Ep. 141 | Intercessory Prayer | Genesis

Listen in as Pastor Eddie Blalock shares today’s daily devotional featuring Genesis 18:9-27. Let’s be Formed by The Word together!

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SPEAKER_00 0:01

Every one of us eventually reaches a place where we have to decide. Will I trust God even when I can't see where He's leading? That's not a new question. It's one of the oldest questions in the Bible. No one illustrates that journey better than Abraham. Welcome to Forms by the Word, where we open God's Word not just to study it, but to let it shape our hearts and transform our lives. Sometimes our journey of faith leads through familiar places. Other times it leads into the unknown. There are seasons of joy and seasons of waiting, moments of great faith and moments of painful failure. Genesis 11 through 25 tells the story of an ordinary man called to an extraordinary walk of faith, and in the process helps us discover that God still leads ordinary people, like us, into an extraordinary walk of faith. So whether you're driving, working, exercising, or simply enjoying a quiet moment with the Lord, I invite you to open your heart and let's learn to trust the God who always keeps his promises one step of faith at a time.

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Who's praying for you that you don't even know is praying for you? I've been thinking recently about the many people who have prayed for me through the years of ministry, and I didn't even know they were praying. That's an incredible thought, isn't it? That someone would take the time and energy to pray for me. Through the years of ministry, I wonder how many times I've been strengthened, protected, encouraged, redirected, or simply sustained because somebody somewhere called my name out before God. They stood before God for me when I wasn't even in the room. That's what we call intercessory prayer. Well, in Genesis 18, Abraham does exactly that. While the people of Sodom are going about their lives completely unaware of what is happening, Abraham is standing before the Lord pleading on their behalf. You see, intercession means that we are standing before God on behalf of someone else. I want us to talk about this matter of intercessory prayer today. And I see four characteristics here of an intercessor in Abraham that I'd really like to share with you. The first thing we notice in verses 16 through 21 is intercession begins with compassion. Here's how it reads. Then the Lord said, Should I hide what I'm about to do from Abraham? Abraham is to become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him, for I have chosen him so that he will command his children and his house after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. This is how the Lord will fulfill to Abraham what he promised. Then the Lord said, The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is immense, and their sin is extremely serious. I will go down to see if what they have done justifies the cry that has come up to me. If not, I will find out. So God reveals to Abraham what's about to happen to Sodom. Now that's significant. Abraham now knows something that the people of Sodom don't even know, that judgment is coming upon them. And Abraham has compassion. What does Abraham do with what he knows? He doesn't celebrate their destruction. He doesn't say, well, they deserve it. He doesn't wash his hands of them. He intercedes for them. He prays for them compassionately. That's especially striking because these are not particularly lovable people. Genesis has already described Sodom as an exceedingly wicked city. The test of intercession isn't whether we pray for people we love, it's whether we can pray for people who are difficult to love. And of course, Lot and his family are there. Abraham has a personal stake in this matter, but his prayer goes beyond Lot. He says, Will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Compassion turns someone else's problem into my prayer. The second thing we notice about intercession is that intercession requires boldness. Beginning in verse 22, we read, The men turned from there and went towards Sodom while Abraham remained standing before the Lord. Abraham stepped forward and said, Will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away instead of sparing the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people? You could not possibly do such a thing. To kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike? You could not possibly do that. Won't the judge of the whole earth do what is just? Now this is a tough passage, right? Look at verse 22 again. It's tremendous, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord. Now here's your picture of an intercessor. Others are walking toward Sodom. Abraham is standing before God. Then Abraham asked a very bold question, Will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked? And then won't the judge of the whole earth do what is just? What a challenge. Notice that Abraham's boldness is grounded not in his own abilities, but in God's character. He isn't trying to convince a reluctant God to become merciful. He's