Genesis 18:22-26 (NIVUK)
22 The men turned away and went towards Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord. 23 Then Abraham approached him and said: ‘Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 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? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing – to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?’
26 The Lord said, ‘If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.’
At the heart of Abraham’s prayer is his awareness of and appeal to God’s character. He understands God to be the one who is responsible for the world and for putting things right when they go wrong, he is after all the one who made it, but more than that, he recognises that in his judgements, that God is fair, that he is just. If he is just, then surely he will save the righteous, they have done nothing wrong and are not the problem. I wonder if this is a good lesson for our prayer life, start with focussing on who God is and his character and then pray about the situations around us in light of his this.
Pick an aspect of God’s character: such his fairness, compassion, truthfulness, faithfulness, joyfulness, and patience. Give thanks for it, and then pray for it to bear upon a situation in your life or in the world around you.
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