Genesis 18:27-33 (ESV)
27 Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. 28 Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” 29 Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” 30 Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” 31 He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” 32 Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” 33 And the LORD went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.
The above passage is a great example of prayer to God. Abraham has been told by God that He is about to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham’s nephew, Lot, lives there with his wife and two daughters. Here we have a family member praying to God to spare another family member from great harm. It is a beautiful intercessory prayer. We have to understand the depth of wickedness in Sodom to fully grasps God’s plan. These are wicked people and God is about to rain down fire and hail. The prayer gives us some things to consider in our own intercessory prayer:
1. Humility - In verse 27 we that Abraham recognizes he has no standing to come to God in any prayer, especially about this. To be a great prayer warrior you have to admit that you are not and that you come in complete humility for what you really are; nothing but dust and ashes.
2. Justice - In verses 28-32 we see Abraham appeal to God’s justice. In verse 23 he had appealed to God’s justice by praying: Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?” Abraham had thought his nephew Lot was righteous and thus the request. But Abraham begins to continue to ask God, how many righteous would it take to spare the city? God is a God of justice and we should come to Him based upon that attribute of His character.
3. Mercy - In verses 28-32 we also read about God’s mercy. Abraham knows that God is a merciful God. He attempts t ask God for that mercy. He goes all the way to ten people before God cuts it off and simply leaves. Yet. Lot’s family is only four! Abraham wants mercy for those four.
4. Awe - In verses 28-32 we can sense the awe (Fear of the Lord) Abraham has for God. He is not being arrogant. He is being fearful of God, to continue enter His presence with the same request.
5. Impudence - In verses 28-32 we read that Abraham continues to be impudent to God. He is persistent. We might think that would bother God. But notice what Jesus told us during His earthly ministry:
Luke 11:5-12 (ESV)
And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?
God desires that we come to Him over and over again to fellowship in prayer and to ask for Him mercy on those we love.
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