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.
Our prayers are an expression of our faith in God. Our prayers are a way for us to demonstrate our trust in God. Our prayers are an ongoing reminder to us of the God who has invited us to come to him at any time, with anything, and trust that he will hear us. We approach a God who is the perfect Father. While human parents may know a lot about their children, sometimes even more than their children realize, there are limitations to what they do and can know. God is the perfect Father who knows everything about us, even those things that we have been able to hide from all others. The thoughts of lust and anger that never quite showed themselves in our words and actions. The secret click of a mouse or the flipping to a channel that leads us to see things that God says are off limits. The fears and worries that we have as a result of a recent diagnosis or pending surgery, the loss of a job or the loss of a loved one. Yes, our Father knows them all, and he knows how to meet them.
Our Father has taken our sins to the cross of his Son Jesus. Our Father has chosen to punish his perfect Son Jesus instead of us. Jesus has willingly taken our place so that the love that God the Father has for his Son Jesus, we might also know and experience as his children. Because of Jesus, God the Father looks at us and he no longer sees our sins. Instead he sees people who are perfect, covered in the perfect life of Jesus whose sins have been forever removed from his memory. Because of Jesus, God the Father looks at us and sees people who he cares about and is genuinely concerned about. Because of Jesus, God the Father listens to us and invites us to come to him in prayer at any time, with anything and to trust that in his powerful love he will not only hear us, but that he will answer us just as he did Abraham’s prayers.
But can our prayers actually change God’s mind or the course of events in a person’s life? Doesn’t God already know what he is going to do and when before we go to him in prayer? While it is true that God does already know how he is going to answer our prayer before we ask, that does not mean that he does not taken into consideration our prayers and what we ask of him. Remember what we heard God say in James 5:16, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” Maybe you can think of it like this. A father and son are driving home from school. There are at least three different routes that they can take home. The son asks his father if they can take this one route home because he wants to see something along the way. The father agrees and so they take that route and arrive home. The father allowed his son to choose the route knowing that all three were going to get them to the same destination.
The Lord’s destination for his people is always that of goodness and blessing. He promises to use all things for our good. When we go to him in prayer he might allow us to choose the route to reaching that goodness. They’re different routes, but they all get us to the same destination, to that which he knows is going to be eternally good for us. And sometimes he takes us on a route that we did not initially intend to go on or even know was a possibility, but that he ultimately knew was good for us. That’s what he did for Abraham and his family.
Abraham’s prayer was answered in a way that he did not ask. You see, a couple of days later Abraham woke up to see smoke rising on the horizon. The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were engulfed in flames. The Lord had not found even ten people who believed in him and the righteousness he promises to those who trust in him. However, the Lord did rescue Lot and his family, bringing them to safety. The Lord’s answer to Abraham’s prayer was a bit different than what Abraham had expected, but the destination was still God’s goodness.
Like Abraham, we pray boldly to a God who has loved us perfectly and possess the power and wisdom to answer or prayers in ways that far surpass anything that we can begin to imagine. Take God up on his invitation! Your Father is calling for you to come to him in prayer, for he longs to hear from his children, and to talk to him through his Word. So pray boldly, and trust always in God’s goodness. Amen.
