Word of Encouragement (02/02/2022)

Then Abraham drew near and said, "Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?" (Gen. 18:23-25)

This petition of Abraham came after the LORD told him that He was on His way to Sodom and Gomorrah to see the extent of their wickedness. Abraham sensed that He was about to punish them. So, he made this case for the righteous among their citizens. We know why he was doing this. I doubt that he was concerned about the welfare of these two cities. But as you know, his nephew, Lot, and his family were living there. He wanted to do his best to make sure that they be spared from the judgment.

Why Abraham could not directly ask the LORD to spare his nephew’s family, we do not know. There is nothing wrong with being honest with God and praying what is in our hearts; God knows even the most private thoughts of ours already anyway. If God says no, then we know what His will is and try to accept it and move on. Maybe Abraham knew of Sodom and Gomorrah’s reputation and sensed that they deserved what was coming to them. Worse yet, maybe Abraham worried that his nephew had assimilated too much to the corrupt culture of Sodom and Gomorrah. If so, it would be wrong for him to ask God to spare him.

God is gracious to listen to the desperate cries of our hearts. I sense that God would rather have us come to Him and pour out our cares and fears to Him and work them out with Him in prayer rather than work them out on our own away from Him and come to Him only when we are all well put together again. We all know those who call you when things are going well but never reach out to you when things are bad. That is frustrating when you care about them, isn’t it?

But Abraham’s petition shows the importance of praying according to God’s will/character. Even though God is gracious to listen to whatever is on our minds, we must be respectful of God’s glory and character. We should not ask God for sinful things, and we cannot expect God to hear such requests. We should ask for things that are in line with His holy and goodwill.

But there are times when our understanding of God and our perception of what He is doing come into conflict, causing confusion and even distress in our minds and hearts. That seems to be what Abraham was going through in this passage. He understood that God was just. He understood that Sodom and Gomorrah probably deserved His punishment. But what about those who were righteous in those cities? Was it just that they too perish along with the wicked people? That didn’t seem right to Abraham. So, he respectfully asked God for clarification.

God was not offended by this. It is wonderful to see how graciously God responded to Abraham’s questions. I doubt that Abraham’s many requests in the form of question and God’s gracious consent changed the fortunes of Sodom and Gomorrah. God did this to teach Abraham learned some valuable lessons. This interaction taught Abraham that God was gracious—much more gracious than he thought—as well as just. This allowed Abraham to go to sleep with peace of mind, trusting God and His ways. And we learn that God did see what was on Abraham’s mind even though he did not dare express it. And He graciously granted it by delivering Lot and his family from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. How wonderful is our God! I hope you can start the day in confidence and go to sleep with peace of mind, trusting God and His ways.

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