such great power and with so strong a hand?” Moses interceded on behalf of his people to God to not destroy them to calm his wrath and not punish his people. God responded to Moses’ prayer and relented in the punishment.
During this Coronavirus pandemic, we may feel that we cannot do much, or we are stuck, and home and have nothing to do. I would suggest that we can look to the example of Moses and pray to God on behalf of those who may have come down with this illness. As evidenced by Moses, God hears our prayers and responds to them. Can we pray for an end to the Coronavirus and health and safety for all those involved? I’m confident God will hear our prayer and respond to it.
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