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16Then the men set out from there, and they looked toward Sodom; and Abraham went with them to set them on their way. 17The LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18seeing that Abraham shall become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19No, for I have chosen him, that he may charge his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice; so that the LORD may bring about for Abraham what he has promised him." 20Then the LORD said, "How great is the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and how very grave their sin! 21I must go down and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me; and if not, I will know."
22So the men turned from there, and went toward Sodom, while Abraham remained standing before the LORD. 23Then Abraham came near and said, "Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?" 24Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will you then sweep away the place and not forgive it for the fifty righteous who are in it? 25Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?" 26And the LORD said, "If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will forgive the whole place for their sake." 27Abraham answered, "Let me take it upon myself to speak to the LORD, I who am but dust and ashes. 28Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?" And he said, "I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there." 29Again he spoke to him, "Suppose forty are found there." He answered, "For the sake of forty I will not do it." 30Then he said, "Oh do not let the LORD be angry if I speak. Suppose thirty are found there." He answered, "I will not do it, if I find thirty there." 31He said, "Let me take it upon myself to speak to the LORD. Suppose twenty are found there." He answered, "For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it." 32Then he said, "Oh do not let the LORD be angry if I speak just once more. Suppose ten are found there." He answered, "For the sake of ten I will not destroy it." 33And the LORD went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.
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The first topic that stands out to me from this passage is prayer and maintaining the relationship with God. As I have said with the youth many times, I am far from perfect when it comes to praying and reading the bible and doing both more often is a consistent goal of mine. This passage reminds us that prayer starts with God and God’s will, not us or our own will and plans. It also shows us how we have been given this amazing relationship with God where we can talk to God because of God and grace just as Abraham has been given. We have the great opportunity to talk with God about God’s will in our prayers.
The second thing that stands out is how we get a bit of insight into God’s mercy and forgiveness in this passage. When you google the definition of righteous you get, “(of a person or conduct) morally right or justifiable; virtuous”. God continues to say for the sake of fewer and fewer righteous people, he will not destroy the city. I think this gives a lot of hope. As humans, we are self-righteous, but we sin, we have morally wrong thoughts, and we do morally wrong actions. Despite this, we are saved by the grace of God which is a whole lot of mercy, forgiveness, and love from God. This hope reminds me of one of my favorite Christian songs called Come as You Are by Crowder where one of the verses states:
“There's hope for the hopeless and all those who've strayed.
Come sit at the table. Come taste the grace.
There's rest for the weary, rest that endures.
Earth has no sorrow that heaven can't cure”.
Because of God’s mercy and forgiveness, we, like the people of Sodom, can sit at God’s table, taste God’s grace and have hope when we feel as if there is no hope left and I would say that is pretty amazing.
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Dear God, thank you for allowing us to have a relationship with you where we can taste your grace and feel your mercy and forgiveness. Please be with those who feel lost or hopeless at this time and let them know that they are always
welcome at Your table. Amen
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Written by Elizabeth Barkley
Summer Youth Intern
ebarkley@stjohns-springfield.org
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