Genesis 18:22, 32 And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the Lord….And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake.
The Word reveals to us the spiritual journey of Abraham: his faith grew, developed and matured over the years: from seed faith (his call), through wavering faith (his doubts), to bold faith (his prayer), and finally to faith for the impossible (sacrifice of Isaac). In this episode we see his bold faith response after the Lord took him into His confidence by sharing what He was going to do to Sodom and Gomorrah. The ”men” were determined to head for Sodom, but Abraham stood before the Lord. This was bold. It took great faith to believe he could converse with the Lord in prayer like this.
His persistent prayer was motivated by his love for his nephew Lot. (Love motivates us to pray persistently as well). He asked The Lord to spare the city if 50 righteous were found in it. God agreed. Then he waxed bolder and pled with the Lord for 45, 40, 30, 20, and finally 10 righteous in the city. God allowed this ”bargaining” to strengthen his faithful praying. God destroyed Sodom, but He answered Abraham’s prayer by going to great lengths to rescue Lot.
Our Lord Jesus gives two parables to encourage us to exercise bold faith in prayer: the Widow pleading before the Judge, and the Friend knocking on his Neighbor’s Door at Midnight. The Lord knows already how He is going to answer, but for our own good, for the exercising of our faith, and for developing a more intimate relationship with Him, He wants us to be bold and persistent in prayer.
Abraham responds with faith. Faith is righteousness. Our wonderful God and Savior grants both faith and righteousness by grace. Then He makes it grow.