THE PRAYER THAT tried to save a wicked city

When was the last time you had to ask for mercy? Maybe you needed a deadline extension from your boss. Or perhaps you let a friend down badly and you hoped they would be willing to restore your relationship.

Our instinct is to ask for mercy hesitantly, knowing we are asking for something we don’t really deserve. This is similar to Abraham’s prayer for Sodom. God was about to wipe out the whole city, and everyone in it. Soon a thriving, but dangerously wicked population, would be nothing but dust and ashes.

Abraham knew that Sodom was a bad place; but he also knew God takes no pleasure in bringing judgement. So he asked for mercy: “What if fifty righteous people are found? Will you spare the city? What about forty . . . or thirty . . . or twenty . . . or ten?”

Each time God agreed. Showing mercy wasn’t actually Abraham’s idea; it’s something God loves to do—and to be asked for. In fact, what we see in the unfolding story is that Abraham stopped asking too soon! No, ten righteous people couldn’t be found in Sodom, and so judgement came. Yet so too did mercy— and one of the most dramatic rescues of Scripture.

Discover with Abraham that when it comes to mercy, the God of all grace is just waiting for us to ask.

PRAYER: Exodus 5:22-23

ANSWER: Exodus 6:1-8