Scripture: Genesis 18:22-33 The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord. Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?”
“If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.”
Once again he spoke to him, “What if only forty are found there?”
He said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.”
Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?”
He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?”
He said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.”
Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?”
He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”
When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.
Devotion: Scripture is chock-full of stories where people are praying to God. We see examples of people praising God, thanking Him, making requests of Him, and interceding on behalf of others. This week, we will take a look at examples of each of these. Today, we are looking at an intercessory prayer by Abraham on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Much like how you may intervene or intercede for someone, intercessory prayers are praying on behalf of someone. And in our Scripture from today, we saw Abraham do just that. A little background before this prayer occurred may be helpful. Sodom and Gomorrah were known to be wicked and sinful places. The Lord was going to destroy them because of this. But before He did, Abraham approached Him in prayer.
This prayer interaction of Abraham is different than how we pray in the modern day because Abraham was face-to-face with the manifestation of God. And as he began to pray, he was praying on behalf of his nephew, Lot. Lot lived in Sodom and was a righteous man. So, when Abraham starts asking God if He will destroy the righteous with the wicked, He is considering Lot and his family.
When we read Abraham’s prayer, it is easy to think that he is either questioning God and His plan. But what Abraham is doing is appealing to the characteristics that he knows to be true of God: His righteousness and His justness. He was asserting that the Lord would not destroy the righteous along with the wicked in Sodom and Gomorrah because it would go against His very nature and character. Instead, He was calling out in faith and knowledge of who God is. He wasn’t trying to talk the Lord out of destroying the cities or persuade Him to change His plan. Rather, he was seeking clarification on the extent of God’s mercy.
And His mercy is unending. What a beautiful reminder of what it looks like to both pray on behalf of someone and pray in faith for something knowing the God who is in control of it all.
Reflect:
- Have you ever said an intercessory prayer before? Who in your life can you pray on behalf of?