Bible in a Year, Day 11: Abraham Pleads, Jesus Intercedes

Today's reading

Today's reading is Genesis 18, and Pastor Jack Graham focuses on the moment Abraham asks God about the coming judgment on Sodom.

Abraham came near, and said, “Will you consume the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous within the city? Will you consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous who are in it?

(Genesis 18:23-24, WEB)

Reflection

Abraham knew judgment was coming to Sodom. He had just shared a meal with the Lord, and God had told him his plan. Instead of backing away, Abraham drew near and asked whether God would destroy the righteous along with the wicked.

Pastor Graham points out that this was not rebellion. It was a question rooted in faith, because Abraham knew God is just, and he was appealing to God's character and holiness. God did not answer with anger but with patience. Fifty righteous people? Yes. Then 45, 40, 30, 20, and finally 10. Every time God said yes.

God did not have to answer. He already knew who was righteous and who was not, yet he invited the conversation. That tells us something about prayer. As Pastor Graham put it, "Prayer is not about changing God's mind. It is about finding God's mind." We are not twisting God's arm. We are coming to know his heart.

Abraham was pleading for his nephew Lot, who lived in Sodom with his family. He stood in the gap, but his prayers had limits, because he was a sinful man standing before a holy God. Pastor Graham says, "Abraham's prayer didn't save Sodom. The city was too far gone, but it did save Lot and his family." God remembered Abraham's intercession and pulled Lot out before the fire fell.

Here the story points ahead to Jesus, the perfect intercessor. Hebrews 7 says:

Therefore he is also able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, seeing that he lives forever to make intercession for them.

(Hebrews 7:25, WEB)

Pastor Graham draws the contrast: "Where Abraham had to stop at 10, Jesus never stops praying for you if you are his child." Romans 8 says the same, asking who can condemn us when Christ Jesus died, was raised, and is at God's right hand interceding for us (Romans 8:34). "If you belong to Jesus, he's praying for you right now." Because of that prayer, nothing can separate you from the love of God in him.

Take it with you

• When you pray, ask what God's heart is in the matter, not only how to get your request granted.
• Who is your Lot, someone you can stand in the gap for today?
• If you belong to Jesus, rest in this: he is praying for you right now.

Prayer

Lord, thank you for inviting us to come close and speak with you. Teach us to seek your heart when we pray. Give us love for the people we are worried about, and help us bring them to you. Thank you that Jesus lives to intercede for us and never stops. Help us rest in his prayers and in your love, which nothing can take from us. Amen.