Genesis 18:22-28: a reflection

22The men turned from there, and went toward Sodom, but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. 23Abraham came near, and said, “Will you consume the righteous with the wicked? 24What if there are fifty righteous within the city? Will you consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous who are in it? 25May it be far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May that be far from you. Shouldn’t the Judge of all the earth do right?” 26The LORD said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place for their sake.” 27Abraham answered, “See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord, although I am dust and ashes. 28What if there will lack five of the fifty righteous? Will you destroy all the city for lack of five?” He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”

The other visitors turn toward Sodom, but Abraham remains standing before the Lord. What he does next is remarkable. He draws near and begins to plead, not for himself but for a city, and even for its guilty inhabitants for the sake of any righteous within it. Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked, he asks; shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

Notice the posture. Abraham is bold and humble at once. He calls himself dust and ashes, yet he keeps pressing, asking whether the city might be spared for fifty, then forty-five. He appeals to God's own justice and mercy, confident that the Judge of all the earth will do what is right. This is intercession: standing before God on behalf of others, unwilling to walk away in silence.

God invites this kind of praying. There are people around you, some of them far from him, who need someone willing to stand before the Lord and plead for them. Do not assume your prayers are too small to matter, or that the wayward are beyond intercession. Take Abraham's place today. Come near, name the people on your heart, and ask the God of all justice to show mercy for the sake of even a few.

Lord, Judge of all the earth, you welcomed Abraham to stand before you and plead for a whole city. Teach me that same bold and humble prayer. Put on my heart the people who are far from you, and let me not walk away in silence. Show mercy, and use my intercession as part of how you save. Amen.