“Then Abraham drew near and said, ‘Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death 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?'”(Genesis 18:23-25)
After the Lord God had enjoyed the hospitality of Abraham and Sarah, He had given them the good news that they were going to have a son. Then the Lord God gave Abraham the bad news: He had decided to destroy the city of Sodom where his nephew Lot and his family lived along with the sister city of Gomorrah. The Lord had such an intimate relationship with Abraham that He allowed Abraham to bargain with Him. While Abraham knew that God had good reasons for taking such action and that He would never do anything wrong or evil, he was thinking of his nephew Lot and his family. God knew this and granted Abraham’s request. Sad to say that there were not even 10 righteous people in Sodom.
The believer can have as intimate a relationship with God in prayer as Abraham did. Such a relationship can allow us to be bold and honest with the Lord realizing of course that He always knows best. Nevertheless we should never be afraid to express our thoughts and requests openly but respectfully to the Lord. One such prayer we must pray is for blessings upon our nation. Our nation is filled with great wickedness that condones and exalts sin. And yet there are many righteous here as well. For the sake of the righteous the Lord still stays His hand of judgment on this land but will not always do so.