Ah, Sodom and Gomorrah – there’s one that doesn’t make my kids Bible Story books. For all that can and should be said about the events in Genesis 18 and 19, I think this story teaches us much about prayer. For the sake of all who can’t recall the events, I'll summarize them (poorly) here.
We’re told in Genesis 18 of an encounter between God and Abraham in which Abraham extends extravagant hospitality to three strangers. Turns out they weren’t strangers, but God and two angels. Well played Abraham.
As the feast ends, God tells Abraham, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous” that he’s going there to dole out justice. The problem with these towns was the blackened hearts of their inhabitants. They were not just bad people; they were genuinely evil. But did you notice what specifically drew God’s attention to the city? A violent outcry and incessant pleading by the victims against the evil done in Sodom stirred the loving and kind heart of God to act.
So, when God mentions his plan, Abraham is…concerned. “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city…will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:22–25, NIV)
God, in shocking kindness, assents. But Abraham…he ain’t done. “What about forty-five? Forty? Thirty? Twenty? Ten?” The chutzpah on this guy, right?
“For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”
As we soon discover though, ten could not be found. And the city and all things in it are destroyed with a notable exception: the bedraggled family of Abraham’s nephew, Lot. “So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.” (Genesis 19:29, NIV)
The weird thing is, Abraham never mentioned Lot specifically. Not even once. But Lot’s salvation seems to be the answer to Abraham’s prayer, does it not?
So, what did Abraham want? Why the pleading and haggling over numbers? Could it not be that, for all his chutzpah, he couldn’t quite bring himself to voice his deepest request, “God, would you spare my family?”
Here’s my point – you and I, we’re not great at prayer. But, that’s ok because God is very good at it. He knows what you want and what you need. You’ll hem and haw and not say what you mean, but he loves you too much to quibble over verbiage. You’ll get it wrong, but God never will. In closing, consider the words of Jesus today: “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Matthew 6:7–8, NIV)
This piece first appeared in the print and online editions of the Kingsport Times News on Thursday, May 13, 2021.
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