Intercession and God's Character

The other men turned and headed toward Sodom, but the Lord remained with Abraham. Abraham approached him and said, “Will you sweep away both the righteous and the wicked? Suppose you find fifty righteous people living there in the city—will you still sweep it away and not spare it for their sakes? Surely you wouldn’t do such a thing, destroying the righteous along with the wicked. Why, you would be treating the righteous and the wicked exactly the same! Surely you wouldn’t do that! Should not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?” [Genesis 18.22-25]

Abraham called God to reckon with His own character. There is an important lesson for us here in this passage.

Abraham interceded for any who were righteous in Sodom. I am certain Abraham had his nephew Lot in mind. Because Abraham stopped at 10 people in his intercession, it would seem he thought perhaps Lot had enough righteous influence on his family that there would at least be 10 righteous people in the city. But there weren't.

God delivered Lot and his family anyway. As it turned out, there was only Lot, his wife, and two daughters that apparently qualified as "righteous." And, among those "righteous" ones, Lot's wife looked back and met her demise. Lot's daughters then resorted to deceptive and incestuous actions to take matters in their own hands regarding carrying on their lineage.

Here is the point. Intercession should never be discounted. 

"Righteous" seems to be a loosely-used term in Lot's family's case. His future sons-in-law discounted Lot's call to action. His wife disobediently looked back. His daughters later got him drunk and had sex with him...

Lot was righteous? There was something redeemable there because God rescued him. We see God's forgiving and hopeful character toward mankind in this story. 

So, the power of intercession combined with God's forgiving nature are clearly on display in this narrative.

Perhaps Christians in the USA should pattern their story after this one. Our country needs intercession and deliverance.

Father, there is so much to this story of Lot to be reconciled with. I am overwhelmed with the way You responded to Abraham in this story in light of all the messy circumstances.