Genesis 18:27-28 (NIVUK)
27 Then Abraham spoke up again: ‘Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, 28 what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?’
‘If I find forty-five there,’ he said, ‘I will not destroy it.’
Abraham continues appealing with God to show restraint in his treatment of Sodom, bargaining with him again and again, to bring the number of righteous people needed for God not to destroy the city down. In yesterday’s passage he appealed to God’s character, but today he comes with humility, aware that compared to God he is nothing but ‘dust and ashes’. This makes his prayers bold, it takes bravery to come before God when you’re nothing, and to call for more from him. For us it is different. Yes we are mere dust before God, but we’re also his children, there’s no gamble in turning to him in prayer.
Draw near to God with confidence because of Jesus, and ask for his love in action in the world (Heb. 4:16).
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