Today is the “National Day of Prayer” (NDP). Regardless of religious or political affiliations, this is a great opportunity to corporately seek after God and His direction for our country and world. I will be at the Cary Family YMCA for their 9am and noon prayer times (there is also an NDP prayer time at 5pm as well). If you can’t make it out to an “official” NDP location, I encourage you to take 5-10 minutes and pray for your community, our country, and world. Pray for your neighbors, your coworkers, your local government, state government and federal government.

As I’ve thought about the NDP, I’ve been reminded of what Moses often did when praying for the early days of nation of Israel – he fell face down before God! If you read through the stories of Moses and Israel’s earliest days, you’ll find their leader repeated falling on the ground in worship and prayer. One example is in Numbers 14:5 – “Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there.”

Almost without fail, each time you see Moses falling before God, it was as a result of some great sin of the people.  The people were constantly losing faith and turning their backs on God. Consequently, God would bring some measure of discipline.  And each time, there was Moses, on his face before God, seeking grace and favor on behalf of the people.  As I read the stories, it almost was comical in that I got the sense that Moses was actually “ducking” in order to dodge the discipline that God was about to bring.

As we as a nation pray together today, like Moses, let’s bow reverently before God and seek His favor and grace for all people.

 Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;
for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care. (Psalm 95:6-7, NIV)