appealing to what he knows to be true about God. He knows his character. So here's a very strong principle to learn about prayer. Bold prayer isn't telling God what he ought to know, it's appealing to God on the basis of who he is. That's a great model for us. Lord, we should pray. You are merciful. Lord, we know you are faithful. Lord, you love this person. Lord, you have promised. Lord, you are the judge of all the earth, and you always do what's right. Do you hear it in those prayers? Third, we notice intercession must be marked by humility. Verse 27 says, Then Abraham answered, Since I have ventured to speak to my Lord, even though I am dust and ashes. This may be my favorite balance in the passage, right? Abraham is incredibly bold but never arrogant. That's a hard place to arrive at, isn't it? Incredibly bold but never arrogant. Boldness and humility aren't necessarily opposites in prayer. Abraham knows two things simultaneously. He knows who God is and he's confident, and he knows who he is, and he's humble. That keeps bold prayer from becoming presumptuous prayer. You see, intercession is bold enough to ask and humble enough to trust God for the answer. And then four, intercession refuses to give up too quickly. Verses twenty eight through thirty two read this way Suppose the fifty righteous lack five. Will you then destroy the whole city for the lack of five? The Lord replied, I will not destroy it if I find forty five there. Then Abraham spoke to him again, suppose forty are found there, he answered, I will not do it on account of forty. Then he said, Let my Lord not be angry, and I will speak further. Suppose there are thirty found there. He answered, I will not do it if I find thirty there. Then Abraham said, Since I have ventured to speak to my Lord, suppose twenty are found there. And the Lord replied, I will not destroy it on account of twenty. Then Abraham said, Let my Lord not be angry, and I will speak one more time. Suppose ten are found there. And the Lord answered, I will not destroy it on account of ten. When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he departed, and Abraham returned to his place. There's almost a holy audacity to Abraham's prayer, isn't there? What if there are five fewer and he just keeps lowering the number and just keeps asking? And six times God responds with mercy. This reminds me of Jesus' teaching about persistence in prayer. You remember? You remember the persistent widow in Luke 18 and the friend at midnight in Luke 11? Both were persistent in their prayers. Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do for someone is keep saying their name before God. Don't give up on your prodigal. Don't give up on your marriage. Don't give up on your friend. Don't give up on the person who's far from God. Persist. Don't misread this passage. The intention is not to demonstrate Abraham's prowess as a negotiator who gradually talks down God from judgment. The purpose is to reveal God's mercy. In chapter 19, verse 29, we will read an important statement. So it was when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham and brought Lot out. It was the focus on God's mercy. God remembered Abraham. Abraham's prayer mattered, not because Abraham controlled God, but because God graciously chooses to accomplish his person through the prayers of his people. So I ask you this today. Ask yourself this question. Who needs you to stand before God for them? Whose name needs to be on your prayer list today? Who's hurting? Who's wondering? Who's facing something overwhelming? Who is far from God? Who has stopped praying for themselves? Who needs you to stand before God for them? Maybe you could pick one person. Maybe you could pray one specific prayer for one specific person and pray it every day and don't quit. I've been thinking about all those people who prayed for me through the years without my knowing it, and it makes me wonder who might God be calling me to do that for now. Well, the takeaway today, sometimes the greatest thing you can do for someone is to stand before God for them. Oh that we would become intercessory prayer warriors. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for reminding us this important lesson, and thank you for calling to our attention people who need our prayers, people who we can approach you with. And so, God, I pray that you would indeed lay on every one of us our heart today someone that we can pray for. Someone that we can pray specifically for. We can pray for every day. Lay it on our hearts, Lord. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

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Thanks for joining us today on Formed by the Word. As we journey through the life of Abraham, we're learning together what it means to walk by faith and trust God one step at a time. Wherever you are on your own journey today, remember, the same God who called Abraham is still calling, leading, and faithfully keeping his promises to his people. Pastor Eddie would love to hear how God is using these devotions in your life. Your thoughts and comments are always welcome. Until next time, remember, God rarely shows us the whole journey.