Pray Boldly!

Nearly 1000 years after Abraham lived, the Lord wrote through the psalmist, “Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me” (Psalm 50:15). The invitation was not a new one from the Lord. It was an invitation that God had extended to his people from the beginning of time. God wants his people to come to him in prayer – and for them to talk to him. That’s what we find Abraham doing in this account from Genesis 18. While it is unique in some ways, there are plenty of things that we can take away from it when it comes to the invitation that God still extends to his people today, to come to him boldly in prayer.

One of the first things that might jump out to you in this account is the way it begins, “Then the Lord said…” (Genesis 18:20). Yes, the Lord was directly talking to Abraham. The Lord, along with two angels, had taken the form of men. The three of them had stopped in to visit Abraham and his wife Sarah. The Lord had some exciting news to deliver to Abraham and his elderly wife, and he wanted to do so personally. The Lord came to tell Abraham and Sarah that they were going to have a son within the next year. When Sarah heard the news, she responded in unbelievable laughter. To think that a woman her age (maybe in her 80’s or 90’s) would ever have a child seemed ridiculous. It would take a miracle for that to happen! And that’s exactly what it was when she became pregnant and had a child the next year. It was a miracle!

After sharing a meal with Abraham, the three men got ready to go. Being the good host he was, Abraham accompanied the three men as they walked along and that’s when the Lord decided to have this conversation with Abraham. The good news that the Lord had brought to Abraham was followed by some sad and disturbing news. The Lord said to Abraham, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know” (Genesis 18:20,21).

While the people of Sodom and Gomorrah may have thought that they were “getting away” with their sin, that the Lord didn’t care or see what they were doing, they were living a lie. The Lord knew exactly what was going on, and God would hold them accountable for what they did. He saw it all. They could not, nor can anyone hide from God. The Lord says, “Am I only a God nearby, and not a God far away? Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them? Do not I fill heaven and earth?" (Jeremiah 23:23,34).

When Abraham heard what the Lord planned to do with Sodom and Gomorrah, and being well aware of the evil that was taking place there, you might expect that Abraham would say, “Well it’s about time, Lord! Finally those people are going to get what they deserve! Good riddance!” But when Abraham heard what the Lord was about to do to Sodom, he immediately thought about his family. You see, Abraham’s nephew Lot and Lot’s wife and two daughters were living in Sodom. Abraham hoped that Lot’s family had remained faithful to the Lord and that they had witnessed their faith and brought others in Sodom to learn of and love the Lord. And so Abraham goes to the Lord and makes his first request, “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?” (Genesis 18:24). And how does the Lord reply to Abraham’s bold request? “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake” (Genesis 18:26).

But the more Abraham thought about Sodom and Lot’s family, the less confident he seemed to feel of Lot’s faithfulness, and the more bold Abraham became in his requests of God. “What if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty?” (Genesis 18:28). “What if only forty are found there?” (Genesis 18:29). “What if only thirty can be found there?” (Genesis 18:30). “What if only twenty can be found there?” (Genesis 18:31). “What if only ten can be found there?” (Genesis 18:32). And each time God agreed to Abraham’s request until finally he said, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it” (Genesis 18:32).

Why did the Lord have this conversation with Abraham? Didn’t the Lord already know how this conversation was going to end before it even began? Didn’t the Lord already know that he was going to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah? Why did he have this conversation with Abraham? Why does the Lord invite us to come to him in prayer? Doesn’t he already know what is going in our lives, what we need and what he is going to do? Yes, it is true as the Bible says, “You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely” Psalm 139:1-4). Yes, the Lord knows us and he knows all things. Therefore, our prayers are not reminders to a forgetful God or advice to an indecisive God.